After over an hour of intense effort, Natsuki finally made a breakthrough.
He took a deep breath and slowly formed a series of hand seals. "Shiyō no Jutsu!"
POOF! — A pair of arms suddenly sprouted from his shoulder blades. Under the control of his brain, these arms could move flexibly, and their fingers were nimble enough to perform hand seals with ease.
POOF! — Another pair of small hands emerged from his lower back. They were tiny—at first glance, one might mistake them for decorations.
But these small hands were just as agile. They could perform hand seals and even allowed Natsuki to execute jutsu properly.
"Phew... finally made it!"
Natsuki let out a long breath. This adjustment really taxed his brain.
Even though Kage Bunshin no Jutsu only used a few hand seals, the fewer the seals, the harder they were to modify. Especially since Natsuki's requirements were complex—not only did he want to generate arms, but he wanted to manifest any body part he desired, at will, and at any size.
He had raised the difficulty for himself. No wonder his head was spinning.
But the result was well worth it.
In battle, he could now sprout small hands from his back that could form seals out of sight. That alone would make it look like he could cast jutsu without forming any seals, keeping his opponents guessing when and what kind of jutsu he would unleash.
With that uncertainty, enemies would be far more cautious—and he'd gain a huge advantage.
"Shino's definitely gonna love this. I didn't let his trust go to waste."
Natsuki quietly dispelled the jutsu, then moved on to one-handed hand seals. This had become a routine for him—every time he learned or created a new jutsu, he would make sure to master both two-handed and one-handed versions.
Another hour passed, and Natsuki finally got the one-handed Shiyō no Jutsu down fluently.
Now came the real challenge—Water-style Chakra Nature Transformation!
He raised his hand and formed a Rasengan, focusing on the properties of water—not just moisture, but the distortion and crushing force of whirlpools. Still, the Rasengan showed no change.
Luckily, Natsuki was very patient. He knew this kind of thing couldn't be rushed. Even if there were no results tonight, that was perfectly normal.
Besides, while in the special lab state, his chakra, stamina, and mental energy were infinite. He could maintain the Rasengan indefinitely while constantly channeling the intention of water-nature transformation into it.
Time became meaningless. He completely lost track.
At last, the Rasengan began to change. The high-speed spiraling chakra was now filled with water. The water churned violently within, forming chaotic, high-pressure whirlpools. A powerful distortion force surged forth.
Natsuki's eyes gleamed, and he threw a kunai into the orb.
CRACK! The kunai was instantly shredded into fragments by the inner vortex.
"Holy crap! That's terrifying!"
Even Natsuki couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath, followed by uncontainable joy. He had succeeded in fusing shape transformation and nature transformation, creating a brand-new Rasengan of his own!
But it wasn't over yet. He suddenly felt intense heat radiating from the orb—it was becoming scorching hot.
"What's going on? Right, the high-speed rotating water creates friction between molecules, generating heat. Even though water boils at just 100°C, constant friction can keep raising the temperature—and all that heat is being trapped within the orb..."
Just as he realized that, his palm began to smoke. A wave of heat surged out from the orb—it almost cooked his hand like a shrimp.
Not daring to delay, he instantly conjured a small mountain with his thoughts and hurled the orb toward it.
BOOOOM!! The moment the orb left his hand, it detonated.
A massive spherical vortex, hundreds of meters wide, enveloped the mountain. The mountain was instantly erased—gone in an instant. The ground below was swallowed up, leaving behind a deep crater over ten meters deep.
Scorching steam erupted, sweeping outwards like a storm and vaporizing everything in a wide radius.
Natsuki, being close by, was engulfed in the steam. Though he wouldn't be injured in the special lab state, he could still feel the pain—as if he were being boiled alive. At the same time, the twisting force of the vortex nearly crushed his body like a ragdoll.
"Damn! That's way too much! If an enemy got hit by that, they'd either be shredded or boiled alive—either way, they're dead. But I'd be dead too! The area-of-effect is insane. I have to throw the orb, but it's so unstable it explodes the moment I let go. How do I fix that?!"
Natsuki stared at the smoking crater in front of him, waves of heat still rippling outward, and found himself stumped.
Naruto's Rasen Shuriken could only be thrown after he learned Sage Mode. Before that, he couldn't even use it safely. Natsuki's situation was about the same.
So... did this mean he had to learn Sage Mode too?
"No, no. Naruto only improved the Rasen Shuriken after learning Sage Mode. I have the special lab to help me. I don't need Sage Mode to improve this!"
That said... learning Sage Mode might still be worth a shot.
In the lab's invincible state, he wouldn't suffer injury or be petrified when absorbing natural energy. He could experiment freely, tweaking the ratios of natural energy, physical energy, and mental energy—eventually achieving that perfect 1:1:1 ratio. That would bring massive power boosts across the board.
At that point, who needs a bike?
The tricky part was how to absorb natural energy. That would require research and learning.
"Hm... I'll shelve that project for now. Right now, I need to fix this jutsu. The power can be toned down a bit for close combat. The instability is the real issue—I need to stabilize it."
With that goal in mind, Natsuki got back to work.
He kept experimenting all the way until the special lab state ended. He still hadn't perfected the jutsu, but at least he gave it a name:
Suiton: Uzushio Futon! (Water Style: Whirlpool Boil Bomb)
The name itself made its properties obvious. Of course, Natsuki never called out jutsu names in actual combat, so he wasn't worried about enemies figuring it out. The naming was just for research purposes.
Oh, and for bragging in front of Tenten and Shino—a cool name was definitely necessary. This one was passable.
At least it sounded better than Namikaze Minato's weird naming conventions.
Natsuki exited the lab, dark circles under his eyes, washed up, ate, and made it to class bright and early. To his surprise, Shino was already there, sitting motionless at his desk.
"Shino? You're here this early?" Natsuki asked, yawning.
"Mhm. I know you always pull an all-nighter on the first of each month, then show up to sleep the next morning. Sleeping alone isn't safe—I'm here to keep watch for you."
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