Early the next morning, Tsunade took Minato to a small lake in a corner of the Village.
Standing on the shore and looking at the azure lake, Tsunade nodded in satisfaction. "Let's do it here."
Minato's Light Release was too powerful, and its attacks came with high-temperature explosions. It caused too much of a commotion to be suitable for cultivating in crowded areas.
Normally, when the Village's Ninja cultivated Ninjutsu that caused a major disturbance, they would go to open areas outside the Village.
However, in Tsunade's view, leaving the Village still posed a risk of danger for the current Minato, even if the possibility was nearly zero.
If safety isn't absolute, then it's absolutely unsafe!
Given the talent Minato had displayed, she couldn't be too careful.
Thus, Tsunade chose this Training Ground in a corner of the Village.
The Training Ground was vast, with a forest environment and a small lake in the center, making it very suitable for cultivating Water Release and Fire Release Ninjutsu.
"Even though I'm here to help you Cultivate, I still don't know the first thing about your Light Release."
Tsunade leaned forward slightly, hands behind her back, looking at Minato playfully with a hint of inquiry in her voice.
"Is it convenient to tell your teacher about it?"
"There's nothing inconvenient about it."
Feeling Tsunade's respect for the privacy of his abilities, Minato felt a warmth in his heart and said softly, "The power of Light Release is somewhat special; it's activated directly through physical strength."
"What Ninja call physical strength can be directly refined into Chakra, encompassing both physical and Mental Energy. But the physical strength needed for Light Release is purely physical power, unrelated to Mental Energy."
"So strictly speaking, it doesn't really belong to the Ninja system."
"Is that so..."
Tsunade rubbed her chin. "Then it really is quite convenient."
For a Ninja, both physical and Mental Energy are indispensable for extracting Chakra.
If Mental Energy is over-consumed, one cannot extract Chakra even if physical strength is abundant.
Light Release has no such concerns.
"So how do you plan to Cultivate?"
"Two directions!"
Minato held up two fingers. "The first direction is to deeply develop the power itself. The second is to achieve Fusion with the Chakra system. I plan to start with the first direction."
Although the purpose of this cultivation session wasn't just for the cultivation itself, since they were out here, Minato wouldn't be perfunctory.
"From your previous performance, this ability seems to enhance your speed and can directly release energy attacks."
Tsunade pondered, "It feels quite comprehensive already. Can it be developed in other directions?"
"Yes, Teacher, there are."
Minato chuckled. "Didn't I say it before? The essence of this ability is light. It's not limited to the sunlight, firelight, or lamplight we can see with the naked eye, but refers to the concept of light itself!"
"For example, Lasers, Auroras, and even light invisible to the naked eye can all be included!"
"..."
Tsunade showed a look of surprise. "In that case, the value of this ability seems to be no less than Wood Release."
"Yes. Not only that, Light Release's direct combat capability is very strong, so there isn't much room left for development in terms of combat."
Minato said somewhat helplessly, "So I plan to develop it toward functional aspects."
"Aren't you being a bit overconfident?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "How about you show me your abilities first? Show me everything: power, speed, destructive force, and range."
"Fair enough."
Minato nodded. Although Tsunade didn't understand Devil Fruits, she was a Jonin after all, and might be able to offer suggestions from other perspectives.
"I won't demonstrate strength; Light Release doesn't provide a direct boost to strength, it only enhances the power of attacks through speed. As for speed, Teacher, do you want to race me?"
"Oh?"
Tsunade immediately perked up. "How do we race?"
Minato pointed to a tree on the opposite shore of the lake, hundreds of meters away. "Using the lake as the track, how about we see who reaches the other side first?"
"Interesting!"
Tsunade agreed without hesitation, then picked up a pebble and tossed it lightly. "We'll use this as the starting gun. The moment it hits the water, the race begins."
Minato nodded. "Alright."
Having received her answer, Tsunade took a starting stance. "Then let's begin!"
With that, she tossed the pebble toward the lake!
Under their gaze, the pebble traced a parabola in the air and fell into the water with a splash.
And at the exact moment the pebble touched the water, the ground on the shore suddenly exploded!
Large chunks of soil and rock tumbled into the water as Tsunade's first step completely collapsed the entire riverbank!
At the same time, her figure shot toward the opposite shore like a cannonball, with two sprays of water surging behind her across the lake's surface.
There's a saying that speed is power.
But in Tsunade's view, that saying could just as easily be reversed!
Under her immense Monstrous Strength and meticulous Chakra control, every step Tsunade took on the lake's surface felt as if she were stepping on solid ground.
Using the reaction force of her Monstrous Strength, she pushed her speed to the limit.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared on the opposite shore!
Then, she stepped onto the grass of the opposite shore.
Before she could cheer, a little blondie appeared right beside her.
"This..."
Tsunade's lip twitched. She turned to look back at where they had come from; the shore they had stood on had completely collapsed, and the lake's surface looked as if it had been ravaged by a hurricane, with chaotic ripples everywhere.
"The speed boost from Light Release is actually quite high..."
Minato scratched his head and grinned.
Tsunade was momentarily speechless.
Although she didn't specialize in speed, with the boost from her Monstrous Strength, she wouldn't be slower than those Jonin who did.
Seeing that he wasn't even out of breath, Tsunade chuckled inwardly.
This kid really knows how to be considerate of her feelings.
"Not bad. With this kind of speed, at least I don't have to worry about you being unable to escape if you encounter danger."
Tsunade nodded in satisfaction. "Next, let's see the destructive power of your Light Release. What you showed before shouldn't be your limit, right?"
Minato nodded. He was also a bit curious about how much power he could generate by pushing his current physical strength to the limit.
Thinking of this, he raised his palm toward the center of the lake, and his hand emitted a dazzling light.
Although there was no grandiose build-up, the steadily accumulating energy still gave Tsunade a spine-chilling sense of threat.
Suddenly, a ball of light shot out from Minato's hand and plunged into the lake.
BOOM—
In the next instant, the lake water shot into the sky!
The terrifying explosion kicked up a giant wave nearly a hundred meters high. It was as if a red hemisphere had been placed over the lake, with the explosion's range covering almost the entire body of water!
The commotion was so great that it was clearly visible even from several kilometers away.
Ignoring her shock, almost the moment the giant wave surged, Tsunade scooped up Minato and ran into the distance, her heart racing with uncontrollable excitement.
The power of that strike... it must be at least Super S-Rank, right?