After getting back, Nio had made a point of treating and hiding his wounds, determined to make sure that no one found out about his outings. His injuries didn't amount to much really. There were a few cuts and bruises from the panther's claws and the headbut it delivered at the end of the fight. Besides that, he was slightly bruised after falling into the pit that was a cave entrance. Luckily he had been reinforcing himself with chakra and cursed energy almost all the time, allowing him to prevent himself from getting broken bones.
Those would have been really hard to hide.
Right now it was morning at the home of Squad 9. Normally at this time of the day, there were no classes, unless it was a double class day. A day where they had both martial arts class and body development class. In case there was only one class that day, it was normally at the end of the day, and the children would be free to do whatever in the morning.
To the surprise of some of the members of the squad, Nio had slept in, waking up much later than everybody else. Which was weird as he was one of the few that woke up at the right times.
Because of that, he had lost a lot of free time.
At this very moment, he was sitting in the branch of the popular tree of the Squad 9, seemingly meditating. Right now he was getting a feeling of his own chakra and making it flow in every direction and way he could think of.
That was one of the ways he had found to practice chakra control allowing him to practice without being noticed by anyone.
He was working on his new project. To learn the Rasengan.
In the Naruto world, the Rasengan was seen as this really great technique that only a few people had been able to master. Yet, for transmigrators, it was the go-to for first techniques.
There were various reasons, but the main one was really simple. The fans of Naruto had the knowledge of how to train it. They knew the steps and they knew the modifications that Naruto himself had made to facilitate his learning of the jutsu.
To learn how to rotate chakra in multiple directions they used a filled water balloon.
To learn how to increase the power they burst a rubber ball.
And then combining the two steps without bursting a balloon with great control and containment.
Once these three steps were concluded, one would be able to use the Rasengan.
However,
'I don't have any balloons or rubber balls.'
The ball they used to play football was the only thing they were allowed to have to have fun, it would be a bummer to burst it.
However, not everything was lost, after all, the purpose of the balloons and the rubber ball was to practice certain characteristics of the Rasengan.
Rotation
Power
Containment
That was the aim of each step respectively.
So, Nio had to find ways to mimic these steps with his own exercises. While meditating, several exercises crossed his mind at great speeds before being dismissed just as fast.
The first step used water as a medium to help burst the balloon, that was only possible if you made the water rotate in various directions at the same time.
Therefore he needed somethings that warned of the limit that he needed for sufficient rotation and a medium to facilitate it.
Water was a good medium but what would be a good indicator of success?
Nio kept brainstorming ideas.
And then it him. The reason why the water balloon bursted was because the water, rotating on so many directions, would burst out of the rotational force against the balloon's walls. Due to the water balloons' fragility, if there was enough rotation and it was done right, the balloon would explode.
But what if Nio tried to do so in a more durable environment, the water wouldn't be able to burst out. If there was an exit, the water would then escape through it.
A half-filled cup of water would do or a bigger container would be better, but if his theory was right, if he was capable of generating enough rotation, the water would burst out of the container through its only exit.
(A/N: I'm sorry for the ones who actually understand physics if this is not feasible...just turn your brain of for a little, yeah?)
And it wasn't correct to just let the water flow out, it needed to be shot upwards in a swift motion, and that was only possible if he was able to reach maximum speeds of rotation fairly quickly.
As for the other aspects of the training, he needed a new container to break to practice the power aspect. As for the containment aspect that is something inside the control practices that he already had. He would just perform the previous actions without a container and focus on making sure that it did not burst without taking actual form.
Naturally, it would be a while until he could successfully learn it. Although he possessed knowledge a normal shinobi did not, it did not mean that he had the talent to pull it off in such a short time like Naruto, he might need a few months like Jiraya, everyone knows that Minato only took three years because he was developing the technique and not learning it.
'Seriously, how did he come up with this?'
As he was concentrating, he didn't notice a figure climbing up the three in his direction.
'Where should I start practicing? At night or in the forest, I first need to find a way to sneak in without alerting the panther, after all.'
"Hey! What'cha doing there, 9-1-1?"
"Woah!"
Caught by surprise, Nio almost fell from the tree, however, he was able to catch himself to the trunk of the three by using the chakra in his hand. Pulling himself straight, Nio eyed the boy in front of him.
He was 9-3-1, one of the three people on Squad 9 with an evaluation of 1 for talent, the others being Nio and the other being 9-0-1.
"Did you have to sneak up on me like that, 9-3-1? Also, I told you to call me Nio."
"You were the one who got scared, why should I be the one who had to be held responsible, besides, it was pretty funny, seeing the ultimate genius, 9-1-1, getting scared like that."
"It was not funny at all."
"That's what the loser always says. Anyway, are you going to answer me or not?"
"Hm? I was just thinking about some things, what about you?"
"I was looking for you, 9-0-1 wanted you to visit her in the Medical Office."
"..."
"Are you really feeling guilty over that? I believe it's even more guilt-worthy to not visit the person you hurt by someone else's orders, no?"
"You are right, ..., I will visit her later."
"Good. Jeez, what's with that drama anyway, lately, you have been in this serious expression and have been really on guard and attentive, as if looking for something."
'He caught that? It must have been during the time that I was exploring ways to go out.'
9-3-1 was still a 1 in talent, although he was not as fast or as powerful as Nio or 9-0-1, he was awfully sensible, he heard things one didn't, and he smelled things that don't have smell, like emotions. Heck! He even feels changes in temperatures that no one notices, he is crazy sensible.
Paired with that attentive mind of his he is quite the capable scout. He will go far in the future. If he has a future, of course. But as his friend, it's my job to make sure he does.
"It's nothing, I was just curious about something so I was paying attention to something going around, you know?"
"Is that so?"
He didn't look very convinced.
'That damn smell of his.'
"Anyway, what do you think of the lessons lately, anything you want help with?"
Although lately classes were mostly focused on body development and martial arts, the members of the Stygian clan still needed to learn certain things, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to partake in missions with high-concept risks or rewards.
In missions, the politics of the Nell family were to be held into account when performing. If there is any loss on any type of trade, policy, relationship or even just to badly represent the Nell name, a member of the Stygian clan would be executed, in cold blood.
"Ah, well, I still don't understand why we can't communicate with members of the Nell family to ask clarification on certain aspects of the missions, like, imagine if they tell us to kill everyone in a mansion, what if someone intervenes, someone important, what are we supposed to do? If the person is involved for whatever reason we were there shouldn't they join the others? But what if they are not related, do we just let them go and risk exposing the Nell dealings? Why can't we have something like an advisor who can make decisions on the field on the fly?"
"Huh..."
Nio thought hard about how to respond.
"You see, we of the Stygian are discardable, in a situation as you described, we should let him go and bear all the guilt and punishment, acting like normal criminals, for as long as we do not reveal the Nell name, we might even be left alive."
"ha... I see."
He seemed to be disappointed.