Chapter 080: You Can't Perform the Flying Thunder God Either (Disappointed)

After that, Naruto demonstrated the different effects produced by varying the frequency of earth-nature chakra added to the mix. He discovered that the closer the frequency of the earth-nature chakra was to that of lightning, the harder and tougher the resulting earth became, granting it greater piercing power. If the frequency was closer to water, the form resembled a marsh, becoming more fluid. When the frequency was balanced, not too close to any other nature, the result was an extremely fine dust of earth particles.

Jiraiya's Earth-Style Rasengan manifested as a massive, wildly spinning whirlpool of mud precisely because his signature Earth Style jutsu was the Swamp of the Underworld, whose effect was to create vast marshlands. He was already accustomed to infusing his earth chakra with a frequency close to water. Adjusting the frequency was no easy feat, so following Naruto’s instructions, Jiraiya changed the sequence of chakra transformation to perform his jutsu. His Earth-Style Rasengan then became a mud volcano that, once unleashed, would swirl through the sky and instantly engulf an entire city in a deluge of mire.

When Jiraiya tried combining both shape and nature transformation at the same time, the effect was to level the terrain around him, leaving behind a massive spiral-patterned pit. The mud he drew up with his chakra condensed above his head into a giant sphere of sludge, which he could command to assault his enemies in countless forms.

Jiraiya was thoroughly exhilarated. “Naruto! You truly are a genius! You took a single Rasengan and turned it into a multitude of jutsu!” He clapped Naruto on the shoulder, roaring with laughter. “If Minato and Kushina knew, they’d be so proud of you!”

Naruto only shook his head without saying much. Even though he had mastered his father’s jutsu and, on that foundation, developed many new ones, Naruto still didn’t much like using ninjutsu. He trusted the power of spiritual machinery far more.

In his view, ninjutsu was too single-purpose and too crude. It couldn’t compare to spiritual machinery—so versatile, so much more controllable.

Jiraiya, of course, didn’t know all that. He only felt that he’d practically wasted all these years. Look at Naruto—just by altering the order of shape and nature transformation, and varying the chakra frequency, he’d come up with so many new tricks for a single jutsu.

“All right, Naruto, I had planned to teach you a thing or two, but it turns out you’ve taught me far more jutsu instead.” Jiraiya gripped Naruto’s shoulder. “So, what do you want to learn? I can teach you Sage Mode, Summoning, Sealing Techniques, or my signature Hair Techniques. I highly recommend the Hair Techniques—they’re my pride and joy!”

“That’s not what I want to learn.” Naruto shook his head. “I want to study space-time ninjutsu, like the Flying Thunder God. It doesn’t have to be Flying Thunder God itself—I just want to learn more space-time jutsu, to get familiar with their properties.”

Jiraiya was taken aback.

He mumbled for quite a while before finally bowing his head with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I don’t know the Flying Thunder God. Minato learned it on his own from the Scroll of Seals—I, his teacher, was no help at all.”

“Well, I’ll go back and ask Lord Third if he’ll let me have a look at the Scroll of Seals, see if I can learn the Flying Thunder God.” Jiraiya looked at Naruto in surprise. “You’re planning to go back to the Leaf? I thought you’d stay here in the Land of Waves and never return!”

Naruto looked at him strangely. “Why wouldn’t I go back? My home is in the Leaf. My parents are buried there. I visit their graves every so often—why wouldn’t I return?”

“I thought you seized the Land of Waves precisely because you didn’t want to go back to the Leaf! I was just puzzling over how to help you hide it from the old man Hiruzen, but you say you’re going back!”

“Work is work, home is home! The Land of Waves is just where I work—I’m not about to live here! I’m not a workaholic!” Naruto’s tone was half joking, half serious.

The nuclear button for the Leaf was in his hands. The old man Hiruzen had done so much just to keep his grip on it, to maintain the stability of the Leaf as he envisioned it. If Naruto disappeared without a word, it would drive the old man mad. He might be old, but he was still dangerous! If pushed, he could rain down ninjutsu on the Land of Waves and ruin all of Naruto’s efforts.

At least until the Third was dead, and the stubborn darkness within the village had been purged, Naruto had no intention of revealing his hand and leaving the Leaf for good.

But Jiraiya misunderstood. He thought Naruto was staying in the Leaf only to learn the Flying Thunder God, swallowing his pride for the sake of the technique.

“Why are you so intent on learning the Flying Thunder God?” Jiraiya asked, curious.

“It’s mainly to deal with someone—a person skilled in space-time ninjutsu, very difficult to handle.” Naruto paused, choosing his words with care. “And this person is tied to things I know about—the truth behind the Night of the Nine Tails and the tragedy of the Uchiha clan.”

Jiraiya’s brows furrowed deeply, sensing the weight and hesitation in Naruto’s voice. “What truth?” he asked, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

“The one who unleashed the Nine Tails on the Leaf… was none other than my father’s student, Obito Uchiha.”

Naruto’s voice was low, his eyes reflecting a complex light. “Not only did he release the Nine Tails, he was also the mastermind behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan.”

Jiraiya fell silent. The news struck him like a hammer blow. He knew that boy. He’d always thought Obito had died—he’d even mourned him. He’d once advised Minato to be strict with the child, though Minato hardly needed the advice—he saw his own former self in Obito’s clumsy determination.

Now, as he looked at Naruto, Jiraiya was filled with guilt and anger. He remembered his own failures—he hadn’t protected his student, nor his student’s child.

“I’m sorry, Naruto. I shouldn’t have left the village that day,” Jiraiya said heavily.

Naruto shook his head. He knew it wasn’t Jiraiya’s fault. “No, sensei, it’s not on you. I just want to get stronger. I want to learn my father’s other signature jutsu—the Flying Thunder God, and the advanced version.”

“Obito is extremely difficult to deal with. Without space-time ninjutsu, I have no way to catch him. As things stand, I have no mastery of space-time techniques. If he’s determined to escape, none of us can stop him.”

Jiraiya sighed. “I’m sorry, Naruto. Flying Thunder God was invented by the Second Hokage—hardly anyone’s managed to learn it. By now, it’s practically Minato’s exclusive skill. I can’t teach it to you. But if you could deduce Rasengan from mere snippets about your father, perhaps you can try to reverse-engineer Flying Thunder God from what others say.”

“When we return, I’ll go with you to see the old man and borrow the Scroll of Seals—try to learn from it. If we can’t, I’ll help you gather any information I can.”

At that, Jiraiya faltered. Even he felt his words were absurd. Who could possibly reconstruct such a high-level jutsu as Flying Thunder God from mere rumors and secondhand descriptions? Even Madara Uchiha, a once-in-a-century genius who witnessed his brother killed by the technique, couldn’t do it.

In the end, Jiraiya could only mumble, “For now, the best I can do is help you meet the Nine Tails. Maybe from it, you’ll gain the power of the perfect jinchuriki.”