"Captain Yamato, what do those renegade ninjas eat on a daily basis? Oh, and isn't Sasuke's brother no longer considered a Missing-nin?"
Naruto's question was actually what Sasuke wanted to know too.
Yamato told them, "The few of us over there are different. Haku and Zabuza cook for themselves. The produce from the fields and nearby game are enough to sustain them."
Sasuke perked up, eager to hear about Itachi Uchiha's recent situation~.
"I usually bring supplies back from Konoha for Itachi and Kisame," Yamato explained.
"He doesn't cook for himself?"
Sasuke regretted asking the moment the words left his mouth—or rather, they slipped out instinctively.
Yamato froze for a second. "Who?"
He quickly realized who Sasuke meant, though. He told Sasuke that Itachi had never cooked, and neither he nor Kisame likely knew how.
Sasuke said nothing, but he knew Itachi was an incredible cook.
He just pursed his lips and fell silent.
Speaking of these Missing-nin, Naruto suddenly remembered someone else.
"Hey! Obito, did you remember to send food to Kimimaro?"
He didn't want Kimimaro to survive the Kekkei Genkai disease only to starve to death in Obito Uchiha's dōjutsu space.
"Yep! I even included that sweet red bean paste cake I couldn't bring myself to eat last time."
Sasuke looked skeptical.
Rin smiled and told him Obito was a kind-hearted person.
Young Kakashi teased, "Your red bean cake probably expired, right?"
"You're insulting my character!" Obito retorted. "I always check the expiration dates on my stuff!"
Mitsuki tilted her head. "Speaking of which, I've heard of Kimimaro. Suigetsu and Jūgo speak highly of him, especially Jūgo—he once called Kimimaro his best friend."
Jūgo and Suigetsu?
Mitsuki nodded. "Though they defected from my parents to follow Sasuke-san, it seems after going through a lot, they returned to him."
Naruto: "What's the relationship like between future Sasuke and the Suigetsu and Jūgo you mentioned?"
"Suigetsu, Jūgo, and Karin were all members who joined Sasuke-sensei's 'Hawk' squad after he broke away from 'Hebi' to seek revenge against Konoha. They must have earned his approval to join. Though they haven't had much contact since, I get the feeling their relationship is still pretty solid."
Sasuke: "......"
His future counterpart truly harbors hatred toward Konoha. This proves that whatever Itachi did, Konoha bears some responsibility. What could have happened to make him hate this place so much—the place where this version of himself lived for twelve years, the place with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi—that he felt compelled to destroy it to vent his rage?
"Enough of that for now," Minato Namikaze said. "You have four days until your third Chūnin Exams. Sasuke has mastered Chidori and Naruto has mastered Rasengan. Speaking of Wind Release, I just remembered—testing your chakra attributes can be scheduled soon."
Chakra attributes?
"Let's discuss this outside."
Minato Namikaze led both classes outdoors to their usual training grounds.
Extending his hand, Minato formed a Rasengan in his palm.
"This Rasengan technique represents the ultimate manifestation of chakra's shape transformation."
Naruto nodded vigorously. "So does that mean my chakra manipulation is already up to standard?"
Minato: "Exactly."
"What about Chidori?" Sasuke: "Chidori isn't just about chakra shape transformation, is it?"
"Correct."
Minato Namikaze had the adult Kakashi perform Raikiri. Crackling electricity surged through Kakashi's right hand, arcing onto the ground with thunderous claps.
It was a different style entirely from Minato Namikaze's Rasengan.
Adult Kakashi explained, "Raikiri and Chidori are ninjutsu that fuse chakra form transformation with chakra nature transformation."
"Chakra nature transformation..." Sakura asked, "Does that mean converting chakra without inherent attributes into lightning-attribute chakra, then integrating it into the ninjutsu?"
"Exactly. That's the principle," Minato nodded.
Obito: "In that case, Minato-sensei's Rasengan truly doesn't belong to any of the four basic elements: Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, or Lightning Release."
"That's why the Rasengan is considered an incomplete technique—yet even in its half-formed state, it already meets the standard of an A-rank ninja technique." Young Kakashi remarked, "It's hard to imagine what kind of devastating ninja technique would emerge if the Rasengan were fused with chakra nature transformation."
"I've seen it," Mitsuki suddenly interjected.
Everyone turned to him. "You've seen the completed form of the Rasengan?!"
Mitsuki: "It probably can't be called the complete version yet. The true, perfect Rasengan is said to be usable only by the Seventh Hokage-sama. But ordinary-level Rasengan? Well, the Sixth Hokage-sama and... Konohamaru-sensei could use it too."
"Konohamaru..."
"Sensei?!!"
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura couldn't believe it. "You're saying your sensei is Konohamaru?!"
It was hard to imagine that little snotty-nosed kid who followed Naruto around would one day become a jōnin instructor like Kakashi-sensei.
Mitsuki: "The Rasengan I saw combined with Lightning-type chakra. The instant it attacked the enemy, it vanished from their sight—similar to a Space-Time Ninjutsu—piercing through their defenses and striking them directly."
"!!!!"
"Combining Rasengan with Lightning-type chakra to mimic a Space-Time Ninjutsu?!"
Naruto pumped his fist excitedly. "Let's start training right now! Add this Lightning-type chakra Nature Transformation to my Shadow Clone Technique! Just imagining the results is thrilling!!"
As the jōnin instructor to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the adult Kakashi sighed. "It's not as simple as you imagine."
Naruto: "But! But I mean, didn't Sasuke learn Chidori really fast? It took me forever to master the Rasengan." As he spoke, that resentful little gaze began its performance.
"Mastering chakra nature transformation isn't something you achieve just by knowing Fire Release or Lightning Release," Minato Namikaze explained. "Sasuke, Obito, and I all had to learn it. Only by mastering this can you flexibly utilize your chakra attributes to unleash more powerful effects."
"Moreover, the difficulty of mastering both chakra nature transformation and chakra form transformation, then integrating them, differs from techniques like the Rasengan, which require perfecting one aspect alone."
Minato Namikaze considered his explanation: "Suppose mastering chakra nature transformation is difficulty level 1, mastering chakra form transformation is also difficulty level 1, and integrating both is difficulty level 1. Then the combined difficulty becomes level 3."
"Mm-hmm!" Naruto and the others nodded vigorously while sitting on the grass.
Obito: "Then what about the Rasengan?"
"Mastering the chakra shape transformation is still a difficulty of 1 point. However, achieving mastery on top of that requires an additional 1 point, and reaching perfection from mastery requires yet another 1 point."
"So the combined difficulty is also 3 points." Minato explained, "Of course, this is just a basic assumption. It's enough for you to understand the principle. It doesn't prove whether learning Chidori or Rasengan is inherently harder."
"Exactly. Learning ninjutsu varies from person to person," the young Kakashi added.
Naruto: "Anyway, let's start training already!"
"Alright, alright," Minato said affectionately, indulging his son's impatience, which he'd inherited from Kushina Uzumaki. "But first, you all need to know your chakra attributes."
He pulled out a stack of paper slips and handed them to Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Young Kakashi, Obito, Rin, and Mitsuki.
"Paper?" Naruto flipped the sheet over. "There's no writing or symbols on it?"
Young Kakashi handed his sheet back. "I already know my chakra type. No need to test again."
"Then you can demonstrate for them, Kakashi," Minato said.
Young Kakashi nodded and channeled his chakra into the paper.
Naruto: "The paper's wrinkling?!"
"Because my primary chakra attribute is Lightning."
Young Kakashi found a tree branch and drew a pentagon on the ground, labeling each point with Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water, and Earth. He then projected his own five attributes onto the diagram.
"Though I can use Earth Release and Water Release too, but..." He tapped the Lightning attribute, which stood out more prominently than the others. "My primary chakra attribute is Lightning, which is why the chakra test paper wrinkled."
Minato: "This is a highly sensitive paper made from a special tree that absorbs chakra. Its main purpose is to test the chakra attributes of new ninja."
Obito: "So I just need to infuse it with chakra, right? I'll try first!"
He closed his eyes, concentrating to channel chakra into the paper. Immediately, he caught a whiff of...
...grilled meat?
Opening his eyes, he saw the paper burning. That aroma of grilled meat...
"Ahhh! It's on fire!!" Obito flung his hand away, shaking the charred paper from his grasp.
Minato patted him on the back. "Alright, your attribute is Fire."
"Most Uchiha excel at Fire Release," Sasuke stated before channeling his own chakra into the paper.
The paper crumpled into a ball, just like Kakashi's Lightning Release.
Just as everyone thought he'd been proven wrong, the crumpled paper instantly ignited.
"It means possessing both Fire and Lightning attributes simultaneously."
Mitsuki smiled.
Finally, he too channeled his chakra into the test paper.
The paper instantly split into two halves, then displayed the wrinkled traces of lightning.
Naruto: "It tore?!"
"That's the manifestation of the Wind attribute."
Naruto nodded eagerly and injected his own chakra into the paper.
The paper tore cleanly in two, signifying Naruto's chakra was pure Wind.
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances.
They both recalled Iruka-sensei explaining the cycle of mutual generation and suppression among the five chakra elements back at the Ninja Academy...
Sasuke: Wind can suppress Lightning.
Naruto: Wind can fan the flames of Fire.