Chapter 189: The Clone's Logic, the Hero's Jutsu
The training ground designated by Jiraiya had become a wasteland.
The air was thick with the smell of ozone and pulverized earth. Dozens of craters pockmarked the field, and the wails of the "Naruto Corps" rose and fell in a symphony of frustration.
"Damn it! Just a little more!"
A ball of swirling, chaotic chakra in a Shadow Clone's hand had just formed into a semblance of a sphere when it burst with a wet "poof," like an over-filled water balloon.
The chakra backlash stung his palm.
The Shadow Clone grabbed his spiky blond hair in pure, unadulterated frustration.
"Why can't I stabilize it! The rotation and the power... I can't keep them at the same point simultaneously!"
"My hand is going numb! This feeling sucks!"
"Mine too! This is impossible!" another clone, nursing his own stinging hand, shouted back from across the field.
This feeling was too tormenting. It was like trying to pat his head and rub his stomach, except both his head and stomach were trying to explode.
Jiraiya, perched on a large, shady branch, put down his small Icha Icha notebook. He hadn't been reading, anyway.
His gaze fell on the real Naruto, who was sitting cross-legged, panting, but already gathering chakra for another attempt.
"This kid has been at it for five days," Jiraiya mused, a fond, proud smile hidden from his student.
"Five solid days of this, from sunrise to sunset. Non-stop."
"Any ordinary person, any Genin, would have given up by now. They would have cried, or quit, or blamed the teacher."
"He truly is Minato's son… This perseverance... this guts... it's exactly the same."
Jiraiya's thoughts drifted, back to another blond-haired genius, another lifetime ago.
Just then, an exhausted Shadow Clone, his face red with effort, could no longer hold on. He slumped to the ground and let out a desperate, soul-tearing wail.
"I CAN'T DO IT! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"How can one person simultaneously manage both rotation AND compression! My brain is splitting in two!"
He was just venting, but his next words, shouted in pure frustration, changed everything.
"Unless… unless one person is solely responsible for rotation, and another person is solely responsible for compression! Only then might it succeed!"
This purely emotional complaint, a simple "what if," cut through the noise.
The real Naruto, who was in the middle of spinning his own chakra, froze.
The world went silent. The shouting of his other clones, the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of birds—it all faded away.
"'One person... for rotation…'" Naruto murmured, his eyes widening in stunned realization.
"'...and another person... for compression to increase power?'"
His voice was a whisper.
"That's right…"
A slow, massive grin began to spread across his face.
"I… HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THAT!"
Naruto slapped his thigh so hard it echoed. He leaped up from the ground, all his fatigue, all his frustration, swept away in a tidal wave of pure, unadulterated exhilaration.
"I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" he screamed, his own clones looking at him in confusion.
"If I can't do it alone... I HAVE SHADOW CLONES!"
"I've been trying to do it with one hand like Pervy Sage! But I'm not him!"
"Using two Shadow Clones with me... Three of me... It would work!"
Jiraiya, on his branch, nearly dropped his notebook. He stared, his own jaw slackening.
"Two Shadow Clones... assisting?"
He replayed the clone's frustrated logic and Naruto's sudden realization.
"This kid's ideas… they're truly wild! He's not trying to master the jutsu; he's cheating his way to a solution!"
A slow, deep grin spread across Jiraiya's face.
"But this method... this crazy, brute-force, simple-minded logic... it might actually succeed! Minato, you'd be so proud of this ridiculous, brilliant kid."
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Naruto, his eyes blazing with a new idea, dispelled all the complaining, wailing Shadow Clones. The field was suddenly, eerily quiet.
Immediately after, he made the hand seal again.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Jutsu!)
Bang! Bang!
Two Shadow Clones, identical to him, appeared beside him.
"You two, come here!" Naruto (Main) ordered, his voice sharp and focused.
The two clones scratched their heads and walked over, looking bewildered.
"What is it, boss? We were just complaining..."
"Are we trying again? My hand still hurts..."
"No time for explanations! Just do what I say!"
Naruto (Main) took a deep breath, centered himself, and held his right hand flat in front of him, palm up.
He looked at the clone on his left.
"You! Use both your hands to cup my hand. Focus on one thing and one thing only: make the chakra spin! Make it spin madly! As fast as you possibly can!"
He then looked at the clone on his right.
"You! Use both your hands to cup his hands. You also focus on one thing: compress it! Shove all the power you can into that spin! Compress the spinning chakra into a tight ball for me!"
Although the two clones didn't fully understand the 'why', they saw the look in their boss's eyes. This was it.
They nodded grimly and immediately complied.
The left clone's hands covered Naruto's main body's right hand.
The right clone then covered the left clone's hands with his own. It was a three-person, six-hand sandwich.
"Are you ready?"
Naruto's main body's eyes became incredibly focused, his pupils narrowing.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, let's do it!"
The two clones instinctively responded.
This time, Naruto (Main), as the source of power, began to furiously channel chakra into his palm!
Whoosh—!
The left clone immediately felt the surge and, following orders, guided this massive, raw chakra, making it spin in the most violent, most extreme way possible!
The blue chakra in his palm visibly became wild and agitated, a miniature typhoon.
"It's getting wild! Hold it! NOW! COMPRESS IT!" Naruto (Main) roared.
The outermost Shadow Clone felt an immense, explosive pressure from his palm, pushing his hands apart.
The clone gritted his teeth, his face turning red. "GRRRNNNGH!"
He dedicated all his energy, all his focus, to maintaining the shape of his hands, compressing that wild, spinning energy within his palm!
The three Narutos, at this moment, had clear divisions of labor.
Main: Power Source.
Clone 1: Rotation.
Clone 2: Compression.
They cooperated flawlessly.
Jiraiya, who had leaped down from the tree, stared dumbfounded at Naruto's hand.
That ball of chakra, originally incredibly wild and erratic... it was no longer bursting.
With the help of the two Shadow Clones, it actually began to slowly stabilize.
Inside the sphere, countless chakra currents were still spinning at an impossible speed, colliding with each other, emitting a harsh, scraping, "ZZZZZ" sound.
A highly concentrated, high-speed rotating, perfect blue chakra sphere, containing terrifying destructive power, finally appeared stably in Naruto's palm!
Rasengan!
It succeeded!
"I… I did it!" Naruto (Main) screamed, his voice cracking. The other two clones were panting, their faces pale, but they were grinning.
"PERVY SAGE! LOOK! I DID IT! I SUCCEEDED! I LEARNED IT!"
Jiraiya walked over, a deep, proud satisfaction in his chest. He looked at the perfect Rasengan in Naruto's palm.
He couldn't help but see Minato, standing in this exact same pose, smiling at him.
But he had a reputation to maintain. He put on his gruff, 'disappointed' face.
"What's all the fuss about?" Jiraiya's tone was still that of disdain.
"It's barely formed, that's all. And you needed two helpers. You're still far from your father."
"Hehe!"
Naruto grinned, not falling for it. He knew he'd done something amazing.
"I know! But one day, I will surpass him! I'll surpass the Fourth Hokage!"
Naruto turned his head, his gaze, and the gaze of his two clones, fixed on a towering, thick tree nearby—one that required two people to embrace.
"Watch this, Pervy Sage!"
Naruto roared, and the three-person team pushed off the ground, charging straight towards the large tree!
Naruto thrust the blue sphere in his palm forward!
"RASENGAN—!"
Accompanied by Naruto's roar, the high-speed spinning chakra ball slammed hard into the thick, solid tree trunk!
The moment the Rasengan touched the bark, its violent rotational force instantly bit into the wood.
The hard bark, in front of it, was as fragile as paper. It was instantly torn, shredded, and obliterated!
Next was the tougher woody structure inside the trunk.
The Rasengan surged forward, not slowing, relentlessly drilling into the tree trunk!
"BREAK... FOR ME!" Naruto screamed, pushing with all his might.
Boom—!
A deep, muffled thud echoed as the jutsu's power finally erupted completely inside the tree trunk!
Centered on the Rasengan's point of contact, a huge, gaping hole with horrifying spiral patterns appeared prominently!
CRRRRACK!
The large tree, which required two people to embrace, let out a groan of unbearable stress...
...and snapped with a crash from the point where it was struck through!
The massive crown, with countless branches and leaves, tilted... hung in the air for a second...
...and then crashed heavily towards the ground!
BANG!
The ground trembled. Dust and leaves billowed everywhere.
Naruto (Main) and his two clones stared blankly at the destruction they had caused. At the giant, healthy tree, now cut in half, its stump smoking with chakra.
"This… I did this?"
This power…
It was too exaggerated!
"Haha… HAHAHAHA!"
"THIS IS AMAZING!"
Naruto dispelled his clones and leaped up from the ground, jumping and skipping in place, his voice hoarse with victory.
Jiraiya walked to the broken tree trunk, touching the perfect, spiraling gouges in the wood. A hint of reminiscence flashed in his eyes.
"Minato, did you see him?" he whispered. "He's a chip off the old block... just a lot louder."
"This kid… he truly learned your Jutsu."
"Hey, you idiot kid," Jiraiya turned around, looking at Naruto who was still celebrating.
"Don't get too happy too soon."
"When you can use Rasengan without the help of Shadow Clones... when you can form it with one hand... that's when you've truly mastered this Jutsu!"
"Right now, it's just barely formed with external assistance. It's a crutch."
Naruto, panting, finally stopped jumping. He looked up, his face streaked with dirt and sweat, and grinned his widest, sunniest grin.
"Of course! I'll master it in no time!"
"I am… the man who will become Hokage! Believe it!"
As soon as he finished speaking his grand proclamation, his triumphant grin froze.
Naruto's eyelids fluttered. His body went limp.
He fell straight backward, like a puppet with its strings cut. The five days of non-stop training and the massive chakra expenditure had finally, and completely, caught up.
"Hey! Naruto!"
Jiraiya, quick as a flash, stepped forward, scooping up the unconscious boy before he hit the ground.
He slung Naruto over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"He's truly a troublesome fellow," Jiraiya said to himself, shaking his head.
He looked down at the boy's sleeping, exhausted face.
"…Just like his father."
Jiraiya, a proud smile on his face, turned and began the long walk, carrying Naruto towards the Village.
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