Chapter 59: Giving existential crisis to Utakata

Chapter 59 - Giving existential crisis to Utakata {Just informing you that Ren would learn Rasengan very fast and mostly on first try for obvious reasons. (ADV CC)} The next day arrived, and after finishing his morning training, Ren headed to Training Ground 1. He greeted Yugao and Hitoshi, who were already there. Not long after, Utakata appeared and handed each of them a scroll. "This scroll contains books that are necessary for becoming a medical ninja," Utakata explained. "I want you all to go through the books at your own pace and inform me when you are ready. I will teach you the Mystical Palm Jutsu soon since your chakra control is now sufficient. However, I will only teach you further medical ninjutsu if I see that you have any talent in this field or if you genuinely want to learn." The genins took the scrolls and put them away. Ren was particularly happy to receive the books. He knew that gaining sufficient medical knowledge was essential if he wanted to learn Chakra Enhanced Strength from Utakata. Eager to master it, he was more than willing to put in the effort to study. Team 1 began their team training for the day, working together until noon. Afterward, they broke off for individual training. Ren and Utakata sat facing each other. Utakata started the conversation. "You have received your rewards, correct?" he asked. Ren nodded, so Utakata continued, "Unlike the others, you don't have much of a choice here. If you want the technique, you have to study all the medical material and learn medical ninjutsu. The faster you do it, the faster you get the technique." Ren nodded again, fully aware of the necessity. Medical knowledge would be crucial not just for Chakra Enhanced Strength but also for making the Eight Gates safer to use. "In the meantime," Utakata said, "I will teach you an extremely powerful ninjutsu that was created by the Fourth Hokage himself. If you had this jutsu when you attacked that masked man, the damage would have been far more severe." Ren's eyes widened with excitement. He had been wanting to learn this technique anyway, and now his Sensei was offering it without him even asking. Utakata stretched out his hand, and chakra began to gather, slowly forming into a spherical shape. The chakra spun faster and faster until it condensed into a spinning ball. Standing up, Utakata said, "This is called Rasengan." In a flash, Utakata flickered forward and slammed the Rasengan into the ground. A loud noise echoed through the training ground as pieces of the ground were blasted away, leaving behind a deep crater. Ren stared at the impact, excited to learn the jutsu, after all his fighting style was a lot like Minato so if he had the Rasengan he would slowly become a more complete fighter. Utakata flickered next to Ren, and the two sat down once again. Utakata began, "The Rasengan is an advanced A-rank jutsu, but what makes it special is that, in essence, it's just simple chakra manipulation without using hand signs. It involves high-speed rotation of chakra, which requires both chakra control and shape manipulation." He took out a bag filled with water balloons and grabbed one. Holding it in his hand, he said, "Look closely." Ren watched as the balloon became chaotic and suddenly burst. "This is the first step," Utakata explained. "Use chakra rotation to burst the balloon. Here, try it." He tossed a balloon to Ren, who caught it and held it carefully. Ren remembered that mastering the first step of Rasengan required spinning chakra in multiple directions simultaneously. He began by gathering chakra in the balloon and spinning it in one direction, but the balloon remained steady. He then separated a small portion of chakra and spun it in the opposite direction, which made the balloon slightly volatile. Repeating the process in multiple directions at high speed, he finally succeeded as the balloon suddenly burst. Ren looked at Utakata, who was staring at his hand, his expression said nothing. Utakata threw another balloon at him and said, "Explain while you do it again." Ren held the balloon and began, "At first, I tried spinning the chakra in a uniform manner, but it didn't work. So, I separated a bit of chakra and spun it in the opposite direction. Then I realized that I needed to rotate the chakra in multiple directions at once to cause the balloon to burst." As he finished explaining, the balloon burst once again. Utakata nodded slowly. "Keep practicing until it becomes second nature." Then he flickered away, leaving Ren to continue bursting the balloons one by one while waiting for his Sensei to return. Meanwhile, Utakata was standing in front of a kid's store and said, "I want rubber balls." The shopkeeper nodded and asked, "How many do you need?" Utakata was about to say all of them but stopped himself. "Five. Give me five of them." After purchasing the rubber balls, he hesitated for a moment and decided to buy some balloons as well. Back at the training ground, Utakata appeared in front of Ren, who was still diligently bursting water balloons. "Stop," Utakata commanded. "This should be enough for the first step. The next task is this." He held up a rubber ball in his hand, and just like with the water balloon before, the ball burst under the pressure of spinning chakra. Handing one to Ren, he said, "Now try it." Ren knew that the second step was to increase the power of the rotation. He began the same way as before but this time added more force. The ball started moving violently and suddenly burst. He looked at Utakata, who simply handed him another ball. "Explain," Utakata said. Ren took the new ball and replied, "The rubber ball is stronger than the water balloon, so I had to increase the power of the rotation." As he finished speaking, the ball burst once again. Utakata nodded and picked up one of the balloons he had just bought. He blew air into it and held it in his hand. This time, however, nothing happened, and the balloon stayed perfectly still. Looking at Ren, he asked, "What do you think?" Ren studied the balloon for a moment before answering, "Either you're not doing anything, or you're stabilizing the spinning and power inside the balloon so that it doesn't burst." Utakata's lips twitched as the balloon was suddenly ripped apart, revealing a spinning Rasengan in his hand. He handed Ren a balloon and gestured for him to try. Ren blew up the balloon and focused. Slowly gathering chakra into it, he took his time with the first attempt. The chakra began to spin gradually, taking the shape of the balloon without making it burst. He kept the balance steady, trying to stabilize both the rotation and power. Ren continued practicing the third step without fail, keeping the balloon perfectly stable as it spun. The balloon remained still, confirming his success. Utakata stared at him and then said, "Now that you've completed the three steps, all that's left is to combine them without any medium like the balloon." To demonstrate, Utakata once again formed a complete Rasengan in his hand. Ren nodded, stretched out his arm, and began to form his own Rasengan. On his first attempt, he managed to complete the sphere, but when he tried to attack the ground with it, the power wasn't sufficient, leaving only faint marks. Not discouraged, Ren tried again. This time, he focused more on combining rotation, power, and stability without losing control. The Rasengan he created looked almost identical to the one Utakata had shown him. Ren flickered forward and attacked the ground, creating damage similar to Utakata's demonstration, just slightly less powerful. He walked back to his sensei and asked, "How was it, sensei?" Utakata looked at the spot where Ren had attacked, then gave a slow nod. "Good. Keep practicing," he said before flickering away, leaving Ren to continue his training. Ren was satisfied with his progress. He realized that learning the Rasengan had been relatively easy for him due to his advanced chakra control. He also knew that, with his mastery of Wind Style, creating the Rasenshuriken would not be too difficult. However, he decided to hold off on developing that technique for now. It would be wise to keep it a secret, as revealing the creation of an S-rank jutsu too soon could draw unnecessary attention. He wasn't afraid of attention he would receive it was more like bothersome. He continued practicing the Rasengan, refining his control and power. Through experimentation, Ren calculated that using a single Rasengan consumed 800 Chakra Points (CP), which was almost equivalent to that of an S-rank jutsu. Given his current reserves, he could only use the Rasengan about eight times if he were at full strength. However, Ren was confident that once he completely mastered the Rasengan, he could reduce the chakra cost significantly. ~~~ Meanwhile, back at Ren's home, his clones were hard at work, each diligently carrying out their assigned tasks. One of the Fuinjutsu clones was particularly focused on creating a new seal. After working without interruption, the clone finally straightened up, inspecting the intricate design he had just completed. The seal took the shape of a water drop, filled with stable and focus symbols that were interconnected with one another. This seal was specifically designed to counter the negative effects of opening the First Gate. In theory, it would help maintain clarity and balance when the gate was activated. The plan was to draw the seal on his forehead so that it would automatically activate when the First Gate was opened. However, despite completing the seal, the clone knew it was far from perfect. There were two major issues to address. First, he needed to test whether the seal truly worked as intended; otherwise, it would be completely useless. Second, even if the seal proved effective, it was currently too large to fit comfortably on his forehead. The challenge would be to reduce the size without sacrificing its effectiveness. With these thoughts in mind, the clone continued his work, refining and adjusting the seal's structure. The other clones remained equally focused on their own tasks, all working diligently to support Ren's progress. Meanwhile, Ren himself was still outside, immersed in Rasengan practice. ~~~ It was almost night time and the streets of Konoha was filled with people. At the Ichiraku Ramen stand Juichi was eating his Ramen with delight. The curtains of the stand were lifted and Utakata entered. Utakata saw Juichi eating Ramen with such delight on his face that his hand started twitching. He clenched his fists and punched Juichi on his head. Juichi who was just about to take a bite was surprised by the sudden attack on his head and turned to confront his attacker. When he saw Utakata he narrowed his eyes and asked, "Hey!! What was that about?" Utakata took a seat and asked, "Did you already teach Ren the Rasengan?" {Give some sympathy to poor Utakata}