Third Training Ground.
The ground was littered with craters and rough, uneven terrain.
All these craters were left behind by Minato Namikaze alone.
Minato Namikaze formed a misshapen blue sphere in his right hand, then forcefully slammed it onto the ground.
"Boom!"
Another crater burst open on the ground.
Minato Namikaze collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
Jiraiya advised from the side, "Rest for a bit, Minato Namikaze."
Wiping sweat from his face, Minato Namikaze sighed in frustration, "It either fails to form completely or suddenly explodes—it's extremely unstable and hard to control."
Jiraiya stepped behind Minato Namikaze and studied the swirl of hair on his head, "I've heard before that when refining chakra, its rotating direction should match the swirl on your head. According to this theory, this technique could also..."
Minato Namikaze looked slightly odd, "Isn't that just superstition?"
Jiraiya replied seriously, "Not necessarily. I've always refined my chakra with a sensation of swirling to the right, and the swirl on my head also rotates to the right."
Curious, Minato Namikaze asked, "Hmm... Then which direction does mine go?"
Jiraiya's expression turned as if he had constipation.
Seeing Jiraiya not speaking, Minato Namikaze felt puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"You have two swirls—one turning left and one turning right..."
Minato Namikaze couldn't believe it, "Huh? Then which direction should I rotate it?"
Jiraiya helplessly shrugged his hands, "I don't know either. Just keep resting. You must be exhausted. Here."
He pulled out a two-layer popsicle, snapped it in half, and asked Minato Namikaze, "Two flavors. Which half do you want?"
"Either is fine..." Minato Namikaze frowned slightly, then exclaimed, "Huh?"
Suddenly feeling like someone had struck his head with a heavy stick, Minato Namikaze stared fixedly at the two pieces of popsicle in Jiraiya's hands, as if countless inspirations were surging through his mind.
If both directions are equally viable...
Minato Namikaze suddenly sprinted forward.
Confused, Jiraiya asked, "Huh? What's going on? Aren't you eating the popsicle? Well then, both halves are mine now."
Excitedly, Minato Namikaze called out, "Exactly, Master Jiraiya!"
"If during refinement, I simultaneously rotate it in both directions..."
A perfectly round blue ball appeared in Minato Namikaze's right hand.
His voice trembling with excitement, Minato Namikaze said, "Formed! It actually formed!"
Staring in shock at the glowing ball in Minato Namikaze's hand, Jiraiya suddenly burst into laughter, "What incredible ninja talent! I've heard those with two swirls are all geniuses!"
Overjoyed inside, Minato Namikaze thought, "[Dual-Swirl Spiral Energy Technique!]"
Jiraiya's face immediately dropped as he muttered in disapproval, "This corny, overlong name..."
The [Ice Pop] part came from an actual ice pop he saw.
The [Swirl] was inspired by the direction of a hair whorl.
[Jiraiya] was because he had inspired Minato Namikaze.
[Shiki] referred to how it incorporated two different chakra rotation styles.
[Maru] ("Ball") captured the round nature of this technique.
Putting all of that together...
Jiraiya gave Minato Namikaze a look filled with disbelief and disappointment—genius he may be, but terrible at naming techniques.
Hearing Jiraiya's complaint, Minato Namikaze blinked in surprise, genuinely confused. "Huh? You really think so?"
Jiraiya didn't dwell further on the naming issue with Minato Namikaze, since he already knew very well that Minato Namikaze had terrible naming skills without realizing it himself.
When Minato Namikaze originally said he wanted to develop a technique comparable to the Tailed Beast Ball, Jiraiya thought Minato Namikaze was just talking casually.
After all, that was a technique only tailed beasts could release. How could humans possibly achieve it?
But now, Minato Namikaze actually succeeded in developing it.
Though nowhere near the Tailed Beast Ball's size, at least it managed to be round.
Jiraiya said to Minato Namikaze, "Well then, let's temporarily end this new technique development. I have another mission to attend to first. You should rest properly during this time, understand?"
Minato Namikaze's [Maru] vanished with a soft 'pop', and he answered, "Okay."
As Minato activated his [Maru] technique, five pairs of eyes were secretly observing from the trees of Training Ground Three.
Kushina Uzumaki whispered, "What are you kids doing sneaking after me?"
Blunt as ever, Obito blurted out, "We're here to see Sensei flirting… Uh-oh!"
Shindai stomped hard on Obito's toes, then forced a pleasant smile: "What Obito meant was that we wanted to watch Minato Namikaze developing his ninjutsu."
Kushina eyed Shindai skeptically before turning to Rin Nohara and Kakashi. "You two came for the same reason, didn't you?"
Rin Nohara shook her head: "No, I'm here because my ingredients for dinner and flowers for flower arrangement are both in Obito's hands."
Obito looked at the basket and flowers in his own hands and immediately felt extremely awkward.
Kakashi thought briefly, then casually replied, "I saw they all came, so I came to check it out too."
Kushina was feeling really annoyed.
In Kushina's eyes, those four troublemakers practically had neon signs flashing above their heads—it was beyond irritating.
After Jiraiya left, Minato Namikaze was packing up his things, preparing to leave as well.
As he packed up, he noticed Kushina peeking around cautiously from her hiding spot.
Minato Namikaze blinked in surprise. "Kushina? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
Kushina Uzumaki immediately felt embarrassed when she realized she had been discovered.
Glancing sideways, Kushina noticed that Shindai and the others were gone. They had hidden themselves in another patch of bushes.
Her eyes twitched slightly.
Those brats! When they're actually needed, they just run off!
Since Minato Namikaze had already spotted her, Kushina had no choice but to step out from hiding.
Scratching her head with an awkward smile, Kushina said, "Uh... you see... The Third said I could leave the barrier. This is a special permission granted by him..."
She couldn't even look Minato Namikaze straight in the eye.
Minato didn't suspect anything at all and believed her instantly, "Oh, okay then!"
Shindai whispered to Obito beside him, "See that? Even such a clumsy lie from Kushina was instantly believed by Lord Minato without any hesitation. Classic case of a hopeless romantic."
Obito nodded understandingly, "So this is what a hopeless romantic looks like. Then I'm definitely not one."
Shindai gave Obito a disdainful glance before saying, "Rin just mentioned she wants to go on a date with you tonight."
Obito immediately became super excited, "Really?"
Shindai rolled his eyes, "Fake news. I'm kidding. You're a hopeless romantic—confirmed."
Kakashi silently watched Shindai and Obito's interaction with an unimpressed look. Fortunately, Rin Nohara's attention remained fixed on Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze; or else, their hiding spot would've already been discovered.
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