Naruto: The Sarutobi Who Can't Spark

Sudden Burst… This will provide a slight increase in movement speed. It is ideal for short bursts of speed. It might be useful when I need to push my usual speed a little in the future. It would be perfect if I could maintain the speed repeatedly…

Small Bolt is simply targeting an enemy with a single electric bolt. It is more of a nuisance than a serious attack where I would need to attack the enemy with a bolt of lightning. This might be easier than creating a wave of large uncontrollable electric energy.

Channeling chakra to the blade is useful during combat and inflicting heavy damage on the enemy. Electric Blade might be crucial to my fighting styles. I should start to learn Kenjutsu (Sword Technique) as soon as possible.

Lightning balls can be a go-to powerful jutsu if I am fast enough to launch it at the enemies almost instantly.

Electric waves, maneuvering the lightning to hit multiple targets, sounds difficult.

Electric net…hmm, this is one of the most difficult for me at the moment. I need more time to create chakra threads, let alone the whole nets of lightning chakra. If I am successful in creating chakra threads and changing their nature to lightning, the opponent is electrocuted and incapacitated for a short time when on contact.

Raijin concluded the logical application of the jutsus. "These Lightning Release: E-ranked jutsus don't involve a change in chakra form; rather, they require just a change in chakra nature. However, performing Lightning Release: D-ranked jutsus might involve a change in chakra nature and change in chakra form."

The change in chakra nature involves manipulating the chakra to one of the elemental natures, while the change in chakra form involves transforming the shape of one's chakra at will. Lightning release simply involves manipulating the chakra nature to that of lightning by vibrating the chakras, whereas combining a change in nature with a change in form takes incredible skill or rather natural talent and intuition.

Raijin kept all the 12 scrolls in their specific places. "Kakashi did say to Naruto that, mastering change in chakra form is deemed as an A-ranked level of difficulty while combining it with change in nature would lead to an S-ranked level of difficulty, before Naruto's session of inventing Rasenshuriken."

"Naruto was talented as fuck – not a dunce. He had high combat intelligence and could make quick decisions during critical situations, which itself is a talent. In strategies and art of war he lacked behind, but his unorthodox method of fighting one-on-one and infamous talk-no-jutsu covers it pretty much. With near-to-infinite chakra and his creativeness, he is an overlord."

Raijin still lingered in his thoughts as he walked outside the library. 'How the heck did he achieve that even Minato couldn't; combining Rasengan's change in form with a change in chakra to a specific nature!?'

"Anyway, I have already trained change in chakra form through Rasengan which has immensely helped me with my chakra control. It would be awesome if I could achieve what Kakashi couldn't." Raijin grinned and walked towards his home daydreaming about the perfect jutsu; the Rasengan with its chakra nature to that of lightning.

…

As dawn broke over the training ground, Raijin stood alone with his breath visible in the crisp morning air. He channeled chakra to his feet, feeling the familiar tingle of lightning nature transformation from his feet.

The ground beneath his sandals crackled and scorched with each step causing damage to the ground. "Too much power…"

He moved forward slightly and released a thin chakra on his feet, transforming the chakra into lightning. There was no damage on the ground as before, but there were mere scorched footprints. Few visible electrical sparks were produced as he walked around.

"Channeling the change in chakra nature from my feet comes more naturally than expected." He shifted his weight to a single foot dismissing the chakra on the lifted foot. The lightning chakra responded almost instinctively and adjusted the chakra to the foot that was on the ground. "Well, chakra control was something I had been doing since my rebirth and the change of the chakra form to lightning seems to be second nature to me now."

Taking a deep breath, Raijin sprinted across the training ground. The lightning chakra crackled beneath each step, providing explosive bursts of acceleration. Initially, he noticed that there were scorched footprints from where he burst. However, he quickly noticed another technique's limitations – while the initial surge of speed was impressive, maintaining the same speed and lightning chakra during continuous movement proved challenging.

"Body Flicker technique would be more practical for pure movement, but these lightning bursts... in taijutsu..."

He shifted into a basic fighting stance, throwing a simple punch while channeling lighting chakra through his arm. The air crackled audibly as his fist cut through it, small arcs of electricity dancing in his fists. He concluded that timing is crucial, channeling the lightning at the right moment of impact for maximum effect rather than maintaining it throughout the entire movement.

For the next hour, Raijin practiced this concept against a tree, gradually incorporating lightning bursts into various strikes and kicks. Each successful combination left scorch marks on the stem. "This is way better than using it as a movement technique, I don't need hand signs as well. I should make this instinctual and natural with my taijutsu."

After a couple more shadowboxing and kicking in the air, he concentrated on his next jutsu.

"Now it's time for Small Bolts." Raijin produced a slender metal rod—a chakra-conductive metal Haruko had previously given. He placed it a meter away and began his intricate hand sign specifically for Small Bolts. The sequence was complex: Ram, Monkey, Dragon, Snake, Bear, Ram, Monkey, Snake—each sign helping to mold his chakra and transform it into electrical energy.

Lightning accumulated in both his palms, starting as a gentle buzzing sensation before building into strong lightning in his entire arms. His first attempt to direct this energy towards the rod in a wild discharge that scattered in all directions, leaving him cursing under his breath. "Shit!"

Redirecting the lightning energy remained a failure. He gathered the lightning once more in his palm, concentrating on channeling it toward the air. But instead of the controlled discharge he had hoped for, only sparks flashed brightly before fading within five seconds, their energy dissipating into the atmosphere.

"Can lightning be thrown?" Raijin muttered. Directing the lightning from his hand at a specific target was seemingly difficult. Concentrating on changing the chakra's nature and then directing the chakra from his hand toward the target remained challenging. "Yes, chakra should make throwing very possible."

"Hmm… What I don't understand is – if lightning can't travel in the air due to it being a very poor conductor of electricity – how do I focus the chakra that my lightning charges on the target from afar?"

"Lightning seeks the path of least resistance, but air is a nearly perfect insulator... So, how do I create a conductive channel for the lightning to follow? Ah, ionizing the air... Lightning can ionize the air by breaking apart molecules, creating charged particles, and thereby forming a conductive path – known as a plasma channel. Once this channel is established, lightning would then make its way to the target in a controlled manner in a path."

Raijin frowned. The more he thought about ionizing the air, the deeper his frown grew. "But this requires using nature's chakra to change it into lightning and then ionizing the air to create plasma channel… Hah, Ionizing Air can be researched later."

Focusing on his chakra once more, Raijin tried a different approach. With determination and more careful chakra control, he focused the chakra on both of his hands. The more he concentrated, the clearer his intent became. He forced the lightning to travel through the air directly by ionizing the air forcefully, breaking its insulating barrier, and creating a path for the lightning to follow.

He released the accumulated lightning chakra. This time, the results were dramatically different. While some of the energy still dispersed into the surrounding air, striking everything near the target's 0.5m radius, the majority followed the carefully prepared path to the metal rod, resulting in a spectacular display of controlled electrical discharge.

"I succeeded!?" Raijin was shocked that it worked after increasing the electrical discharge and forcefully sending large lightning toward the metal rod.

Raijin again tried concentrating large lightning on both of his hands and then directed towards the metal, hoping that this time the lightning would target the metal exclusively. However, as earlier, while the metal was easily struck by the bolts, the surrounding area was also affected by the electrical wave.

"But this is Electric Wave."

After trying multiple times and scorching the ground's grass, Raijin realized that targeting lightning to a single point was far more difficult than letting it run rampant across the target. This meant that creating a single Electric Bolt had become yet another challenge.

"I have no clue about singling targets, this could potentially hurt allies."

As the morning wore on, Raijin cycled through his lightning release jutsus; Sudden Bursts for enhanced movement and strikes, and Electric Waves for area control. Electric Waves demanded hand signs, but the same chakra control patterns as Sudden Bursts and different tactical considerations.

By midday, his reserves were running dangerously low, his chakra pathways burning with the strain of constant change in nature.