After weighing the pros and cons, Mutsuki began drafting a reply to Danzo.
The introduction didn't need any substantial content, just a show of loyalty to give Danzo the feeling that Mutsuki still considered him the leader and himself as a member of the Root.
After expressing loyalty, Mutsuki moved on to discussing difficulties. However, instead of framing it as his own struggles, he wrote from Danzo's perspective, worrying that if the vice principal of the Academy, Mutsuki himself, secretly went to the Root for special training and got discovered by Hiruzen, it would bring blame to Danzo, the leader of the Root.
Mutsuki felt that he could teach at the Root, but only if Hiruzen was informed.
If he conducted special training at the Root without Hiruzen's knowledge, even if it boosted Root's strength, Hiruzen might not punish him, but the Root's mark on Mutsuki would be reestablished. Hiruzen would then instinctively think of Mutsuki as Danzo's man, and that wasn't the outcome Mutsuki wanted.
Mutsuki wanted to be seen by Hiruzen as a steadfast supporter of the Hokage faction, while in the eyes of Danzo, he wanted to be viewed as a loyal and reliable Root member.
This way, Mutsuki could act freely within Konoha. As long as he didn't touch upon certain interests, whatever he did would be supported.
This part of the letter was tricky because Danzo wasn't easy to convince. So instead of focusing on his own difficulties, Mutsuki framed it from Danzo's perspective, explaining the potential negative impacts on Danzo's interests.
He then fabricated some information about Obito to reduce Danzo's hostility towards him, and at the end of the letter, once again expressed his loyalty before finishing the reply.
After completing the letter, Mutsuki reviewed it and nodded in satisfaction.
After passing the civil service exam, he had studied social interactions extensively—unexpectedly, it was not for office work but for the world of Naruto.
Once the letter was done, Mutsuki used the Root's secret communication method to notify a member to retrieve his reply.
After dealing with dinner, Mutsuki studied Sealing Jutsu for two hours, then spent an hour developing Wind Breathing, and finally another two hours practicing the Flying Thunder God technique.
When Mutsuki went to bed, he glanced at his stats panel. His proficiency in Sealing Jutsu, which he had been learning from Kushina, had increased significantly, but his Flying Thunder God Jutsu still hadn't made any breakthroughs.
Mutsuki didn't dwell on it much. He quickly closed his eyes and fell asleep. He had set a plan to study for a month, and he wasn't going to change it.
The next morning, while Mutsuki was making breakfast, there was a knock on his door.
He immediately activated his Byakugan to take a quick look, and upon seeing who it was, a slight smile appeared on his face.
Even though he already knew who was at the door, Mutsuki still walked over honestly. After opening the door, he feigned surprise: "Minato, you're back? Has the war on the frontlines ended?"
The person knocking was none other than Minato, who had previously taken on an important war mission.
"Not yet. There was an incident with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki on the Hidden Cloud's side. The situation on the frontlines has improved greatly, and since I've completed my task, I've come back," Minato explained with a smile.
The Hidden Cloud had been fighting on two fronts, and with the death of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, they lost a significant source of strength, forcing them to retreat to ensure their homeland's safety.
Hearing Minato's words, Mutsuki recalled some of the plot from Naruto. He remembered that this incident was likely caused by Orochimaru, who unsealed the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, causing the tailed beast to separate from its host. The Eight-Tails then went berserk unconsciously, and Orochimaru took a sample of the Eight-Tails' horn, leaving the mess for Hidden Cloud to clean up.
"I'm just making breakfast. Come in and have some. You must not have eaten anything since you rushed back," Mutsuki said with a smile, inviting Minato inside.
Mutsuki thought Minato's arrival was perfect. If someone with Mastery-level Flying Thunder God like Minato couldn't help him make a breakthrough in his own proficiency, then it would prove he really had no talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu.
"You're right, I haven't. Thanks for the offer, Mutsuki," Minato replied with an embarrassed smile as he walked into Mutsuki's home.
In fact, Minato's timing wasn't a coincidence but intentional. On the way back, he had calculated that if he hurried, he'd arrive in Konoha just in time for breakfast, making it perfect to join Mutsuki for a meal.
Having spent so long on the battlefield, Minato often dreamed of visiting Mutsuki's home with Kushina to share a meal, deeply missing both her and Mutsuki.
"Today, you don't need to help, Minato. Breakfast isn't that complicated," Mutsuki stopped Minato, who was proficiently heading toward the kitchen, signaling him to just sit and wait for the meal.
Minato nodded and sat at Mutsuki's dining table, the familiar aroma drifting from the kitchen bringing a nostalgic expression to his face.
It had indeed been a while since he last had Mutsuki's cooking, and even longer since he and Kushina had shared a meal at Mutsuki's place.
"Kushina..." Thinking of Kushina, the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, Minato sighed softly.
If he could, he wouldn't want Kushina to be a Jinchuriki—it was simply too dangerous. Whether it was the Nine-Tails sealed inside her or the hostility from enemy ninja villages toward Jinchuriki, it was a constant threat.
But there was nothing he could do. At his current level, Minato understood the reason Kushina had come to Konoha. From the moment she arrived, her fate as a Jinchuriki had been sealed.
As time passed, Mutsuki brought one dish after another to the dining table.
"So plentiful," Minato praised, looking at the plates of tamagoyaki and grilled salmon.
Minato took a bite of the grilled fish, mixing it with rice, and then sipped some miso soup. A warm, comfortable feeling spread through him, and a smile of contentment appeared on his face.
This breakfast was actually tailored to Minato's preferences by Mutsuki. Mutsuki himself didn't like eating rice in the morning, preferring congee instead.
"I feel like your cooking skills have improved again, Mutsuki. I feel so much more refreshed after eating," Minato commented sincerely after finishing the meal.
"It's probably just because you haven't had my cooking in a while. If you eat a few more times, you'll see there's not much difference from before," Mutsuki replied with a smile.
After eating, the two chatted while they cleaned up the dishes.
Since it was time for teaching, Mutsuki created several Shadow Clones. Some went to the Southern Forest to teach students, and one went to the Academy for class.
After finishing the housework, Mutsuki took the opportunity to mention that he was currently learning the Flying Thunder God technique.
"I didn't realize how difficult the Flying Thunder God was until I started training. I've never had this much trouble with any other Ninjutsu. No matter how much I practice, I feel like I'm not making any progress."
"Flying Thunder God, huh? While I didn't encounter any difficulties learning it myself, Jiraiya-sensei said it's definitely one of the most advanced and challenging Ninjutsu. In fact, it ranks among the most difficult in all of Konoha's techniques," Minato said after thinking for a moment.
When Minato was learning the Flying Thunder God technique, he didn't personally find it more difficult than other Ninjutsu, but he understood its complexity based on what others had told him.
"If you don't mind, Mutsuki, I could share some of my learning experiences with you," Minato offered.
He genuinely hoped Mutsuki would master the Flying Thunder God technique, as it was an incredibly powerful Ninjutsu.
How powerful is the Flying Thunder God? Minato, using only this technique along with a certain number of kunai and no other Ninjutsu, could dominate the battlefield.
That's why Minato rarely used other Ninjutsu in battle. It's not that he couldn't, but there was no point. After teleporting with Flying Thunder God, it wouldn't make sense to stop and perform a Wind Release or Fire Release. That would be too slow and impractical.
If Mutsuki could learn the Flying Thunder God, even if he didn't become as proficient as Minato, his survival ability on the battlefield would be greatly enhanced.
"Of course, I don't mind. In fact, I've been looking forward to it," Mutsuki replied with a smile. He had been waiting for Minato to say those words.
After hearing Mutsuki's response, Minato didn't waste any time. He immediately asked some questions to gauge Mutsuki's progress with the Flying Thunder God.
"I see. Then I'll start with the basics," Minato said, mentally running through a quick lesson plan before beginning the instruction.
"First, it's important to understand that the Flying Thunder God is a Space-Time Ninjutsu. It works by transferring you from one point to another through space, not by increasing your speed to the maximum and moving quickly to another location."
As Minato explained, he took out a kunai for demonstration.
Minato placed a Flying Thunder God kunai in the kitchen, then instantly teleported there using the Flying Thunder God technique. He quickly returned to Mutsuki's side using the Body Flicker Jutsu.
Mutsuki nodded, indicating his understanding.
The convenience of the Flying Thunder God lay in this exact point. At short distances, Mutsuki's full-powered Thunder Breathing was just as fast as the Flying Thunder God. But over longer distances, it was a different story. The Flying Thunder God remained consistently fast, while Mutsuki would burn through large amounts of chakra and still take longer to cover the distance.
"Has Minato's teaching ability improved recently? Or was Kushina just not good at understanding?" Mutsuki thought, recalling his previous exchanges with Kushina. He found Minato's explanation fairly clear.
"Great, then let's move on to how the Flying Thunder God achieves Space Transfer," Minato said, seeing that Mutsuki was following along, and continued the lesson.
"First, we need to sense the space. Then, we mark a kunai or any object with the Flying Thunder God seal. Finally, with a 'whoosh,' we use chakra to teleport to the object that bears the Flying Thunder God mark."
Minato's focused gaze accompanied his continuous explanation of everything related to the Flying Thunder God technique. Mutsuki could tell that Minato was being very serious in his teaching, but he couldn't help feeling confused.
He hadn't zoned out or missed anything, yet suddenly, he couldn't understand a word.
If Mutsuki had to describe Minato's teaching, it would be something like, "You've already learned that 1+1 equals 2, now let's dive into calculus."
Mutsuki decided to take back his earlier thoughts—Kushina was right. Minato's explanation basically boiled down to "you just teleport with a swoosh."
"Mutsuki, have you gotten any inspiration for learning the Flying Thunder God?" Minato asked eagerly, his face full of expectation.
Looking at Minato's hopeful expression, Mutsuki felt conflicted. He could see that Minato was genuinely trying hard to teach him, but the content of the lesson was... difficult to describe.
However, there was also another possibility: it wasn't Minato's fault. Maybe the Flying Thunder God technique was just inherently this difficult to grasp, with a steep learning curve.
"No, Minato, could you explain a bit more in detail? There's a lot I don't understand, especially when it comes to sensing space," Mutsuki shook his head and replied.
No matter the aspect of the problem, he really hadn't learned anything; his proficiency level with the Flying Thunder God still hadn't made any progress.
"Hmm, then I'll try to explain more slowly and in detail," Minato considered his words carefully before continuing to teach Mutsuki the Flying Thunder God technique.
Three hours later, Mutsuki was still completely confused.
He could feel that Minato was trying hard to explain thoroughly, but the leaps in logic were still too great for him.
"Minato, I had some thoughts about the technique you used to imitate the Tailed Beast Bomb. Would you like to hear them?" Mutsuki decided to share his thoughts on the Rasengan with Minato out of courtesy.
Although he hadn't learned anything from Minato's explanations, it wasn't Minato's fault; the issue lay with him.
"That sounds great!" Minato said, a cheerful smile spreading across his face as he nodded.
Mutsuki extended his hand and gathered chakra, creating a perfectly non-attributive chakra sphere that appeared in his palm.
Minato looked at the chakra sphere in Mutsuki's hand with surprise, feeling that it perfectly aligned with his own ideas.
Mutsuki led Minato outside, then slammed a Rasengan into a large tree by the roadside.
Boom!
The tree shook violently, and a dent appeared in its trunk, but it wasn't completely penetrated.
"The power is quite small, but it's close to being perfected," Minato remarked as he observed the damage.
With the amount of chakra Mutsuki had just used, it shouldn't have had such a limited destructive power; the Ninjutsu had yet to be fully developed.
"That's right; it's still missing a crucial step, but I don't have any more ideas," Mutsuki said as he brushed off the wood chips from his clothes.
He had roughly followed the original storyline to develop the Rasengan himself, which allowed him to easily perform this incomplete version.
After the demonstration, Mutsuki explained to Minato the process he had gone through to reach this point.
Although he had established himself as a genius Ninja, he didn't want to steal Minato's copyright for the Rasengan.
"So that's what's needed here! Mutsuki, you've really been a big help," Minato said, feeling a moment of enlightenment after listening to Mutsuki's explanation. Many of the development issues he had faced were suddenly resolved.
Thinking about how Mutsuki hadn't learned anything from the Flying Thunder God explanations, Minato felt a bit ashamed and resolved to sort out his thoughts and make sure to explain the Flying Thunder God clearly when he returned.
"If this technique is developed successfully, we definitely have to call it—'Mutsuki's Tree Smashing Inspiration Teamwork Sphere!'" Minato exclaimed excitedly, coming up with a name for the Ninjutsu.
Hearing that bizarre and outrageous name, Mutsuki's mouth twitched, and he quickly interjected, "How about we decide on a name after the Ninjutsu is fully completed?"
If the Rasengan actually ended up with that name, it would be too ridiculous.
"Mutsuki, you make a good point," Minato said, mentally noting the name as a backup.
He thought the name was quite fitting; it highlighted that this Ninjutsu was developed through the collaboration between him and Mutsuki while also capturing the real scene of its development.
At noon, Minato didn't have lunch with Mutsuki. He hadn't had a chance to find Kushina after returning to Konoha, so he quickly apologized to Mutsuki and took his meal to Kushina.
Before leaving, Minato mentioned that he would have more free time during this period and could discuss Ninjutsu, the Flying Thunder God, and the sphere in the evening.
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