I'm in Konoha, and I have ten skill slots.

After a while, Naruto was found.

Naruto entered the Third Hokage's office.

"What's wrong? Third-generation grandfather, did you call me because you have a mission for me so soon?"

Naruto was in a pretty good mood today, having just graduated.

The Third Hokage smiled and said, "Congratulations, Naruto, you've successfully graduated!"

"hey-hey!"

"By the way, Grandpa has something to ask you. You were unconscious yesterday. Do you know what happened?"

Naruto paused for a moment, then said, "Oh right! I was just about to ask Shigure what happened to me yesterday, but I was so busy with the exam that I forgot to ask him!"

"Shigure...were you with Shigure yesterday?"

"That's right! Shigure taught me the Shadow Clone Technique. Thanks to him, I was able to graduate smoothly today..."

Naruto kept talking, but the Third Hokage stopped listening.

Instead, his eyes flickered slightly.

Danzo's target yesterday was Shigure, and those ninjas were after Shigure.

Two of them were instantly killed by Shigure!

Those were elite Chunin fighters; signs of a fight were also found in a forest outside the village.

Furthermore, the ANBU ninja reported finding traces of ninjutsu used in the technique, and speculated that it was an A-rank ninjutsu!

Releasing a ninjutsu in a place where none existed, and snapping several giant trees in half, is something that ordinary ninjas cannot do.

'Moonlight Rain... Escape, hmm, that makes sense. The combination of escape and swordsmanship... without a certain level of mastery over escape, it would be impossible to create such swordsmanship!'

'This kid isn't just talented in swordsmanship!'

Chapter 58 Frosty Aura Spreads, Ice Escape Developed

The Third Hokage glanced at Naruto, who was still excited.

"Alright, Naruto, you can go now! Grandpa has other things to attend to!"

Naruto was talking enthusiastically, mentioning that he had successfully mastered the Shadow Clone Technique the first time he learned it yesterday.

However, seeing that the Third Hokage didn't seem very interested, Naruto also felt a bit bored.

After making a face, he walked away without looking back.

The third generation recalled the two corpses he had seen the previous night. Judging from the torn flesh on their necks, the weapons used were extremely sharp.

However, judging from the width of the cut, it doesn't seem to have been caused by a ninja sword.

How did Shigure manage to do that?

At this moment, Shigure had already arrived outside Konoha.

Having learned from his previous experience, Shigure used the Transparent Release technique when leaving Konoha this time, completely concealing his figure and aura.

Then they quickly left Konoha.

They arrived outside the village but didn't go to the same place as before.

Instead, they found another waterfall.

Seeing the rushing river in front of her, Shigure jumped directly onto the boulder in the middle of the river.

"I can rest assured now."

"Great Sage, how is the calculation going?"

[Great Sage: Calculation countdown 2 minutes]

With only two minutes remaining, the Ice Release calculation will be completed.

Shigure couldn't help but rub his hands together. Although it wasn't the first time he had obtained a bloodline limit, he was still looking forward to Ice Release.

The power of ice should not be underestimated.

Even Shigure believed that the power of ice was no weaker than that of wood release.

[Calculation complete]

[Congratulations, host, you have acquired a new skill: Ice Release]

In an instant, Shigure suddenly closed her eyes.

A chill seemed to suddenly emanate from the deepest part of my body.

The cold air flowed and traveled throughout my body.

But this chill didn't make Shiyu feel uncomfortable at all, just like being in the scorching sun.

Suddenly, I jumped into the clear spring, and the cool and refreshing feeling was very comfortable.

As Shigure adapted to and controlled the Ice Release chakra within his body, white mist began to emerge around him.

The pervasive chill spread, condensing into a layer of frost on the surface of the boulder.

Shiyu opened her eyes, bowed her head, and opened her arms.

Looking into my palm, I saw snowflakes drifting up, accompanied by a piece of ice crystal slowly rotating.

'Is this the power of Ice Release?'

This feeling is very strange.

Shigure slowly placed his hand on the boulder, then unleashed a frenzied burst of Ice Release chakra.

The cold air spread and the boulder was frozen, forming a thick layer of solid ice that was visible to the naked eye and spread rapidly.

In a very short time, most of the river was completely frozen.

Under the scorching sun, the ice blocks that had frozen showed no signs of melting.

The power of Ice Release was even greater than Shigure had imagined.

This is merely a crude use of Ice Release chakra, not even performed using ninjutsu techniques.

Having Ice Release, one naturally needs to develop some matching ninjutsu.

"This ability to freeze everything around us could actually be used to develop a specialized ninjutsu!"

"Great Sage, can you perform the calculation?"

[The Great Sage: Calculating]

[Calculation in progress]

[1%]

[2%]

The growth rate is a bit slow, but that's alright, it won't take more than a few minutes.

[Great Sage: Calculation complete]

[Congratulations, host, you have acquired a new skill: Ice Release ~ Frozen Moment]

Shigure felt the new ninjutsu that had appeared in his mind.

Well, how should I put this technique? The name sounds good, but the effect is... well...

【Ice Release ~ Freezing Time: Rapidly lowers the surrounding temperature, causing everything within the affected area to freeze quickly】

No wonder the great sage's calculations went so smoothly.

Isn't this just an upgraded version of the crude way of using Ice Release chakra just now?

At most, it was just an optimization by the Great Sage.

Shi Yu felt somewhat helpless.

Raise your hand to form a mudra, ready to see how effective it actually is.

The next second, a powerful surge of chakra erupted.

Keep this hand seal in place and look around.

Centered on Shiyu, everything within a ten-meter radius began to rapidly condense frost.

As time passed, it took a full ten seconds or so for the mixture to freeze completely.

This technique... it seems kind of useless!

In a span of ten seconds and within a ten-meter radius, anyone who isn't an idiot would know to stay away from Shiyu.

Even at the speed of an ordinary person, they would have been out of range in just over ten seconds.

Does this mean that Shigure has to use this technique while also running after the enemy?

Even if you can kill the enemy, the way you kill them is just too low-class!

"Fine, Great Sage, use your Release Ninjutsu to convert it into Ice Release Ninjutsu!"

[Great Sage: Calculating]