The golden light flashed.
When Wukunowa—now within the body of Namikaze Minato—reappeared, it was in a remote, quiet forest on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village. There was no one else around. Only the whispering wind and distant birdsong accompanied his breath.
His eyes fell to a marked kunai embedded deep into a worn tree stump, a signal he'd left for himself earlier.
Minato whispered, "Tell Kakashi that everything else can be handled by a shadow clone for now. As for me… I need to take time to truly grasp this new power."
His voice was calm—but his spirit stirred with anticipation.
With a deep breath, he vanished in a golden flicker, reappearing atop a towering tree. As he opened his palm, electricity flickered at his fingertips—wild, untamed, like a beast demanding to be unleashed.
Then the system responded.
[One Piece Card System: "Goro Goro no Mi" – 30% Synchronization Unlocked]
BOOM—
A crackling surge of lightning exploded around him. Bright arcs of electricity danced through the sky, bathing the entire forest in blinding blue light. Clouds gathered unnaturally overhead, drawn by the rising storm chakra within him.
The trees below trembled.
Then, without warning, golden-blue bolts rained from the sky like divine punishment—each one vaporizing massive chunks of earth, turning trees to ash, splitting the ground open like it was paper. Explosions boomed in rapid succession. The quiet forest was now a crater-ridden ruin.
Minato stood calmly on the lone remaining tree.
"So this… is the power of lightning itself?" he murmured, his eyes shining with awe. "The Goro Goro no Mi… it's like becoming a god of thunder."
His body crackled with electricity, surging with destructive energy. Even without using chakra, his power output exceeded most S-rank jutsu. He vanished in a flash of light—only to reappear several hundred meters away in an instant.
"Fast. Almost like my Flying Thunder God, but without needing a marker," he observed. "But it's not the same. This is different. Raw elemental speed."
He clenched his fist.
Lightning surged around it, and with a casual swing, a massive bolt blasted forward, cleaving through a cliff in the distance. The sheer destructive force was shocking—even to him.
"But I need control. Just raw power isn't enough."
The sky still rumbled overhead as if the heavens themselves recognized a new god had stepped upon the earth. Yet Minato knew this was only the beginning.
He descended and began training in earnest.
First, he tested his range—conjuring bolts from above, spreading them like nets, condensing them into spears, balls, even surrounding his body with a protective storm aura.
Then, after spending time regulating the electric current flowing through his nerves and skin, he moved on to something more familiar.
"Sage Mode."
Crossing his fingers, Minato drew in the natural chakra around him. The markings formed instantly—his practice in this form well-honed from years ago.
"Even now, it feels different…" he whispered. With the added precision from lightning's sensory enhancement and the Sage Mode's heightened awareness, he could feel every drop of moisture in the air, every shift in the wind, every movement of chakra through the leaves.
This synergy… it was beautiful.
With a grin, he punched the ground.
BOOM!
A crater erupted around him, the combination of raw Sage strength and residual electricity magnifying the force tenfold.
"…I can't afford to hide this power anymore," he muttered. "If this is what the One Piece System gives me at 30%… then I must reach 100% before the storm hits."
Now, it was time.
He formed the Rasengan—but this time, he wanted more.
Rasen… Raijin. A spiral sphere fused with lightning, crackling with unstable power.
Two clones emerged beside him.
They focused, feeding wind chakra into the rotating core.
It hissed. Then surged. But it destabilized too fast.
"Damn it!"
The clones dispelled the chakra immediately, avoiding detonation. The technique fizzled into light, but Minato only frowned, deep in thought.
"Too much lightning… not enough stability."
Again.
And again.
He trained relentlessly—until his clone returned, bringing back Kakashi's update.
But Wukunowa—Minato—didn't react.
He was still gazing at his open palm, where lightning curled softly like a sleeping beast.
This world was on the edge of change.
And he had just become its thunderclap.