What just happened?" Minato looked around in confusion. For a split second just now, it felt as though he'd had an out-of-body experience.
"Nothing. How do you feel now? Are you more sensitive to the fabric of space?" Ren didn't offer a convoluted explanation. Before coming here, he had significantly dialed back the dosage of the serum; even if things had gone haywire, he was confident he could pull Minato back from the brink.
Now that Minato had successfully integrated the factor, Ren was desperate to see the results.
"Emmm..."
Minato concentrated. His body flickered, and he suddenly materialized in a different spot. Throughout the process, Minato hadn't physically moved a muscle—it was as if it had become an instinct.
Ren's eyes widened, looking as if golden light were about to burst from them! He whispered softly, "Success!"
With this serum, he was officially on track to becoming a powerhouse who could manipulate time and space at will!
However, he couldn't be too reckless yet. After letting Minato go, Ren spent the next few days observing him from the shadows, checking for any delayed side effects or cellular rejection. If everything remained stable, he would devour the Space-Time factor himself using his God Gene.
This was an opportunity to master the power of space, and Ren held it in the highest regard.
While Ren was hyper-focused on Minato, he failed to notice two figures appearing behind him.
Mikoto, dressed in a yukata, narrowed her beautiful eyes. Her suspicions had been growing ever since Ren "borrowed" Minato for a blood draw. Even though she hadn't been able to move at the time, she had felt a sharp prick. Thinking back, that was definitely a needle.
She lacked hard evidence, so she could only keep a close eye on Ren, hoping to catch a slip-up.
Serum injections? It seems Nawaki only awakened Wood Style after getting close to Ren...
At the thought of Nawaki's Wood Style, Mikoto's refined face twitched. Among the three friends, their evaluation of Nawaki was surprisingly unanimous: Ghoulish!
Shaking her head, Mikoto prepared to follow Ren, but a sweet voice called out from behind her.
"Mikoto-chan, what are you planning to do~?"
Mikoto turned to see a smiling Hikari. Unlike the other girls who wore elaborate kimonos, Hikari was in casual short sleeves and shorts, looking quite out of place in the festive crowd.
Faced with Hikari's smile, Mikoto felt an inexplicable pang of guilt. She forced a laugh. "Nothing... I was just... um... wandering around. Heh... hehe~"
Hikari's eyes crinkled. "Is that so? Then let's wander together!"
Under Hikari's enthusiastic invitation, Mikoto couldn't refuse. She had to steel herself and spend the rest of the Summer Festival wandering the stalls with Hikari. In the distance, Fugaku—who had been nerving himself up to ask Mikoto out—withdrew his hand in disappointment and walked the streets alone and bored.
Over the next three days, Ren remained hidden, meticulously recording Minato's physical state. Once he was certain there were no side effects, he returned to the lab and used his God Gene to devour the Space-Time factor.
The moment of integration brought an instant change to his perception!
The world around him seemed to have "tracks" he could follow. He stepped on a specific point, and in the next heartbeat, he had crossed several meters to another. After playing with this a few times, Ren suppressed his excitement, packed his lab equipment, and flickered away. He appeared right beside Hikari and hugged her from behind.
"Kyaa!"
Hikari jumped, startled. When she turned and saw it was Ren, she breathed a sigh of relief, but her face instantly turned beet red. She stammered, "You! What are you doing hugging me! Are you a pervert! Let go of me right now!"
Despite her scolding, Hikari made zero effort to break free, allowing Ren to hold her. But soon, the moment was broken.
"Pervert! Hentai!"
Slap!
Ren, now sporting a bright red handprint on his face, watched Hikari flee. He sighed to himself, Hikari is still too shy. It was just a little cheek-to-cheek nuzzle, right? But man... I didn't realize Hikari was hiding such a figure~ Hehehe...
He squeezed his hand a few times in the air, as if measuring something.
On the other side of the house, Hikari buried herself under her blankets, her ears burning as her heart hammered in her chest.
"Aaaaahhh!!"
After rolling around on the bed, she poked her head out, her large black eyes looking watery as she stared at the ceiling. She whispered, "I guess... it's not like it's forbidden. After all, in my heart, I already..."
Thinking this, she wrapped herself back up in the quilt like a cocoon, squirming and kicking her feet. Her smooth, rounded toes curled and rubbed against each other, betraying the complex emotions of their owner.
Ren didn't mind the slap at all. After savoring the memory of that softness for a moment, he flashed away to find Minato.
"Flying Raijin! Here I come!"
At the Konoha training grounds: "Wind Style: Rasengan!" "Fire Style: Rasengan!" "Combined Jutsu: Scorching Flare Explosive Firestorm!"
A golden tornado slammed into the cliffside, instantly melting the solid rock into flowing lava. Minato looked at the damage with a satisfied smile.
"Minato!"
Ren's voice came from behind him. Ignoring the lava, Ren said excitedly, "Quick, teach me the Flying Raijin formula!"
Seeing Ren's state, Minato immediately knew what he'd been up to. No wonder he'd drawn that blood—it was for this research.
The two sat in a shaded spot. Minato pulled a scroll from his pouch; when opened, a series of complex runes appeared before Ren. Having studied the concept before, Ren wasn't a stranger to the formula. He wanted Minato there as a proctor to make sure he didn't blow anything up—and to have someone to blame if he did.
As he carved the runes, Ren instantly felt the connection. He could traverse the spatial nodes he left behind at will. His perception of the marked nodes was incredibly sharp. Flying from Konoha to the Land of Rain to visit Konan isn't a dream anymore!
"You succeeded?" Minato's eyes were wide with disbelief. It had taken him a significant amount of time to master the Flying Raijin, and Ren had failed to even grasp the basics previously. Yet today, Ren had completed the formula instantly and was playing with it like a new toy.
Once Ren had his fill, he gave Minato a small metal plate with his own Flying Raijin mark on it and vanished. Minato shook his head and resumed his own training. He had already mastered the Rasenshuriken, and its lethality was staggering—truly the sharpest Wind Style.
Now, Minato wanted to focus on developing some "less absurd" jutsu so he didn't accidentally vaporize his enemies. But today he realized: any jutsu based on the Rasengan was at least A-rank. The stronger ones were S-rank Kinjutsu.
The "weakest" one was actually the basic Rasengan.