Naruto : Minato back to the past

"What?" Minato couldn't help but tremble when the voice from the depths of his soul spoke. This sudden change in his mood immediately caught the attention of Sakumo and Hyuga Kyusugi, though Suzuka, focused on her surroundings, didn't notice it. Seeing their concern, Minato made a few secret gestures to indicate that he was fine.

[I have a way to find the Desert Sorrow, but it will take some time.]

After understanding the meaning of his gestures, Sakumo thought for a moment and nodded. After everything they had been through, no one could ignore Minato's actions anymore, even though he was still just a child, barely in his teens.

After exchanging glances, Minato quickly calmed down and asked internally, "You want me to open my sensor!?"

Feeling his surprise, "Adult Minato" gently smiled and said, "Just let it flow."

Minato nodded and closed his eyes slightly, allowing his body and soul to gradually merge into one. Chakra is the combination of spiritual energy and physical energy within the human body. But in this vast world, there is an even more immense and majestic force: natural energy.

Minato's chakra slowly extended outward from his center, like an invisible giant hand.

At that moment, Suzuka, who was concentrating, felt a shock. She turned toward Minato with surprise in her eyes, sensing that Minato was also using a sensory technique.

She had been limiting her sensory range to just a few meters around her out of caution, but now Minato's sensory field overlapped with hers in an instant.

Suzuka wanted to tell him to stop, but just then, Minato's chakra trembled slightly. To an ordinary ninja, this tremor might have been incomprehensible, but Suzuka, who had undergone specialized training, could almost "hear" Minato's chakra reassuring her not to worry.

Her heart trembled again. This method of using chakra fluctuations to communicate could only be achieved by sensory ninjas who had received special training.

Suzuka had held an extraordinary position in the Anbu, where she had performed unique missions, so she had trained extensively to master this technique. It took her a year of practice to get familiar with it.

But where had Minato, who was trained by Jiraiya—a ninja with no sensory abilities—learned this technique? It was simply incredible.

At that moment, Sakumo gently patted Suzuka's shoulder and smiled at her. For someone else, this would indeed be worth investigating, but for the little guy in front of them, it didn't seem surprising at all.

Suzuka, too, reflected on how, in the two years since she had first met Minato, his strength had grown far beyond her own. Whether it was killing a Jonin, saving Nawaki, or defeating the Sand Ninja puppeteer troops, Minato's actions made it impossible to view him as a typical teenager.

Everything Minato had shown thus far was enough to call him the greatest genius in Konoha's history. His talent even reminded people of the ninja god who founded Konoha, the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Though it was uncertain whether Minato's future would ever reach the same heights as the First Hokage, one thing was clear: at his age, he had already surpassed him.

The First Hokage was born into the prestigious Senju clan with a powerful bloodline, while Minato was born into an ordinary family and had nothing handed to him.

In the invisible air, Minato's chakra suddenly spread. With his eyes shut tightly, he focused on controlling his sensory technique.

He not only had to sense the natural environment but also avoid detection by the enemy's sensory ninjas.

When Minato extended his chakra more than ten meters around him, he stopped. This was the safe range he could control for now.

Any closer to the Kazekage Building and he couldn't be sure whether the Kazekage himself might detect him. If the Kazekage took action, all of Konoha's efforts would end here.

Minato wasn't afraid, though. He had already placed a Flying Thunder God mark at Mikoto and Yamanaka Kanha's location.

"Merge your spirit and chakra into one, and sense the natural energy," the voice came again in his heart.

Minato responded silently. Due to the Eight Trigram Seal, Minato's chakra had already blended with the Nine-Tails' chakra, intermingling.

When he first started practicing sensory techniques, this connection had granted him an innate ability to perceive chakra. Now, Minato was attempting to explore another ability connected to the Nine-Tails' chakra—perceiving natural energy.

Perceiving natural energy was a skill on a higher level than simply perceiving chakra. After mastering natural energy and Sage Mode, one could not only sense nature but also the chakra of others.

However, just because someone could sense chakra didn't mean they could sense nature—after all, even if you gathered all the chakra users in the world, their combined power would still pale in comparison to the entirety of nature.

Suzuka noticed that Minato's chakra had stopped spreading, but she also observed something peculiar: his sensory ability seemed to act like a living thing.

When it was about to touch a Sand Ninja, it would automatically avoid detection. This left her astounded. She made a mental note to ask Minato about this after the mission. Even she didn't possess such an ability.

Minato's chakra felt as if it had expanded his invisible presence many times over, increasing his sensitivity to the natural world. Having studied Sage Mode, Minato understood that the first step in perceiving nature was to calm his mind and return to a state of nothingness.

At this point, it wasn't Minato himself sensing the natural energy—it was his chakra. That's why "Adult Minato" had instructed him to merge his spirit with his chakra.

Chakra itself is not a living thing but a force. By merging his spirit with it, Minato could command it to sense the energy around him. While it wasn't difficult to understand, it was certainly difficult to execute.

Over the next half hour, Minato's expression grew more solemn, and despite the cold night air, sweat dripped down his forehead.

Sakumo and the others watched in silent worry, but they knew Minato was doing his best.

Time passed quietly, little by little.

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