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After the intense battle, Kakashi and Might Guy sat beneath a tree to rest.
Might Guy, exhausted from opening the Sixth Gate, quickly dozed off after reclining against the tree.
Kakashi, however, was wiping down his White Fang with a slight frown on his face.
He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been going down the wrong path.
Since he'd taken up swordsmanship again, rather than pursuing it blindly, he should play to his strengths: his mastery of all five nature transformations and his golden finger [special ability].
He would infuse ninjutsu into his swordplay.
Right now, he only had three units of chakra, but as his chakra reserves grew over time, there would come a day when, with enough chakra, even a casual swing of his sword could split mountains and shatter boulders.
Logically, with sufficient chakra, he could even slice a Tailed Beast Ball in half.
No fancy techniques—just a straightforward swing of the blade.
Slowly rising to his feet, the white-haired young man walked step by step toward the center of the devastated training ground.
Though Kakashi's chakra reserves were currently limited to just three units, no matter how low they were, he was still a full-fledged jonin.
He wanted to test out his idea.
If it succeeded, it would quickly fill the power gap left by the loss of his Sharingan.
The brilliant sunlight bathed the white-haired youth.
As Kakashi focused his mind, the White Fang in his hand began to hum, as if infused with chakra, and faint arcs of electricity started dancing along its edge.
Kakashi was most skilled in Lightning Release, so his first experiment naturally drew on that familiar affinity.
Gazing at the large tree that had somehow survived Might Guy's Morning Peacock, the electric arcs on Kakashi's White Fang grew more frequent, crackling like the chirps of birds.
As Kakashi channeled more and more chakra, the White Fang in his hand resounded with the cry of a thousand Chidori, but once the noise reached a certain peak, the thousand-bird chorus abruptly fell silent, leaving only a momentary hush.
However... the electric glow on the sword didn't fade; if anything, it grew brighter, the lightning nearly solidifying!
This was... Raikiri!
Raikiri was an S-rank technique Kakashi had developed for assassination—how could it carry the noisy racket of a thousand Chidori?
Such an obvious sound would make it useless for stealthy kills.
At some point, Might Guy had awakened and was watching the scene with rapt attention, careful not to interrupt Kakashi.
He could tell that Kakashi was on the cusp of perfecting an entirely new technique.
He felt anticipation, joy, and excitement at the thought of his close friend growing even stronger!
[Might Guy's emotional fluctuation +1]
[Chakra +1%]
Kakashi ignored the prompt in his mind, slowly lifting the silent yet ferocious White Fang and bringing it down toward the sturdy tree that had withstood the Morning Peacock.
In that instant!
Chakra morphed into the purest blade of light, fusing with the raging lightning like an immaculate, flawless veil.
The flawless veil shrouded the large tree, without a single sound escaping.
But in the next moment, the lightning—no, a full lightning storm—engulfed the verdant tree in an instant; the prior silence shattered into deafening chaos!
Blinding, ferocious lightning surged outward, and the resilient tree was obliterated by that single strike!
At the same time, the lightning's force didn't wane, carving a deep crater in the ground large enough to hold two people!
Kakashi's robes billowed wildly in the gust whipped up by the sword strike, his white hair whipping about as his dark eyes took in the scene before him.
It had worked... indeed!
Lifting the now-still White Fang, Kakashi assessed the chakra drained by that single attack.
With his current three units of chakra, he could manage about six such strikes.
That meant, if he still had his Sharingan, just two would leave him completely spent.
In terms of raw destructive power, it surpassed even the original Raikiri.
Its stealth factor, however, was severely lacking.
Kakashi was more than satisfied with the outcome.
Stealth?
He called himself a ninja, but did he really think of himself as one?
Where did Senju Hashirama, revered as the God of Shinobi, ever resemble a ninja focused on stealth and assassination?
This single strike not only gave Kakashi a new way to fight but also cut through the fog obscuring his path forward.
[Might Guy's emotional fluctuation +1]
[Chakra +1%]
Might Guy gazed intently at his best friend, his heart brimming with fervor after witnessing the might of that attack.
"Kakashi!"
"As expected of my eternal rival!"
Might Guy leaped to his feet, eyeing Kakashi with exhilaration.
He was thrilled for his best friend, overflowing with youthful passion!
Even after losing his Sharingan, Kakashi hadn't given in to despair—instead, he'd become stronger than ever.
This only deepened the green-clad youth's admiration for his closest companion.
"How about naming this technique 'Rising Tiger'!"
Compared to Minato Namikaze's overly dramatic naming style, Might Guy had a solid sense for technique names—like Morning Peacock, Daytime Tiger, and Evening Elephant, all straightforward and evocative.
"Rising" evoked the light of dawn; Might Guy hoped Kakashi would shine as brilliantly as the rising sun. "Tiger" captured the technique's domineering force, like a lord of the mountains. At the same time, Might Guy wished for Kakashi to stand unbowed before anyone, just like that mountain lord.
"Ah, that works."
Kakashi didn't particularly care about the name, and Might Guy's taste was spot on anyway.
While Kakashi and Might Guy trained at Training Ground Three, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, was deeply troubled.
"According to the records in the Senju Clan's library, the sealing technique used on Uchiha Mumei back then wasn't just a simple seal."
A woman with golden pigtails, flawless features no man could criticize, and an impressive figure sat casually on the Hokage's desk, reading the document aloud to her teacher.
The woman's brown eyes flicked briefly toward her distressed teacher, and as she delved deeper into the text, her own expression turned grave.
"At that time, the Senju, Uzumaki, and Sarutobi clans joined forces to seal Uchiha Mumei."
"It wasn't because they had defeated her, but because they couldn't defeat her, so they turned to this as a last resort."
"The artifact used for the seal was an iron coffin, etched with the Uzumaki Clan's unique sealing jutsu."
"This technique constantly draws chakra from the natural world to strengthen the seal and suppress whatever's inside the coffin."
"However, it has a drawback."
"The sealed individual will also absorb the chakra supplied by the seal automatically, falling into a deep slumber and staying alive."
"In other words, Uchiha Mumei... has been alive all this time."
The air grew deathly still, and Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand, gripping his pipe, trembled involuntarily.
Combining this with the intel from Uchiha Fugaku... it meant an Uchiha clan member possessing four Mangekyo Sharingan abilities, and likely bearing deep-seated hatred for the Uchiha, had survived to the present day!
This was truly...