Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom – ep. 33
"Back to Basics"
[Spiral Ahead, Part 1]

"Hey, Lili. Got here as fast as I could."

It's another morning in the Leaf. I'm intending to set up something important with Naruto, and so I've called him to Training Field Three where he usually works with his teammates. Kakashi is out on a mission, so I'll have to run the details by him later...but this can be done now.

"Thank you, love. I haven't pushed anything too far out of order, have I?"

"Ah, nothing special. Pervy Sage wanted to do some extra taijutsu stuff but I told him that this was important, so he put it off for another time. He's gonna be out of town again for a while, too."

Perfect. The timing couldn't be better.

"Alright, good. Oh, I almost forgot..." I smile and give him a hug, followed by a gentle kiss on the cheek. "We can't go skipping greetings, can we?"

"Guess not," he says with his own smile. "So, what's going on? Is it another super special mission, and you want me on the team?"

"Well, it's special. But it's not a mission. I have something that I want to do with you, something that I've been thinking over for some time now. Before that, I need to see where you are in terms of your skills. How far have you gone with the Rasengan at this point?" I ask.

"Um...I'm pretty good at making them a bit faster, and I can make bigger ones with pretty much no effort. So basically, I have a lot more control over it, and more consistency."

"That's good to hear. It was one of your weaknesses for a long while."

"Yeah, Pervy Sage kept telling me at the start of our training. Pretty much sorted out by now, though."

"Good. What about your nature affinity?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing yet. He said he was gonna get to it later since I kept asking, but obviously he didn't. You know how he is."

"Indeed." I have to wonder what Jiraiya is doing. Is there something that he's looking for, or is he just figuring things out as he goes? It really seems to be the latter case, and that really won't do. Naruto needs more than the Rasengan and an army of clones to stand against Akatsuki and Obito. Some utility jutsu would help...I suppose that can be shored up, too. We'll have to see how this goes first.

"You said you've been thinking about this for a while? What do you mean by that, Lili?"

I put my hands into my pockets. "My belief is that the Rasengan is an incomplete jutsu."

He looks at me with shock. "Eh?"

"You might find it hard to believe, but...I think the Fourth passed on before he could finish developing it. It's an incredibly powerful technique, requires no seals, and does devastating damage at melee range. It's made up of pure chakra, compressed into a sphere...portable and powerful, requiring little else than a sizable enough reserve of chakra and some concentration. And that's what bothered me."

"Not sure I get it. You think that...there was something wrong because it was so strong?" he asks.

"It might be easier to demonstrate. Come with me, love."

"Okay."

We walk over to where the trees are, and I toss a kunai at one of them as a visual aid.

"That will be our primary target. Kakashi or Jiraiya would be able to teach you all about this eventually, but I wanted to do this now, so that you could have a better understanding by the time we include him. Kakashi in particular might have an extra idea or two that I would miss, due to his experience."

"I see..."

"Now, you know about my signature technique."

"Mobius, right?"

"Lightning Release: Mobius, yes. Here is where we start. Do you remember how the technique functions?"

"Hmm...not exactly. You kinda just push lightning chakra through your arm, like for Chidori, right?"

"Close, but incorrect. We start with gathering chakra, then we have it flow towards the arm," I say as I hold my right arm up. "On the way over, we have it converted to lightning chakra. Then that chakra is compressed, squeezed tightly. At the user's command, that chakra is released through a singular point, and fired in the form of a beam of light."

I fire Mobius in the way described, piercing the spot next to the kunai and going right through the tree.

"Wow. Okay, so...you get it like that by squeezing the chakra real tight, right?"

"Partially. There are two things that I must do to perform that jutsu. One of them is something that you're very good at now. The other is something that you have yet to learn. What you are good at now is shape transformation, or changing the shape of chakra. The Rasengan is a technique that relies entirely on shape transformation for its form and subsequent power."

"Really? Pervy Sage said that it was a super elite jutsu...guess I didn't realize how elite it was."

"It's top level shape transformation. Something that most people would struggle to achieve with a lifetime of training. And this leads into the second part, and why I said that the Rasengan was incomplete. Nature transformation. Nature transformation is what makes the Chidori possible. It's a jutsu that relies on both shape transformation and a large amount of nature transformation to create the wealth of lightning chakra necessary. Sasuke is greatly talented with nature transformation, given his proficiency at things such as the Fire Ball Technique so prized by the Uchiha."

"So Sasuke's really good at changing his chakra to like, fire or lightning, right?"

"That's correct. And as you might have surmised," I say as I gather lightning chakra in my hand, "lightning chakra has certain properties that make it superior to regular arts. Or, to make it simple...look at the kunai stuck in the tree trunk there. Do you see where it's stopped?"

"Yeah."

"Now...watch this." I take a kunai and place it into my hand crackling with lightning. The lightning transfers over to it at my command, and then I lazily throw it at a spot next to the other kunai. It rips through the tree easily.

"What?! What happened? How'd you do that?" Naruto yells.

"The properties of lightning chakra are such that stabs and thrusts are enhanced. It makes piercing attacks much, much stronger than normal. The secret is high speed vibrations. Another effect is that it makes cutting through inorganic material much easier, which is why prominent sword users in the Hidden Cloud favour it for their repertoires when possible. As you can see, a weapon enhanced by lightning chakra is better than one without, and can become the difference in high level battles. Lightning chakra can be used to enhance the body, as you saw before, and it can be channeled through water element techniques to cause paralysis. There are many things we can do with the power of nature transformation. I'll show you one more thing to help absorb this lesson."

"Okay, what is it?"

"There is a training technique for a specific purpose. Null-Type Mobius." I pull up chakra and compress it into my arm, then point it forward and fire. The attack bursts forward as a beam of white light, slamming into the tree trunk and ripping a large chunk out of it.

"Oh! It didn't go through like the other one did," Naruto says.

"Good. You noticed the colour, right?"

"Yeah, it was different. White instead of blue. So...that didn't have any lightning chakra in it, then. It did some damage, but it didn't go through the tree." He folds his arms in thought. "I see. It's like when Pervy Sage was showing me the Rasengan during our training. I finished the first part of it, but he showed me the difference between when it was focused and when it wasn't. So...Mobius relies more on nature transformation stuff, and the Rasengan relies more on shape transformation stuff."

"That's right."

"And you think the Fourth Hokage was trying to do shape transformation and nature transformation at the same time to make the Rasengan stronger?"

"Yes. You understand how difficult it was to simply get the Rasengan working, don't you?" I ask.

"Yeah. And Pervy Sage said it took him a while to get the jutsu down, too. Trying to focus all that chakra and change it to an element at the same time...that's gotta be tough." He blinks. "Wait, what's that got to do with what you want to tell me?"

He really is adorable.

"Naruto...I want to teach you how to combine an element with the Rasengan."

"Me? Whoa, wait! You think I could-"

"Yes. And I don't think anything. I know you can do what the Fourth was unable to. You already learned the technique he created, and in such a short time. Going beyond that is something that's more than possible for you," I say with sincerity. "But as you know...I'm more than a little selfish. There's something I want out of this, too."

"Something you want?" he asks, shocked. "What could that be?"

I give him a smile. "What I want, more than anything...is to make a technique for both of us. Something that we could share. A wonderful, incredibly strong jutsu that would crush any enemy we came across."

"A...a jutsu? Us? Together?" He blushes. "Gosh, Lili. I've never even done that with Hinata..."

I rub shoulders with him. "Oh, she doesn't have to know...what's a little affair between friends, hm? Getting close and mixing parts of ourselves together..."

"Okay, now you're definitely being lewd about it on purpose."

"Hmhm~."

"But I mean...wow. That would be so awesome! Yeah, I totally want to do that! I just have to learn nature transforming or whatever and combine it with the Rasengan first, right? I'll go all out for sure!"

"I know you will. It will be a fair bit of work, but I know that you're no stranger to that. There are a few things that I want to do first, but our ultimate goal is to give you a new and incredible jutsu that will blow everyone away. After that, the sky's the limit."

"When do we start?" he asks eagerly.

"You said Jiraiya would be out of town in a few days?"

"Yep."

"Well, we might start at that point. I don't want to delay this for too much longer. Before then, I'll need you to do something important for me."

"What is it?"

"I will need you to gather whatever materials that you remember Jiraiya used when he taught you the Rasengan. Because as part of your training, you're going to teach it to me first." I raise my hand before he can protest. "Listen. I wouldn't ask if I thought you couldn't do it. You can."

"What if I screw up, though?"

"You won't. I know you won't. I'm going to learn from you, and it's going to help us both. It's necessary for this to work. So first, you're going to teach me how to perform the jutsu. Then we'll work with some other people to help with your new jutsu. And after that, we're going to create a brand new jutsu for ourselves. That is our path. Are you ready?"

Naruto closes his eyes in thought. I know that he's not hesitating when it comes to learning a new technique, it's everything else. But I meant what I said. I know he can overcome whatever challenge is in his way.

He opens his eyes after about a minute or so, and nods firmly.

"I'm good to go, Lili. Let's rock."

I smile and nod back.

"We definitely will. It's time to show the world what we're made of."

And with that, we bump fists.

Clearing out the schedule for Naruto and I was a simple enough task. Hiruzen has made sure that we have the next few weeks to ourselves if needed, and I've talked to everyone that I wanted involved. For now, it's just going to be myself and Naruto, tackling the basics.

As we've discussed, the first step is learning the Rasengan.

I ready myself from my hotel room as usual. A shower followed by some touching up, breakfast with Fio, and then heading out for work. I have enough supplies in my pouch for the day, along with an extra notepad and some sturdy pens for notes.

Today's classroom will be the third training field again, where Kakashi has his team do their rounds. Naruto is rummaging through his backpack as I arrive, and waves to me as I approach.

"Morning, Lili!"

"Good morning, my love. I'm ready to start the day with you," I say before hugging him tightly. "Are we nervous?"

"Sure are. But you said I had this, so...I'm okay. I should be ready."

"Good." I kiss him on the cheek before stepping back, hands at my sides. "Whenever you want to start."

"Yup!" He takes an object from the bag and holds it up in his left hand. It looks like a balloon of some kind. "This is a water balloon that I picked up from one of the shops. And this here," he says before making a clone, "is the Rasengan."

In his right hand, chakra starts to swirl around, being moved and shaped by the clone before quickly becoming a perfect sphere. The clone disappears, and Naruto holds up the Rasengan next to the water balloon.

"We're gonna start here. You can do tree climbing and water walking pretty well, right?"

"Yes," I reply.

"When you climb a tree, you have to concentrate and lay down chakra in a certain amount, or else you won't be able to stick to it properly. And when you walk on the water, you have to constantly adjust the chakra you're putting out or else you'll sink. With those two together, you've got the basics down for what we're about to do."

He has the water swirl around in the balloon violently until it bursts.

"Step one is creating rotation. You put out chakra constantly from your hand and use it to spin the water inside the balloon. Do that until it pops, basically. And if you can do that consistently, then that part is done with."

"I understand."

"Great. Now it's your turn to try," he says as he has the Rasengan dissipate. "A few more things that I think you need to figure out. First, what hand you feel most comfortable using. Next, what direction your chakra spins."

"The right hand works best for me this time, and my chakra spins clockwise," I reply.

"Heh. Figures you'd know about that already," he says with a smile. The balloon is placed in my hand.

"Could you show me the Rasengan again, Naruto?" I ask.

"Sure." He calls out another clone and has it form again. I watch how his hands move, and try to sense the motions of the chakra. All over the place...I think I have it, based on that. And there are a few more steps to go after this. It should be interesting.

"Thank you." I put my right hand out in front of my body, and prepare myself.

"Whenever you're ready, and take as long as you need."

"I won't be too long," I say confidently. "All I need is to adjust the output, and..."

I slowly start to have the water swirl around in the balloon, first in one direction, then in more and more until spikes start to shoot out along the surface. Naruto watches with interest as the spikes get bigger and bigger, my chakra increasing by the second. This is a weighty jutsu, and I suppose if everything I've read about the Fourth is true, he had the chakra capacity to pull off some incredible things. Jiraiya, a known Sage, and Naruto, an Uzumaki and host of the Nine Tails, share at least that trait with him.

"Hm."

I decide to end the exercise by pushing my chakra higher, and finally the balloon bursts into pieces, water splashing everywhere.

"Man, you're good..." Naruto shakes his head before reaching into his bag. "Okay. Four more times to make sure you're consistent about it."

"Yes, sir."

I concentrate and experiment with reaching the goal in different ways. Spinning counter-clockwise is possible, but it bleeds away a lot of rotation and energy. It also puts a bit of a strain on my hand, which I suppose Naruto experienced himself and wanted me to avoid. It means that he's been paying attention and learning from his mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others. Just what I wanted to see out of him.

Breaking the balloon seems to be possible with extreme rotation in one direction, but that's also much harder to achieve and uses more chakra than the accepted method.

Naruto used a clone for his Rasengan, and I try that to help with the rotation aspect. It's much faster and easier, as is using my other hand to spin the chakra around. Two issues come to mind. The first is that this is a technique that is supposed to require no seals. Occupying the other hand is counterproductive. The second is that my chakra levels support usage of multiple shadow clones, but not in the manner that Naruto uses them. It's therefore infeasible for me to summon them as single use props. The original method looks to be the best so far, and as demands increase for each stage, I have little doubt that it will remain that way.

"Didn't take long for you to finish. You could have done this on your own, you know."

"Maybe. But I get to spend time with you, so...it's more than worth it," I say to him.

He rubs the back of his head and blushes. So cute.

"Shall we head to the next part of our program?" I ask.

"Y-yeah. Let's do that. Here's a visual aid for what we're about to try next." He takes out a sheet of paper and holds it up. "See this?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Now..." He marks the sheet of blank paper with a dot. "You see this?"

"Yes."

"Notice anything?"

I look at the sheet for a bit and think. Nothing is really coming to mind. Maybe...

"Please show me the blank sheet again," I say.

"Got it." He turns the paper over, and I look at it. Is there a meaning in it? Something about emptiness, or...wait. I've been overthinking it.

"Could you turn it over again?"

"Yep." He does so, and I notice that my attention is drawn right to the dot in the middle. So that's it...focus. Concentration.

"My vision is drawn to the dot on the paper, whereas before I wasn't focused on anything."

"That's right!" he says happily. "The next step is about using that focus and concentration while you generate more power. Packing as much power into the jutsu as possible is part of what makes it so elite."

"I see now."

"And this time...we're not using water balloons. We're going tougher." He puts away the paper and grabs two rubber balls. "Your next task is to break one of these apart."

In his right hand, he has the rubber ball swirl and warp before exploding into pieces. He tosses me the other one, and I catch it in my right hand.

"Rotation...then power," I say to myself. "Is that all..."

I stretch my hand forward. My chakra flows through my arm until it reaches the rubber ball...with no other substance to force against the walls, it's all me this time. No problem. My chakra presses against the inner walls, and then I focus and rush straight ahead, swirling it around violently.

Much tougher than before, as Naruto said.

Still nowhere near enough to stop me. I've been handling hyper-compressed chakra on my own for several years now, and surging it through my body to increase my physical ability among other things. This much is nothing.

"Looks like you've got it," he says.

"Yes. Easy as cake," I say with a smirk. The violent rotations increase until the rubber ball explodes into pieces, just as Naruto did before. Still...what a heavy and ridiculous jutsu this is. I have an idea of what the next step will be, and that should be the hardest one of them all.

"A few more times to be sure, like before." Naruto tosses me another rubber ball, and I set to work.

As I thought, none of the previous tricks or shortcuts are viable here. Consistently using the proven methods are what works. Correct chakra spin, power, and regulation. Clones and off hand still work, but have no real advantages as far as I can see. This has been simple enough so far.

I shred the last rubber ball to bits and flex my hand a few times. Yes...heavy. Lots of chakra involved. Combining it with something else...would that...

"Well, we've done good work so far! Time to get energized!"

I end my train of thought and look up at Naruto again.

"We're breaking for lunch, Lili. Don't think I'm gonna take no for an answer!" he says with a grin.

"Right, you did mention that. Sorry."

"It's alright. I know how you get into these things. It's how you got so strong in the first place." He pats me on the shoulder. "Great job so far, you're definitely a genius! Way better than Sasuke...man, imagine if I had to teach him how this worked."

I shudder a bit on his behalf. "Fortunately for you, he's probably copied how it worked with the Sharingan."

"Yeah, true. But Kakashi-sensei was saying that you still need the skill to use jutsu you copy and junk. Which just makes him more awesome, since he knows so many. He's got like four elements, I think? Pretty wild."

"He's definitely something."

"And you're something else," he says as he puts his bag underneath a nearby tree. "He's been a jounin for as long as I've been alive, and a chuunin since he was a little kid. For you to even get that close in just three or four years? That's pretty awesome, to say the least."

I blush at that. "Is there something behind you praising me like this? Seriously, as much as I love it, it's too much."

"Is it really?" he asks.

"Yes, just a bit."

"Ah..." He puts his hands behind his head as we walk. "It's just, watching you go to work, and all that. You've always looked really cool when you're concentrating like that, and then you've been totally crushing this Rasengan training. It took me at least a few days to get to this point, you know?"

"That's remarkable on its own," I say. "Don't sell yourself short."

"Trying not to. But maybe I should have given you the instructions so that you could teach me all over again. Why'd you want me to teach you so badly, though? You said it was important for my training."

"I want to see how you learned the jutsu, and your thought processes. There's a lot that I've picked up...you remembered how Jiraiya taught you, but it wasn't only that. You realized that there were ways to streamline the process, and to overcome the problems you faced earlier. It shows off the level of creativity and versatility that you have. Certainly, it helps that I'm already talented in my own right...but your method of teaching has helped a lot with the speed and efficency in learning this technique already."

"All that, huh..." His brow furrows in thought.

"Simply put, you're a good teacher. And you'll become a better one with time and experience."

"Yeah? You think it'll be another career for me, or something like that?"

"You wouldn't have to be in a classroom. Kurenai's father is an educator himself, just with various training programs."

"Huh. That's neat."

We stop in and see Teuchi, down a few bowls of delicious ramen, and then head back to the training field.

"The third and last step...once you get this down, then you've completed the Rasengan. Here we are."

He blows up a small balloon before handing it to me. Then he blows another up for himself.

"So you saw how I took care of the other two stages before. Watch this."

He focuses on the balloon in his right hand, and calls a clone out to make the sphere again.

"No holding back, you gotta go full force."

I watch as the balloon trembles a little bit before settling down.

"See?"

The chakra from before that was swirling at high speed...I see. A shell on the outside to contain it.

"The objective now is to keep the chakra from before in a compressed state. Focusing it even more and increasing the power," I conclude.

"That's exactly right! And that's why we're using an empty balloon this time. It's the ultimate test of your control, Lili. Time for you to try it."

"Alright..." I think I'm going to overshoot this first try. But failure isn't the end of the world. I concentrate and call the chakra to my right hand, swirling it in all directions inside the balloon. It rumbles and stretches as I increase the amount of power flowing out.

And now, the final step...

"Tch...!"

The balloon bursts apart in my hand.

"Almost." Naruto blows up another balloon and gives it to me. "Let's try it again."

"Yes." Time to focus again, and pull the chakra into a proper sphere. Gather chakra...rotate...add force...compress. Here we go.

I follow the same steps as before, and then reach the point where I have to compress the chakra properly. Heavy and violent, but not untameable. I can do it. Keep things steady. The balloon rumbles a bit in my hand before slowly, slowly settling down. I can feel the chakra moving inside of the balloon. It's stable.

"I did it...I think."

"Let's check," Naruto says. He takes out a kunai and carefully pokes the balloon, making it fall apart. It ends up shredded to bits against the rotating sphere of chakra that is now in my hand. Bright, and about the size of a good grapefruit. Fits in my palm perfectly...

"Didn't even take you the whole day. Lili, you're so awesome!"

"Thank you. Having one of the best teachers in the world helped a lot. Let's try it manually, without any tools this time. That should be my final test," I say to him.

"Alright, let's see it!"

I nod and gather chakra into my right hand again. Focus, swirl it around, increase the power, and then contain...

"Yeah!"

...and form a powerful technique for myself. The Fourth Hokage's original technique...Rasengan. Now it floats just above my palm, an extraordinary sphere of energy. Not bad for a half-day's work. But I am Lili Kobayashi, after all. Hmhm.

"Awesome job! Guess that's the end of your training," Naruto says. "So, what do you think?"

"Hm." I look at the sphere in my hand before making it disappear. "It's as powerful as I thought it would be, and less complex than I assumed. Definitely the kind of technique that's useful at close range. But...not really my style yet."

"Really?"

"There are a few reasons. Selfish ones, as you might imagine. When I get up close to an enemy, I have certain...actions that I want to take. One day, the Rasengan might make a good substitute. For now, though...I have other tools."

"Hmm...not sure I totally get it, but that's fine. Whatever works for you, Lili."

"Thank you, love. You were wonderful today." I give him a kiss on the cheek. "I appreciate your efforts, and loved spending time with you. We're just a bit closer than before, aren't we?" He frowns and I giggle. "I didn't mean it like that. Someone's been thinking naughty things lately..."

"I wonder who's to blame for that..."

"A mystery, indeed."

He rolls his eyes at me and starts to pack up his things. We both make a few clones to gather up the bits of rubber that have gone everywhere, and pack them into a small bag for recycling.

"The rest of the day is ours," I say. "Celebration meal?"

"Sure!"

"Ramen again? Teuchi wouldn't mind seeing us one more time."

"Um...I was thinking barbeque this time. Haven't had any in a while!"

"Of course. I know a great place nearby."

"You always do," he says with a chuckle. "With the way you know this village, you'll make an awesome Hokage soon."

"Yes, soon enough. Could you believe I was dreading something like that a few years ago?"

"Barely," Naruto says as he shrugs on his backpack. "Glad you're over that."

"I am, too." I sigh. "Tomorrow is a new day. We'll start our big training session for real."

"Can't wait!" he says with a big smile. I smile back and we start on our way.

And tomorrow, we'll start an exciting new journey. I have a lot to teach Naruto, but I know I'm ready. We both are.