Hagoromo naturally didn't understand how a certain someone in the future managed to play around with the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken. In fact, just knowing that the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken existed and was an ultimate move was already pretty good.
In reality, the reason Naruto was later able to maintain high attack power while remaining immune to the damage from the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken was because he only used the jutsu after entering "Sage Mode." In the very beginning, he was also a victim of the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.
That unstable state of ultra-high-density Wind Style chakra, combined with a point-blank attack mode, would inflict massive negative recoil upon the user's own body while killing the enemy. For a certain period of time, it was considered a forbidden jutsu.
After agonizing over it fruitlessly, Minato had no choice but to temporarily abandon the nature transformation. He dispersed the Rasengan in his hand and turned his head to watch Hagoromo's movements.
After all, when it came to developing ninjutsu, overthinking it was often meaningless. It was all about waiting for that flash of inspiration.
Looking at Hagoromo, the right hand holding the medical scalpel was extremely steady. His actions looked as if he was carving bloody lines into his left forearm one after another. Anyone who didn't know better would definitely think he was engaging in self-harm.
Of course, Hagoromo wasn't just drawing lines, nor was he carving the word "early" to encourage himself to be diligent. He was actually carving a jutsu formula composed of one tiny character and pattern after another.
So although it looked like the scalpel was dancing nimbly in Hagoromo's hand, with his fingertips moving ceaselessly, his actual "carving" speed wasn't that fast.
It must be said that Hagoromo still had quite a bit of shonen manga flair. The tip of the blade in his hand continuously sliced open his epidermis, cutting through muscle fibers, blood vessels, and even microscopic cells, leaving behind individual marks. Yet, he acted as if he had lost his sense of pain, not even blinking an eye—alright, he actually didn't deserve any praise or flattery, because he had genuinely lost the sensation of pain in his left arm.
Before engaging in this behavior—which looked like a cross between getting a tattoo and performing a self-autopsy—he had first given himself a local anesthetic shock using electricity. Throughout the process, he was also simultaneously performing micro-operations on his nerve endings using bioelectrical signals.
Therefore, it wasn't that he looked like he wasn't in pain; he genuinely felt no pain whatsoever.
It wasn't that he couldn't endure the pain—as a ninja, he had been stabbed into a bloody mess more than once, which hurt far more than this. But since he had such a convenient ability, why not use it? It didn't take any effort anyway. For something like this, naturally, the less pain, the better.
After all, as a normal human being, Hagoromo didn't have the slightest trace of a "positive-energy" hobby like self-mutilation.
"Hagoromo... it's best if you don't attempt this jutsu so lightly. The burden it places on the body is far too heavy," Minato finally spoke up, after Hagoromo had finished carving his arm full of dense jutsu formulas that an ordinary ninja would absolutely never comprehend.
He had been watching Hagoromo's actions for a while now. In reality, he didn't recommend Hagoromo experimenting on himself, but unfortunately, the other party was very resolute.
"Don't worry, Minato-senpai. I won't perform any messy modifications on my own body. This is merely a small-scale test. Whether it works or not is another matter... I will conduct the jutsu development under the premise of not harming my own body," Hagoromo replied.
Minato genuinely didn't need to worry about this. Hagoromo was extremely careful with his own body; it was impossible for him to truly break himself playing around. In this aspect, he was fundamentally different from Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was the one who dedicated his life to ninjutsu development. The man's selfless spirit—daring to casually experiment on himself and not caring even if he broke his own body—was a realm the vast majority of people could never reach in their entire lifetimes.
Besides, even if Orochimaru played with himself until he was half-dead, he could just dive into someone else's body when the time came, completely finishing the job and dispelling all negative debuffs.
"As long as you can properly manage the situation yourself, it's fine..." Minato said.
Hagoromo was someone with very strong convictions. Since he said so, Minato didn't press the issue further.
In truth, Minato couldn't quite understand. At Hagoromo's age, having already attained such strength, why was he still so anxious to constantly improve himself? To Minato, it seemed a bit like seeking quick success and instant benefits. Natural growth was clearly the optimal choice.
The psychological pressure Hagoromo felt couldn't be articulated to others, so his actions appeared slightly incomprehensible.
But since Hagoromo wants to do this, let him do it for now. Anyway, with Kushina and me keeping an eye on him, it shouldn't lead him astray... Minato thought silently.
Speaking of which, were all the young ninjas recently this difficult to deal with? Minato suddenly felt that his path to becoming Hokage was going to be a long and arduous one.
"Of course, I'll know where to draw the line. There won't be any problems," Hagoromo said as he began cleaning the blood off his arm. He then smeared a pile of topical ointment over his wounds and prepared to bandage the arm.
However, doing it one-handed was ultimately a bit inconvenient. At this moment, Minato reached over, took the bandage from Hagoromo's hand, and swiftly wrapped up his arm.
Talk about complementary strengths and mutual benefit; his technique was far better than Kushina's.
As Hagoromo himself had stated, this was merely a test. Things couldn't be accomplished overnight, and he had no such expectations. Everything had to be done step by step. Therefore, the carving of the jutsu formula ended here; the rest would involve gradual testing and refinement.
Hagoromo wasn't banking on version 1.0, but on the subsequent versions 2.0 and 3.0.
Once the bandaging was complete, Hagoromo rolled down his sleeve, hiding his arm. Just as he was about to thank Minato, Choza Akimichi and Shibi Aburame walked in.
"Minato, we just received new orders. Our deployment time has been moved up. The orders require us to head towards the Land of Rice Paddies as quickly as possible," Choza Akimichi said.
"As quickly as possible?"
"Preferably departing immediately."
"..."
However, since those were the orders, Minato's squad naturally had no reason to disobey.
Thus, Minato nodded and said, "Is everyone ready? If there are no issues, we'll report our departure and leave immediately."
The remaining three all nodded, indicating they had no problems.
And so, Minato's squad swiftly sprang into action.
There was one great advantage to being a ninja: they could just pack up and leave on a whim... Actually, what the hell did they even need to prepare? As for luggage, besides the ninja tools they needed to carry with them at all times, they genuinely didn't have anything else.
As for mental preparation, they were just going from one battlefield to another. What was there to prepare for?
If it were other ninjas, for the sake of safety, it would be best to assemble a sufficiently large force before initiating a transfer. But Minato's squad absolutely didn't need to do that.
Again, with their level of strength, they could truly just say the word and leave.
Furthermore, orders wouldn't suddenly be changed without a reason. If it was an order for immediate redeployment, it meant the situation against the Hidden Cloud must be rather severe.
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