A few days flew by in a flash, and the final day arrived.
After Rogue Kiyohara finished tinkering around, he stored some brown medicinal liquid in transparent sealed bags.
Looking at these bags, Kiyohara couldn't help but think they looked strangely like traditional Japanese medicine from his previous life...
"After you drink this, it'll strengthen your physical body, which will then boost your chakra reserves. Conservative estimate: double what you have now."
Rogue Kiyohara explained.
When your base mana bar was low, leveling up was simple.
"Double, huh? Not bad at all."
Kiyohara was even more satisfied with the results.
This way, even though his official rank was only genin, his actual strength would be considered strong even among chunin.
As long as you had enough chakra, forget about technique. Just brute force your way through.
Take Six Paths Naruto, for example. He was pure stats: Sage Mode body plus Tailed Beast chakra plus Sage Art body enhancement plus Six Paths power enhancement.
Stack all that together, and all you needed to do was spam Rasengan after Rasengan.
"I remember Takigakure has a forbidden drug called the 'Hero Water,'" Kiyohara said.
In the anime's Takigakure arc, there was a forbidden substance called "Hero Water" that could boost chakra tenfold upon consumption!
The catch was you wouldn't live much longer afterward. You'd die.
"It's good stuff. A small amount could save your life in a pinch. But Takigakure has the Seven-Tails guarding it."
Rogue Kiyohara shook his head.
Did Kiyohara think he hadn't considered this before?
He simply hadn't been strong enough.
Even someone at Kage-level couldn't guarantee victory against a Tailed Beast.
A single casual Tailed Beast Bomb could flatten an entire mountain. That's why nations treated Tailed Beasts as weapons of war.
Hashirama Senju had believed that distributing the Tailed Beasts would create a balance of power, leading to eternal peace among nations.
But just like how the Qin Dynasty collapsed in its second generation, the ninja world erupted into war the moment Hashirama died.
"True."
Kiyohara realized he'd been getting ahead of himself.
As long as he had the Legacy Scroll and kept merging with versions of himself from other timelines, he too could become a stat monster.
"Bottoms up."
Kiyohara used a kunai to slice open the sealed plastic bag, then downed it in one gulp.
Bitter!
That was his first reaction.
Then came a splitting headache, like his brain was about to explode.
Wait, Rogue Kiyohara had mentioned headaches, but he never said it would hurt this much!
Kiyohara clutched his head and crouched down, enduring the pain.
"Your chakra reserves are increasing now. The headache is your brain producing chakra."
Rogue Kiyohara explained.
This forbidden drug worked on the principle of Yang Release chakra.
Through a reaction between certain herbs and the human body, a special type of chakra was generated, which then fed back into the physical body.
Once the body's energy increased, a ninja's chakra reserves would rise accordingly.
Sure enough, after the initial pain subsided, Kiyohara felt a warm sensation spreading through his entire body, from his limbs to his core.
It was like not showering for ten days and then suddenly soaking in a hot spring.
Once the drug's effects mostly passed, Kiyohara clenched his fist.
Brand new power!
He then went out to the courtyard, formed hand seals with both hands, still the same five: Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A fierce gust of wind burst from Kiyohara's mouth, sweeping up debris from the ground.
A small stone slammed into the courtyard wall with a bang, punching a hole clean through it.
The pebble itself crumbled to dust and scattered on the ground.
"Just as I thought. The more chakra you put in, the stronger the technique becomes."
Kiyohara noted to himself.
It was like how Uchiha Madara alone could release a Fire Release technique so powerful that it took twenty Water Release users forming a squad and combining their Water Release techniques just to cancel it out.
After all, Madara was someone who could fight Hashirama Senju head-on.
He even used the Nine-Tails as a mere summoning beast without absorbing its chakra, fighting Hashirama entirely with his own reserves. His chakra capacity had to be off the charts.
"Ssss..."
Kiyohara clutched his head.
A sharp pain had just shot through his skull.
This was the price of using the forbidden drug. Fortunately, it would resolve itself in three months.
"If I take this drug again after three months, will it still work?"
Kiyohara asked.
"Not really."
Rogue Kiyohara shook his head.
Nothing came that easy.
This forbidden drug merely drew out the body's latent potential. Only the first dose had significant effects.
After that, it was basically useless.
Otherwise, why would Orochimaru be so obsessed with obtaining Sasuke's body? Physical talent was simply that important.
"So that's it, huh..."
Hearing this, Kiyohara casually grabbed a chunk of debris roughly the same size as the hole and plugged up the courtyard wall.
"Then next up is ninjutsu training."
Kiyohara planned to learn a Lightning Release technique.
Among the five basic elemental releases, Lightning Release arguably had the highest ceiling.
The reason was simple.
Later on, whether it was Ten-Tails jinchuriki, the Otsutsuki clan, or various artificial beings, most of them had the ability to absorb ninjutsu, unless you learned Sage Techniques.
Otherwise, Earth Release, Wind Release, Water Release; they'd all just get absorbed.
Even Amaterasu, supposedly the strongest offensive technique, suffered from being too one-dimensional and was easily countered.
Lightning Release was different.
Lightning Release could stimulate cells, enhance taijutsu across the board, and boost base stats.
That way, those ninjutsu-absorbing abilities became useless.
"I'll start with Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder."
Kiyohara looked at the scroll in his hand, which contained several recorded techniques.
Rogue Kiyohara had dictated two Lightning Release techniques and three Fire Release techniques.
Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder was among them.
This technique released a cluster of irregular lightning bolts close to the ground.
The Battle of Kannabi Bridge would take place in a mountainous valley area, full of forests.
Some areas would be quite narrow. Using this technique, enemies would have limited space to dodge and would have trouble evading.
...
The next day.
Kiyohara put on his newly purchased chainmail undershirt, threw on his outer clothes, shouldered his fully packed gear bag, and headed to the meeting point.
"Obito's late again."
When Kiyohara arrived, he heard Kakashi complaining about Obito.
"Probably went to help some old lady cross the street again."
Genma Shiranui had a senbon dangling from the corner of his mouth.
He understood Obito's nature well enough. After all, they were all classmates from the same batch.
"Where's Kurenai?"
Kiyohara walked over and asked.
"Up ahead doing prep work."
Genma Shiranui pointed forward, where Kurenai was busy taking inventory of everything they needed to bring.
"Kiyohara, Rin, could you two please go find Obito?"
Minato Namikaze spoke up.
He hadn't asked Kakashi because he was worried those two might start something.
At this critical moment, it was better for the team to stay on good terms.
"Yes, Minato-sensei."
Rin nodded.
Kiyohara had no objections either. He'd never actually been to the Uchiha clan's residential area before; this was a good chance to see it.
He remembered there was a time when Obito was kissing Rin's photo, and Kakashi walked in on that exact scene when he came looking for him.
Who knew what Obito was up to right now.
"Let's go, Rin."
Kiyohara said.
"Mm."
Rin jogged to catch up with Kiyohara.
Meanwhile, Obito had completely lost track of time and space.
Today was the day they'd head to the battlefield. He'd decided to relax a little first.
So he pulled out the group photo of Team Minato. In it was Rin, Kakashi, Minato, and himself.