Inside the canyon.
White lightning crackled and exploded at the base.
Kaede glanced at his arm, scorched and blackened by the blast. He shook it lightly, and the burnt marks quickly faded, leaving his skin smooth and unblemished once again.
"Maybe a bit too concentrated... Need to adjust it more..."
He pondered for a moment, then opened his palm. Lightning chakra began to flow again over his arm, which he swiftly compressed into a fluid form that wrapped around and coursed inside and outside the limb. Then he released his control.
Crackling thunder!
The lightning erupted again, scorching his arm once more.
"The chakra amount is still too high, I need to reduce it some more..."
Kaede's expression didn't change. He rewound time to heal the injury and continued his experimentation.
The Lightning Release Body Refinement Technique is a secret art that uses lightning to stimulate the cells. Unlike Chidori, which channels lightning only through the palm or a weapon's surface, this technique envelops the entire arm, inside and out, weaving the lightning chakra throughout.
More importantly, unlike Chidori, this process does not allow for direct control of the lightning chakra. If you try to control it, the chakra loses its stimulating effect on the cells and simply becomes a regular lightning ninjutsu.
The key to the Lightning Release Body Refinement is generating the perfect amount of lightning chakra, then releasing control so it forms natural arcs of electricity that burst spontaneously around and within the body.
The amount must be finely balanced.
Too much, and it's essentially a lightning jutsu used on oneself, resulting in injury. Too little, and it fails to refine the body effectively.
From the information extracted from the Third Raikage's records about lightning ninjutsu, what's missing is precisely how to control the "amount", so Kaede has to figure this out on his own.
Fortunately, with his time-rewind ability, he can afford to use the most brutal methods for testing without worrying about permanent damage.
The Second Raikage, who originally created this ninjutsu, painstakingly increased the lightning chakra bit by bit until reaching the perfect level, then compiled a complete training method, which took a long time. Kaede, however, can drastically shorten this process.
Half a day passed in the canyon's depths.
Kaede stared intently at the lightning wrapping his arm, watching as the glow gradually dimmed and faded, revealing an arm with no abnormalities.
"This should do it."
He clenched his fist, feeling no damage, only a slight numbness, and a faint sense that his arm had grown tougher.
Crackling thunder!
Satisfied with the chakra level he had created, Kaede settled into a cross-legged position. Chakra surged inside him, transforming into lightning nature chakra that crackled and spread, instantly covering his body.
Unlike the Eight Gates Lightning Release state, this thin layer of lightning covering his skin resembled the form of the Third and Fourth Raikage, though it looked much weaker.
Sizzle!
Lightning chakra weaved in and out of Kaede's body.
Without exerting control, the lightning began naturally corroding and stimulating every cell, just enough to avoid damage.
Under this stimulation, Kaede felt warmth spread throughout his body, every cell seemingly being tempered by the lightning chakra.
"Looks like everything's fine. This is how it should be... Next is to gradually adapt and increase the chakra's magnitude until my body becomes more and more attuned to the flow of lightning chakra..."
After sensing no issues, Kaede closed his eyes slightly and began training at five times normal speed.
Worth noting,
Just a few days ago, his time-acceleration ability improved, increasing the maximum from four times speed to five times, along with a broader range of time flow adjustments.
However, the abilities linked to 'Scale 3' remain a mystery, the fog only slightly thinning. Without any special breakthroughs, unlocking it soon seems unlikely.
Sizzle!
From a short distance, anyone watching would see Kaede in an odd state, his entire body moving as if in fast-forward, multiple times faster than normal.
The small white lightning arcs flickering from his skin appeared normal in speed, but the rate at which they were generated was unnaturally rapid.
The lightning chakra used to temper his body, once transformed into arcs, becomes a form of external jutsu no longer affected by Kaede's accelerated time flow. Still, in his sped-up state, he generates these arcs with even greater frequency.
Because his body is moving faster through time, he can endure the denser, more intense electrical stimulation, accelerating his training, though this boost is more complex than a simple multiplier and can't be precisely calculated.
Three days later.
Kaede completed the initial phase of his tempering.
He spent some time analyzing the next stage of lightning intensity, then dove into a new round of refinement and training.
As time passed, he kept increasing the lightning's power, and his body grew ever more compatible with the lightning chakra.
Through this process, Kaede confirmed something crucial, this "lightning transformation" of his body genuinely helps with advancing the Eight Gates Lightning Release technique!
After half a month of training, he clearly felt the lightning's damage on his body had significantly lessened. Opening only the Fourth Gate no longer required time rewind to recover; his body could endure the side effects naturally.
"With this, there's real hope I can open the Eight Gate."
Kaede muttered to himself.
Before, it had seemed almost impossible to reach the Eight Gate. The Eight Gates technique is famously difficult, easier gates first, then progressively harder. Reaching the Sixth Gate would likely require his body to mature to around twenty years old, and the Seventh Gate might take him past thirty.
Though he could speed this process with time acceleration, his actual physical age wouldn't change, unless he reversed time again, which would erase his training progress.
Most ninja who reach their thirties can only improve their mental strength and battle experience, physical growth nearly stops.
The peak lasts until around forty years old, after which decline begins.
If by forty he hadn't opened the Eight Gate, chances are he never would, as his body would be aging.
Not everyone can open the Eight Gate.
In fact, many never pass the Sixth or Seventh Gates.
But the Lightning Release Body Refinement technique showed Kaede a glimmer of hope, this method could make opening the later gates easier!
Although it might take years to master fully, possibly slowing his progress in the short term, in the long run, it could push him all the way to the Eight Gate!
Opening the Eight Gate...
That would make him unstoppable.
At fivefold speed, with the Eight Gate opened, even Uchiha Madara or Ōtsutsuki Kaguya probably wouldn't withstand a single strike from him!
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