Naruto Explains the Inspiration Behind the Rasengan

Thanks to Naruto's latest popularity poll, it was settled that Naruto Uzumaki's father, Minato, was the most popular character to spring from the mind of creator Masashi Kishimoto. In honor of this major accomplishment, Kishimoto returned to the franchise to both write and draw a flashback special that showed some major moments in the Fourth Hokage's life. Now, the new special went into detail about how the Rasengan originally came to be and explained the inspiration for the attack that became a trademark of Minato, Naruto, and Boruto. 

Warning. If you haven't read the new special, "Naruto: The Whorl Within The Spiral" be forewarned that we'll be diving into serious spoiler territory. As Jiraiya and Minato learned that threats facing Konoha would grow bigger, the future Fourth Hokage came to the realization that he would need to develop new powerful Jutsus to keep up. In training with his mentor, Minato found himself attempting to control his chakra in a fashion that would "knead it" into what would become the Rasengan. Jiraiya laid out what would be necessary in creating the ultimate attack.

"It's either a dud or discharges early. It just isn't stable. I've heard that when you knead chakra, it helps to match rotations with the direction of the whorl of your hair. I always visualize kneading chakra in a clockwise direction and my whorl twists right."

Based on a folklore tale, Jiraiya reveals that Minato's hair unfortunately has two whorls, meaning that it would be quite difficult in creating a Rasengan. Following this unfortunate discovery, the "Yellow Flash" took a different approach in creating the Rasengan, realizing that he would need to "knead chakra equally in both directions". This tactic worked with flying characters, as Minato created his first Rasengan but unfortunately named it "Ice Pop-Inspired Nimbus Jiraiya Twin Whorl Sphere". Luckily, this name didn't catch on. 

Ultimately, Minato was able to master the technique and this chapter set the stage for his relationship with Kushina, eventually leading to the birth of Naruto. While creator Masashi Kishimoto won't be returning to artistic duties on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the mangaka is still in the driver's seat when it comes to the shonen franchise's writing. Hopefully, Kishimoto will return to the earlier days of Konoha as there are many years of stories that have yet to be told.