If You're a Man, Hit Me! Hurry!

"Teacher Kisame, I'm really looking forward to seeing the shocked look on your face after you witness Storm Release."

Kazama Kaguya narrowed his eyes, suppressing the joy in his heart as he began evaluating the next Kekkei Genkai he would evolve.

He currently possessed four Chakra natures: Water, Lightning, Yang, and Yin.

The Shikotsumyaku was a Taijutsu-type Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan was a perception-type Kekkei Genkai, and Storm Release was a Ninjutsu-type Kekkei Genkai.

He lacked neither Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, nor perception. What he lacked was a Kekkei Genkai with recovery—or rather, healing—abilities.

He was currently suffering under Kisame Hoshigaki's insane torment. After several days of training, he felt like his entire body had been played into scrap. He desperately needed some means of healing.

"A healing-type Kekkei Genkai..."

Kazama Kaguya carefully recalled every Kekkei Genkai that had appeared in the original story, only to find that none of them belonged to that category.

"If there isn't one, then I'll evolve one myself. Isn't the Evolution Equation meant for exactly this?"

Kazama Kaguya crawled back into his tent and began to think.

The power of medical Ninjutsu in the Ninja World went without saying, but it was also extremely difficult to learn.

Without Yang-nature Chakra, one could not learn medical Ninjutsu. That was common knowledge.

Beyond that, Water-nature Chakra was the second option with healing capabilities.

The Hozuki clan of Kirigakure possessed the Hydrification Technique, which could heal the body. Kazama Kaguya had witnessed that with his own eyes while in Kirigakure.

Besides that, Chakra of the Earth, Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Yin natures had no healing abilities.

"Then a fusion of Water and Yang attributes will most likely produce a healing-type Kekkei Genkai. There's no reason it would turn positive into negative. It should be a union of strengths."

After sorting out his thoughts, Kazama Kaguya immediately began laying out the equation.

He did not know what form the evolved Kekkei Genkai would take, so he could not name it directly for now.

But he could provide a rough direction and let the obelisk complete the rest.

The moment the equation appeared, the obelisk immediately located what Kazama Kaguya wanted from among countless possibilities, and lines of information rapidly refreshed.

[Equation established]

[The Evolver possesses Water- and Yang-nature Chakra. Begin charging evolution?]

"No."

Kazama Kaguya immediately refused.

What a joke. He had already used today's 15 cards to complete the final charge for Storm Release.

If he started now, his remaining 15 cards' worth of Chakra would be drained dry at once.

If he showed up to training looking completely drained, Kisame Hoshigaki would definitely be overjoyed—and then torment him even more miserably.

That image was far too beautiful. At any rate, he did not dare try it.

Fortunately, it would only take four more days. Kazama Kaguya could grit his teeth and endure that much.

He slept soundly through the night. Even the excitement of obtaining Storm Release could not withstand his body's exhaustion.

This time, however, Kazama Kaguya had learned his lesson.

Before going to sleep, he created a Water Clone to keep time.

This Clone Technique was vastly different from the Shadow Clone. It could not return its experiences to the original body, and possessed only ten percent of the original's combat strength, making it perfect for keeping watch at night.

The next day, weighted training still bent Otsutsuki's waist.

His Taijutsu sparring was no different from before either. Kisame Hoshigaki beat him black and blue.

At last, he endured until the afternoon's Ninjutsu instruction.

Kazama Kaguya stood beside the waterfall once more.

But instead of immediately forming hand seals, he put on an expression as though he wanted to speak but hesitated, staring at Kisame Hoshigaki.

"If you've got something to say, spit it out."

Kisame Hoshigaki frowned and said coldly, "But unless it's about training, don't bring up anything related to 'intelligence.'"

Clearly, he had been burned enough times to gain plenty of experience.

Seeing that his instructor had spoken, Kazama Kaguya immediately said, "Teacher Kisame, I have a question about Kekkei Genkai that I'd like to ask."

"Spit it out."

Hearing that it had nothing to do with intelligence, Kisame Hoshigaki remained aloof, though his tone improved somewhat.

"Teacher Kisame, please watch."

Kazama Kaguya said no more and began demonstrating directly.

He mobilized Storm Release Chakra. Blue-silver light gathered in his hand, condensing into a laser cannon as thick as a bucket that shot forth.

Very soon, the light cannon turned around just as it was about to hit its target. It even made several turns and loops along the way, like a giant glowing ribbon weaving around the two of them.

The sight was beautiful—and dangerous.

Kazama Kaguya explained, "When I woke up today, I discovered that my water- and lightning-nature Chakra had suddenly fused and turned into this. Do you know what it is?"

Kisame Hoshigaki: ???

By the waterfall, Shark Face's eyes widened, and the black-question-mark expression appeared on his face once again.

He stared dumbfoundedly at the laser beam circling through the air as though he had seen a ghost.

"Storm Release???"

His face was full of confusion as his gaze darted back and forth between Kazama Kaguya and the laser beam. After a long while, there seemed to be even more question marks on his face.

"That's right. This is Storm Release—the Kekkei Genkai passed down among those people from Hidden Cloud Village. I can't possibly be mistaken. But the question is, how could you possibly have it?"

His gaze was sharp as lightning as he stared fixedly at Kazama Kaguya. "You're from the Kaguya Clan. The only thing you could possibly awaken is Shikotsumyaku. The Byakugan was transplanted into you, so that's a separate matter. But Storm Release... impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

He refused to believe this thing was Storm Release. Wanting to test it himself, he said directly, "Control that thing and attack me."

"Huh? It's dangerous." Kazama Kaguya looked rather eager to try.

"Hurry up. If you're a man, then come at me. Stop dawdling." Kisame could not wait any longer.

"Alright."

Of course, Kazama Kaguya was happy to fulfill such a request to be beaten up.

He immediately controlled the laser beam to attack, secretly pouring even more Chakra into it.

The bucket-thick laser beam swelled to the thickness of a water vat and slammed viciously into Shark Face.

The next moment, Kisame Hoshigaki was blasted flying backward.

He let out a muffled grunt and crashed into a distant boulder like a cannonball, sending dust scattering in all directions.

Kazama Kaguya did not stop. He gathered even more lasers and asked expectantly, "Teacher Kisame, do you want more?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Painful coughing came from within the dust cloud.

After taking a Storm Release attack head-on, Kisame Hoshigaki had been injured.

"That's enough. No more."

As his voice rang out, Kisame Hoshigaki appeared in a Body Flicker the next instant.

As though nothing had happened, he looked at the laser in Kazama Kaguya's hand. After a long silence, he said with both gravity and confusion in his voice:

"That's right. What you have really is Storm Release. But I don't understand—why did your Chakra fuse and become Storm Release?"

"I don't understand either."

Kazama Kaguya would not reveal his greatest secret. He said happily, "But as long as it's good, that's all that matters. I can feel how powerful Storm Release is."

"Obviously. No Kekkei Genkai based on ninjutsu is weak. You really stepped in dog shit."

Kisame Hoshigaki was lying.

Kekkei Genkai had never been something common.

They could only be born when two Chakra nature transformations fused completely.

But fusing Chakra natures required powerful ninja to train day and night, along with a crucial stroke of luck.

Someone like Kazama Kaguya, who awakened Storm Release after a single night's sleep—this was nothing but a lie. Listening to it was enough. Anyone who took it seriously was an idiot.

He knew Kazama Kaguya was lying.

Kazama Kaguya also knew Kisame Hoshigaki knew he was lying.

But secrets were not important.

Everyone had them. Nothing unusual about that.

Why did Kisame Hoshigaki have a shark face? Why did he possess Chakra comparable to a tailed beast? Those were secrets too.

Not asking and not being curious were the foundations of a ninja's survival.

Sometimes, if you knew too many secrets, you would not even know how you died.

He merely stared at Kazama Kaguya, his attention lingering for a long time on the pair of horns at either side of his forehead.

He had always felt that he had heard of people with horns growing from their heads somewhere before, but he could not remember.

Now that he had encountered the Kekkei Genkai secretly passed down by Hidden Cloud Village, certain things suddenly came back to him.

"That's right. Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the brothers from Hidden Cloud Village who died long ago—they had horns on their heads. This guy must be connected to those two somehow."

"But he's from Kirigakure. He seemingly has no direct connection to those two from Hidden Cloud Village."

"The Ninja World... why does it feel like there are more and more secrets? I can't make sense of it."