At this moment, inside Kiyohara's tent—
"Finally… I can relax a little."
Kiyohara let out a long breath.
Back at Kannabi Bridge over the last few days, his nerves had been wound taut the entire time. His missing-nin counterpart could at best help him observe the surroundings and check if any enemies were nearby, but traps that had been buried in advance were far harder to detect.
And everyone knew—stepping on a trap meant death. Even if one of the Legendary Sannin was right there, they might not be able to save you.
For example, Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki—one moment Orochimaru was watching him, and the next he was blown apart by explosive tags, not even a whole corpse left behind.
So, when Kiyohara thought about how his future self had died to explosive tags, he wasn't surprised at all.
"So Orochimaru is the one in charge of this forward base, huh…"
The spiritual form of missing-nin Kiyohara drifted out, sounding somewhat sentimental.
No matter what, Orochimaru had technically been his superior for several decades.
"Speaking of which… did Orochimaru ever give you a Cursed Seal? Even Mizuki had one."
Kiyohara suddenly asked in curiosity.
Orochimaru's subordinates all had one obvious trait—their cursed seals. It could be said that in the field of Cursed Seal research, Orochimaru stood at the very forefront of the shinobi world.
"There is one… but do you think your body could withstand it?"
Missing-nin Kiyohara shot him a sideways glance. It wasn't that he looked down on himself, but every time he possessed Kiyohara's body he could clearly feel the limits of his flesh—there was a restriction, a shackle on what it could endure.
Many jutsu weren't impossible to conceive; they were simply locked away by the limits of one's body.
Take the Rasengan for example. Its principle was simply to gather chakra into one's hand and force it to rotate in multiple directions and compress it, forming a high-density spinning chakra sphere.
Did anyone really think that in thousands of years of shinobi history, only Minato ever conceived such a concept?
What truly limited shinobi was their innate body. If your body's talent was lacking, no matter how brilliant your ideas were, you couldn't manifest them.
"Then what kind of Cursed Seal do you have?"
Kiyohara asked with great interest.
Even if he couldn't learn it now, maybe after he fused with Missing-nin Kiyohara, he might be able to withstand it?
"The Cursed Seal of Earth. But that requires Jūgo's cells as the medium."
Missing-nin Kiyohara explained.
All of Orochimaru's cursed seals all relied on one foundation: the unique cells of Jūgo, who could naturally absorb nature energy.
"I see…"
Kiyohara nodded and had Missing-nin Kiyohara dictate everything he knew. Kiyohara wrote it all down on a scroll.
Right now, Orochimaru should not have fully developed the Cursed Seal series yet. Around the time he defected, the one he placed on Anko Mitarashi was still the earliest version—unable to even activate a second stage.
Thump, thump.
Just as Kiyohara was storing the scroll, soft taps sounded from the tent's fabric door.
"Come in," Kiyohara said.
A moment later, the flap lifted, revealing—
A face covered by a black mask.
It was Kakashi.
"It's already this late… what's the matter, Kakashi?" Kiyohara asked.
Kakashi had already lowered his forehead protector, covering the Sharingan in his left eye. If it weren't for how small his current body still was, he already somewhat resembled the man who would one day be known as "Copy Ninja Kakashi."
"I… wanted to discuss Lightning Release with you."
Kakashi's voice was hoarse, or perhaps it was simply the weight he carried in his heart, looking for someone to share it with.
Among their squad, only Kiyohara used Lightning Release.
Minato used Flying Thunder God, Rin used medical ninjutsu, Kurenai specialized in genjutsu, and Genma preferred using senbon and other ninja tools.
Only Kiyohara had shown both Wind Release and Lightning Release.
So, whenever he had the chance, Kakashi sought him out.
"It's a bit late for that…" Kiyohara glanced up at the crude clock hanging inside the tent. It was already ten at night.
Ten o'clock at night was a delicate time.
For a single guy, it was the hour to quietly work on his hobbies.
For someone with a girlfriend, it was the perfect time to visit her and discuss the meaning of life.
What it wasn't, was the time for a sad boy to walk into your tent and say, "Let's talk about ninjutsu."
If it were Rin visiting at this hour, Kiyohara would absolutely "sacrifice himself for a gentleman's cause."
But it was Kakashi…
Was Konoha developing its own version of "substitute literature" now?
Kiyohara instinctively turned to look at Missing-nin Kiyohara floating in the air—and saw that his expression was twisted between stiff and strained, like someone desperately trying to hold in laughter.
"Is… it that late?" Kakashi blinked.
His mind had been full of Obito the whole time, and he'd completely lost track of the hour.
"Then I'll come back tomorrow—"
"You don't need to leave. Sit. We can talk."
Kiyohara waved him down.
He knew Kakashi was just a normal guy. It was his own imagination running wild.
"I think Chidori is still incomplete, but with Obito's Sharingan, its flaws have been greatly reduced."
Kakashi began explaining his understanding of Chidori.
Kiyohara nodded now and then.
Your Chidori is too fast, but your Sharingan compensates perfectly…
Kakashi's Lightning Release mastery was undoubtedly much higher than his. He just needed someone to talk to, and Kiyohara could also take the chance to learn from a genius's thought process.
The more he listened, the more Kiyohara realized Kakashi was dumping every fragment of his thoughts out at once.
After mentally reorganizing what he heard, Kiyohara felt that if Kakashi talked for a little longer, he could probably reconstruct Chidori's entire training method from scratch.
He was now hoping Kakashi would say even more—so he could learn as much as possible.
"So, Kiyohara, you're really interested in Lightning Release too?" Kakashi asked.
"Of course."
Many shinobi believed that among the Five Elemental Natures, Wind Release had the highest pure destructive power.
But such an idea was… naive.
But that was a naïve view.
Lightning Release held greater potential—electricity generated magnetism, magnetism generated electricity. It touched upon the very essence of the universe: the four fundamental forces. Electromagnetism was one of them.
If he could reach that level, Kiyohara could even twist magnetic fields and fire off an electromagnetic railgun.
But that was all fantasy for now. At the moment he couldn't achieve any of it.
Still, it didn't make Lightning Release any less promising.
"Then we can discuss it more from now on."
Kakashi nodded softly.
After venting, he truly felt much better. He had also reorganized his own understanding of Lightning Release.
And he realized something—although Kiyohara mostly listened, whenever he did ask a question, it was always filled with unusual insight.
"Thank you, Kiyohara."
With that, Kakashi turned to leave.
Kiyohara watched his back disappear through the tent flap, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
After he fused with Missing-nin Kiyohara's talent, his talent and base stats would increase.
And if his base stats grew high enough…
Would he be able to perceive Chidori's speed without using a Sharingan?
(End of Chapter)