Chapter 64: Spiraling Four-Scatter Glass Sphere?
After a few exchanges.
Tatsuro was already struggling to keep up with the rhythm, getting beaten. Indeed, pitting a mage against a close-combat fighter was still a bit of a stretch.
But times had changed. Tatsuro found an opportunity and no longer retreated. The Sharingan in his pupils turned an even deeper crimson as he looked directly into Zenin Maki's eyes, inducing a brief, pause-like illusion.
(Author's note: I checked the references; genjutsu can be used, but it's not strong.)
Zenin Maki's hand, which was about to swing her weapon, froze. Her consciousness detached from her body and arrived in a dark space. By the time she reacted and tried to break free from this darkness...
Tatsuro had already subdued her. Looking at the awakened Zenin Maki, he asked with a smile, "I won."
Zenin Maki looked at the naginata, originally in her hands, now in Tatsuro's. She said with resignation, "I lost. What just happened?"
"A cursed technique." Tatsuro smiled faintly and didn't elaborate. After returning the naginata, he beckoned to Inumaki Toge and said, "Toge, let's eat together. The others will probably sleep for a long time!"
"Salmon." Inumaki Toge got up and walked towards Tatsuro. As a bystander, he was quite bewildered. Maki's hands, originally poised to raise her weapon, had frozen in an instant. Then, Tatsuro easily took the naginata from Maki's grasp and ultimately achieved a reverse kill.
He had never seen Tatsuro use this before. Could it be a new cursed technique awakened through his eye evolution?
Zenin Maki was still staring blankly at the naginata in her hand, seemingly still trying to recall what had just happened. It was just one look... one look!
Tatsuro called out, "Maki, let's go eat."
"Mm, okay."
Maki, seemingly having found a flaw in Tatsuro's technique, didn't ask about it, planning instead to try and exploit it in their next spar.
Tatsuro couldn't be happier at this moment. It had been over two months, and this was the first time he had defeated Maki. Although it was only once, perhaps there would be a second time, a third time...
Moreover, his strength had almost caught up with the main group. 1000 cursed energy was enough for him to develop new cursed techniques. Ninjutsu was good, but it was a bit hard to obtain from the system.
And he had also figured out the system's pattern: as he received more and more missions, the points and cursed energy obtained from completing them would also increase.
Perhaps in the near future, he could exchange for some incredibly awesome things, but not now.
The three of them went to the cafeteria, had a simple meal, and then left. Tatsuro said, "I still have things to do," and left alone. He wanted to use these few days to complete the cursed technique that had nearly killed him before.
The orbital paths of the cursed energy blades were already imprinted in his mind. It was strange; the principles of a technique completed just once were now engraved in his mind as his own unique cursed technique.
But this technique was indeed difficult to complete. His one-tomoe Sharingan had gone blind just to barely complete it, and there was an element of luck involved. If even a few of those ejected cursed energy blades had deviated slightly, he would have been a corpse.
The most important core was already prepared. Now, he just needed to add a protective membrane on the outside to prevent attacks from other cursed techniques, essentially to prevent a premature explosion caused by a sneak attack during its construction – something he had also thought about yesterday.
This could only be used as a ranged cursed technique, completely different from Rasengan, which could be used at point-blank range. Although this thing was made based on that principle, using it at close range would result in being riddled like a hornet's nest.
Both the enemy and himself.
Arriving at the mountain forest where he often trained, Tatsuro raised his right hand and began to activate the technique. The difference from before was that this time, he added a protective shell outside the "inner core."
Both enlarged and compressed simultaneously, forming an external protective shell the moment the technique was completed. Then, he would put some fun stuff inside the inner core, like an exploding cursed energy nucleus.
As long as this was placed at the very center, it would become a remotely controllable bomb!
Theoretically, this wasn't very difficult. Of course, the possibility of a sudden explosion blowing himself into a hornet's nest couldn't be ruled out; after all, risk and creation coexist.
As the technique in his right hand began to rotate, Tatsuro also activated his Sharingan to observe, watching the explosive core forming inside. Because this technique was constantly rotating at high speed, the explosive core could only be constructed in a circular shape.
Everything progressed smoothly: the formation of the inner core, the compression of the protective membrane, and the most troublesome explosive core. The explosive core within the inner core was now congealing. Due to its position at the very center, it wouldn't shift to other locations, and Tatsuro didn't dare let this thing move around randomly.
He even considered adding another protective membrane outside the explosive core, but decided against it due to the cursed energy consumption.
After all, if he continued, this one technique would require up to 200 cursed energy just to construct and complete. It wouldn't be sustainable. Scheming against others like this was probably unique to him.
Tatsuro tossed the "glass sphere" in his hand onto the ground. Due to the protective membrane, this thing wouldn't explode on impact. He moved several tens of meters away to test its power.
He gently raised his right hand, his middle finger and thumb lightly touching, followed by a "snap." The explosive core at the center of the previously stable "glass sphere" detonated. However, in terms of intensity, it seemed it couldn't even kill a frog, but it did throw the orbits of the cursed energy blades into complete disarray.
Crack—
The sound of shattering glass emerged, immediately followed by cursed energy blades shooting out in all directions. The nearest few trees were instantly riddled like hornet's nests and then snapped, though they didn't fall, merely leaning against other nearby trees.
From the finger snap to the scattering of the cursed energy blades, it took no more than 0.2 seconds. A ten-meter indiscriminate attack range – generally speaking, no one could escape it.
Looking at the devastated trees, Tatsuro revealed a satisfied smile and muttered to himself, "In terms of destructive power, this move is probably stronger than Rasengan. If I were to name it, Four-Scattering Rasengan? Or Spiraling Four-Scatter Glass Marble?"
Tatsuro seemed unaware that he was terrible at naming things and was rather enjoying himself.
Looking at the devastated trees, Tatsuro clapped his hands and left directly. The exchange event with Kyoto was coming up soon; he needed to play some fancy tricks.
Just as he left the mountain forest, his phone in his pocket rang. He took it out and saw it was a call from Gojo-sensei. Tatsuro was a bit puzzled. He drank so much yesterday, how could Gojo be up this early?
The one-handed Thomas flair!
He answered and asked, "Gojo-sensei, is something wrong?"
"Come to the classroom, Tatsuro-kun. I'm going to teach you something useful today. I was originally planning to drag it out for a few days, but thinking about your upcoming battle with Kyoto, I decided to teach you in advance! Well? Aren't you touched? That's that, hurry over now!"
Before Tatsuro could say anything, Gojo Satoru hung up the phone.
"..."
Tatsuro looked at the black screen of his phone, falling silent. He didn't know why, but even though Gojo was going to teach him, he didn't feel happy at this moment.