Land of Rivers – Leaf Forward Camp
In the center of camp, Taiichi stood perfectly still, looking thoroughly annoyed with himself. He slapped his forehead, stomped once, then gave himself a quick mental kick. Sensory ninjutsu—how the hell did I forget that?
The second he activated it, the entire camp unfolded in his mind. Everything except the privacy-sealed areas came through crystal clear. His perception locked onto Minato's familiar chakra signature almost instantly.
In a small grove in the southeast corner, Minato's head snapped around, eyes narrowing in the exact direction Taiichi was scanning from.
Sharp as always.
Taiichi pulled his sensing back immediately and gave a quick, respectful bow to the surrounding area.
Konoha had plenty of talented shinobi. Five different ninjas in camp had just noticed his probe. Apologizing was the polite thing to do—randomly scanning people was rude as hell.
Back in the grove, Minato's sudden glance caught his team's attention.
"Sensei, something wrong?" Rin asked, always the most observant.
"Hm? Nah, nothing. Taiichi should be here soon," Minato said, still looking toward the camp. That chakra signature and the way it swept over him? Definitely Taiichi.
Kakashi and Obito exchanged confused looks. They stared in the direction Minato had glanced but saw nothing. They could only marvel at their teacher's insane perception.
Sure enough, a few minutes later Taiichi came jogging into the grove, looking a little rushed.
"Taiichi, it really is you!" Obito blurted, sounding way too pleased with himself.
Taiichi blinked, then caught the smug "I knew it" grin on Obito's face and realized Minato must have mentioned he was coming.
He grinned and greeted everyone. After a quick round of small talk, he turned to Minato and got straight to business. "Sensei, Jiraiya-sensei sent me to learn Flying Thunder God from you." He handed over the note.
"Oh, the village reward finally came through?" Minato asked, clearly already in the loop. "You picked Flying Thunder God? You sure you don't want to reconsider?"
"What? Flying Thunder God? That name sounds badass as hell," Obito cut in, eyes wide like a kid hearing about a cool new toy.
"Idiot, that's Sensei's signature technique—the instant teleport one," Kakashi said, rolling his eyes. "It's an extremely rare space-time jutsu."
"Space-time jutsu?" Obito looked completely lost. Theory had never been his strong suit.
Taiichi just smiled at the usual back-and-forth. "I'm sure. Jiraiya-sensei already warned me how difficult it is, but I still want to try."
Minato studied him for a second, then broke into a knowing little smirk. "I see. In that case, I won't try to talk you out of it."
Taiichi caught the sly grin and knew Minato had figured out Jiraiya's little loophole. Master and student really do think alike.
"Sensei, can we learn Flying Thunder God too?" Obito asked, suddenly excited.
That was exactly what Kakashi and Rin were wondering. The technique looked insanely useful.
Minato shut it down immediately. "Sorry, no. It's from the Sealed Book. You'd need major achievements and the Hokage's personal approval. Even then, the learning requirements are extremely strict—not everyone can master it."
Obito, Kakashi, and Rin looked disappointed, but they understood. High-level secret techniques weren't handed out like candy.
"Alright, you three keep practicing on your own," Minato said. "I'm taking Taiichi to the other side of the grove. Don't slack off!"
"Got it, Sensei!" Obito answered, already sounding half-defeated.
On the other side of the grove, Minato turned to Taiichi. "First, how much do you already know about Flying Thunder God?"
"Not much. I know it's a space-time ninjutsu, supposedly inspired by the Summoning Technique and created by the Second Hokage."
"Correct," Minato said. "The original concept started from summoning, but turning it into a practical combat technique took a lot of refinement and upgrades."
He pulled a scroll from his pouch and handed it over. "These are my own notes and insights from when I was learning it. Take them—you can study them later too."
Taiichi accepted the scroll without any fake modesty. The knowledge inside was worth at least an S-rank technique. But they were basically brothers at this point—no need for awkward thanks. A simple "Thank you" said everything that needed saying.
Next, Minato broke down the core principles of Flying Thunder God in detail.
"Flying Thunder God is essentially a technique that lets you sense your own chakra at a distance and teleport yourself to it," Minato explained, putting it in simple terms. "Normal summoning uses a blood contract as the medium between ninja and summon. Flying Thunder God's first step is creating a reliable link to your target location."
"That link is usually chakra—since it's something we produce ourselves and understand completely. But the problem is, once chakra leaves the body, it dissipates almost immediately. So the first major hurdle is a sealing technique that can preserve your chakra for a long time. That's the Flying Thunder God formula."
"Now that you have the medium, the next step is sensing it. And I don't mean normal sensing—I mean perceiving its exact coordinates in space."
"That's the hardest part. Most shinobi, even sensor types, simply don't have the talent for it. They can't perceive their marker in the spatial dimension, so they can never break through the barrier to teleport."
Minato was an excellent teacher. Even though this was Taiichi's first exposure to the technique, he came away with a solid understanding of how it worked.
The only part that stayed vague was the mysterious "space-time talent." Minato tried his best to describe it, but the words just wouldn't line up.
"Sensei, what exactly is this space-time talent? Or how does it feel when you sense your own Flying Thunder God marker?"
Minato scratched his head and stared at the sky, searching for the right words.
"It's like… being out in the middle of the ocean and spotting a faint, flickering light deep underwater. It's there, but it keeps slipping in and out of sight."
Taiichi stared at him, completely lost. The description was way too abstract—he couldn't grasp the key point at all.
Minato saw the confusion and tried again, but it was like trying to describe an itch you can't scratch. You know it's there, but you can't explain it to someone who's never felt it.
Taiichi finally understood why so many people failed to learn Flying Thunder God. Space-time talent really was just that—a talent. If you didn't have it, no amount of effort or study would help. You literally couldn't perceive it. If you did have it, the marker was right there in front of you, impossible to miss.
They skipped the abstract part for now and moved on to the actual Flying Thunder God formula.
This wasn't the simple "Sword of the Shinobi's Love" kanji Minato carved on his kunai—that was the final, polished version after years of refinement. The real formula was incredibly complex.
Even with Taiichi's Lv11 sealing skill, he spotted dozens of brand-new runes he had never seen before—pure space-time runes that formed the core of the technique.
They worked straight through until evening. By the end, Minato was genuinely impressed. Taiichi's sealing foundation was rock-solid, far beyond his own at the same age. He only had to explain each part once for Taiichi to understand and memorize it. The only section that needed extra time was the space-time runes.
"Sensei, thank you so much for teaching me this," Taiichi said sincerely. "Without your clear explanations, I never would have picked up such a complex technique this fast."
"No need to thank me," Minato said, patting his shoulder. "If you get stuck on anything, especially the spatial perception part, come find me right away. Don't try to figure it out alone. And if it turns out you really don't have the talent, don't force it—just go back to Jiraiya-sensei and pick something else."
There it is, Taiichi thought with a grin. Minato had dropped the polite act and was openly helping him cheat. Master and student really were the same.
"Don't worry, Sensei. I know my limits."
"Good. I've taught you everything I can. The rest is up to you. I won't keep bothering you."
With that, Minato gave a casual wave—and vanished with a soft whoosh. Taiichi stared at the empty spot, one eye twitching. Show-off. Just wait until I learn it. I'm definitely rubbing it in his face.
Alone in the grove, Taiichi pulled up his panel.
[Flying Thunder God Lv0 (99/100)]
His foundation had been strong enough, and Minato's teaching was crystal clear. The moment the theory clicked, the skill shot straight to Lv0 with 99 experience.
But then it hit a wall. No matter how much Minato explained or how well Taiichi understood, the progress bar refused to move.
That was when Taiichi realized the truth. Hard work and study only went so far. Some things required the right conditions. Without the proper "body" for it, understanding meant nothing.
It was like humans understanding the principles of flight but never being able to fly like birds—because they didn't have wings.
But Taiichi had skill points. What was impossible for others was just a matter of time for him.
He spent 1 skill point without hesitation.
The panel updated instantly.
[Flying Thunder God Lv1 (1/100)]
Then the experience bar started climbing on its own.
Lv2—
Lv3—
Lv4.
It stopped at Lv4 (231/600). His strong foundation had given him a huge head start the moment the skill unlocked.
A flood of new memories and insights poured in. Along with them came a strange new sensation—like every cell in his body had been washed clean. The world itself seemed to peel back another layer, revealing something deeper.
When Taiichi opened his eyes again, he finally understood what Minato had been trying to describe. It wasn't that Minato's explanation was bad—it was just impossible to put into words if you'd never experienced it.
It was the same natural, obvious feeling fish have living in water or humans have living on land. You couldn't describe it to someone who had never known anything else.
But Taiichi had just crossed that line. The contrast made it crystal clear.
He flicked out a small ball of chakra. It dissipated quickly, but he could still sense it perfectly—not just in the normal way, but as a distinct point moving through the spatial dimension.
This was spatial perception. It really was pure talent. Without it, no amount of study would let you feel it. With it, the marker was right there, impossible to miss.
Next, Taiichi got to work creating his own personal Flying Thunder God formula. In theory, as long as you could sense your own chakra, you could use the technique without any formula at all.
But the formula existed for a reason. Its runes—especially the space-time ones—not only preserved chakra for a long time, they also amplified its presence so the user could locate the marker instantly, even in the chaos of battle.
He formed the seals. Chakra shifted to Earth nature. With his insane control and shape transformation, a simple desk and chair formed out of the ground in seconds.
Taiichi pulled out paper and a brush and quickly wrote out the basic Flying Thunder God formula. Then he started refining and compressing it according to his own understanding and needs. After burning through an entire stack of drafts, he finally had his finished version.
Unlike Minato's "Sword of the Shinobi's Love," Taiichi's formula read simply:
有我無敵
(With Me, Invincible)
He looked down at the temporary paper formula in his hand. The materials were cheap, but the effect was perfect.
He fed a tiny bit of chakra into it. In his spatial perception, a bright ball of light suddenly appeared in what had been empty space—blindingly obvious.
Taiichi slapped the finished formula onto a kunai and hurled it. As the kunai flew, the glowing marker in his spatial sense moved with it, flickering and shifting in a way that wasn't a straight line at all.
So that's what Minato meant by "a flickering light deep underwater." He wasn't exaggerating.
With a solid thunk, the kunai embedded itself in a tree twenty meters away.
This was Taiichi's first real test of Flying Thunder God. He wasn't about to try anything fancy.
He focused, sensed the marker, opened the channel—
Whoosh.
His body vanished from where he stood and reappeared right beside the kunai.
Before he could celebrate, a wave of dizziness slammed into him. The world spun violently. He nearly lost his balance and had to brace himself against the tree.
Damn it. Minato never mentioned this part. He had heard of motion sickness and seasickness, but space-time sickness? That was new.
He shook his head hard. Thankfully the dizziness came fast and left just as fast. A few seconds later he was steady again.
He tested it several more times. The dizziness after each teleport was still there, but he could feel it getting weaker with every jump.
Looks like I can get used to it with practice.
Only then would Flying Thunder God be truly combat-ready.
Just as he was about to keep training, the glowing marker in his spatial sense suddenly winked out. Taiichi walked over, pulled the kunai free, and saw that the paper formula had torn apart.
Cheap materials, cheap results. It only lasted two jumps. No wonder Minato engraved the formula directly onto special kunai. That step couldn't be skipped.
With Flying Thunder God handled, Taiichi glanced up at the sky. The moon hung bright and clear, bathing the whole land in silver light.
It was already close to 10 p.m. He packed up quickly and headed back toward camp. A good night's sleep would give him the energy he needed for tomorrow's training.
The ninja world was erupting in skirmishes big and small, but none of that touched the peaceful southern front.
Ever since the big battle with Sunagakure, clashes between Leaf and Sand had dropped sharply. After the mutual defense pact was signed with Chiyo, fighting between the two villages had stopped completely.
Taiichi made full use of the rare calm. He trained every aspect of his abilities without mercy.
Yohei, Saori, Kakashi, and the others were doing the same in their own ways.
Day 1 after learning Flying Thunder God
Taiichi's chunin rank rose from Lv8 to Lv9.
He gained another attribute point and skill point.
Day 2
His Chakra Shape Transformation finally broke through from Lv9 to Lv10.
Without hesitation he spent another skill point and pushed it straight to Lv11.
The flood of new memories and insights hit him. For the first time, chakra in his hands no longer felt like an invisible force. It felt like soft clay he could shape however he wanted.
The comparison was a little exaggerated, but that was exactly how it felt.
The thought immediately brought to mind the classic example of chakra shape transformation: the Rasengan.
He raised his right hand. Chakra gathered instantly, spinning into a bright blue orb.
Feeling the Rasengan in his palm, Taiichi focused. Without feeding it any more chakra, the orb rapidly expanded until it was a full meter across. Then, just as suddenly, he compressed it down to a quarter of its original size, perfectly stable.
This was the true power of chakra shape transformation. The same amount of chakra—vastly different destructive potential depending on how you shaped it.
He pressed the mini-Rasengan against the ground.
Hiss—
Mud and dirt exploded outward. A crater three meters wide appeared instantly. If that hit a person, they'd be turned to paste.
Taiichi nodded, satisfied. No hand seals, massive power, and it paired perfectly with Flying Thunder God.
And this was just the surface application of chakra shape transformation.
He concentrated. Chakra surged out behind him and formed a pair of visible wings.
His high-level control and the fresh Lv11 breakthrough made the difference. The wings quickly sharpened until every individual feather was perfectly detailed.
He gave the wings an experimental flap. A light resistance pushed back—proof they actually worked.
But when he flapped harder, the wings felt insubstantial, like they couldn't generate enough lift to carry him. He would need to improve the design if he wanted true flight.
Day 3 after learning Flying Thunder God
Taiichi organized a 1v2 spar with Yohei and Saori.
He deliberately chose a training ground far from camp. He knew this fight was going to be loud.
On the other side of the clearing, Yohei and Saori stood side by side.
This time Taiichi would fight them both at once. It was the only way to give them a real challenge.
The moment the sun reached its highest point, both sides moved at the same time.
Taiichi formed a quick seal. Two shadow clones appeared on his left and right. The left clone fired a Fire Dragon Flame Bullet; the right unleashed a Great Breakthrough. Wind and fire merged into a raging fire tornado that howled toward the pair.
His real body activated Fire Body and slipped through the gaps in the flames, charging straight at them.
On the other side, Yohei didn't hold back. He activated his Mangekyo immediately. A half-body Susanoo skeleton formed around him, shielding him completely.
His right eye's Susanoo amplification poured into the giant. The massive skeleton raised one arm and slapped the incoming fire tornado with a casual backhand.
The tremendous force scattered the flames in every direction. The few stray sparks that landed on Susanoo didn't even leave a mark.
Saori had already leaped onto the Susanoo's shoulder. She unleashed a barrage of lightning orbs straight at Taiichi's real body.
The orbs that missed exploded on the ground, spreading wide nets of electricity—Saori's own improved technique that combined the best of lightning orbs and lightning nets for both offense and control.
Taiichi wasn't fazed. He kept his speed up, dodging what he could and blasting the rest apart with Vacuum Bullets.
The moment he closed in on the Susanoo, he went all-out. Chakra-enhanced strength flared around his fist in a brilliant glow.
BOOM!
A deafening crash. The sound of cracking followed immediately.
The giant skeleton's arm shattered from the impact, breaking apart piece by piece.
The sight stunned both Yohei inside the Susanoo and Saori, who had been about to charge in. She crackled with lightning and retreated at full speed.
She had seen how tough Susanoo was. There was no way her lightning-enhanced body could take a hit like that.
Taiichi let out a small breath. That last punch had burned a ton of chakra. Even with his massive reserves, he couldn't spam it.
Seeing both opponents fall back, he grinned and pressed the attack, chaining Wind and Fire techniques without pause.
Yohei and Saori knew they couldn't win at range. Taiichi's ninjutsu was on another level. They needed to close the distance.
They split off multiple shadow clones to try to tie him down while Yohei resummoned his Susanoo.
Even with Taiichi holding back, they only lasted ten minutes before he casually defeated them. If he hadn't deliberately limited how long Yohei could use his Mangekyo, the fight would have ended even faster.
It wasn't that Yohei and Saori were weak. Their teamwork could beat most jonin in the ninja world. The problem was Taiichi—he was simply too well-rounded.
Long range, close range, offense, defense, single-target, area-of-effect—he could do it all. The only thing he was still lacking was genjutsu.
After the spar, while Taiichi treated Yohei's eyes, he also broke down their strengths and weaknesses and answered every question they had about ninjutsu.
He really was playing both dad and mom at this point.
This peaceful routine lasted five days.
On the fifth day, Taiichi finally received a new mission: investigate the ongoing war between Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
He walked into the main command tent and found Jiraiya, Shikaku, and Minato waiting.
He understood immediately—this mission was going to be with Minato.
"Taiichi, you're here," Minato greeted him with that same warm smile that put everyone at ease.
Jiraiya and Shikaku, who had been discussing something, turned to look.
Jiraiya, as both teacher and overall commander, asked first, "How have you been? I heard you've been training hard lately. How's Flying Thunder God coming along? You haven't given me any updates."
"Ah, I completely forgot," Taiichi said, scratching the back of his head. "I already mastered it."
"Didn't master it? That's fine!" Jiraiya continued without really listening. "That technique isn't something normal people can learn. Later you can just pick a different one from the Sealed Book. Don't waste any more time on—"
He stopped mid-sentence as the words finally registered. He looked at Shikaku and Minato, both of whom were staring with their mouths open.
"You… just said you mastered it?"
"Yeah," Taiichi answered casually. "Minato-sensei explained it really well. It took me a while to understand that 'flickering light deep underwater' feeling he described, but once it clicked, I picked it up pretty fast."
Jiraiya let out a huge laugh and slapped Taiichi on the shoulder. "That's my student! The only two people in all of Konoha who can use Flying Thunder God were both taught by me!"
He laughed again, clearly thrilled.
"Perfect," Shikaku said, quickly regaining his composure. "With Taiichi able to use Flying Thunder God, this mission just became a lot safer."
"Ahahaha, I was a little worried about you before, but now I'm not worried at all," Jiraiya added. "If things go bad, you can always run. Shikaku, brief them on the mission details."
Shikaku nodded and turned to Minato and Taiichi.
"This is a direct order from the village. Officially, you're being sent to gather intelligence on the war between Sunagakure and Iwagakure. In reality, your goal is to assassinate as many key personnel as possible to keep the conflict dragging on."
He paused, watching their expressions. Both men stayed calm and focused. He nodded to himself, satisfied.
He had been worried one of them might have some naive sense of justice and object to attacking an "ally." Especially Taiichi, who was still young. But both of them understood the reality of war perfectly.
"Right now Iwagakure holds the advantage on the battlefield. You should focus your efforts on them. The goal is to keep both sides locked in a bloody stalemate for as long as possible. The longer they bleed each other, the greater Konoha's advantage will be when the real war begins."
"Understood."
"Most importantly, do not reveal your identities. We are still technically allied with Sunagakure. Being discovered would damage Konoha's reputation. Your mission reports will only record this as a standard reconnaissance mission. Any additional rewards will be issued after the war ends. I trust you both understand."
Taiichi and Minato glanced at each other and nodded. They knew how these black-ops missions worked. Plausible deniability was everything.
With everything settled, Minato and Taiichi left the command tent to prepare their supplies.
Back at their own tent, Yohei and Saori were already there.
"Taiichi, what's going on? Another mission?" Yohei asked immediately. He was getting restless after days of nothing but training.
"Yeah, but it's a personal assignment. I can't take you guys with me this time." Taiichi kept packing while he talked. "I'll be going with Minato-sensei. You and Saori can team up with Kakashi and the others for something. If you get bored, go find Obito. I saw him slacking off during training again the other day."
The evil side of Taiichi had struck again—another report on Obito.
Yohei's eyes lit up instantly. Right now he was far more interested in "training" with his cousin than in any mission.
Saori watched from the side, speechless. She was the type who could sit still and train quietly for days. Her progress had been excellent lately, so she was perfectly happy to keep working.
But seeing the wicked grin on Yohei's face, she couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Obito.
Having a cousin like Yohei really was a curse that lasted eight generations.