Jiraiya took a deep breath, then placed his hand on Naruto's head and rubbed it.
He silently apologized to Minato in his heart, then cleared his throat and forced himself to switch to a relaxed tone, saying, "Alright, alright, I'll tell you about those things slowly in the future."
"For now, you only need to know one thing. I am one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, and I taught the Yellow Flash."
"Now it's your turn. If you want to learn Chakra nature transformation and practice other attributes of Chakra, I can teach you all of it."
"But you must take me as your master. During this month, I will also cram the Rasengan and the Summoning Technique into you along the way. You'll have to learn it whether you want to or not. This is my condition."
Naruto looked at the hint of testing hidden within Jiraiya's serious gaze, and nodded. "Then let's do that."
Jiraiya let out a sigh of relief. "First, I'll teach you Chakra nature transformation, and teach you the development of other attributes as well. I will find other times to teach you the Rasengan and the Summoning Technique."
He finally managed to avoid uncovering the topic of Minato.
"Now then, let's begin. Lesson one: Chakra nature transformation."
Jiraiya found a flat rock and sat down, patting the space next to him to signal Naruto to sit down as well.
"Chakra nature transformation is taking the Chakra extracted from your own body and adding the characteristics of a certain attribute to it, so that it is no longer just pure Chakra, but carries the basic attributes of nature such as wind, fire, water, lightning, and earth."
"By combining Chakra with a specific nature transformation, a ninja can develop Ninjutsu of different attributes."
"The Five Release Ninjutsu—Fire Release, Water Release, Earth Release, Wind Release, and Lightning Release—are all derived on the basis of Chakra nature transformation."
Naruto asked, "So nature transformation is the process of turning Chakra from a simple force into the characteristics of a specific element?"
Jiraiya nodded approvingly. "Correct."
"Using a simple Chakra sphere as a prototype, if you add the Wind Release nature transformation, this Chakra sphere will possess extremely strong cutting power."
"If you add the Fire Release nature transformation, this Chakra sphere will take on the characteristics of scorching heat and combustion."
"If you add the Lightning Release nature transformation, the Chakra sphere will gain extremely strong piercing and paralyzing effects."
"The characteristics of the five attributes are all different: Wind Release is cutting, Fire Release is high temperature and burning, Water Release is penetration and cushioning, Earth Release is hardening and reinforcement, and Lightning Release is high-speed penetration and paralysis."
Naruto engraved every single word Jiraiya said into his mind without missing a beat, while more threads of thought began to form in his heart.
The principles of Yin-Yang Release and the five-attribute Chakra do not belong to the same system at all, so even Jiraiya had only mentioned it briefly.
"What is your Chakra nature?" Jiraiya asked, knowing the answer already.
"Wind."
"Wind Release is one of the most offensive attributes among the five, capable of turning Chakra into blades invisible to the naked eye."
Saying this, Jiraiya picked up a leaf from the ground and held it in his hand. As a wisp of Chakra appeared, the leaf in his hand was cleanly cut in half.
Having done this, Jiraiya continued, "The core of the nature transformation of Wind Release Chakra is cutting, making every tiny unit of Chakra into a high-speed vibrating blade."
"The Vacuum Blade you practiced is actually already an intuitive application of the Wind Release nature transformation. By attaching Wind Chakra to the Kunai, the cutting characteristics of the Wind Chakra form an extremely thin and sharp membrane on the surface."
"By the same token, if you add the Wind Release nature transformation into the Rasengan, the Rasengan will no longer be just a rapidly spinning Chakra sphere. As for that, I'll teach you once you've learned the Rasengan."
"First, digest what I just said in your head, and ask me if there's anything you don't understand. I'm going to go catch some food myself. I'll grill some fish for you today."
With that, Jiraiya leaped off the platform, and the rustling sound of a few leaves gradually faded from below.
Naruto did not waste any time. He formed hand seals with both hands, and puffs of white smoke exploded in succession, as fifty Shadow Clones stood in unison under the sunlight.
He had each Clone pick up a leaf from the ground and place it on their palm.
The first standard practice to hone Wind Release Chakra nature transformation: using Chakra to slice the leaf open.
It sounded simple, but in essence, it was an attempt to convert his pure Chakra into Wind Chakra with cutting characteristics.
If too much Chakra was injected, the leaf would be shattered by the entire mass of Chakra instead of being sliced open.
If too little was injected, the cutting characteristics would not manifest at all.
Only by injecting just enough Wind Chakra that possessed cutting characteristics could the leaf split along a clean cut.
Naruto sat in the middle of his Shadow Clones, picking up a leaf and placing it in his palm.
Fifty Shadow Clones were simultaneously holding leaves and trying repeatedly. Whenever one shattered, they would go back to the bushes to pick a new one. If they couldn't cut it, they would fine-tune the amount based on their previous attempt and try again.
The sound of leaves shattering echoed one after another. The fragments were blown around the platform by the wind, falling everywhere.