Chapter 103: Bloodline Limit
It was still the same tree—poor thing, once again chosen as Nan's test subject.
He formed the familiar seals for Lightning Release but this time he concentrated both of his brains, channeling into it the two new properties he had split from Fire and Lightning Release.
As he expected, the fusion succeeded on the first attempt.
What emerged was a strange new chakra nature—its form resembled Lightning, but within the crackling arcs of lightning danced faint tongues of flame.
The speed was no less than White Lightning—near-instantaneous, striking the tree almost as soon as the jutsu was cast.
Once it hit, the strange chakra clung to the trunk, enveloping it in a bizarre phenomenon unseen in nature: fire and lightning bound together, sparking and smoldering without end.
Nan frowned. What a waste.
Though the fusion worked, the result was disappointing. Black Fire and White Lightning, both already lacking raw destructive power, produced a technique that looked impressive but remained nearly harmless. Fast, lingering, but with no bite—what was the point?
Unwilling to accept this, Nan tried again. This time he kept White Lightning as the base but infused it with standard Fire Release instead of his experimental Black Fire.
The effect was immediate.
The technique still looked the same at first glance, but this lightning seemed alive, wrapped in flame.
With a speed equal to White Lightning, it struck the tree—Nan's long-suffering test subject.
But this time, fire erupted instantly across the trunk. In moments, the entire tree was aflame, blackened, and swaying on the verge of collapse.
Nan's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Yes… this has power worthy of the chakra I spent.
At last he understood his mistake.
He had assumed only the recombination of perfected extremes—like Black Fire and White Lightning—could form a true Kekkei Genkai.
But in truth, White Lightning fused with ordinary Fire Release produced a jutsu already far beyond standard combination techniques.
Normal lightning was notoriously hard to control, often wasting most of its chakra unless perfectly conducted. Fire added to White Lightning not only stabilized it, but also carried its searing heat directly into the target.
Speed and destructive heat in one strike—a deadly synergy.
Fire's power had found the perfect vessel in Lightning's speed.
Encouraged, Nan refined his direction: to focus entirely on amplifying heat within Fire Release while carried on the blazing-fast currents of White Lightning. The result would be a new nature—swift and searing.
He tested again, this time abandoning fire's "burning" trait completely, concentrating only on pure heat.
The resulting jutsu was nearly identical in power to the previous attempt—proving that flame itself was redundant here. Heat alone, borne on lightning, achieved the same effect.
Nan smiled faintly, comprehension dawning.
A new nature had been born.
[Kasai Release — Dazzling Flame.]
Encouraged, Nan began experimenting in the opposite direction—using Fire Release as the medium to unleash Lightning Release's destructive power.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
But instead of ordinary flames, Nan wove into it his Black Fire and standard lightning chakra.
The result was remarkable. What poured from his mouth was no longer fireballs, but clusters of crackling sparks, bursting in midair like miniature fireworks. Each spark exploded, broke apart, and then recombined with others to form new sparks, continuing the cycle.
And once again, his long-suffering test tree bore the brunt.
The sparks popped like firecrackers, filling the air with sharp reports. Lightning arced through the explosions, staining the sky with brilliant colors like a festival display.
At last, under this relentless storm, the battered tree collapsed completely, reduced to nothing but cinders.
The power of Lightning Release, usually so volatile and hard to direct, had become focused and stable within the framework of Fire Release. And thanks to the endurance of his Black Fire, the sparks lingered in the air far longer than ordinary flames, sustaining damage with very little chakra consumption.
However, there was a flaw—because the lightning was carried within the fire, its natural speed was wasted. Lightning's swiftness, one of its greatest assets, became redundant in this form and could be stripped away without weakening the technique.
Nan gave this new jutsu its name: Kasai Release: Electric Spark.
Its development path would focus on maximizing lightning's destructive force, turning every spark into a deadly ember.
At last, Nan had outlined the essence of his new release.
He could wield lightning like fire, granting it form, persistence, and stability.
He could wield fire like lightning, channeling its searing heat at blinding speeds.
This was Kasai Release—the union of fire and lightning.
Though he had only two techniques so far, their forms were not fixed. With refinement, he could freely adjust the ratios of fire and lightning, producing countless variations. Just as he could manipulate the nuances of a single chakra nature, he would one day wield Kasai Release with the same versatility, adapting it to any battlefield.
That was his true advantage.
Ordinary kekkei genkai users were bound by bloodline, their jutsu fixed by genetics. Their powers could not easily be reshaped.
Nan, however, could dissect each element into its properties, recombine them as he pleased, and even tune their balance to suit his needs. Once he mastered the finer points of wind, water, and earth as thoroughly as he had fire and lightning, nothing would prevent him from creating entirely new releases at will.
Magnet Release. Lava Release. Storm Release. Crystal Release…
In theory, all of them could be within reach.
Whether he would ever need so many was another matter—but Nan's collector's instinct burned bright. Much like his past life, when people bought strange trinkets online they never used, he found joy simply in the act of gathering. To collect rare and exotic jutsu—that alone was thrilling.
But those were dreams for later. For now, his focus was clear: refine the remaining two properties of fire and lightning, strengthen his foundation, and perfect Kasai Release.
With each passing day, his grasp of elemental transformation deepened. Once he mastered the last of these properties, his control of fire and lightning would reach an elite level. Even without the Sharingan, he would stand on par with the jōnin of Konoha.
As Nan cultivated steadily, pushing his limits further, another figure was quietly approaching the Leaf—someone tied not to him directly, but to his other self.
Sasori of the Red Sand.