"What?" Mei Terumi exclaimed as she pulled away from Kaito's arms, her voice trembling. "You! You killed the Fourth Mizukage?"
"No, I only cut off one of his arms," Kaito replied, shaking his head as he began walking toward the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools. "He got hit by my lightning while we were fighting in the sea. He couldn't move after that, so I handed him over to the Mist Shinobi."
"Phew, that's a relief." Mei Terumi let out a long breath and patted her chest.
As much as she despised Yagura and wished him dead, now wasn't the time. With the Third Great Ninja War underway, the death of a Kage could destabilize an entire village, making it an easy target for enemies.
—
Their walk back was quiet. Kaito returned to the Land of Whirlpools, ate the meal Mei had prepared, and then retreated into his corner of the compound.
Inside his training dimension, Kaito created five hundred shadow clones. Their task was to continue refining the Yang Release he had recently awakened within himself.
The original body shut off its five senses, and his consciousness slipped into his spiritual form.
Although it had shrunk to a third of its original size, the density and purity of this spiritual body were far superior to before. Kaito controlled his spirit form, attempting to absorb the surrounding energy of the space. It was untested, based only on scattered theories from old scrolls and stories, but it was worth trying.
Tempered countless times by thunder and lightning, his spiritual body had grown resilient. All he needed now was more energy—more spiritual matter—to restore its original strength.
Natural recovery during sleep was slow—nearly negligible. Left with few options, Kaito gave in to the idea.
Within the void of the training space, his spirit body released a gravitational pull. Tiny, dark particles drifted in and were drawn into him.
A full day passed.
When Kaito finally opened his eyes, a complicated look passed over his face. He was thrilled to confirm that active absorption worked—ten times more efficient than passive regeneration. But the spiritual energy he drew in lacked purity. After tempering the absorbed strands with his lightning chakra, only three remained usable. They weren't even worth the full day he'd spent. It was barely more than a night's rest would've given him.
Still, he didn't give up. From that day forward, Kaito added this new cycle to his regimen: absorb, temper with lightning, then bombard the final gate of the Eight Gates Formation with concentrated chakra.
Time passed quickly.
In half a year, the world outside had changed dramatically. With Kaito's decimation of Konoha still fresh in memory, other nations sensed opportunity and began their own offensives.
Tsunade, unable to sever ties with Konoha completely, had returned half a year ago. She met with Kaito, exchanged a few words, then departed to help defend the village.
The moment she saw Mei Terumi, the tension in the room could've shattered glass. The two women locked eyes like seasoned rivals, and the air between them crackled. Their silent battle of pride played out clearly.
Tsunade stayed for two days, but eventually, duty pulled her back to Konoha.
In her absence, Kaito's thoughts drifted back to others he missed—Ino, Hinata—the softness in their smiles, the warmth in their voices.
Soon after, several Mist Shinobi arrived looking for Mei Terumi. Judging by their respectful tone, they were likely from her clan. Kaito didn't involve himself.
Mei spoke to them for a long time, her emotions shifting from tears to laughter. Still, she chose to remain with Kaito, quietly supporting his day-to-day life.
After living side-by-side for six months, Kaito had more or less guessed her feelings. He couldn't deny the truth—it was always harder to reject the kindness of a beautiful woman.
—
Inside his training space once again, Kaito sat cross-legged, eyes shut, drawing in spiritual energy. His spiritual body had recovered to over half of its former power.
Finishing a session, he pressed his hands to the ground. Chakra surged beneath his palms, and enormous trees erupted from the soil. In seconds, the bare land became a dense forest.
This was a result of mastering Yang Release. Half a year ago, after gaining control over it, he had accidentally triggered a Wood Release technique.
The result shocked him.
He knew that Wood Release was typically a combination of water and earth chakra. But when his Yang Release fused with his chakra, he had simply visualized a tree—and it grew. Just like that.
His known chakra natures were wind, lightning, and fire.
Could it be…?
Quickly, Kaito pulled out a chakra affinity test paper and fed it his chakra.
"As expected," he murmured.
The paper reacted wildly: one part burned, another split apart, a third crumpled, a fourth grew wet, and the last shattered completely.
Five chakra natures awakened.
Coupled with his recent mastery of Yin and Yang Release, that made seven. He had unknowingly mastered all chakra types in the Naruto world.
He created a hundred clones to continue lightning-style training. Another hundred worked on earth chakra transformation, one hundred on water, and the remaining two hundred clones focused solely on Wood Release mastery.
He didn't bother with any new jutsu. His current arsenal—along with Wood Release, Lightning Release, and various chakra-based energy spheres—was more than enough to overwhelm any opponent.
Half a year had passed in reality. In his training space, that equated to five years.
In those five years, Kaito had mastered all the original Wood Release techniques Tsunade had shared. He'd also achieved mastery over Yin-Yang Release.
But one obstacle remained—the eighth gate.
He had tried every approach, even grinding it down with steady chakra like water carving stone, but it hadn't cracked, not even once.
Perhaps it needed something more, something beyond ordinary comprehension. The gate was likely tied to Six Paths-level power. If even mastering Yin-Yang Release wasn't enough, then he was missing a vital key.
(It's not going to be the same as Might Guy's Eight Gates)
"Whatever. Time to move," Kaito muttered.
He missed Hinata. Missed Ino.
There was nothing left for him to improve upon here. If he wanted to advance, he had to return.
One last glance at his core chakra pool—it had grown. Not bad, but still far from what he needed. Absorbing the energy of the Dragon Vein might expand it further.
Resolved, Kaito stood and looked toward Mei Terumi, who was humming softly as she cooked.
A hint of sadness passed through his eyes.
"You're up already?" Mei looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Dinner's not done yet, you'll have to wait."
"I'm leaving," Kaito said quietly, suppressing the emotions in his chest.
---
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