Chapter 65.4- One Thousand Hands

“Genjutsu can do that?” Minato asked, his blue eyes sharp as icicles as he broke down every word I said. It was frightening just how much intelligence lurked behind those eyes.

“Genjutsu can do whatever you need it to do if you have the power, control, and will to accomplish it. In this situation, the only reason I was able to do that was because of the vast difference between us— both in terms of chakra potency, reserves, and control.” I listed all three of the factors out.

“Of the three, reserves are the least important by quite some margin, but I still outclass you by enough in the other respects that it didn’t matter that the difference in our reserves didn’t matter as much. Do you understand?” Minato nodded, and so did Mikoto after a second or two. Kushina just looked lost.

I leaned down to ruffle her hair. “Don’t worry, Kushina. You don’t have the chakra control for genjutsu and it’s not worth it focusing on it beyond learning how to identify and dispel them” I said.

“But Sensei, shouldn’t that mean that Kushina should spend more time training and thinking about genjutsu? Because she doesn’t have the natural talent for it?”

“Who are you calling talentless, huh? You blonde—“ I leaned over and grabbed her in my hands, covering her mouth as she attempted to lunge at her teammate.

“I’m very sure that’s not what Minato meant, right Minato?” I said with a significant look tossed in his direction. He was too smart not to understand so he wasted no time in nodding so vigorously that it might have been like his he’d was about to fall off.

“Yes Sensei. That definitely wasn’t what I meant. I just wanted to know ow why Sensei didn’t want you to focus on something that might be a weakness” he said. I flashed him a thumbs up from behind Kushina’s head as I released the appeased girl to the floor.

“And to answer your question, Minato, I’ll ask you one of my own. What did you notice about the fight between the Tsuchikage and I?”

“It was fast”

“No, no that. Well, yes. It was indeed fast-paced. But that isn’t what I meant. I mean what did you notice when it comes to the number of skills we used. We only had a single taijutsu exchange. I assure you you that if the Tsuchikage faced me in taijutsu, he would have died in seconds. There’s no comparison when it comes to that. And if you notice, I did not use most of my ninjutsu arsenal because nothing I had could truly stand up to the might of dust release. That is the truth of the highest level. Your weaknesses matter far less than your strengths. The Tsuchikage’s taijutsu was barely better than passable, but he had enough ninjutsu skill to prevent that from being an issue by forcing me to fight him from a distance” I said.

“So you see, in Kushina’s case. If I wanted to turn her into a bang average Jounin— well as average as a Jounin can be— then maybe I’ spend time turning her into a passable genjutsu user. But the truth is that if I want her to reach her full potential then we’d just have to ignore genjutsu except for what we need to learn to be able to dispel them when the need arises, while focusing our attention on getting her ninjutsu and fuinjutu to their absolute peak. I can make another example with Mikoto. Mikoto does not have the reserves to be a ninjutsu specialist. Sure, she could train her reserves and get to the point where she can use more than a few jutsu a day before she’s exhausted but she will never get to the level of someone like the Tsuchikage who could wield his kekkei tota to its full extent while still dominating the battlefield with prodigious earth release. It just wouldn’t be a worthwhile use of hr time when we could spend it training with her taijutsu and genjutsu— areas where she excels” I explained further.

“So what would you suggest that I train, Sensei?” Minato asked.

“I’ll say this— for every rule, there is an exception. You’re more like me than you’d realise, and just like me, I think you can train to the point where you get either up to, or close to the very highest level in all of the ninja arts” I replied. Minato instantly sobered up, seeming to realise what I was saying without me saying the words.

“I won’t disappoint you, Sensei” He pledged.

“None of you could ever disappoint me”, I replied, and I wasn’t even lying.