Once Ren was done annoying Yoru, he returned to his basement.
With the jonin promotion already underway, not that he could do anything about it since it was already under consideration, he could finally focus on the real reason for his return. Something more important.
His clones had already vanished by the time he got back. The timer was up, but they had done exactly what he needed.
[FUINJUTSU MASTERY - 75% (ADVANCED)]
[SPACE RELEASE MASTERY - 51% (INTERMEDIATE)]
The two most important elements he'd need.
These numbers increasing weren't a coincidence. Over the last month, while he'd been out completing missions, every clone he made had been under strict orders to drop everything else and focus only on Fuinjutsu and space release. That was the foundation. And now, it was time to use it.
Ren had already decided to spend the +20 Intelligence boost on Flying Thunder God. There wasn't anything else worth it right now. As for the Flow, it was too obscure, too intangible. He doubted even near-perfect intelligence could crack that puzzle in ten minutes.
FTG was manageable. It was more practical and infinitely better choice than something he wasn't even sure about right now.
Once decided he got to work.
Hundreds of shadow clones popped into existence around him, each created with bare-minimum chakra which was just enough to function, focus, and draw.
Their shared objective was the Chakra Anchoring Seal.
Ren hadn't completed a full Spatial Anchor Seal before. He'd only managed the first layer, the chakra signature lock layer, the inner circle of the seal, the part that attuned the seal to his personal chakra. And most of the second layer, the spatial binding array, was already within reach.
So, they started there.
It went faster than expected. The first and second layers, which had taken weeks to research and refine, were now effortless. In fact, with their combined progress and Ren's real-time corrections, it felt mechanical.
The second layer was the most complex structurally. It involved drawing the spatial symbols for dimensional locking, anchoring the seal's location in the physical layer of space.
Ren and the clones carved the symbols for cardinal directions, north, east, south, west, then followed up with the secondary axes, northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest. This gave the seal full spatial reference in every orientation. It was necessary. If it couldn't lock its own orientation in space, then there was no guarantee Ren could teleport to it from any direction. He might misalign or split himself.
Once all eight directional symbols were drawn and placed in the correct sequence, they were connected. A tight lattice formed around the core seal, completing the second layer.
Without pausing, they moved on to the third and final layer, the pulse reception layer.
This one was the easiest, almost deceptively so. Its function was simple, it received chakra and distributed it across the seal, activating it on contact. The only thing to watch out for was leakage.
The seal could only contain his chakra. If chakra flowed out or let ambient energy in, it would collapse. Worst-case scenario? It would allow enemies to hijack the anchor, not like there were any, alive, who could do that, but it was better to take all measures into consideration.
So, they refined it.
One by one, the final lines were drawn. With the last stroke, the Spatial Anchor Seal was complete, fully and properly, for the first time.
Ren stepped back and looked at it.
It was ugly.
An absolute hotchpotch mess of layers, runes, directional symbols, micro-engraved chakra paths, and pulse funnels. The entire thing pulsed faintly with stabilized space-aligned chakra, but aesthetically it looked chaotic.
He sighed. "Well, it's not a masterpiece."
But that was expected. This was likely the basic model Tobirama had developed, not the one Minato perfected. What Minato used was fast, elegant, and fine-tuned to his personal style. This one was more raw, which showed how great the effort was put in to create a jutsu like this.
Still, Ren didn't mind. After all, the foundation Tobirama built was likely designed around his own Senju body. A body like Ren's. So, what worked for Tobirama could work for him. That was enough for now.
His goal was simple, get it working once. After that, it would just be a matter of grinding the jutsu until it became his own.
He dispelled all the clones, collecting their seals before they vanished. He stored them all carefully, each one finalized, tuned, and ready.
'Before I use the boost,' he thought, 'let's try everything I can without it.'
He picked one of the seals and tossed it ten meters away. The rest were packed up and sealed off as he didn't want unnecessary interference. If this worked, he didn't want to be pulled in seven directions.
He stood up straight, hands at his sides, and exhaled.
Then, slowly and deliberately, he released a wave of spatial chakra.
He'd been able to do this for a while now, send out a spatial pulse, it was like a normal chakra field but not normal chakra, spatial chakra. It wasn't as useful for regular detection since it took a lot of chakra, but it had one distinct advantage that normal sensory types couldn't sense it back unless they were also attuned to space.
As the wave rippled outward, it touched the seal instantly.
Something clicked.
A soft pull.
His body shifted involuntarily, just slightly. Not enough to teleport, not even enough to stumble. But he felt it, a tug on his chakra core, the anchor trying to drag him across the room.
He grinned.
That was it. That was proof.
Just to be sure, he repeated the test. This time, he scattered multiple completed seals across the basement, each one synced to his chakra. Then he pulsed again.
However, he regretted it immediately.
His entire body lit up with competing pulls. Arms, legs, spine, each anchor tried to claim him simultaneously. His breath hitched as he felt himself being pulled in several directions at once.
Without hesitation, he cut the chakra flow. The tension vanished in an instant. There was no backlash, but it had been close.
Still, this confirmed it. All the seals worked.
Each one had successfully connected and attempted to pull him through space. That alone proved the formula was correct and that was more than enough for now.
Ren moved through the room, collecting all the seals except for one. He left it on the floor 10 meters away from him for later tests. He'd only use a single active anchor point lest something goes wrong.
But more importantly, he was ready now. The seals were done, his thoughts were proven right and the Intelligence boost was still untouched.
Ren let a slow grin creep onto his face as he looked down at the lone seal on the floor.
He once again sent out a wave of spatial chakra to further observe the seal, to see what exactly happened when his chakra connected to it.
Just like before, the moment his chakra touched the seal, he felt that same pull.
It wasn't strong. He tried to act on it, but nothing happened. It was just a slight tug, not enough to move him, not even enough to shift his stance.
If he had to describe it, it would be like standing in front of a powerful vacuum, but from several meters away. The force was real, he could feel it, but the distance was too great, so it only succeeded in slightly pulling him toward itself.
Which meant one thing.
He needed something to bridge the gap. Something that would create a direct pathway between him and the seal.
The obvious answer was chakra. Aside from that, nothing else would work.
But then came the next problem, how to create that pathway?
The first thing that came to mind was to connect his chakra to the seal directly, but that's what he was already doing. His chakra pulses were scanning the seal and making contact through his chakra signature locked into the seal's first layer.
Still. Maybe that wasn't how it was supposed to go?
Even though his chakra was technically "connected" to the seal, it wasn't forming a direct route, a link from point A to point B. Right now, his chakra was simply surrounding the seal, brushing against it, tethered only through the passive signature match. That kind of weak connection obviously wasn't enough to trigger a space-time transition.
To use Flying Thunder God, he needed something far more concentrated. A denser link. Something that didn't just connect to the seal, it had to inject into it. Specifically, into the second layer, the spatial binding array where he'd drawn the directional symbols.
That layer was the one responsible for dimensional locking, the map, the axis, the orientation. If any part of the seal was meant to act as a "target location," that was it.
He raised his hand. A thin strand of chakra extended from his fingertip, a glowing filament, alive with his own energy.
This was the answer.
The only thing that could inject itself into the seal and be made entirely of his own chakra, chakra threads.
However, normal chakra threads wouldn't be enough. If that were the case, there'd be no shortage of Flying Thunder God users in Konoha. Or anywhere else in the world.
Everyone knew chakra threads. Even freshly made Chunin.
No, what he needed now was something much rarer.
A spatial chakra thread.
However, a spatial chakra thread was not something that could be made easily.
Even with intermediate-level mastery, Ren had only been able to use Space chakra for basic sensing and even those techniques required A LOT of chakra, which was why he didn't usually use them. They drained too much for too little utility in combat situations.
Still, he didn't think much before starting. He began kneading the space chakra like normal chakra to form chakra threads.
But space itself was abstract. Though it existed everywhere, it was still incredibly difficult to understand.
With his current mastery, he was able to attune to it sense its rhythm, feel its layers but actively manipulating the element for more advanced purposes remained elusive. Every time he tried to mold space chakra into a stable thread, it would dissipate after leaving his body, scattered before it could form.
That left him stumped.
Not wanting to waste time, he didn't hesitate. He immediately invested 3 intermediate-level mastery points into his Space Release mastery, raising it to 74%.
Then, he added 1 advanced-level mastery point, bringing it to 76%, directly pushing his Space Release into the Advanced Mastery category.
In that moment, knowledge related to the space element began shuffling through his mind in pieces, layers, diagrams, sensations and at the same time, he could feel his ability to mold space chakra rise to another level.
But even then he still couldn't create something like the spatial chakra thread.
Ren frowned, deep in thought. 'Am I doing something wrong? But that's the only way I can think of to connect myself to the seal for the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, a space jutsu to work. Or, is it possible that spatial chakra thread isn't even a thing?
He decided to try the next most obvious thing. He moved closer to the seal, placed his hand on it, and stimulated it with spatial chakra.
That familiar pull came again but this time, it was a bit stronger than before.
However, there still wasn't any real difference. Nothing suggested that he was being teleported from one point to another.
Which meant one thing, the pathway was still missing and without that, no matter how strong the seal or his chakra connection, it would be impossible to go from point A to point B.
Just like physical movement, if someone wanted to go from one house to another, there had to be a path, roads, air, water, something that would allow the body to move from one place to the next.
That "path" was the one thing he was missing right now.
Which also meant, now was the best time to use the boost. But before that, he used the two points he had left to raise his Intelligence stat to 79.
Then he asked the system, 'System, do I have to use the whole 10 minutes in one go, or can I stop the timer midway?'
If he could pause the timer, that would be ideal as he could use any remaining time for other purposes.
The system's response came instantly.
[AFFIRMATIVE. THE HOST CAN USE THE 10 MINUTES INTELLIGENCE BOOST AS LONG AS HIS INTELLIGENCE IS AT 79 POINTS.]
Ren's eyes lit up.
This meant he could use the boost for Flying Thunder God now, and if he succeeded before 10 minutes were up, he could stop the timer and use the rest later for something else.
He took a deep breath and gave the command.
'System use the boost.'
The system responded:
[USE +20 INTELLIGENCE FOR 10 MINUTES?]
Ren nodded. "Yes."
A soft pulse went through his mind and a timer appeared in the corner of his vision.
[10:00]
~~~~~
{The next few chapters would be very much information heavy so be cautious and don't just skim through it, I spent a lot of time thinking things through.}
{I wanted to give one more bonus chapter since we blew up but the next wouldn't be understood easily without the one after that so tough luck guys.}
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{You know what else}
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