Just as Gen Takuya reached for the meteor, his steps halted.
He raised a hand to his forehead, rubbing as if soothing a headache.
It wasn't illness.
A shadow clone—responsible for experiments with Chimera Technique and the second body fusion—had dispersed.
A flood of memories slammed into his mind all at once.
He'd deliberately ordered that clone not to run experiments too long.
Otherwise, the memory transfer might've overwhelmed him on the spot.
So usually, his experiment clones would dissolve after a set time.
Gen Takuya sorted through the memories, exhaled, and formed seals again—creating a fresh shadow clone.
The clone didn't hesitate. It immediately walked into the laboratory.
Gen Takuya watched it go.
Of course, he had more than one clone active.
Two others were training ninjutsu.
That kind of work was easier—repetitive drills didn't create many strong memory anchors. Even when the clone dispersed, the feedback wasn't too heavy.
Unless you were Uzumaki Naruto, throwing around hundreds of clones at once…
After the clone disappeared, Gen Takuya sighed.
He still didn't have the luxury to relax.
Ninjutsu practice. Knowledge study. Experimental research.
There was too much to do.
Ever since obtaining Chimera Technique, he'd been even busier than before.
A troublesome kind of happiness.
But having clear goals—having tangible things to pursue—
Even exhaustion felt good, as long as there were results.
As for his real body, he didn't rest.
He took the meteor from the tank, thought briefly, then sat cross-legged and placed it on both palms.
And began drawing out its "activity."
Condensing it into Star chakra.
If anyone from Hoshigakure saw this, they'd probably stare until their eyes fell out.
They didn't dare train like this.
Even Natsuhoshi—an exceptionally talented jonin—would likely die from contamination before finishing a single cycle.
Gen Takuya chose to brute-force it with Uzumaki blood.
And naturally…
His training speed was terrifying.
…
A few days later.
His Star chakra training wasn't complete yet—but he'd already achieved results.
Gen Takuya formed chakra in his palm again.
A Rasengan took shape.
But it wasn't the usual smooth sphere.
A faint purple hue swirled inside.
Without hesitation, he drove it into an earthen wall.
In an instant, light erupted at the point of contact—white mixed with violet.
When the glare faded, a massive crater had been carved into the wall.
Gen Takuya studied it, then nodded.
The power had increased by roughly twenty to thirty percent—and that was without fully completing the training.
If he fully activated his chakra, the increase might reach fifty percent.
It wasn't comparable to Tailed Beast chakra…
But it was still a terrifying boost.
The experiment wasn't over.
Chakra surged again in his palm, sharp and violent, as if another Rasengan were forming—
But the shriek of wind and the shuriken-like outline made the truth obvious.
This wasn't Rasengan.
Wind Release: Rasengan.
It wasn't as perfectly rounded as Rasengan, nor was it as large as Rasenshuriken.
It was only slightly bigger than a normal shuriken.
This was the result of his ninjutsu-training shadow clone.
Wind Release: Rasengan had been mastered.
Rasenshuriken was no longer far.
All that remained was increasing chakra output and further stabilizing the technique.
But stabilizing a massive chakra mass wasn't easy.
If he simply increased output without stabilizing, he'd end up like Naruto's early, incomplete version—forced to use Rasenshuriken at point-blank range.
A technique that dealt ten thousand damage to the enemy while shredding eight thousand from the user.
If Gen Takuya wanted to use Rasenshuriken without Sage Mode, he had only one choice—
Perfect stability.
He needed to reach the point where he could throw Rasenshuriken safely.
Gen Takuya dispersed the Wind Release: Rasengan.
Its backlash wasn't as severe as Rasenshuriken's, but it still had some.
So in most cases…
This was a technique better left to shadow clones.
As for why he couldn't simply have a clone use Wind Release: Rasenshuriken?
Simple.
His clones didn't have enough chakra.
Even Wind Release: Rasengan was expensive.
Rasenshuriken was on another level entirely.
Even Gen Takuya, pushing himself to the limit, could probably only use Wind Release: Rasenshuriken two or three times—and that was with Uzumaki blood.
If he wanted a clone to use it…
He'd have to mimic Naruto's method—using the real body's chakra to help a clone form it.
Just like Naruto did against Kakuzu.
Even using Rasenshuriken three times had left Naruto exhausted then—and his condition wasn't even ideal at the time.
In Sage Mode, Naruto could use two Senjutsu Rasenshuriken, but that was limited by Sage Mode's duration.
And if you considered Naruto's fatigue after using Big Ball Rasengan…
It wasn't hard to infer that even at full strength, without Kurama's chakra, Naruto's limit probably wouldn't exceed ten.
And Naruto's raw chakra reserves were not something ordinary shinobi could compare to.
That alone eliminated most potential users.
"Still need more chakra," Gen Takuya murmured.
Now that he possessed Uzumaki blood, gaining a meaningful increase from other bloodlines would be difficult. Even if he added a bit, the total wouldn't rise much.
So there was only one remaining path—
Body conditioning.
He'd tried taijutsu training before, but his natural physique had been lacking, so he'd abandoned it.
Now, with Uzumaki blood…
He could begin using Might Guy's training methods.
Of course, the initial intensity couldn't be that high.
And body conditioning wasn't something shadow clones could do for him.
A clone could transfer fatigue and training "experience," but conditioning required the real body to be hammered and rebuilt.
You couldn't shortcut that with memory.
No matter how you looked at it—
Body conditioning had no real cheats.
Gen Takuya rubbed his temples again, a familiar headache blooming.
More tasks.
More burden.
More paths.
And no time.
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