Chapter 74

Chapter 74

"Minato-sensei wants to learn Chidori from you, Haneda," Obito said casually as he approached.

He glanced at the lightning in Haneda's hand, thinking to himself how gifted Haneda was, with such strong abilities and still working so hard. *I need to work even harder if I want to catch up!*

"Really, Minato-senpai?" Haneda jumped down from the large rock and landed next to Obito, curiously asking, "Isn't Minato-senpai known for Wind Release? Why the sudden interest in learning Lightning Release?"

Minato scratched his head. Asking a junior for ninjutsu advice made him feel slightly awkward.

"Haneda, after our last battle, I realized your Chidori can be activated without hand seals, which makes it perfect to pair with my Flying Thunder God."

"I see..." Haneda thought that using Chidori to earn some favor from Minato wasn't a bad idea, so he agreed.

"No problem, Minato-senpai. However, achieving seal-less Chidori requires a high level of proficiency and a deep understanding of chakra nature transformation. It will take a lot of training."

Minato had already heard Kakashi complain about how difficult Chidori was to master, so he understood the challenge. He immediately replied, "As long as I can learn it, that's fine. By the way, Haneda, is there any jutsu you'd like to learn?"

*Flying Thunder God, perhaps...* Haneda understood Minato's gesture. He didn't want to just take Chidori without offering something in return. After thinking for a while, Haneda smiled and said, "The Four Symbols Seal. I've heard it's a powerful seal, capable of even sealing a tailed beast, though I don't know if that's true."

"These next few days might be a bit tough on you, Minato-senpai, since my knowledge of sealing jutsu is quite basic."

Just as Minato was about to respond, Haneda began demonstrating the execution of Chidori.

"Minato-senpai, the hand seals for Chidori are Rat, Horse, Monkey, Horse, Rabbit—five seals in total." As Haneda spoke, he formed the seals, and at the moment of the Rabbit seal, the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air. Simultaneously, blue lightning crackled around his right hand, flickering with intensity.

"That's amazing, Haneda!" Obito exclaimed in awe, witnessing Haneda perform Chidori for the first time.

"Could you show me again?" Minato asked, focusing seriously on Haneda's right hand, closely observing the chakra flow.

He could sense that as Haneda formed the seals, a large amount of Lightning Release chakra gathered in his hand, and as Chidori was released, that chakra rapidly transformed in nature. It felt as if a wild beast had locked onto its prey, ready to strike at any moment.

"Of course, Minato-senpai. That was just a demonstration. I haven't actually started teaching yet." Haneda retracted the Chidori, and the crackling lightning disappeared in an instant.

"The secret of Chidori lies in the speed of the thrust. By concentrating the intense electrical currents generated by the Lightning Release chakra in the hand, it amplifies the speed of the thrust," Haneda explained. As he spoke, he once again formed the seals, but this time much slower. The speed at which he gathered Lightning Release chakra was also significantly reduced.

Handling the volatile nature of Lightning Release chakra at such a slow pace was incredibly challenging, but Haneda had spent five years developing Chidori. His understanding of Lightning Release chakra had reached a deep level.

"Now you try it... Huh???" Haneda was shocked to see Minato rapidly forming the seals, and in a mere second, the sound of Chidori echoed from Minato's right hand.

Hearing the familiar chirping and seeing the familiar light, Haneda felt slightly defeated by Minato's talent. He was reminded of the time when Kakashi mastered Chidori just as quickly.

Back then, Kakashi had also picked it up in just a few tries—utterly ridiculous.

This was the world of true geniuses, far beyond the reach of someone like Haneda, who had to rely on hard work and his special abilities.

"It seems simple enough... The key to Chidori is the thrust, Haneda, you explained it well," Minato said with a warm smile.

Hearing his gentle tone and seeing Minato's easygoing smile, Haneda couldn't help but feel a bit of bitterness spreading inside him.

"Amazing, Minato-sensei! You learned it after just two demonstrations from Haneda!" Obito exclaimed.

This all-too-familiar scene made Haneda feel even more uncomfortable.

He decided to challenge Minato by betting on his five years of practice with the Shadow Clone technique, wondering if Minato could perform Chidori without hand seals.

With over ten Shadow Clones and 1,826 nights of training, Haneda couldn't believe that even a genius could surpass him in this!

"Ahem... Since Minato-senpai has already learned Chidori, let me explain the technique for seal-less execution," Haneda continued.

"Seal-less Chidori isn't fundamentally different from the version with hand seals. The seals serve as a mental focus, making the rapid gathering of Lightning Release chakra more manageable. Think of seals as enzymes in biology or catalysts in chemistry—acting as intermediaries for the technique."

"As long as you can concentrate enough chakra in a short period and trigger the nature transformation of the Lightning Release chakra quickly, you can perform Chidori without seals."

"Like this."

Without forming a single seal, the sound of Chidori filled the air again, and lightning instantly sparked from Haneda's hand.

"Amazing, Haneda!" Obito shouted in admiration, his eyes practically sparkling as he watched Haneda.

*When will I ever be able to do something as effortlessly as Haneda?* he thought.

Haneda smiled modestly and dismissed the Chidori from his hand. Those 1,826 nights of hard work multiplied by ten could not be matched by raw talent!

Minato attempted the seal-less version after listening carefully. He tried gathering a large amount of Lightning Release chakra into his right hand, but when he attempted to trigger the nature transformation quickly, the lightning fizzled out.

He tried again, this time reducing the chakra gathered but speeding up the nature transformation. However, the chakra wasn't enough, and the Chidori flickered and died out after a brief moment.

Minato soon realized that performing Chidori without seals required precise control over the chakra, as well as a deep understanding of its nature transformation—something that couldn't be achieved overnight.

Seeing this, a smile crept across Haneda's face again. His hard work and unique abilities were proving to be unmatched!

Even Sasuke had taken three years to reach Haneda's level!

"Minato-senpai, Lightning Release chakra is very volatile. You need to train slowly and carefully. As long as you keep working at it, you'll definitely master it," Haneda said patiently.

"Is that so?" Minato responded with a wry smile, realizing he needed to make backup plans.

The international situation wasn't looking good. Sunagakure was stirring up trouble, trying to provoke a war and seize the Land of Fire's territory.

One village was behaving like this, and the other three great nations were also gearing up for battle.

War could break out in the ninja world at any moment, and Minato might not have enough time to master seal-less Chidori before the conflict erupted—before he needed to protect the ones he loved.

***

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