Rasengan. The caretaker said it would probably become Kurai's trademark attack; a finisher of sorts. It looked and sounded interesting, and powerful. He read the information provided on the scroll several dozen times, burning the information into his memory.

The Rasengan is a powerful A-rank technique invented by the Fourth Hokage of the former village of Konohagakure which he created by observing the Tailed Beast Ball. He spent three years developing the Rasengan; his plan was to take the shape transformation of one's chakra to the "highest possible point" and then combine it with his chakra's nature affinity, creating a technique that did not need the aid of time-consuming hand seals to control. He died before he could accomplish this, but on shape transformation alone, the Rasengan is still a very useful, powerful, versatile, and difficult technique to learn and master.

The Rasengan does not require any hand seals to use, relying only on the chakra control of the user. Once it is complete, it becomes self-sustaining, which does not give the Rasengan a definite limit. The compacted nature and moving speed of the chakra allows the Rasengan to grind into whatever it comes in contact with to inflict major damage. This tends to launch the target spiralling backward after being hit or, if the target is lying on the ground or being launched to the ground, the destructive force is enough to form a crater.

The scroll that Kurai was given documented 3 ways to train the Rasengan.

The first step was learning how to burst a water balloon by spinning the water inside in multiple directions at once using only the user's chakra, which emphasizes rotation.

Kurai bought some balloons from the marketplace. He filled 2 of them with water, then went and sat on the front porch. He sat there, cross-legged, concentrated fully upon one of the water balloons. The first thing he did was learn to move the water in a specific direction. After getting the hang of that, he moved the water in an opposite direction. Once he'd gotten the hang of moving the water however he saw fit did he try moving it in multiple directions. About 15 minutes had passed before he got the hang of this step, and caused the balloon to explode.

The second step was for the user to burst a rubber ball, and since rubber is thicker, and air is completely different from water, it forces the user to use denser chakra to break it. This step emphasizes power.

Before the family dog died out on the road, they'd had several toys for it to play with, one of them being just what he needed: a rubber ball. This step was much more difficult, and for a while, it seemed that it probably wouldn't work. These exercises, unbeknown to him, were helping Kurai get a hold on his chakra control in ways that his parents couldn't have shown him. This time, it took close to a half hour before Kurai was able to control it to the point that the rubber ball was torn into small bits.

The third and final step was to combine both step one and two by spinning chakra inside a balloon without moving the balloon itself, emphasizing stability of the sphere shape.

...And this is why he filled 2 balloons. This step proved to be the most difficult of them all, but he was determined to master it. To create destructive power and condense it, move it around in a small space without disturbing the surface. Several times did it seem that the balloon would pop, at one point bending into a long banana-like shape, but overall Kurai was able to keep it intact. After about an hour, Kurai could keep the balloon in a perfect cylindrical shape.
It was around this time that he decided to take a break and step outside for some fresh air. It was also around this time that Kurai caught wind from several passersby that looked to be around his age of an “Underground fighting ring” where various participants and spectators could place bets. The ring was still relatively small, but with all of the fighting going on the past few days, growing. It was located in an area south of the village, within warehouses that used to be part of Korigakure, now located underground. It seemed like the perfect setting to test out this new ability after all of the training.

His curiosity got the best of him and he was lead to the location of the fighting ring, found easily enough with Shinsai. He was able to remain pretty much unseen in the rear as people began to gather, bets began to be placed and fighters began to square off, some of them being kids around his age, some of them even grown. There were several different styles and several different types of Ninjutsu, most being composed of Fire, Water and Ice. In one of the fights, a participant cast a jutsu that put their opponent completely within a block of ice. In another, one of the participants was forced to submit due to the harsh amounts of water being sprayed upon them.

One of the non-violent kids who were at the garden recognized Kurai standing in the back, and came over to him. “Hey, I know you, you're that guy who trashed Jin and Hitomi, I thought i'd see you here sooner or later,” he said. “Come to get in on the action? Place some bets?” Kurai shrugged his shoulders. “Well if you do end up fighting, i've got my money on you! I'm guaranteed to win! Ha ha!”

Another spectator said “You sound pretty sure of yourself there, junior. Care to put your money where your mouth is? My guy against yours, 500 Ryo says your guys goes down in under 10 seconds.”

“Haah! I'll take your 500 and raise you 1000! You don't understand how good this guy is!”
“Well I suppose we'll see then, huh?” They gave a glance to Kurai. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, nodding his head. Money and winnings didn't really matter to Kurai, he was in it for the sport of it; the training and experience. Anything that could make him stronger was more valuable than money to him.

Before he knew it, Kurai was standing before the person who was scheduled to be his opponent in his first fight here. With his feet bare, Kurai was able to size the guy up. He weighed about 130 pounds, and stood just a tad taller than Kurai. Besides the under arm funk, he could smell nothing funny about the guy, meaning he knew no Ninjutsu techniques, and with the medical tape around his hands and feet, this meant he was likely a primary Taijutsu fighter. To show off, the kid executed several punches and kicks inches before Kurai's face, causing his wild black hair to ruffle; none of which he attempted to dodge or avoid.

“Ok ok ok,” said the female ring announcer, coming between Kurai and his current opponent. The woman was blonde and dressed in tight clothes, designed to command attention. “Over here we have  Hanzo – You all know Hanzo, right? He's sort of a favorite around here. Today he up against this new guy... Kurai, they said his name was? Well it looks like he got the bad luck of being put up against Hanzo on his first time out, and we've all seen what Hanzo does to people he likes! And this Kurai guy? I don't think he likes him too much! Get the last of your best in now!...”

Most best were on Hanzo, Kurai knew this. It didn't really matter much in the end, he wasn't here for money. Mostly he wanted to test out a new trademark move. If someone else got rich in the process, so be it. The girl moved out of the way after saying “Good luck” leaving the two to fight. Kurai took his fighting stance, watched and waited. Hanzo stared closely at Kurai, seeming to be doing some sizing up of his own. A while passed before either of them made a move. When Hanzo finally jumped into the air and attempted a kick is when Kurai quickly let loose a “Mossberg 500 Kick,” and with Hanzo being airborne meant that he could not avoid it. The kick smashed into him, throwing him backwards and into the rear walls at a high velocity. He collapsed to the ground and didn't move afterwards, his eyes rolling  into the back of his head.

The spectators watching made a loud OHHHH! Sound. The kid who was at the garden was thrilled, for he'd won quite a large amount of Ryo. “I TOLD you! This guy is dead serious! He's beating anybody here!” With this statement, Kurai was faced off with a big thick individual that went by the name of Tank. He was a heavyset man, weighing about 350 pounds. He was slow, but tough and able to absorb a lot of damage. The smells he got off the main were the same as Hanzo, a lot of funk, but no Ninjutsu. Kurai already had a plan for him: start fast, finish hard.

When the fight began and Tank lunged toward the skinny kid in the black body suit, Kurai went into motion. He delivered rapid blows to Tank's mid-section and legs, all of which seemed to be causing no effect... at first. Tank returned fire with huge swings of his tree trunk arms, which made woosh sounds as they traveled through the air from the sheer force behind the attacks, but none touched anything. Repeated blows in the same areas soon began to produce pained expressions and grunts from Tank. After covering his arms in rock, Kurai began to throw haymakers of his own, stunning and dazing the larger man Tank. A double handed blow was enough to send Tank backwards and shatter the rocks covering Kurai's arms. The spectators continued to react loudly everytime Kurai connected an attack.
Tank was hurt and stunned, but he wasn't done. After being knocked onto his behind, he gathered himself and stood up again. As the larger man was struggling to get to his feet, Kurai felt this was the time to test out Rasengan. The room fell silent and all eyes were upon him as the sphere appeared within his right hand, just like he'd practiced. It illuminated the semi-dark warehouse with blue lights while the chakra could be visibly seen gathering within the sphere he clutched. Tank rushed in angered, obviously never having been beaten into the state he was currently in before today, and Kurai also rushed towards him in a collision course. After ducking under another massive blow from that thick muscled arm, Kurai pushed the sphere toward's Tank's chest. The impact was nothing short of spectacular. The sphere seemed to expand and totally engulf the muscular man in a large white orb. There was a loud grinding sound as Tank was launched backwards; the force so great that Tank was dragged, leaving behind a deep grove in the ground. Tank slammed against the rear wall, and there seemed to be an explosion. When the lights and smoke cleared, Tank was within a large circular hole that had been dug deeply into the rear wall. Heavily injured but alive, Tank went down.
No one had seen anything like that before, and everyone reacted loudly. Kurai looked at his hand, and then to the results he'd created, nodding his head, figuring he'd mastered it. More practice would be needed, he knew this. A speed fighter jumped into the fray next. He could perform Ice Jutsu and create clones. Kurai was fast enough to avoid attacks from 4 people with seeming little to no effort, before countering each of them with a different attack. A Violent Heel. A Mossberg 500 kick. A Strong Whirlwind. The actual speed guy attempted to stab Kurai with knives made of ice, but was punched in the groin, causing him to scream soprano. 3 hard punches to the chest followed that, then the uppercut-like blow to the chin which sent him flying off of his feet and up into the ceiling.

Multiple people jumped into the fray next. The blank expression never left Kurai's face, and he simply dusted himself off and waited for the first attack, non-moving, standing in the middle of all 5. 2 of them jumped airborne and attempted to kick Kurai from 2 sides, making Kurai sink below the ground and allowing the two to crash into each other instead, producing another loud reaction from those watching. Kurai dragged the 2 of them below ground up to their necks. Kurai popped up from the ground like a whack-a-mole game and managed to kick another fighter at least 3 times before landing. The last kick sent the fighter into a section of the crowd, and Kurai used the last kick to boost himself toward another fighter which became another victim of The Violent Heel. The last fighter? Seeing how easily this skinny kid was handling everyone, dropped to one knee and tapped the ground 3 times, signaling his forfeit.

The warehouse erupted with applause. Many people complimented Kurai, telling him he was very talented, including the blonde who first introduced him, who was currently giving him the eye. She told Kurai in his ear that he was good and to come back anytime with a wink of her eye. He didn't mind the praise or the invitation back, and simply nodded his head. The first individual he encountered, the kid from the gardens, his pockets overflowing with Ryo now, attempted to split his winnings with Kurai, but Kurai refused.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You deserve it! This isn't a trick or anything is it?” Kurai shook his head no and pat the kid on the shoulder before making his way out.

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