Shinichi let out a long breath laced with scorching heat, ready to pack up and head out.
That was when a figure appeared at the entrance of the training ground—backlit, silent, blocking the only way out.
Kakashi.
He stood there alone, silver hair slightly tousled. Those normally ice-cold eyes were locked onto Shinichi, burning with a volatile mix of near-obsessive fire and frost that Shinichi had never seen in them before.
The air seemed to freeze solid the moment he arrived.
"Shinichi Higashino!"
Kakashi's voice came out hoarse.
"I did exactly what you told me to!"
He took one step forward, voice rising with raw, venting force. "Get stronger! Get stronger! Keep getting stronger! Throw away every last scrap of hesitation, weakness, pointless overthinking—everything! Keep only one thing in your head!"
"I poured every second of my time, every ounce of my energy, my entire damn life into those two words—get stronger! And then beat you! Only then…"
As he spoke, he suddenly raised his right hand, fingers curling into a claw, holding it at his side.
The next instant—
SCREEEEE—SCREEEEE—SCREEEEE!!!
A piercing, chaotic screech—like hundreds of thousands of furious birds screaming and roaring at once—ripped through the morning quiet of the training ground without warning!
Blinding azure lightning exploded violently from Kakashi's palm.
Chidori!
The dazzling light lit up half his face and revealed the depths of those dark eyes. The usual coldness or confusion was gone. All that remained was a near-maniacal resolve… and beneath it, a surging obsession that could no longer be held back.
"Only then…"
Kakashi's gaze bored into Shinichi. His voice warped with the screech of Chidori, turning savage.
"Only then did I develop this technique!!!"
???
Shinichi stood rooted in place. The calm mask he always wore cracked into something extremely rare—clear, unmistakable shock.
An absurd, overwhelmingly strong wave of déjà vu slammed into his brain like a tsunami.
Bro… who the hell are you?
You're Sasuke now?
You're treating me like Itachi?
A massive "what the actual fuck" roared through his mind like a runaway stallion, nearly shattering his composure.
This scene, these lines, that clenched-teeth, ready-to-charge vibe… aside from the hair color and eyes being wrong…
Shinichi never imagined that his little speech on this very training ground that day—mixing provocation and "break yourself to rebuild" talk-no-jutsu—would push Kakashi into developing Chidori years early and turn him into this mini-second-protagonist version.
Should I say you really are the sensei of the second protagonist?
Shinichi thought wryly.
"And you!"
Kakashi had no clue about the internal roasting. His voice distorted from emotion and the Chidori screech: "What the hell have you been doing this whole time?! Wasting your time and energy on pointless crap! What do you even think 'getting stronger' means?! What do you take the path of a shinobi for?!"
Before the words finished, Kakashi moved!
Dust exploded in a ring at his feet. He became a straight blue streak of lightning, surging toward Shinichi at a terrifying speed far beyond his previous limits!
Shinichi seemed "startled" by the sudden full-force assault, standing motionless with no dodge or hand seals, as if he couldn't react in time.
The distance vanished in a flash.
Murderous intent flared in Kakashi's eyes, but the instant the destructive edge of Chidori reached three meters from Shinichi, a complicated emotion he himself hadn't fully processed flickered deep in his pupils.
Seeing Shinichi still standing there, his wrist instinctively tried to twist, redirecting the raging lightning toward empty air beside him.
However!
In that delicate split-second when the force was shifting but not yet committed, a hand clamped down on his Chidori-wielding right wrist like a steel vice!
The grip was terrifyingly strong. It instantly killed any attempt to redirect, crushing his wrist bones until they ached and stalling his chakra flow.
Immediately after, Shinichi yanked Kakashi's wrist hard to his own side, pulling and guiding.
Kakashi couldn't resist the immense force at all. He and the screaming Chidori were dragged helplessly off course.
BOOM!
A deafening crash. The blazing lightning slammed squarely into a massive tree beside Shinichi—one that would take two men to hug.
Wood chips and blackened fragments exploded everywhere!
The struck section of the trunk tore open and punched straight through, leaving a horrifying hole that went clean through, edges still crackling with tiny electric sparks!
The towering tree groaned under the strain, slowly tilting sideways before crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
The Chidori's screech cut off abruptly. Only the faint crackle of residual arcs crawling across the shattered trunk remained, along with a deathly silence.
Kakashi panted heavily, his right hand trembling from the violent chakra release and the pain of his wrist being clamped. He stared blankly at the tree he had just destroyed, then whipped his head around to look at Shinichi—who was still standing right there, calmly gripping his wrist.
Shinichi's gaze was perfectly steady, as if the whole near-miss had been no more than brushing away a stray leaf.
My foolish older brother…
The classic line almost slipped out. Shinichi slammed the brakes just in time and swallowed the wildly inappropriate quip.
Instead, he let go of Kakashi's wrist and spoke with a touch of genuine warmth and approval:
"Kakashi, seeing you finally stop torturing yourself over past choices and turn that obsession into pure forward momentum… I'm really happy for you."
Kakashi froze.
He had imagined all kinds of reactions—mockery for his arrogance, scolding for his recklessness, or those all-seeing eyes coldly saying "You're still far from enough."
He had never expected something so close to… gentle affirmation.
Shinichi continued, voice calm: "What's this technique called?"
"Chidori," Kakashi answered on instinct.
"Chidori… the cry of a thousand birds, movement like thunder."
"Great name—better than my Rasengan, honestly!"
Shinichi nodded, a sincere note of admiration in his tone as his eyes swept over the pierced tree. "This Chidori of yours shows real mastery in advanced Lightning Release application and rapid condensation. In terms of nature transformation, you've already gone quite far."
"But as you just saw, it's not condensed enough yet. It relies too heavily on the piercing momentum, lacks finer shape transformation control. The scattering of power and lack of precision are its current weaknesses."
He changed tack, raising his right hand. A highly compressed, violently spinning azure chakra sphere appeared above his palm, humming steadily.
"Luckily for you, I happen to have done quite a bit of research on chakra shape transformation."