After being busy for a while in the Hokage office, Natsuro finally returned to his normal routine. Working on time, leaving work on time, and even having some free time to train. Meanwhile, Naruto had been kept extremely busy, assigned to all kinds of missions with no break.
These missions weren't necessarily difficult, but they covered a wide variety of types, providing Naruto with broad experience.
According to Kakashi's reports, during these missions, Naruto's personality remained the same, no matter how many times he got tricked, he didn't change. Still, Naruto's combat experience had improved significantly.
Reading the mission reports, Natsuro could only think that this was as expected of Naruto. But his main goal was only to help Naruto gain more combat experience. As for his personality, it probably was something that couldn't be changed.
During this period, Natsuro's true body wasn't idle either; he had finally finished digesting the gains from his recent experiences.
Shikkotsu Forest
At the moment, Natsuro stretched lazily, a hint of satisfaction on his face.
He really wanted to find a sparring partner to test out the new jutsu he had developed, but unfortunately, after thinking it over, he realized he couldn't find a suitable opponent.
Maybe only Naruto and Sasuke could withstand his new jutsu, anyone else, even if he held back, might be directly killed.
After some thought, he came up with a solution... If there was no opponent, he would create a barrier strong enough to test his techniques.
He created four Shadow Clones. These clones immediately started performing seals, and soon, a purple rectangular barrier formed around them.
This was the Four Violet Flames Formation, cast by Natsuro's clones.
Even though they were clones, their chakra reserves weren't inferior to Kage-level, so the sturdiness of this Four Violet Flames Formation far exceeded the one used by Orochimaru's Sound Four during the Konoha Crush Plan.
Looking at the barrier, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Back during the Konoha Crush, that formation had been a tough obstacle for him.
At that time, even though he had already mastered the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, he hadn't tried to brute-force the barrier because the Rasenshuriken's power was too scattered.
He only had one chance, and using the Rasenshuriken would leave him unable to use Flying Thunder God, so he had chosen the safer route instead.
Now, he could afford to experiment.
In the next moment, a Rasenshuriken appeared in Natsuro's hand. Nowadays, after repeated refinement, he could almost instantly cast it, though with slightly less power if rushed.
However, for testing purposes, he used a fully powered Rasenshuriken infused with Sage Art, since Sage Mode was already his default state.
The Rasenshuriken let out a piercing screech as it spun, the ground beneath his feet leaving spiral marks from its force.
The current Rasenshuriken was dozens or even hundreds of times stronger than the one he had during the Konoha Crush.
The noise even woke up the Slug Sage. But used to seeing explosive Truth-Seeking Balls, it wasn't too surprised, it just sent a smaller slug clone to observe before going back to sleep.
Natsuro hurled the Rasenshuriken. As it spun toward the Four Violet Flames Formation, its expanding force swept everything aside.
Upon impact, a huge explosion erupted, and a white light cut through one side of the barrier, continuing toward the other.
Another explosion sounded as the Rasenshuriken hit the opposite side, but this time the barrier only shook, it didn't break. As the Rasenshuriken dissipated, the Four Violet Flames Formation stabilized again.
You could say the Rasenshuriken succeeded... halfway.
The clones canceled themselves, and Natsuro gained full insight into the situation. It was just as he thought, the first barrier was cut because the Rasenshuriken's first-stage attack, the cutting force, succeeded.
But when it hit the second barrier, the Rasenshuriken switched to its second-stage attack, a neurotoxin-like bombardment of countless tiny attacks which weren't focused enough to break through the barrier.
This didn't mean the Rasenshuriken wasn't powerful. It specialized in biological targets with cellular regeneration, as such, it was devastating against them.
If used against a normal Four Violet Flames Formation, the Rasenshuriken would easily break through with brute force. It was just that even his clones had extremely high-quality chakra, making the formation unusually durable.
Then, he created four new clones to recreate the Four Violet Flames Formation. This time, he planned to test a new jutsu he had developed.
When everything was ready, Natsuro finished his seals.
"Wind Release: Shattering Space!"
In an instant, an invisible, massive blade surged forth, seemingly ready to slice through everything, heading straight for the barrier.
It didn't look as overwhelming as the Rasenshuriken, and when it touched the formation, there was no explosion.
Instead, it sliced cleanly through the barrier without resistance, continuing on and slicing into the ground beyond.
The Four Violet Flames Formation was neatly cut in half, its top portion dissipating soon after as it lost chakra support.
The invisible blade even retained residual power and continued flying into the distance.
Seeing this, his eyes showed a satisfied gleam.
In terms of pure power, Shattering Space wasn't as strong as the Rasenshuriken, but it concentrated its force into a single point to an extreme degree.
It inherited and evolved from the Vacuum Wave, surpassing it entirely in focused cutting power.
Moreover, Shattering Space came in two versions.The first was a simple upgraded version of the Vacuum Wave, barely an A-rank technique, not too hard to learn.
The second version required a spatial affinity, not enough to master Flying Thunder God, but enough to vaguely sense spatial fluctuations.
With this affinity, Shattering Space could evolve into a jutsu that not only cut with wind but also tore through space itself.
If not for the spatial boost, it might not have been able to slice the Four Violet Flames Formation in half.
Overall, though, even with the spatial requirement, it was still an A-rank technique, and much easier to learn than Flying Thunder God.
If the old Natsuro had learned it, he could have mastered it easily.
But now, he wasn't just learning, he was creating, which made the process far harder.
If not for his heightened spatial awareness from his recent time-space journey, he wouldn't have been able to develop it so quickly.
Learning was always easier than creating.
Still, he wasn't done. Shattering Space was just the first of his new techniques.
The clones once again formed seals, and this time, a barrier even stronger than before appeared, the Four Red Yang Formation.
This formation was ten times stronger than the Four Violet Flames Formation.
Natsuro thought for a moment, then used Shattering Space again.
This time, the invisible blade struggled, but still managed to carve a man-sized hole through the barrier.
Seeing this, he was a little surprised, the cutting power was even stronger than he expected.
Encouraged, Natsuro took a deep breath, his chakra surging. The surrounding space twisted and churned violently.
He concentrated the twisted space together, forming an invisible light that distorted everything around it.
Even standing nearby, one could feel the sheer might of the technique, it was not something that could be easily defended against.
Natsuro slowly brought the invisible light to his lips, and gently blew.
At that moment, it seemed as though a blade of invisible light flashed, or perhaps nothing happened at all.
But if you looked closely at the Four Red Yang Formation, you'd notice the top half of the barrier had shifted slightly out of alignment with the bottom half.
Then, the top half shattered.
It wasn't an illusion, the spatial slash had genuinely displaced it.
The moment Natsuro blew, the attack was already complete.
"Ninjutsu: Dimensional Blade."
Natsuro smiled. It hadn't let him down.
This jutsu could no longer be called merely Wind Release. While Shattering Space still had a strong Wind element base, the Dimensional Blade was purely based on space, with Wind only shaping it.
Just like its name, it was a blade slashing from another dimension.
Once unleashed, it appeared directly before the opponent, without absolutely monstrous reaction speed, it was impossible to dodge it.
As for its power, how could a technique that could directly misalign an entire space be considered weak?
Even the Four Red Yang Formation couldn't block it for a moment and was sliced clean through, clearly demonstrating its overwhelming force.
The S-rank ninjutsu – Dimensional Blade had a learning difficulty that not only matched but even surpassed Flying Thunder God. In fact, anyone capable of mastering Dimensional Blade would definitely have the spatial talent needed for Flying Thunder God, but not necessarily the other way around.
At this moment, Natsuro's four shadow clones dispelled themselves, and he absorbed their memories. That feeling of space being sliced apart was truly powerful.
But that wasn't all.
A peculiar longsword appeared in his hand, it was Ink Shadow.
What he was about to attempt was the final technique he had been developing.
Natsuro placed his hand on the sword hilt. The blade, still sheathed inside, trembled slightly. When he drew the sword just a little, a blue lightning-like glow sparked between the blade and the scabbard.
In the next instant, the space in front of him was suddenly crisscrossed with slashes, each one sharp and fast, as if coming from another dimension.
Every slash seemed to cut open space itself, like transparent glass being slashed apart.
In the slashed-open "glass," a faint blue glow could be seen, an afterimage of the slash.
Looking through the slashed space from either side, the scenery appeared warped.
From one side, a distant object seemed to be in one position, but from the other side, it appeared to be in a different place!
And yet, it was clearly a single object.
This contradictory sensation made one doubt their own eyes, but that wasn't even the scariest part.
If a single slash could cause this, what about many slashes, from different angles?
Natsuro's slashes didn't stop, one after another, as if leaving countless luminous cracks in the "glass" called space. Looking through these cracks made the world around him feel dizzy and warped.
Finally, he stopped.
He stood amidst the seemingly shattered space and smiled.
This technique was something he created, inspired by memories of a certain person—a Nin-Taijutsu (ninja taijutsu) called Dimensional Slash.
Unlike that person's memory, Natsuro's Ink Shadow sword didn't have any inherent spatial abilities. His Dimensional Slash purely relied on his own understanding of space.
"S-rank Nintaijutsu, huh?" Natsuro pondered.
Perhaps. The spatial comprehension required was on par with Dimensional Blade, but unlike Dimensional Blade, which was purely ninjutsu, Dimensional Slash also demanded extreme speed.
Fortunately, his Swift Release satisfied that requirement perfectly.
Thus, Dimensional Slash was the union of Swift Release and spatial mastery, which was far beyond the difficulty of ordinary S-rank ninjutsu.
As for its power, one look at the shattered space around him left no doubt.
Natsuro sheathed Ink Shadow and smiled up at the sky.
This kind of power was intoxicating. Even against Six Paths-level enemies, could they really afford to let him land a hit?
Previously, whether it was area-of-effect or single-target damage, the Explosive Truth-Seeking Orb had been the unrivaled king.
But now, when it came to single-target lethality, Dimensional Blade had finally surpassed it.
He was confident he could even cut open a genuine Truth-Seeking Orb with the Dimensional Blade.
This power meant that even if he faced Six Paths-level enemies, he wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
Even if his basic physical attributes hadn't reached the Six Paths threshold yet, his attack power had already crossed it.
At this point, he also reflected on the ultimate-level jutsu he had mastered.
For single-target ninjutsu, he had previously relied on Chidori and Railgun, but now he had Dimensional Blade and Dimensional Slash, which was a massive upgrade, no one could endure these attacks, not even the Sage of Six Paths himself.
For area-of-effect, he had Sage Art ~ Lightning Release: Kirin and Explosive Truth-Seeking Orb.
Against opponents with monstrous regenerative abilities, he had Sage Art ~ Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
For clearing masses of enemies efficiently, he had the combination of Railgun and Shadow Shuriken Clone Technique, offering low cost but high effectiveness.
Thus, as of today, Natsuro's arsenal of jutsu had reached near perfection. In the future, he wouldn't need much change, only continuous refinement and strengthening.
In fact, he already knew all of Konoha's ninjutsu, but he usually only used those he had mastered deeply in battle. Even his former mainstays in Wind and Lightning Release were slowly being replaced by new, superior techniques.
"Time..." Natsuro murmured.
Even though he had personally experienced the power of traversing time and space, his insights were still focused mainly on space.
When it came to time, he remained clueless.
However, he didn't dwell on it.
After all, truly mastering time-based powers by one's own strength was something no one in this world had ever achieved, not even Urashiki Ōtsutsuki, who relied on his bloodline rather than personal comprehension.
Thus, he decided not to waste time here.
Whether it was Shattering Space, Dimensional Blade, or Dimensional Slash, they were all techniques he was confident he could master.
But for time-based techniques, he had no such confidence, who knew how long it would take to develop one?
Rather than waste time on uncertain possibilities, it was better to move on to the final sprint... Completing the full fusion of Sage Modes at the Dragon Vein.
Perhaps once he broke through to the next level of power, these current problems would naturally solve themselves, just like how understanding Shattering Space had suddenly become easy after his journey through parallel worlds.
With that thought, Natsuro's figure disappeared from the Shikkotsu Forest.
—
"Amazing... Natsuro-sama has grown stronger again," the Slug Clone, who had been watching, muttered.
It glanced at the still-distorted space in the area, full of admiration.
Why was there someone so purely obsessed with strength?
The Slug couldn't fully understand it, but deeply respected it as it returned to the main body.
—
Soon, Natsuro arrived at the familiar desert.
If no one told you, you would never guess this barren place housed the Dragon Vein.
He skillfully approached the Dragon Vein, partially released its seal, and began his training.
As expected, just like the Dragon Vein in the other world, this one had also consumed a considerable amount of energy due to time-space travel.
Fortunately, the energy Natsuro needed to refine his body wasn't much anymore. The remaining Dragon Vein energy would be enough for his experiment, to fully merge his Sage Modes.
He did a quick mental calculation.
Although he wasn't sure whether he would succeed when he next emerged, he had no choice but to entrust his hopes to the Dragon Vein.
What he needed was simple... A quantitative change that would trigger a qualitative leap!
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Currently on Chapter 379 - A Sage vs The Six Paths Power