Naruto: Paws and Whiskers

"What's wrong?"

The four of them looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

Rin and the other two were still too immersed in the lecture they didn't quite understand, while Minato was also lost in his own lecture. He probably thought he had already explained it in a simple way.

These things can happen with hoomans, while their brain tells them they've learnt something, when the time comes to utilize it, they still find themselves lacking.

 Minato knew this all too well, having once been in their shoes. He himself had spent years mastering the complexities of sealing techniques and reverse summoning, working tirelessly to reach his current level. So, when it came to the Flying Thunder God Technique, he knew better than anyone how far from simple it really was.

Of course, just using summoning jutsu is the exception, unlike those who take shortcuts like Takeshi.

"Meow~ So, what's the next step?"

The trio turned to stare at Takeshi, the young ninja cat, looking at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second tail. His innocent question seemed surreal, as though he'd just asked something perfectly obvious.

Kakashi in particular felt a jolt of incredulity—how had Takeshi, a cat barely a year old, grasped any of this? Kakashi had always been considered a prodigy, excelling in his studies at the Academy and pushing himself beyond the average Chunin. Yet, here he was, bewildered, while Takeshi seemed to understand it effortlessly.

'Are humans the lower species ?'

In fact, it's not just them. Even Minato felt a momentary twinge of disbelief, though he masked it behind a calm expression. Internally, however, he was stunned. 

It's a pity that the points betrayed him. An increase of more than 1,600 is completely impossible for Kakashi and the other two. Minato, is likely the contributor, it's often the well tempered ones who give big bursts of points.

For a moment, Takeshi felt a surge of pride. If even Minato-sensei thought he understood, maybe he was closer to fully mastering the technique than he'd realized. But he knew that now wasn't the time for pride; this was about whether he could openly wield the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"It's a spatial mark, meow~" Takeshi explained with earnest enthusiasm, "kind of like the spatial fluctuations in a summoning jutsu. I used chakra in a similar way to make it."

"..."

'That makes sense.'; they have never experienced the feeling of being summoned by the summoning jutsu.

Minato thought about it carefully, nodded, and said, "You might have an point, but it is similar logic... at its core. Let's see if it works."

Swish ~

In a flash, he used the small paw print Takeshi had marked on the ground as a coordinate. In an instant, Minato was standing precisely on the mark, having teleported using the Flying Thunder God.

While, Minato did not sense it, it can still be used with Flying Thunder God...

"So… it really works," Minato muttered in confusion.

Obito, breaking his usual habit of loud interruptions, carefully raised a hand. "Sensei… Could you maybe analyze it?"

This method of pressing a mark with a smack of paw is indeed quite cool, much better than jamming a bunch of theoretical knowledge in his head, and the most important thing is that it is simple enough, at least it sounds simple.

Minato nodded thoughtfully, his gaze shifting between the paw print and Takeshi. "It's a fascinating approach, to say the least. But there's still something unclear here… Just placing a mark shouldn't be enough, theoretically speaking. There should be a formula behind it, a reason why it works, yet here we are."

"Sensei, this-" Before Obito could continue, "Takeshi, tell me what's going on, can we learn this?" Rin being sensible one, asked Takeshi directly the question that others wanted to ask but were too embarrassed to.

After all, she was closer to Takeshi and had a good relationship, so she didn't feel there was anything wrong with asking this question.

"Meow ~ I don't know either. I just felt that I could use the method I told you before, so I tried it. As for the theory and logic behind this..." Takeshi hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It is to use chakra to directly create something similar to the summoning jutsu. The jutsu is not important. What is important is that it can open a gap in space and summon myself through it."

"It is theoretically feasible, because the logic of the Flying Thunder God jutsu is indeed like this." Minato nodded on the outside to not appear clueless in front of his students, but on inside he was still trying to make sense of this. 'This is not theoretically feasible, but it can really be used. My head hurts...'

Takeshi played along, nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, meow! That's it!' while noticing his points jumping up again.

As Takeshi explained in simpler words, and Minato could understand 'what' Takeshi was saying while being stuck on 'how' it actually works, but for Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, however, still looked as lost as ever. 

To them, Takeshi's simplified version was somehow even more perplexing than Minato's intricate breakdown. It was like being handed a box labeled "refrigerator" and told it cooled things because of "cooling components" inside. While Minato would explain how each components functions and how they work and how the components worked together, while Takeshi's explanation had no understanding of how the components worked together, only that they did.

For Takeshi's explanation, it is just—a cooling component in a big box, and they only needs to supply energy to operate.

"Look," Takeshi offered with his best wise-cat impression, "it's actually pretty simple, meow~"

Kakashi's eye twitched, but he held his tongue. There was nothing simple about any of this.

After a few moments, Minato cleared his throat. "Takeshi, what you're describing is indeed fascinating, but I think it's more suited to those who already understand the fundamentals of space-time ninjutsu. It's not really a beginner's technique." After couple minutes, Minato gradually figured out what the possible theory and logic behind how Takeshi's method is and how it likely functions.

Although he couldn't imitate it in a short time, it didn't prevent him from giving advice.

"Meow?" Takeshi was stunned for a moment. 'Is that so?'

While Takeshi didn't know theory behind it, he could still use it due to assistance from system, so utilizing it was quite smooth and wasn't difficult at all.

But now looking at Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, the Takeshi found that the three were even more confused than before.

"Haha..., Sensei, maybe you can teach next part." Rin asked after laughing dryly.

Minato told Takeshi, "Takeshi, I'll need to talk to the village leaders before I can teach you the teleportation aspect of the Flying Thunder God. It's classified as an S-rank jutsu, after all. There are protocols involved."

Flying Thunder God is different from Flying Thunder Formation Jutsu. The Flying Thunder Formation jutsu has been simplified, but it is relatively useless except under limited circumstances.

It is useless for a single person to learn it, so it is okay to teach it within a trusted range. As every candidate that Jiraiya and Minato attempted to teach was screened in-depth.

But Flying Thunder God is an S-level forbidden jutsu, belonging to the Scroll of Seals. If he wants to teach it to others, he must get the consent of the village, before Minato can do it.

"I understand, meow!" Takeshi nodded gently.

Relieved, Minato returned to his lecture. But with every sentence, Takeshi found himself feeling more and more out of place. The talk was crammed with technical jargon that flew straight over his head, and felt a "buzzing" in his head.

Minato noticed and gave him a small smile. "If this doesn't interest you, Takeshi, you're welcome to head outside and practice on your own. I'll keep you updated on the progress with the village's decision."

This was purely to drive this cat away. Takeshi was confused, and then saw Kakashi's sad and erratic expression as well as Obito's contemplative and serious yet distracted look.

'Uh, is it my fault that they are distracted?' Takeshi felt dissatisfied, so he didn't move.

"Sensei, it's okay to let Takeshi stay. It won't affect your lecture." Kakashi said hurriedly.

"Don't worry, Kakashi. Takeshi, you should go and train. I will finish teaching them." Minato chuckled softly as he smiled brightly.

(E/N: There are two components to Flying Thunder God, Spatial marking creating and applying, and Teleporting to Spatial marking. Without teleportation there is no usage of creating spatial markings, except tagging an enemy and tracking their location)

'But... are you sure you aren't kicking me out, because you think I am an eyesore!' Takeshi could see clearly that just now, every time a little while passed, the points would suddenly jump by more than 100.

This was definitely not something that Kakashi and Obito, these two useless boys, could give.

"Be good, I will help you in this matter for requesting to the village about Flying Thunder God. You have enough merits, there will be absolutely no problem." Minato's smile became even more brighter.

Takeshi shuddered. For some reason, he felt that this smile was very scary. "I understand. I'll go for now."

"Let's continue. Flying Thunder Formation Jutsu is not as good as Flying Thunder God. In fact, you don't need to learn to create the spatial mark. As long as you can sense it..."

Sure enough, the Takeshi left, the points increase stopped jumping.

While Minato was giving his lecture, he was complaining in his heart, About how much he had suffered to learn Flying Thunder God. He spent years just to get merits to be allowed to get this jutsu, then even more years to learn the theory behind it. 'As for Takeshi's explanation of it being like summoning jutsu... Haha, Gamabunta and his brothers are summoned quite frequently, but I didn't see them being able to use Flying Thunder God.'

Minato comforted himself as he thought further, 'This is just about talent, nothing else. This cat is too talented, and he just happened to learn it, so he figured out this method after listening to my lecture. It is because of my detailed and comprehensive lecture!'

However, Minato was not jealous. He just felt that Takeshi looked abit upset, so he simply let Takeshi go out first.

So Takeshi could breathe some fresh air and if this helps Minato feel calmer that's just a side benefit.

Takeshi didn't say anything. He had gained some benefits, and he would be taught Flying Thunder God formally in the future. What was there to be dissatisfied about?

Contentment is the key to happiness! Ofcourse only Takeshi knew that he received contentment from points gained from Minato.

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