Chapter 185: The Human Wave Tactic
On the private training ground assigned to Jiraiya, the scene was one of utter chaos.
Pop. Pop. Splash. POP.
Dozens of identical, soaking-wet Uzumaki Narutos were scattered across the field, each holding a water balloon, each trying their best to make the water inside spin.
The ground was a muddy soup, littered with the rubbery corpses of hundreds of burst balloons.
"Damn it! Why is it still not working!" a Shadow Clone of Naruto roared in frustration. The chakra in his hand suddenly lost control, and the water balloon burst with a violent "pop," splashing water all over his face.
"Idiot! I said spin! Not force!" another clone, crouching by the stream, pointed at him and yelled.
"If you can do it, you go!" the first clone shot back, wringing water from his jumpsuit.
"Am I not trying right now! Believe it!"
Dozens of Narutos argued, shouted, and accused each other of "doing it wrong," turning the entire training ground into a chaotic mess.
Jiraiya leaned against a tree on the far side of the field, just out of splash-range. His mouth twitched non-stop.
"This kid..." he muttered to himself, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple. "He's a genius at training... no, that's not right. He's a genius at cheating at training!"
[Inorin's Note: The Shadow Clone Jutsu (影分身の術, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu) is a Jōnin-level technique. Its unique, and often dangerous, secondary effect is that all experience, knowledge, and fatigue from the clones are transferred back to the user's mind once they are dispelled.]
After a Shadow Clone is dispelled, the experience and fatigue are returned to the main body.
This means that when these dozens of Narutos train simultaneously, it's equivalent to Naruto making dozens of attempts at the same time.
Every failed experience, every single successful fluke, would be instantly absorbed by the main body.
[I've never seen anything like it,] Jiraiya thought, his mind reeling. [Minato himself couldn't have predicted this. The boy is using a Jōnin-level jutsu to brute-force the learning process of an A-rank one. He's not learning... he's data-mining!]
This kind of training maximized efficiency to an absurd degree.
Naruto's main body sat cross-legged in the center of all the clones, his eyes closed in deep concentration.
He was receiving a constant, high-speed flood of training insights from the Shadow Clones as if watching a movie in his mind on fast-forward.
"Too much force... balloon popped. No good."
"Chakra output is too strong, it got messed up before the spin could form... no good."
"Too weak, the water's just sloshing... no good."
"This one... this one feels a bit right! Yes, just like this, letting the chakra spin in the palm of my hand... no, lost it. Popped."
Countless failed experiences filtered out the wrong methods one by one, narrowing down the possibilities far faster than any normal person could.
Time passed minute by minute. The pile of burst balloons grew.
Suddenly!
A Shadow Clone of Naruto in a far corner, who had been silent and trembling with focus, let out a cry of surprise.
"It... it's a success!"
The water in the balloon in his hand was spinning at a dizzying, high speed. The water itself was a perfect, swirling vortex.
The surface of the water balloon was bulging and straining due to the immense internal force, stretching to its absolute limit.
Pop!
With a soft sound, the water balloon finally burst, splashing water everywhere.
The moment this clone succeeded, he turned into white smoke with a "bang," his mission complete.
The pure, unfiltered, perfect experience of that one success instantly flooded into Naruto's main body.
"...This is the feeling!"
Naruto's main body suddenly opened his eyes, a massive grin spreading across his face.
He spread his palm and picked up an intact water balloon from the basket beside him.
He closed his eyes, recalling the "memory" he had just received.
Chakra, guided by Naruto's will, began to spin rhythmically in his palm. No wasted energy. No brute force. Just pure, controlled rotation.
One rotation, two rotations...
The speed of the rotation became faster and faster, a high-pitched whine beginning to emanate from his hand.
Inside the water balloon, subtle eddies began to appear.
Naruto increased his chakra output, but this time, he carefully maintained the spinning form, just as the successful clone had.
The eddies became more numerous and more violent!
The water balloon began to expand, wobble, and deform under the strain!
"That's it... that's it!" Naruto roared excitedly, feeling the power building.
POP!
The water balloon finally couldn't withstand the force and burst, spraying him in the face.
"I DID IT! Pervy Sage! I did it! Did you see that?!" Naruto leaped to his feet, excitedly waving his hand at Jiraiya under the tree.
At his shout of success, all the other Shadow Clones, their purpose served, also turned into white smoke with a cascade of "bang, bang, bang" sounds.
Jiraiya jumped down from the tree and walked in front of Naruto, trying to look unimpressed.
"Hmm, it's decent enough." He pouted, attempting to hide his shock. [It took me six months to get this far. He did it in three hours.]
"At least you're not completely stupid."
"Hehe!" Naruto, receiving the backhanded praise, laughed proudly, scratching the back of his head. "Of course! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"
"Don't celebrate too early, brat. That's just the first step: Rotation."
Jiraiya reached into his ninja tool pouch and took out another item.
It was a solid black rubber ball, much tougher than a water balloon.
"Second step: Power."
Jiraiya threw the rubber ball to Naruto.
"The rules are the same. Use the spinning chakra to break it."
He smirked. "This time, it's not like a water balloon. You can't just pop it with a little pressure."
Naruto weighed the rubber ball in his hand. It was heavy. He squeezed it hard; the rubber ball only slightly deformed, showing excellent toughness.
"Watch closely. This is the difference between a party trick and a jutsu."
Jiraiya picked up another rubber ball and held it in his palm.
[Inorin's Note: The jutsu being learned is the Rasengan (螺旋丸, Spiralling Sphere), an A-rank ninjutsu created by Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage. It is the highest form of shape transformation, requiring no hand seals.]
In Jiraiya's palm, chakra condensed at an astonishing, visible speed and spun rapidly. The air screamed with a high-pitched whine.
The surface of the rubber ball began to indent inward at a visible speed, as if being squeezed by an invisible, impossibly strong force.
Immediately after, accompanied by a "hissing" sound, fine cracks began to appear on the surface of the rubber ball.
The cracks became more numerous and larger!
Boom!
With a loud, concussive bang, the rubber ball exploded. It didn't just pop; it detonated, shattering into countless black fragments that flew in all directions.
Naruto was startled by the explosive force, taking a step back and staring at Jiraiya in shock.
"Did you see that, Naruto?"
"The second step of the Rasengan is to maximize its power while maintaining the extreme rotation of the first step."
"Rotation and power, neither can be lacking. They must be balanced perfectly." Jiraiya explained.
"This... this is too amazing!" Naruto's eyes were sparkling.
Naruto eagerly began to gather chakra on the rubber ball in his hand, imitating Jiraiya.
Soon, Naruto discovered the problem.
He could easily make the chakra spin (thanks to his clones). But when he tried to increase the power and output more chakra, the rotation he had painstakingly formed instantly disintegrated.
If he focused on rotation, he had no power. If he focused on power, he had no rotation.
The rubber ball in his hand was only slightly deformed by the chakra pushing against it. Let alone breaking it, there wasn't even a single crack.
"Damn it! What's going on! Why can't I do both?!"
"Idiot!" Jiraiya cursed, bonking him on the head. "The balance between power and rotation has been disrupted! You, who only know how to use brute force, don't understand what real control is!"
Naruto scratched his hair in frustration, glaring at the undamaged ball.
"I won't give up!"
He glanced at the empty, muddy training ground around him... and then that classic, foxy grin spread across his face.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Dozens of Narutos once again occupied the entire training ground, each holding a new rubber ball.
"Brothers! Let's get to work!" the main body yelled.
"OH—!" the army roared back.
Seeing the "Naruto Army" reappear, Jiraiya helplessly held his forehead, a pained expression on his face.
"Oh no, here we go again... This is going to be a long day."
Jiraiya silently retreated back under the shade of the tree and, satisfied the boy was occupied, took out his little notebook and a pen.
"This kid's training doesn't need me to worry about it at all... He's self-correcting. Which means..."
He began to write, a lecherous grin spreading on his own face. "Now, where was I in my research... Ah yes... 'Kurenai's crimson eyes met the Fifth's dark ones, her lips parting slightly...'"
"Heh heh... I'll just continue my writing!"
Meanwhile, deep within the Uchiha Clan Territory, night had fallen.
Inside Uchiha Fugaku's residence, the atmosphere was cold and silent.
"With Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, personally teaching him... the gap between Sasuke and him will probably grow larger and larger."
A strong, suffocating sense of crisis welled up in Fugaku's heart.
He stood in the shadows of his private dojo, quietly watching his son. Sasuke was training desperately, his body covered in sweat and dirt, his hands burned from practicing the Dragon Fire Technique.
Fugaku saw Sasuke's efforts. He saw his progress.
If it were any other Uchiha clan member with such talent and perseverance, Fugaku would feel immense relief and pride.
But Sasuke was different.
He was his son. His last hope.
And his opponent... his rival... was Uzumaki Naruto. The Fifth Hokage's personal disciple. The Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.
Was the current Two-Tomoe Sharingan and some conventional Fire Release Ninjutsu truly enough?
Fugaku knew the answer. It was not.
Fugaku couldn't help but feel a hint of cold anxiety.
[I am training him to be a strong Uchiha. Akira is training Naruto to be... a Kage.]
"I can't wait any longer."
"Sasuke needs stronger power. He needs something only an Uchiha of the highest level can provide."
Fugaku's gaze became incredibly firm.
In the entire Konoha, in the entire world, only one person could give Sasuke this power.
Uchiha Akira.
But, to... ask him?
Fugaku's heart felt very uneasy. His stomach churned.
His pride—the pride of Uchiha Fugaku, the former patriarch, the man who had awakened his own Mangekyō—made him hesitant to take that step.
To go to the new, younger Clan Head and ask for help? To beg for scraps for his son?
It felt like a final admission of his own failure.
However, when Fugaku saw Sasuke's incredibly stubborn back... when he saw his son fail the hand seals, smash his fist into the ground in frustration, and then immediately, trembling, rise to try again...
The pride in Fugaku's heart wavered.
[For Sasuke. For the future of the Uchiha.]
[For my son... so that he is not left behind, forgotten in the shadow of the Jinchūriki...]
[What does my personal honor and disgrace matter?]
Fugaku took a deep breath, his decision made. He stepped out of the shadows, his face a mask of stone.
He had made a certain decision. He walked out of his home and towards the brightly-lit Hokage Building.
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