Twenty minutes later, Naruto yawned, told the Shadow Clones to continue the discussion, and walked into the bathroom with his change of clothes.
The moment the bathroom door closed, Naruto took a Kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Mark from his ninja tool pouch and hid it silently.
As long as he had this Kunai in the house, he could teleport back from the Waterfall Cave at any time.
Using Shadow Clones and the Transformation Technique combined with a garbage bag to sneak out last time had been successful, but the process was too cumbersome and prone to errors.
Now that there was a Flying Thunder God kunai hidden in the apartment, coming and going would be simple.
Naruto turned on the shower, and hot water splashed onto the bathroom floor. Standing under the shower, he closed his eyes, and spread out his perception.
Outside the apartment, the Chakra of the two Anbu was still in their usual spots. There were no signs of Hiruzen's Telescope Technique, there was no prickly sensation of being watched. Hiruzen was likely busy with preparations for the Chunin Exams.
Naruto mobilized the Chakra in his body, and focused his mind on the Flying Thunder God Kunai hidden deep within the Waterfall Cave.
The moment the Flying Thunder God formula was activated, Naruto disappeared from the bathroom entirely, a clone taking his place.
Naruto's feet landed on the rocky ground of the Waterfall Cave. He opened his eyes to see a domed cave with a diameter of five hundred meters.
The Sensory Suppression Barrier was still operating steadily. The barrier's wall was intact, showing no signs of having been touched or probed.
"Everything is normal."
After confirming everything was normal, Naruto walked to the center of the cave, where there was an open space he had specially leveled.
"Then, let tonight's training begin."
He formed a cross hand seal.
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Poof, poof, poof, poof...
Forty clouds of smoke burst open in the spacious cave.
"Everyone, let's begin." Naruto said.
"Yo!" X40
All the Shadow Clones responded in unison, then quickly dispersed, each finding their own spot in the cave.
Tonight, Naruto had set a few clear breakthrough directions for his Flying Thunder God Technique training.
The first direction was the speed of marking the formula.
The most terrifying ability of Minato was not the Flying Thunder God Technique itself, but the fact that he could engrave the Flying Thunder God Technique formula onto an enemy the instant he touched them during combat, and then the battle would be over.
A classic example was the battle between Minato and Obito. In the split second they crossed paths, after hitting him with a Rasengan, Minato took the opportunity to engrave the Flying Thunder God Mark on Obito, ending the battle in just a few moments.
This was what Naruto wanted to practice: in high-intensity combat, being able to engrave the formula the moment his finger touched any part of the enemy's body without any lag in his movements.
The second direction is the stability and stealth of the technique.
Flying Thunder God Technique has a characteristic: the mark can be permanently retained, and it is completely concealed when not activated, making it almost impossible for the marked person to detect.
After Obito was marked by Minato, the mark remained on him for a full sixteen years.
This is not just a matter of Chakra control. It also involves the sealing and concealment mechanism after the technique is inscribed.
If Naruto's current Flying Thunder God Technique mark is not activated, it will blur and lose its effect after a few days due to the natural dissipation of Chakra. To reach the state of "permanent once marked, hidden when unused," he still needs to put in a lot of effort.
The third direction is to integrate the Flying Thunder God Technique into his own combat style.
Everyone's combat style is different.
Minato is an extreme speed-attack type, and in his hands, the Flying Thunder God Technique is the core of his decapitation tactics.
Tobirama, was a tactical type. The Flying Thunder God Technique was merely one component in his vast tactical repertoire.
Naruto needed to find a usage that belonged to him. His advantages were his Chakra reserves and the extreme mobility of Kurama Chakra Mode. What kind of chemical reaction the Flying Thunder God Technique can produce when combined with this system needs to be continuously tested in combat simulations.
The fourth direction, and also the most important, is to advance the Flying Thunder God Technique to the second stage.
The first stage of the Flying Thunder God Technique is a fixed-point single teleportation, while the second stage is continuous teleportation. It allows for multiple coordinate switches in the air, enabling one to change attack directions, evasion routes, and pursuit paths out of thin air.
This requires the user's calculation speed of spatial coordinates and Chakra activation frequency to reach an extremely high level.
...
Soon, forty Shadow Clones entered a state of focus, while Naruto walked to the other side of the cave and began adaptation training for Kurama Chakra Mode.
He mobilized the Nine-Tails Chakra within his body. In an instant, golden Chakra began to spread, his hair stood up to form two horn shapes, six black magatama appeared on his collar, and his pupils turned into vertical slits.
The moment he entered Kurama Chakra Mode, Naruto could clearly feel that his speed, strength, reaction, and perception had all been pulled to a completely different level.
He didn't rush to perform high-difficulty moves, but started from the very basics.
Straight punches, roundhouse kicks, side dodges, forward dashes with sudden stops, and high-speed directional changes.
Every movement was done slowly. He was not pursuing speed, but calibrating muscle memory, allowing his body to form stable neural pathways for every exertion movement while in Kurama Chakra Mode.
After the basic footwork was calibrated, he began to summon Chakra in different directions around his body.
First, two golden Chakra Arms extended from both sides of his shoulders, then from his back, and then from his waist.
Seven or eight Chakra Arms unfolded in the cave simultaneously, the scene was quite spectacular.
It wasn't the first time Naruto had experienced the power of Kurama Chakra Mode's Chakra Arms, but being able to manipulate them freely in combat was another matter entirely.
He controlled the Chakra Arms to simultaneously grab gravel of different sizes on the ground.
Then, he tried to have these arms coordinate with his own taijutsu movements during motion, making the connection between every punch and kick smoother and more natural.
Time flowed slowly amidst such high-intensity training.