Night fell, with a gentle evening breeze blowing.
The deep blue night sky was dotted with countless stars, appearing mysterious and serene. A silver-white crescent moon hung high in the heavens, casting soft, silvery moonlight like a delicate veil across the earth.
"Phew, done at last!" Might Duy gasped, wiping sweat from his brow as he finally set up the camping tent.
Meanwhile, Heiyan was in charge of lighting a bonfire, its flames crackling noisily.
"I'm back."
Just then, a casual voice sounded out. The two turned to look and saw Kosuke Maruboshi returning to camp carrying a large pot full of ingredients, wearing a smiling expression.
Inside the pot were bamboo shoots, mushrooms, green onions, shrimp, crab, fish — clearly a bountiful harvest.
"Senior Kosuke, finding so much food is truly amazing!"
Might Duy excitedly gave Kosuke a thumbs-up with an expression of admiration.
"Haha, it's just a minor skill really," Kosuke modestly replied with a smile, proceeding to place the large pot over the fire with their help before adding water to begin cooking.
More than ten minutes later, steam rose from the pot as all the ingredients cooked thoroughly.
Kosuke pulled out various seasonings from his belongings, carefully proportioning them before pouring into the pot and stirring evenly. Immediately, a fragrant aroma spread through the air, making mouths water.
"Gluuuub~"
Might Duy gulped audibly, staring fixedly at the contents of the pot without blinking.
In contrast, the introverted Heiyan was more reserved in his reactions, though he instinctively patted his growling stomach.
"We've been traveling all day and must be starving by now. Just eat to your heart's content, there's plenty!"
Seeing their expressions, Kosuke smiled warmly, took out bowls and chopsticks, and served each of them a generous portion.
"I'll dig in now!"
Might Duy shouted loudly before wolfing down bowl after bowl like a whirlwind.
While the unassuming Heiyan remained quiet and reserved, he actually ate even more than Might Duy, showing definite potential as a big eater.
These two, one constantly training in [Eight Gates] and the other possessing Sage Transformation, both had appetites far exceeding ordinary people.
In no time at all, they polished off the whole pot.
"..."
Even the experienced Kosuke Maruboshi was shocked by their eating capacity.
After feasting heartily, the three took turns keeping watch during the night. That's how their first day came to an end.
The night brought nothing unusual.
On the second day, the team continued their journey. As dusk approached, it began to rain. Fortunately, Kosuke Maruboshi found a cave that once belonged to the Second Hokage, so the three managed to avoid getting drenched and instead spent a comfortable night inside.
On the third day, their water supply was nearly exhausted. Following his memory, Kosuke found a spring he'd once discovered together with the Third Hokage, timely refilling all their water flasks.
By the fourth day...
It must be said that under the guidance of the experienced outdoorsman Kosuke Maruboshi, what had started out as a dull and tough mission slowly turned into something like a fun outdoor trip.
As a senior member, Kosuke took excellent care of the younger Heiyan and Might Duy.
Spending those days together, the three slowly built up an unspoken understanding — becoming more and more like a tight-knit, experienced team.
Five days later, the trio reached the border of the Land of Rivers and started their patrol mission.
They spent half a day inspecting the first village—talking to villagers, recording the population and economic data, then ticking it off on the map. Without wasting any time, they hurried to the next village.
Time slipped by like shadows at dusk—before he knew it, half a month had passed.
The night hung still and calm, like a pool of undisturbed water.
Inside a cave in the wild, Kosuke Maruboshi and Might Duy were fast asleep, while outside, Heiyan stood guard and cultivated ninjutsu.
Over the past two weeks, he'd been digging into Lightning Release techniques.
Heiyan contained six different natures of Chakra within him. In terms of innate talent for cultivation, his Yang Release ability stood unrivaled, unmatched across the Ninja World.
Closely following that were Water Release and Lightning Release. When practicing these two types of ninjutsu, he felt completely at ease and progressed rapidly.
However, he lacked natural talent in Fire Release, Earth Release, and Wind Release, so he didn't invest excessive energy into them.
Currently, in Yang Release, he already mastered powerful techniques like the Adamantine Sealing Chains; regarding Water Release, he inherited techniques directly from the Second Hokage. Only Lightning Release remained an empty space requiring immediate filling.
There's an old saying: Better to light your own candle than curse the darkness.
In the Naruto world, many extremely powerful ninjutsu were created by genius ninja themselves.
For example, Kakashi in the original story invented the A-rank Lightning Release technique Chidori during his teenage years.
If they can do it, why not me?
With this thought, Heiyan took Chidori as a reference point and began studying intensively.
In fact, several years ago, he'd already begun researching Chidori, but due to illness, his efforts remained theoretical, unable to be put into practice.
Now, finally, he had the proper conditions to test his ideas and uncover Chidori's mysteries.
Half a month passed, and Heiyan achieved modest success.
"Screech!"
Within the forest, Heiyan concentrated his mind as large amounts of Lightning Release chakra gathered in his palm, forming intense electric currents that produced a sound resembling the cry of an eagle soaring through the sky.
Swish!
Chakra erupted beneath his feet as he activated the Body Flicker Technique, transforming into a blur of white light streaking with lightning straight toward a nearby tree.
Boom!
The Chidori struck the tree, but contrary to expectations, the tree didn't instantly fall. Instead, a large amount of lightning chakra scattered outward, spreading across the trunk and leaving its surface charred and blackened.
The power wasn't focused enough, and the range was off too...
Observing this, Heiyan murmured quietly to himself.
Chidori, as a ninjutsu combining both chakra nature transformation and shape transformation, had one primary challenge—control. One must precisely regulate the discharge to determine the attack's power and coverage area.
Heiyan's Chidori had the basic form down, but clearly hadn't reached full maturity yet.
It was simply because he hadn't practiced long enough yet.
Heiyan understood there was no need to rush—it required patience and persistence.
Time flew by like a fleeting shadow slipping through the grass. Before he knew it, another half month had passed.
The trio of Kosuke Maruboshi, Might Duy, and Heiyan finished patrolling the border of the Land of Rivers and entered the territory of the Land of Rain.
Early morning.
"Heyhu, heyhu!"
Outside the camp, Might Duy had already risen before dawn. With weights bound all over his body, he was doing squats and jump training.
All month long, he hadn't missed a single day of training — in fact, he trained even harder than Heiyan.
Might Duy fell into the category of ninjas with mediocre natural talent. Fortunately, through relentless effort and by dedicating a level of time and sweat that most people couldn't imagine, he finally received heavenly reward for diligence and succeeded in mastering the Eight Gates.
Speaking of the Eight Gates, in recent days, Heiyan and Might Duy had engaged in quite deep discussions.
Essentially, the Eight Gates is a technique that progressively unlocks the chakra restrictions within the body, enabling the quickest and most powerful release of stored chakra from body cells.
Heiyan discovered that his Sage Transformation had actually already unblocked the energy points, equivalent to being in a state of 'eight gates permanently open.' Therefore, he possessed tailed beast-level chakra. This process developed naturally as his Sage Transformation matured, resulting in a smoother and safer enhancement.
Thus, techniques like the Eight Gates, Seven Days' Roar Method, or Lightning Release Chakra Mode—ones which enhance physical capabilities—held little use for Heiyan.
Heiyan didn't feel disappointed at all.
After all, he wasn't seeking the Eight Gates when befriending Might Duy. Instead, he had been deeply moved by the other's consistent efforts and perseverance over ten whole years.
Having such a friend inspired Heiyan himself to strive forward diligently on the path of cultivation without ever slackening.
It was another moonlit night.
Bright moon and sparse stars; branches swayed gently.
"Zizzzzz!"
From deep within the woods came piercing, sharp sounds, as if thousands of birds were chirping together.
Looking down from midair, one could see a blue flash darting rapidly through the dense forest below — flickering in and out of sight like a ghost impossible to grasp.
Crunch!
Suddenly, the blue light crashed into a large tree. With an explosive sound, the trunk snapped and fell with a thunderous boom.
"At last, success."
Heiyan leapt up and landed on top of the fallen tree, his face radiant with triumph.
After a month of hard practice, he had gained basic proficiency in Lightning Release: Chidori and even devised three distinct applications for it.
The first was [Chidori Slash], gathering massive lightning chakra in the palm before charging toward the target from afar, delivering an extremely powerful single-target attack.
The second was [Chidori Blade], channeling lightning chakra into weapons, significantly increasing their sharpness—not only cutting metal as easily as tofu, but also causing numbness and inability to counterattack in those hit.
The third, named [Chidori Shunshin], utilized Heiyan's formidable Sage Body Constitution by concentrating a vast amount of lightning chakra in his legs, then releasing it explosively, thereby dramatically increasing speed.
The principle behind this Shunshin technique bore a strong resemblance to Kumogakure's Lightning Shunshin under the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Of course, these techniques didn't necessarily need to be called Chidori—they could've been given names like "Pinecone Zap Whip," but Heiyan simply wasn't fond of giving elaborate names to ninja techniques. For convenience, he chose to categorize them all under the umbrella term Chidori.
During this month of studying Chidori, Heiyan gained a deeper understanding of his own strengths.
Take techniques like Chidori and Lightning Shunshin as examples. He didn't need to replicate them with the same level of precision; instead, he could create a barebones version based on similar principles. Then, through the amplification of Sage Transformation, he could achieve results nearly identical to the original jutsu.
With continued use, he could keep refining it and boost his proficiency—eventually surpassing the original techniques and reaching an entirely new level.
"Heiyan, what's going on?"
At this moment, Kosuke Maruboshi walked out from the tent, looking astonished and puzzled.
"I'm sorry, Sensei. Did I wake you up?"
Heiyan snapped out of his thoughts and showed an apologetic expression.
Earlier, when he used Chidori, he had intentionally used less than thirty percent of his Chakra to avoid making too much noise, hoping not to disturb his sleeping comrades.
Still, he ended up waking up Kosuke Maruboshi.
Come to think of it, Chidori came with blinding light and deafening noise—it was incredibly disruptive. He couldn't help but wonder how it was ever considered an 'assassination' technique.
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