Konoha’s White Fang Shines

Chapter 22: A Self-Created Jutsu

The survival exercise concluded on a pleasant note. After exchanging contact information with Kushina, Genma returned to school and resumed his regular classes.

With Sakumo (the White Fang) still alive, Genma couldn't predict the broader impact on the village. Regardless, the coming war was unavoidable. Realizing he had yet to develop a trump card of his own, Genma decided to create a personal jutsu.

From what he recalled in the original series, the only fully documented self-created technique was the Rasengan. However, Genma had no intention of learning it. Not only would it appear he had stolen the idea, but his own chakra reserves weren't substantial enough to support such a technique.

For someone of Genma's ordinary lineage, using the Rasengan would be far too draining. Still, the process by which Rasengan was created offered valuable insight.

The Rasengan's first stage involved gathering chakra in the palm—a breeze for Genma, who had already mastered water-walking and other advanced chakra-control exercises—so he could skip that step entirely.

The second stage was to keep releasing chakra continuously and stably until it churned the water inside a balloon to the point of bursting—this was the shape-manipulation phase that molded the Rasengan.

Genma needed a jutsu that required minimal chakra yet had high destructive power. A spherical shape like Rasengan was undeniably potent but demanded too much chakra to maintain its form. For him, that was impractical.

After some deliberation about what shape he wanted for his jutsu, and recalling the forms of all jutsu he had seen in various anime, he settled on a conical design—specifically a spiral cone, akin to a power drill.

Conical forms were not uncommon in the world of Naruto: the Second Hokage's Hard Whirlpool Water Blade (Haru Shōha?), Kimimaro's bone drills, and so on. They demonstrated impressive piercing strength, effectively applying force in a "point-piercing-surface" manner.

But how to shape a conical jutsu the way Rasengan was stabilized by a water balloon? He couldn't just use a conical "water balloon" because that would be as awkward as "copying the Rasengan."

After much thought, Genma recalled the story of the Sage of Six Paths' sons, Indra and Asura, who lived in an era when hand seals were just being invented. Despite not being particularly bright, Asura eventually developed a move similar to the Rasengan—an inspiration for Genma.

In those primitive times, there was no rubber or modern materials, and even clothing was typically rough cloth. Yet Asura, through sheer perseverance, managed to create a Rasengan-like technique with no hand seals.

His training involved repeatedly using chakra to dig wells for the villagers, eventually gaining a "Rasengan-like" jutsu.

Emulating that, Genma wondered if he could similarly keep chiseling holes in the ground using chakra, studying the hole's shape to ensure his new jutsu formed a spiral cone.

Genma tried multiple times, digging many holes in his family's flowerbeds until he could consistently produce a conical shape. His father, Shiranui Hideyoshi, was alarmed and annoyed by the damage, but it also gave him some ideas.

"Genma, how about you make some money while you're at it, drilling holes?"

Hideyoshi's keen business sense, having made the clan a fortune, was clearly growing.

Seeing the sly twinkle in his father's eyes, Genma kept his expression neutral. "Well, if it's a job that creates value, great—but I hope you're not cooking up something crazy."

"Come on, would Dad ever scam his own son? It's definitely practical! The clan's farmland is huge, and there's never enough hands for plowing. If you can dig holes quickly with your technique, I'd say you'll get plenty of work."

"Are you sure it won't look like I'm stealing someone else's job? The families who farm might be struggling. I don't want to worsen their burden."

"Don't worry. The clan is actually short on helpers like you—someone who can 'plow' with chakra. Just get out there and help. How about five hundred ryō a day?"

Five hundred ryō was the basic pay for a D-rank mission, and since Genma wasn't yet a ninja, he happily accepted—it was the equivalent of three weeks' worth of pocket money for him. Getting that in a single day felt almost luxurious.

Unbeknownst to Genma, though, five hundred ryō was peanuts for a cunning capitalist like Hideyoshi. While Genma continued poking holes in the garden, Hideyoshi lounged with a cup of tea, muttering gleefully, "Ah, being rich sure is nice. No more toiling in old man's fields. Who'd have thought this brat was so easy to please, hehe."

Having settled on how to shape his technique, Genma turned his attention to the third stage of the Rasengan.

For the Rasengan, the third stage was maintaining its form and breaking open a hundred-times-stronger balloon made of rubber. Going from water to rubber indicated enhancing the jutsu's power.

But simple shape-manipulation references only went so far. Since the Rasengan's final demonstration was splitting a tree trunk with ease, Genma decided to test his new jutsu's power by destroying trees or rocks.

With that in mind, he immersed himself in endless practice. It verged on obsession—everywhere he went, he felt compelled to drill holes.

He recognized this "overtraining mania" from his days under Might Duy. Instead of forcing himself to stop, he carried small wooden blocks everywhere, using them for drilling practice to keep it somewhat contained.

As a result, Genma was often seen with a wooden block in hand, no matter where he went.

Eventually, his "drilling mania" paid off—his new jutsu's shape advanced considerably, achieving a remarkable breakthrough. The spiral cone could expand or contract in size; he could manipulate its dimensions at will.

For now, its power was limited to carving through soil and wood. But Genma, being familiar with Rasengan and its variants, was thrilled by the progress.

Just like how the Rasengan could be enlarged to create the "Big Ball Rasengan," Genma reasoned he too could enlarge his spiral cone technique. One day, he could perhaps mimic the style of a "big ball spiral" version.

The next step was increasing destructive force. He stuck to using wooden blocks for safety and the convenience of reusing the wood chips as fertilizer. He started timing how long it took to break each piece, making incremental improvements.

Meanwhile, as Genma poured his efforts into developing his new jutsu, Kurenai's swordsmanship advanced impressively. Because her father didn't approve, Genma secretly asked his own father to procure references on how to fuse illusions with swordsmanship.

Genma, however, did not plan to learn it himself just yet. He intended to fully integrate his boxing (taijutsu) and foundational sword skills first.

He also had a bold notion of merging his martial arts with swordplay, thereby forging his own blade style.

From his brief meeting with White Fang, he had gleaned that Sakumo's progression was likewise built on core techniques and refined through extensive combat experience.

So, Genma pinned his hopes on gleaning further insights from White Fang's guidance—and from the inevitable crucible of war, should it break out.

Having mapped out his goals, Genma devoted himself to training. He wasn't the only one, though—many in the class were redoubling their efforts, as if pursued by ravenous wolves. With so many rivals, he couldn't afford to ease up.

When Genma's "spiral cone" technique could instantly carve up wooden blocks, he moved to drilling stones. Day after day, he was seen clutching rocks—treating them like an old man might "worry beads"—and drilling them with the same unstoppable determination.

Drilling stone produced a crisp crunch, so he usually trained on them after class. The technique, being an original creation relying on intuition, lacked a systematic approach. By semester's end, he'd reached the point of fracturing rocks rather than shattering them entirely.

Though frustrated by his modest gains, Genma reminded himself that Minato took three years to perfect the Rasengan. Thus, he persevered with patience.

Fellow students often found Genma's habit bizarre. Some were curious, but more kept their distance, perceiving him as a weirdo.

One afternoon, while Genma "cracked" another stone, Kurenai stood by, looking pale.

"What's wrong? Too much noise?" he asked.

Kurenai nodded, pointing to her jaw. "It's been okay until now, but after so long, I feel like my teeth ache."

"Oh—sorry. If it's bothering you, you should've said something sooner. I didn't realize you were enduring my quirky hobby all this time."

"Working on your 'jutsu to fracture rocks' is hardly a harmless 'hobby.' You're obviously developing a technique, right? I heard Kakashi's been refining some kind of A-rank Lightning Release jutsu. Whatever you're doing must be on a similar level."

Kurenai spoke earnestly, giving Genma a pang of embarrassment.

She believed in him so absolutely. Genma felt a soft, glowy sensation in his heart, like the contentment of receiving praise from the woman he loved.

"Heh, so I can take that as you're helping me keep this under wraps, right?" Genma teased, only half-joking. "You could easily have gone to sit with Rin or Obito—why stick by me so closely?"

Kurenai flushed. "Th-that's not why!"

Mid-sentence, she realized explaining would only dig her deeper. Her cheeks reddened fiercely.

"Never mind," Genma said gently. "I appreciate it. Yours is mine, mine is yours, right? Hey, why don't you name this jutsu?"

"But I don't even know how it works. How am I supposed to name it?"

Despite her flustered state, Kurenai found herself partially agreeing, though she had intended to distance herself.

"It's okay—I'll draw it for you."

Within a few minutes, Genma finished sketching a spiral cone, annotating it with various notes.

Kurenai studied the diagram, her expression complex. "You patterned the shape off the Second Hokage's water jutsu, the Hard Whirlpool Water Blade, but yours is entirely formed of chakra… Right. How about 'Hard Air Blade?'"

"That's… good, good, good!"

"No, wait," she frowned. "Sounds like a Wind Release jutsu. How about 'Spiral Blade?'"

"Mhm, that's nice too."

"Still, it's not really a blade. It's more of a drill… so maybe 'Spiral Drill?'"

Spiral Drill…

It was alarmingly reminiscent of the Rasengan's name, leaving Genma's heart pounding with both admiration for Kurenai's creativity and concern that people might realize he'd taken heavy inspiration from the Rasengan.

Yet he couldn't reject Kurenai's well-intentioned offer. Finally, he smiled sheepishly and said, "'Spiral Drill' is awesome. I really like it, Kurenai."

End of Chapter 22