Exotic purple lightning shimmered with dazzling arcs of electricity. Like a rainbow woven into the rain, it refracted brilliant colors and illuminated the entire battlefield, making the scene feel dreamlike.
Amid that radiant purple lightning, Hyūga Kagami stood motionless in the rain, his figure seeming almost unreal.
"Purple… Lightning…"
Darui stared at Hyūga Kagami, his mouth slightly open, shock written plainly across his face.
As a Lightning Release specialist, he understood better than anyone how impossibly difficult it was to achieve nature transformation of a single chakra attribute—something even the Fourth Raikage himself had been unable to accomplish.
Even Darui, despite possessing the Storm Release kekkei genkai, had only managed to develop Black Lightning after obtaining the Third Raikage's research notes and enduring countless failed attempts.
He had always believed that he was the only ninja in the current shinobi world capable of such a feat.
That belief was the source of his habitual laziness—an arrogance deeper than mere aloofness.
But now… everything had changed.
There was another person who could do it.
And judging by the completely different chakra nature, it clearly wasn't imitation.
Suppressing the shock in his heart, Darui looked at Hyūga Kagami anew and said seriously,
"Kirin… it seems I underestimated you."
At this moment, however, Hyūga Kagami wasn't paying Darui any attention at all.
He was completely immersed in experiencing Purple Lightning, unable to pull himself out.
Because this was, in truth, his first successful use of Purple Lightning.
Bathed in that brilliant, otherworldly lightning, he looked like a god wielding thunder itself—appearing to have total mastery over the wild, unrestrained power, completely bluffing everyone present, Darui included.
But the reality was far less glamorous.
Only after witnessing Darui's Black Lightning up close—after personally feeling the subtle changes brought about by single-nature chakra transformation—had Hyūga Kagami finally grasped that elusive spark of insight.
He had crossed the threshold he'd been stuck at for so long and, for the very first time, touched the core principle behind single-attribute chakra transformation.
So right now, he had only one thought:
Remember this feeling.
Because transforming a single chakra nature placed extreme demands on chakra control.
Even this Lightning Release clone—enhanced by Kakashi's cells and possessing extraordinary affinity for lightning chakra—had faced tremendous difficulty during the exploration of Purple Lightning.
This success was accidental and unstable.
If he didn't seize this moment to engrave the sensation into his memory, mastering Purple Lightning completely would be impossible.
Unfortunately, no one else knew this.
Watching Hyūga Kagami stand there as if preparing some world-shattering jutsu, Darui—and the jōnin supervising nearby—felt an inexplicable pressure bearing down on them.
"Damn it… then I'll fight with everything I have!"
Darui made his decision in an instant.
He unleashed his chakra without restraint.
Boom—!
The Black Lightning surrounding him surged violently outward before rapidly condensing, transforming into a massive, ferocious beast formed entirely of black lightning!
---
On the sidelines.
Staring at the confrontation between Black Lightning and Purple Lightning, Asuma's mouth twitched.
"Kakashi… didn't you say Darui was the only one who could do that?"
"I— I didn't expect this either," Kakashi replied, momentarily speechless.
After losing his Sharingan, Kakashi had lost the ability to freely use Chidori for high-speed assassination.
He'd once tried to improve Chidori—turning it from a single-purpose surprise attack into a versatile Lightning Release technique.
But without extreme speed, Chidori's power dropped sharply, becoming little more than an ordinary Lightning Release jutsu.
That realization had frustrated him immensely.
He had even considered enhancing Chidori through chakra nature transformation—but after attempting it himself, he fully understood just how absurdly difficult single-nature transformation truly was.
Its difficulty was nearly on par with creating a kekkei genkai from scratch.
And so, he had shelved the idea.
Yet now, watching Darui's Black Lightning and Kirin's Purple Lightning collide—and personally feeling the transformed Lightning Release chakra filling the air—Kakashi felt as though he had glimpsed something crucial.
---
Inside the monitoring room.
Thanks to a surviving camera on the edge of the battlefield, everyone inside was also witnessing this unprecedented confrontation between Black Lightning and Purple Lightning.
Every person in the room stood at the very pinnacle of the shinobi world; their knowledge and insight were beyond question.
Black Lightning alone was enough to leave people breathless.
But Kirin of the Hidden Mist displaying Purple Lightning made more than a few jaws drop outright.
"How… how is this possible…?"
Even the usually domineering Fourth Raikage showed a rare trace of confusion.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, actually floated closer to the screen, muttering to himself,
"This… is this really single-attribute chakra nature transformation?"
The Third Hokage—the famed "Professor of Ninjutsu"—nodded slowly, his expression solemn.
"Yes. This isn't a kekkei genkai. It is indeed the nature transformation of a single chakra attribute."
Koharu Utatane, head of Konoha's intelligence division, seemed to recall something.
"I remember hearing that the Hidden Cloud developed a special Lightning Release during the Third Raikage's era. Is that Black Lightning?"
Since they were allies, the Fourth Raikage didn't hide anything.
"That's right. Black Lightning was created by Lord Third. But before it could be perfected, the Third Great Ninja War broke out, and Lord Third died in battle. After that, Black Lightning was nearly lost within the Hidden Cloud."
As he finished speaking, the Fourth Raikage suddenly turned toward the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi.
"Then what about Kirin's Purple Lightning?" he asked. "Has the Hidden Mist also been secretly researching Lightning Release?"
Because the differences were obvious, the Fourth Raikage didn't suspect theft—only curiosity about how deeply the Hidden Mist had advanced in Lightning Release research.
In an instant, all eyes in the room turned to Yagura Karatachi—including Mei Terumī and Ao at his side.
Yagura himself remained completely bewildered.
He didn't know Kirin's true identity at all.
He had merely followed Hyūga Kagami's instructions to arrange a Hidden Mist genin identity for Kirin. Beyond that, he knew no more than anyone else present.
Even Itachi—disguised as Hyūga Kagami—was the same.
He had only acted on Hyūga Kagami's orders to give the Hidden Mist team special convenience. He didn't know who Kirin really was either—only that Hyūga Kagami commanded another group of mysterious, powerful subordinates…
Some familiar to him, like Uchiha Honō.
And others—Yang Shen, Feng Ling, Jizō, and more—whose identities remained completely unknown.