"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed, his deep-blue eyes shining with pure excitement. He watched as the Rasengan in Kakashi's palm shimmered, surrounded by rings of flickering, crimson flames.
Boom!
With a casual flick of his wrist, Kakashi launched the volatile sphere. It sailed through the air and slammed into a nearby tree, erupting in a blazing maelstrom of fire. The entire trunk was instantly reduced to a pile of smoldering ash.
Naruto's eyes widened at the complete and utter destruction.
"This is the effect of adding an elemental nature to the Rasengan," Kakashi explained. "The Rasengan is a powerful technique on its own, but it's considered incomplete. Once an elemental nature is fused with it, its destructive power increases exponentially."
"Does that mean I can have this too?" The palpable excitement in Naruto's voice was impossible to hide.
Kakashi shook his head. "No. Your natural affinity is Wind, and unlike me, you can't use the other four elemental natures. So, you'll be training to apply Wind Release to the Rasengan."
Kakashi then paused, a thought crossing his mind. "Oh, and the reason I only taught you one Wind Release Jutsu was to help you understand how to mold wind-nature chakra. Now that you've used it several times, you can try merging it with the Rasengan."
Naruto's face fell into a slight pout. "...But will a Wind Rasengan be as powerful as a Fire one?"
"No," Kakashi shook his head, disappointing Naruto further. But then, a subtle smirk touched the corner of his visible lip. "It will be much more powerful."
"Really!" Naruto immediately brightened, his voice chirping with renewed hope.
Kakashi nodded with a hidden smile. "Though I've never tried it myself, I know that a Rasengan with wind chakra will target the internal, cellular level of an enemy. A Rasengan with fire chakra, like the one you saw, is an external damage Jutsu. And a Jutsu that deals internal damage is far more lethal than one that only causes external wounds."
A wide grin stretched across Naruto's face. "Then I'll start training in it from today onwards!"
Kakashi held up a hand. "Don't get so excited. Rasengan training and the development of ninjutsu with elemental nature comes with its own harm unless completely mastered. Even this Fire Rasengan has a risk of self-immolation if I hold it for even a minute. The same will happen with your Wind variant. That's why you'll only use Shadow Clones for the time being."
Naruto shrugged. "Well, I was going to train with Shadow Clones anyway. You've already shown how useful they are for my training, and my improvement is also because of them till now."
"No, I mean only Shadow Clones," Kakashi corrected. "Until you've completely mastered the Rasengan with your wind chakra, you shouldn't use it yourself in real battles. Let your Shadow Clones do the work."
"Oh," Naruto nodded in understanding. "So that's why you said you couldn't hold the Fire Rasengan for a minute."
"Exactly," Kakashi confirmed. "Moreover, for you, that effect would be even more lethal, as I said that the Wind variant of the Rasengan targets the cellular level. So unless you've mastered it completely or are using Sage Mode, you shouldn't use it in a real battle."
"Okay, but what is Sage Mode?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi waved his hand dismissively. "I'll tell you when the time comes. For now, just have your Shadow Clones train!" With that, they both started walking back to where Sasuke and Sakura were training.
Suddenly, Naruto remembered something and stopped. "Kakashi-sensei," he began. "I asked my dad last night if the other half of Kurama could be revived. He said he didn't know if it was possible, but... is there really no way?"
Kakashi stopped and looked up at the sky, a finger on his chin in thought. Naruto looked up at Kakashi, anticipating a positive response. Now that even Kurama was his friend, he wanted to do something for him. And what could be better than having Kurama recover his other half, which had been split by Naruto's father?
Kakashi then replied nonchalantly, "Oh, yeah! It's possible. Actually, it's pretty easy!"
"HUH!!"
Naruto's jaw dropped. He had not seen the full extent of Minato and Kushina's power, yet both had said it might not be possible. But here, Kakashi was saying it wasn't only possible, but also an easy task. Just like Naruto, in the clear space of his mindscape, Kurama's red eyes widened in shock.
"Hey, Naruto, let me speak to him!" Kurama's booming voice resonated in Naruto's head. Naruto, in his mindscape, turned back to face the giant orange fox, then nodded.
"Huh! Alright!"
Naruto and Kurama were both shocked by Kakashi's casual response, of something which shouldn't be considered casual, Kakashi however, just smiled at Naruto's reaction.
Naruto's voice suddenly deepened, and a low, guttural quality rumbled through his words as he spoke. "Are you speaking the truth?"
Kakashi raised a brow. "Are you... the Kyuubi? I mean, Kurama speaking?"
"Yes!" A deep, rumbling voice spoke from Naruto's throat, of Kurama.
Kakashi simply nodded, his eye holding a thoughtful glint. 'So Kurama can speak with someone without causing any visible physical changes to Naruto's appearance. Or maybe this also happened in the anime, and I just don't remember clearly.'
He then gave Kurama a firm, affirmative nod.
"Yes, as I said, it is possible to recover your other half from the Shikigami's stomach, and it's actually pretty easy," Kakashi explained. "All we need to do is summon that Shikigami, cut open its stomach, and your other half will be free. You can then merge with it again."
Kakashi explained the process with the casualness of someone describing a simple household chore, which only served to increase the shock on both Naruto and Kurama's faces. This was especially true for Kurama, who had believed that unless Hagoromo himself helped, he would forever remain at half-power.
"THEN LET'S DO IT!!" Kurama's voice was full of a primal urgency. If it were truly possible, he wanted to go and reclaim his other half and his full strength.
"Well, if you want, we can do it tonight, but not now," Kakashi said, gesturing to the midday sun in the clear sky. "It's daytime. If we take your other half out of the Shikigami's stomach, its chakra will be easily noticed by Konoha Anbu and villagers. The only place we can summon the Shikigami is on the outskirts of Konoha at night."
"Hmm, what's there?" Kurama asked.
"The Uzumaki Clan's Mask Storage Temple," Kakashi replied. "And also, we need someone to sacrifice to summon the Shikigami, so it's better to be done at night, where even if someone notices, it wouldn't have much of an effect as you merged back with it."
"Hmm, I see," Kurama said, before relinquishing control back to Naruto.
Naruto then looked at Kakashi and asked, "Sensei, did you just say we need to sacrifice someone to free Kurama's other half?"
Kakashi nodded, a soft chuckle escaping him. "Why? You don't want to help Kurama anymore?"
Naruto gasped slightly, his mouth opening before he clenched his fist. Kakashi chuckled again, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry, I'll take a bad guy for the sacrificial job."
Naruto looked up, confused. "But why would a bad person agree to help us?"
"We don't need to ask for their permission," Kakashi stated simply, turning to start walking again. "We will just force them."
Naruto stood there, dazed. Kakashi's nonchalant casualness made it difficult to fully grasp the gravity of the situation, yet Naruto had no doubt that Kakashi could really do it. He quickly followed after his sensei.
————
Once they returned, Sakura and Sasuke sighed in relief at the sight of Naruto's smiling face. They smiled back and asked why he had been so silent and sad all day. Naruto looked back at Kakashi, who gave him a simple nod. With his permission, Naruto told them everything, after apologing for making them worry.
At first, Kakashi hadn't thought that things would go so smoothly with Naruto's case, and he had intended to stop Naruto from telling Sasuke and Sakura about Kurama and his parents for sometimes. But now, he felt it was alright, as long as they didn't speak with others about it. Sasuke wouldn't, as he didn't have many friends, and Sakura was smart enough not to talk about it to others.
With a beaming smile, Naruto recounted everything, shocking them with the new details they were learning from him.
Naruto chatted with Sasuke and Sakura as they all took a break from training. Kakashi smiled at their growing bonds and interactions. He was content to let them talk among themselves for now.
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