Hidden Leaf Village.
Ever since Sasuke developed that ultimate Lightning Release technique, things had not gone smoothly.
He discovered that the power of natural lightning was even harder to control than he had imagined. At the same time, stormy weather was not all that common.
Without natural lightning, the development of his ninjutsu had hit a bottleneck.
Then one day, he asked Hinata how she controlled lightning over such a vast area, and only then did he learn.
She relied on immense power to alter the weather, and a flash of inspiration struck him.
Right—if it would not rain from the sky, then he would find a way to make it rain!
Another month passed before he finally succeeded in drawing the lightning from the heavens down to the ground.
His ninjutsu had finally taken shape.
"I'll call this technique Lightning Release: Kirin."
Winter snow was already slow to melt, not to mention that it had snowed again a few days ago.
At that moment, Sasuke lay in a patch of muddy ground.
The surroundings should have been a white world blanketed in snow.
But because Sasuke had been developing ninjutsu here, the ice and snow around him had long since melted. Even the high-temperature lightning striking the ground had blasted out several huge pits filled with crystals.
Sasuke lay on the ground, letting the muddy water soak his clothes, but he did not care. He was happy now.
He wondered whether this technique or Kakashi's Lightning Cutter was stronger.
He had heard that Kakashi's Lightning Cutter had once severed lightning itself, which was why it was called Lightning Cutter.
But his Lightning Release was not just a single bolt of lightning. No matter how formidable Kakashi was, he could not possibly destroy Kirin.
It would be different if Hinata