Prelude to Battle

"Mental Secret Technique?"

"So, it's a secret technique of the Uzumaki clan. No wonder Minato-sensei said he was teaching on behalf of another!"

"As for my sensei, Uzumaki Kushina, whom I've never met, she indeed is a benefactor to Minato-sensei!"

The secret technique that the Fourth Hokage was preparing to teach was finally unveiled.

As Cross Country understood this, a faint smile appeared on his face when he looked at the Fourth Hokage.

Moreover, because Cross Country had transmigrated and was familiar with the original storyline, he thought that it was very appropriate for the Fourth Hokage to say Uzumaki Kushina was his benefactor. After all, from this point in time, the Fourth Hokage's wife, Uzumaki Kushina, should be pregnant with his child, the main character of the original story, Naruto Uzumaki.

Furthermore, besides continuing the lineage of the Fourth Hokage, without Uzumaki Kushina, would the Fourth Hokage have achieved what he has today?

On the Fourth Hokage's path to success, three people were indispensable!

The first was undoubtedly Jiraiya, who brought the Fourth Hokage back to Konoha and took him as a disciple.

If not for Jiraiya, the Fourth Hokage, who was an orphan, might not have discovered his potential and become a qualified Jonin. So, Jiraiya was the first benefactor the Fourth Hokage encountered. The second benefactor was the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, who had died early!

Without the secret technique of the Second Hokage, the Flying Thunder God Technique, how could the title of "Konoha's Yellow Flash" have come about?

So, even though the Fourth Hokage had never met the Second Hokage, he was still considered one of his benefactors.

In the original storyline during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Fourth Hokage greatly respected the Second Hokage, likely due to the Flying Thunder God Technique!

The third benefactor, equally essential in the Fourth Hokage's life, was Uzumaki Kushina!

The true display of the Fourth Hokage's talent, rising from an ordinary Jonin to a Kage-level powerhouse at the pinnacle of the ninja world, was closely related to Uzumaki Kushina.

On the one hand, Uzumaki Kushina had the dream of becoming Hokage and constantly urged the Fourth Hokage to grow.

On the other hand, it can be seen from the original storyline that the Fourth Hokage developed and mastered many secret techniques through his exchanges with Uzumaki Kushina regarding the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques.

As the disciple of the Fourth Hokage, Cross Country naturally felt the deepest connection upon hearing that the Fourth Hokage was going to teach him the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques.

Whether it was the Wind Body Flicker or the "Speed" secret technique, the Fourth Hokage relied on the Uzumaki clan's mental secret techniques to further understand the nature transformation of Wind Release chakra, making the Wind Body Flicker and "Speed" secret techniques truly divine skills. Furthermore, not just these two secret techniques, when Cross Country realized the Fourth Hokage had mastered the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques, he suddenly noticed that the Wind Perception method also had traces of the Uzumaki clan's secret techniques.

Then, acknowledging that Uzumaki Kushina was indeed a benefactor to the Fourth Hokage, who helped him grow, the Fourth Hokage began to teach Cross Country the training method of the Uzumaki clan's mental secret techniques.

As known, the Uzumaki clan members in the original storyline were not only far superior in physical strength and possessed vast amounts of chakra. They also excelled in mastering sensing techniques, sealing techniques, and many other secret techniques. The terrifying sensing ability of the Uzumaki clan first stemmed from their innate talents and enormous mental energy.

Secondly, it was due to the Uzumaki clan's long-term practice of mental secret techniques, further enhancing their vast mental energy!

As a transmigrator, Cross Country originally had enormous mental energy.

Unfortunately, without practicing mental energy secret techniques, Cross Country could only break through his mental energy in special circumstances.

Cross Country's mental energy first broke through when he fought Kakashi and was nearly killed by Chidori.

The second mental energy breakthrough was when he fought Mangetsu Hozuki and was almost killed by the combination of the Hidden Mist Technique and the Silent Killing Technique.

From this, it can be seen that a person's mental energy breakthrough typically occurs in life-and-death crises, and Cross Country, with his special advantage in mental energy, was no exception.

Of course.

The "ordinary people" mentioned here are those from families without mental secret techniques.

For instance, the Yamanaka clan, who are close to the Nara clan, actually have methods for practicing mental secret techniques, as the amount of mental energy directly affects the use of their clan's secret techniques!

However, even though the Nara clan has a good relationship with the Yamanaka clan, would the Yamanaka clan share such crucial mental secret techniques?

Definitely not!

Therefore, it was a significant opportunity when Cross Country mastered the Uzumaki clan's mental secret techniques from the Fourth Hokage!

An opportunity that allowed Cross Country to leverage his advantages and continuously enhance his mental energy!

Especially as he practiced and improved his mental energy, Cross Country would not only gradually master terrifying sensing methods akin to the Uzumaki clan but also deeply understand the nature transformation of Wind Release chakra like the Fourth Hokage. Besides these two benefits, many hidden benefits would slowly reveal themselves to Cross Country.

In summary, it boils down to one sentence!

Training in mental secret techniques brought Cross Country numerous benefits with no drawbacks!

Next, after the Fourth Hokage taught Cross Country the Uzumaki clan's mental secret technique training method and saw that Cross Country was successful in his first practice, the Fourth Hokage instructed him to complete the mental secret technique exercises daily. Then, because of other matters to attend to, the Fourth Hokage's teaching session for the day ended.

However, during the half-month of Cross Country's subsequent recovery, the Fourth Hokage still took time each day to guide Cross Country's training.

During these days of training with the Fourth Hokage, Cross Country's injuries healed by half, and he stabilized his Jonin-level strength, marking a significant progress.

In contrast, the practice of mental secret techniques was a process akin to dripping water wearing down stone.

After all, Cross Country's mental energy had already made two breakthroughs, "draining" his advantage as a transmigrator.

But as long as Cross Country persisted in training in the Uzumaki clan's mental secret techniques, when his mental energy made another breakthrough, the various benefits of the Uzumaki clan's mental secret techniques would gradually manifest.

Moreover, even without a "qualitative" leap in mental energy, Cross Country gained considerable benefits from daily training in mental secret techniques during the half-month period. It's just that training with the Fourth Hokage every day, and undergoing numerous complex training sessions, left him with no time to summarize these gains properly.

So, on this day, half a month later, seeing the end of the year approaching and the Fourth Hokage being busy with war affairs and unable to teach today, Cross Country planned to summarize his recent training gains. But who would have thought that just as Cross Country was about to start summarizing, Shikaku's sudden arrival would derail his plans!

"Cross Country, have you recovered from your injuries?"

"Our decisive battle with the Mist ninja is about to begin. Prepare well; Minato is going to assign you a special task today!"