Naruto: Echoes of a Distant Home

The Bone-Sucking Insect, struck by the lightning beam, fell to the ground but surprisingly did not die. It lay there, struggling in vain.

Ye Zi and Orochimaru flickered to the ground, arriving in front of the palm-sized Bone-Sucking Insect.

"Its escape method is quite interesting," Orochimaru said with interest, staring at the weakened insect. The escape technique it had just used was remarkably similar to one of his own jutsu.

The Bone-Sucking Insect was still alive, while the massive body that Ye Zi had sliced in half had now turned into a pool of foul-smelling liquid. The principle behind this was unclear.

Ye Zi silently raised his sword, Chijin, intending to finish off the insect for good.

Orochimaru reached out and grabbed Ye Zi's arm, stopping him. In a calm tone, he said, "A live specimen has more research value."

"You're interested in even a mere insect…"

Ye Zi pulled his arm free, sheathed his sword, and lost interest in pursuing Aburame Shimi and the others.

Against Ye Zi, the Aburame clan, despite their expertise in insect techniques, had no way to deal with him—they posed no real threat.

The Bone-Sucking Insect let out sharp screeches, desperately struggling to escape, but it was futile.

Orochimaru smirked coldly, pulling a heavy glass jar from who-knows-where. He removed the stopper, which was riddled with tiny holes, and carefully placed the struggling Bone-Sucking Insect into the jar before sealing it tightly.

He planned to study this little insect thoroughly once he had some free time.

With the problem resolved, the two resumed their exploration of the forest. By sunset, they finally discovered the moss-covered ruins of a building, where they sensed an unusual energy fluctuation.

Yet again… After clearing the moss off the ruins, they found only two characters carved into the stone: Chomei, with no other clues.

After a fruitless search, Orochimaru and Ye Zi finally decided to interact with the mysterious energy to see what would happen. With no test subjects available, they opted to use a shadow clone for the experiment.

Ye Zi formed a hand seal, and a wooden figure extended from his body, taking on a human shape before transforming into an exact copy of himself.

After creating the wooden clone, Ye Zi ordered it to dig into the ground to investigate.

The wooden clone dug about half a meter down before its body suddenly shuddered and froze. Without warning, its form reverted back to wood, becoming a motionless wooden statue.

Seeing this, both Ye Zi and Orochimaru were visibly stunned.

"What happened?" Orochimaru asked, referring to any sensations the wooden clone might have relayed.

"No feedback," Ye Zi replied with a frown.

Hearing this, Orochimaru fell silent.

Even Ye Zi, using his wooden clone, couldn't understand what had happened.

A clone born from wood had reverted back to its original form, and more surprisingly, it failed to transmit any memory feedback.

Realizing the unknown energy was far too dangerous, the two abandoned further attempts. After covering their tracks, they left Aoki Forest.

Now that they knew the location, they would have plenty of opportunities to test with human subjects later.

Neither of them ever stayed in one place for long. After completing their exploration, they immediately moved on to the next location.

One week later

The two Aburame clan members, Shibi and Shichi, who had successfully escaped from Ye Zi, returned to Konoha and reported the incident to Minato.

"Ye Zi and Orochimaru are together? What were they doing in Aoki Forest?" Minato asked, looking at the travel-worn Aburame Shimi and Shiyi, who had come directly to the Hokage's office.

Shimi shook his head and replied, "I don't know."

Minato pondered for a moment before nodding at the two. "Go back and rest."

"Understood."

The two bowed and left, heading for their clan's residence to deliver the grim news to Aburame Shihui's family.

After the door to the Hokage's office closed, Minato's face remained contemplative.

Ever since learning that Ye Zi and his followers could use the First Hokage's Wood Release, the upper echelon of Konoha had taken this secret very seriously—especially Danzo, who had always aspired to claim the Hokage's seat. Unfortunately, Minato's brilliance had left him no opportunity.

Even Minato himself was intrigued by the secrets of the Wood Release. If he could unlock those secrets, Konoha could train a new generation of Wood Release users.

Other villages, even if they discovered the secret and managed to cultivate Wood Release users, wouldn't be able to match Konoha's progress.

Konoha, on the other hand, possessed scrolls containing techniques left behind by the First Hokage. If their own ninjas could master Wood Release, they would quickly become formidable users.

A team of Wood Release ninjas would serve as an effective countermeasure against enemy jinchuriki—a vital strategic asset.

Danzo's desire to control more Wood Release users stemmed from his aim to subdue the Nine-Tails more effectively.

Minato's interest, however, lay in countering enemy jinchuriki; he had no intention of controlling the Nine-Tails.

Kushina's chakra was both strong and unique, capable of suppressing the Nine-Tails. Minato had no concerns about a jinchuriki losing control.

"I'll need to inform Jiraiya-sensei of this." Minato muttered to himself. He quickly wrote a letter, then summoned a communication toad.

"Ribbit!"

The familiar sound of a frog croak echoed…

A small yellow toad sat on the desk, croaking innocently.

Minato smiled slightly and handed the letter to the communication toad. The toad bit the letter and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Having finished his busy tasks, Minato now had half a day of free time. He usually spent this downtime researching jutsu.

The Rasengan was a jutsu he could perform instantaneously, originally developed to pair with the Flying Thunder God Technique. While powerful, it lacked the lethality he desired.

To enhance the Rasengan's power, Minato had long considered incorporating chakra nature transformation into it. He eventually acted on this idea and created the devastating Wind Release: Rasengan.

By adding Wind Release's nature transformation, the Rasengan gained cutting properties. However, due to the nature of Wind Release, when the Rasengan hit an enemy, his own hand, being in direct contact he also suffered from the Wind's cutting effect.

Fortunately, with the assistance of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato could overcome this flaw. As long as he teleported away at the moment the Wind Release: Rasengan struck its target, he could avoid injury.

As for its destructive power, Minato had tested it and it fully met his expectations.

With this success, and after mastering Sage Mode, Minato's research branched into several new directions.

By infusing the Rasengan with Senjutsu chakra, he discovered that its power increased several times over, without suffering from the flaws of the Wind Release variant.

Later, Minato conceived the idea of combining Wind Release with Senjutsu chakra. After countless failures during research and trials, he finally succeeded, further enhancing the Rasengan's power.

He named this technique Sage Art: Wind Release Rasengan.

With its continued refinement, the Rasengan and its various forms saw a dramatic rise in power, further increasing Minato's overall strength.

When facing ordinary opponents, he didn't even need to use the Rasengan. Combining the Flying Thunder God Technique with kunai was sufficient to eliminate them.

Against stronger foes, however, the Rasengan's original power often fell short. Now, with its perfected forms, it had finally reached the level he had hoped for.

Yet Minato wasn't satisfied. Like the Second Hokage, he had a deep interest in researching and improving jutsu. After perfecting the Sage Art: Wind Release Rasengan, he began exploring Fire Release Rasengan and Lightning Release Rasengan.

As with the Wind Release Rasengan, incorporating these chakra natures meant that if his palm didn't leave contact immediately after impact, he would also suffer the consequences.

This new idea was still in its conceptual stage. When he had first added Wind Release nature transformation, it had taken him a long time to master it. Developing Fire Release and Lightning Release variants would undoubtedly require even more time and effort.

However, as Hokage, Minato was constantly tied up with daily affairs, leaving him little time to spare.

Before he could even make significant progress on these two ideas, he found himself thinking even further ahead, to combining two chakra nature transformations into the Rasengan.

For instance… Wind and Lightning, or Fire and Wind.

This idea had been inspired by Sakumo (Hatake Sakumo), whose ability to fuse Wind and Lightning chakra into his blade granted it unparalleled sharpness.

Whenever Minato reflected on how many ideas he had yet to act on, he couldn't help but sigh about the lack of time.

Today, with his official duties finished, he had both time and energy. Yet, for some reason, he didn't feel like researching jutsu. Instead, he suddenly wanted to check on Obito and the others.

As soon as the thought occurred, he stood up, walked onto the balcony, and leapt toward the rooftops. He moved swiftly, bounding from building to building.

His destination was the training ground.

Obito was a diligent child who, when not on missions, was most likely training there.

Thinking of this, Minato smiled faintly. But his smile froze the moment he glanced to the side.

Well, he'd just contradicted himself.

On the street below, Obito was walking alongside Rin, his face beaming with joy and laughter.

"Rin, I've already mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique that Minato-sensei taught me!" Obito boasted confidently.

Standing on a nearby rooftop, Minato overheard Obito's words and let out a helpless chuckle.

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Currently on Chapter 421 - The Black Serpent