"Just like this."
Before the words had even faded, Shinichi spun on his heel, twisted at the waist, and drove his right fist forward like a cannon shell toward another smaller bluish-gray boulder ten meters away.
The instant his knuckles were about to touch the rock's surface—
BOOM!
A searing, ultra-dense crimson flame erupted from his fist, blooming outward from within.
The fire was compressed to an extreme, almost perfectly matching the shape of his knuckles—deep blood-red at the core, so hot the air warped and hissed around it.
It looked like a flaming gauntlet forged from pure explosive force, wrapping his iron fist as he slammed it into the boulder with overwhelming power.
CRACK!
The destruction was completely different from a pure Monstrous Strength punch.
The rock shattered, but at the exact point of impact there was now a deep, blackened fist imprint with scorched edges.
The high-temperature flame explosion and raw physical force stacked perfectly—not only pulverizing the stone's structure but leaving clear burn marks in every crack. Smaller fragments that flew off still trailed thin wisps of smoke.
Shinichi retracted his fist and let out a slow breath. The terrifying heat around his hand vanished. His skin was flushed pink and steaming faintly, but there wasn't a single burn.
He turned to Tsunade. "I compress and contain the Fire-nature chakra inside the striking limb using Monstrous Strength principles, then release both the physical impact and the concentrated flame explosion the moment I hit the target. Right now, I'm trying to make the limb attack itself the fuse and delivery system for a lethal blaze."
Tsunade didn't answer right away. She walked over to the shattered boulder, crouched, and ran her fingers along the blackened edge of the fist print. She felt the lingering heat and the violent aftertaste of Fire-nature chakra still hanging in the air.
Her face stayed neutral, but inside she was shaken.
This kid…
She remembered the Third Hokage mentioning that Shinichi had only started thinking about Fire Release Nintaijutsu after the Chunin Exams ended last year—completely from scratch.
In less than six months he had created Yamibarai, a stable and practical flaming shuriken. That alone was a huge breakthrough.
And now, only a few more months later, he had already taken that volatile Fire-nature chakra, fused it with Monstrous Strength's compression-and-release concept, and produced this prototype flaming fist that combined raw physical power with attribute erosion.
This wasn't just fast learning anymore. This was frightening realization speed—the ability to break abstract ideas into pieces, solve every bottleneck, and turn them into actual combat techniques.
Give him a few more years…
Tsunade's mind flashed forward.
A stable, blazing armor wrapping his entire body. Perfect offense and defense. Maybe even further—like the Cloud ninjas' Lightning Release Chakra Mode that had been passed down for generations—he could truly merge Fire-nature chakra into every cell, achieving an all-around leap and creating Konoha's own ferocious, blazing Fire Release Chakra Mode.
With the clarity of direction, problem-solving speed, and long-term planning this boy was showing, it actually seemed possible.
The Cloud ninjas had taken decades—three generations of Kage, three top-tier Lightning and Taijutsu masters—to reach their current Lightning Release Nintaijutsu.
And this kid…
Tsunade suddenly realized she might be watching, in real time, the entire birth of a new power system that could one day become one of Konoha's signature strengths.
And the person driving the whole process was this black-haired teenager who still looked a little boyish but whose eyes were far too calm for his age.
"Not bad," she finally said, keeping her tone deliberately casual as she stood and brushed rock dust off her hands. She walked back to him, eyes flicking to his still-pink, steaming right arm. "You've got a decent direction now, at least. But be careful when you practice. Fire-nature chakra is way rougher on the cakra path and muscles than normal chakra. All that leftover heat from compression and release adds up. Don't go making another mess like last time—I'm not babysitting your ass if you blow yourself up again."
Shinichi just smiled and didn't argue.
"What are you calling this move?" Tsunade asked, arms folded, glancing at the scorched fist print on the stone.
"Arakiba."
"Arakiba?" Tsunade repeated, one eyebrow lifting. Her voice carried that familiar hint of disdain. "Weird name, same as that Yamibarai thing. You and your made-up nonsense."
"Call it whatever you want." Tsunade turned and headed toward Shizune and Kurenai, who were still training intently under her shadow clones. Her voice drifted back lazily. "Spend less time thinking up fancy names and more time on control. Arakiba? Hmph. Better not bite the enemy and end up biting yourself into an early grave."
Shinichi watched her back, gently flexing his right arm. The faint stinging in his cakra path was already easing as [Endless Vitality] quietly circulated, repairing the tiny damage.
He mentally reviewed the strike. The release timing had been a hair early, the compression still far from perfect—probably thirty percent of the power had been wasted.
But the direction was right.
Combining Monstrous Strength's compression concept with Fire-nature chakra to achieve dual release—physical impact and attribute explosion—at the moment of contact… the potential of this path had just shown its first glimpse.
"Arakiba…"
Shinichi murmured the name he'd taken from his previous life's memories and clenched his right fist. He could still feel the searing heat and raw power that had erupted after that perfect compression.
This was only the beginning.
From Yamibarai's stable, long-range flames to Arakiba's close-range explosive burst, he was slowly assembling the different modules of his Fire Release Nintaijutsu system.
Ever since he'd drawn the [Clone] trait last year, he had planned exactly what his main body would focus on: deep integration of taijutsu and Fire Release, fully pioneering this brand-new, limitless path. He would showcase his talent in this field to the maximum.
Just like the First Hokage's Wood Release—almost synonymous with the God of Shinobi—he wanted Fire Release Nintaijutsu to become, in the future, his most eye-catching, most unique, most iconic fighting style.
When people thought of Shinichi Higashino, they shouldn't just think "genius shinobi" or "swordsmanship prodigy." They should instantly picture those crimson fists that could incinerate everything, that groundbreaking flame combat system that belonged only to him.
Focus, breakthrough, peak performance. Pour every resource and every ounce of persona-building into one field until he reached world-recognized mastery. Use that to push for higher-tier traits. Let the clones handle everything else in parallel for balance.
Together, they would achieve all-around supremacy—excellence in every domain.
And the Third Shinobi World War that was coming soon… might not just be a crisis.
It might be the biggest stage he could ever ask for.