Naruto saw that not far ahead, outside the ventilation window of a women's bathhouse, a white-haired man was crouching on the windowsill with his butt stuck out. His left hand was lifting a corner of the ventilation window's shutter, and his right hand was holding a brush, writing something rapidly in an open notebook.
He wore a forehead protector with the character for "Oil" on it and a pair of wooden clogs on his feet.
'So it was him.'
Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, one of the Sannin, and also his future sensei.
Although he knew this person was Jiraiya, and he knew Jiraiya's lecherous nature was famous, seeing a legendary-level ninja peeping at a women's bathhouse in person still caused a certain wire in his brain to short-circuit for a moment.
Then, Naruto sensed the situation inside the bathhouse. There were actually people bathing inside, and more than one. Looking at the density of the Chakra signals, there were eight people.
Who would be taking a bath in a bathhouse early in the morning?
Naruto's lips twitched.
Then he cleared his throat and shouted at the top of his lungs into the alleyway, "There is a pervert peeping at the women's bathhouse!"
After shouting this sentence, the Chakra at the soles of his feet exploded, and his whole body turned into a beam of yellow light and disappeared at the end of the roof.
Jiraiya, who was concentrating on gathering material while lying on the windowsill, was so startled by this sudden shout that his brush almost flew out of his hand.
He hurriedly closed the notebook and jumped down from the windowsill. He subconsciously looked around, and then realized that he was the pervert being shouted about.
He put his hands on his hips, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where is the peeper? This sage is gathering material!"
Just then, Jiraiya felt a chill on his back. He stiffly turned his neck around, only to see eight women wrapped in bath towels, clutching wooden basins and mops, staring at him with extremely furious eyes.
"It's this pervert who was peeping at us!"
"Sisters, beat him up!"
Rumble...
Jiraiya was chased by a group of angry women for three whole streets. He barely managed to shake off the pursuers at a corner by using Transformation Technique to disguise himself as a trash can.
After those women walked away cursing, he dispelled the Transformation Technique and leaned against the wall, panting.
Then he stood up straight and began to search for traces of Naruto.
"That was definitely Naruto just now, that blond hair can't be wrong. But how did his aura disappear in the blink of an eye?"
"I, the great Jiraiya, actually couldn't sense the movements of a Genin?"
Jiraiya tilted his head to think for a moment, and then grinned.
"Much more interesting than your old man was back then."
He leaped, and his figure disappeared among the layered rooftops of Konoha.
...
On the other side, Naruto arrived at the forest behind Hokage Rock.
He used Negative Emotions Sensing to scan the area. There were no patrolling ninjas and no idlers.
Safe.
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Fifty Shadow Clones appeared in the forest in a puff of white smoke.
"Everyone, please."
"Leave it to us, original." X50
Then they quickly divided into two groups. One group spread out the Vacuum Blade scroll and began to study the shaping techniques of Wind Chakra on the surface of the Kunai, while the other group picked up shuriken and Kunai, practicing throwing them at the distant rock wall while repeatedly forming hand seals to practice the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
The whole forest instantly became lively. The Shadow Clones on the left held a Kunai, with a very thin layer of pale green Wind Chakra condensed on the blade.
Some Shadow Clones condensed it very stably, forming a visible pale green light film on the blade surface, while others dispersed into broken light with a "pop" sound after the Chakra formed.
The Shadow Clones on the right were conducting a large-scale shuriken throwing marathon. One shuriken after another was thrown toward the distant rock wall, embedding into the stone. After throwing a wave, they would go to the rock wall to pull all the shuriken back and throw another wave.
Seeing this, Naruto was preparing to join the group of Shadow Clones on the left to practice Vacuum Blade.
Just then, a voice sounded lazily in the depths of his consciousness.
"Is this the Ninjutsu that old guy gave you last night? What's the use of that?"
"Kurama, are you awake again?" Naruto was somewhat surprised and put down the Kunai in his hand.
"Hmph, that portion of Chakra you drained from me has mostly recovered. I'm not like that lazy bum Shukaku who sleeps for decades at a time, sleeping for a few days is enough."
Naruto closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the Sealing Space.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, Kurama lay on the grass. Its fur had returned to its previous thick, lustrous orange, its nine tails spread out behind it.
Compared to before, Kurama was in good spirits, one might even say glowing with health.
Naruto walked over to Kurama's head and reached out to pat its nose bridge. "Kurama, you've recovered quite well."
Kurama snorted, "Hmph. That goes without saying. By the way, regarding the Tailed Beast Ball I mentioned before, although you have nowhere to practice it right now, I can explain the principles to you first. Lest you embarrass me when you suffer losses outside."
Naruto sat cross-legged in front of Kurama. "I'm all ears."
Kurama seriously said, "The principle of the Tailed Beast Ball is different from the logic of your human Ninjutsu. It doesn't rely on hand seals to activate, but rather on Chakra mixing."
"Yin and Yang Chakra are compressed into a high-density sphere at an eight-to-two ratio. This ratio cannot have the slightest deviation."
"After the mixing and compression are complete, fire it at the target in one go."
"The destructive power of the Tailed Beast Ball is released the moment it contacts the target. The inspiration for that Rasengan of yours came from this very thing."
Naruto nodded, firmly imprinting the Yin and Yang Chakra ratio, the timing of the mixing and compression, and the Chakra detonation mechanism upon firing into his mind.