Shadow Control (Part 2)

"Hanyu, are you sure you're alright? Over these past three days, I've watched you... swell up." Hatake Sakumo said to Hanyu with some concern. The "swelling" he referred to was by no means a critique of Hanyu's attitude or conduct, but a literal, physical expansion of his body.

"No, no problem, it's just a bit of edema."

At this point, Hanyu's speech was already somewhat slurred. In the end, he hadn't managed to master the 7-nanometer process, and it was highly likely he would never be able to in this lifetime.

Right now, it wasn't just "a bit" of edema; it was extreme swelling. Compared to a few days ago, he had expanded several times over. Every inch of his skin was stretched taut and shiny, and his entire texture resembled the belly of a woman ten months pregnant.

Hanyu's experiment had hit a snag at the very first step. First, chakra could only circulate smoothly within the meridian system, so he couldn't use water-style chakra to create (pseudo) meridians. Second, if he generated Water Style inside his body, he could theoretically achieve his vision by utilizing its physical presence, but the result was his current state... even a piece of pork couldn't be injected with water indefinitely.

"What exactly are you doing?" Hatake Sakumo asked again, clearly dissatisfied with Hanyu's explanation.

How could a normal ninja let their body swell to such an extent? Hatake even began to suspect that Hanyu was intentionally torturing himself to stay in the hospital and avoid returning to the battlefield.

One couldn't blame Hatake Sakumo for having such "sinister" thoughts, as that was exactly what Hanyu's actions looked like on the surface.

"I'm conducting an experiment for a certain ninjutsu. Don't worry, I've already grasped the trick, and the edema problem will be solved soon," Hanyu said.

On this point, he wasn't lying; he had indeed reached a certain threshold. If there were no hope, Hanyu wouldn't have kept this up. After all, if he continued like this for another two or three days, he might actually end up giving birth.

Hanyu was currently trying to get stuck at the equilibrium point where water-style chakra transforms into Water Style, utilizing an intermediate state between the two to realize the shared characteristics of energy and elemental properties.

It was only now that Hanyu finally confirmed his top-tier talent for Water Style. Regardless of whether the Second Hokage was the cause, his ability in this area was certainly no worse than the Hokage's... It was precisely because of this talent that he had gradually found the trick.

However, although he had found the path, the time consumed in the process still exceeded Hanyu's expectations. Five days later, he didn't give birth, but finally began to reduce the swelling; twelve days later, he finally returned to his pre-admission physique.

By this time, he had been at the front lines for over half a month, yet he had only spent half a day on the battlefield. The rest of the time had been spent "slacking off" in the field hospital. Logically, someone in his condition should have been forcibly discharged by the medical ninjas long ago. However, because Koga was willing to vouch for him, he was able to drag it out for so long... Of course, Koga wasn't the type of ninja to act without principles; he only facilitated Hanyu because he knew Hanyu was conducting in-depth research into chakra.

Although most research by young people was just a flash of inspiration and the results were generally unreliable, after seeing Hanyu's level of effort, Koga was willing to show him more tolerance... Not everyone could cruelly force themselves to be injected like a pig within a few days. No one knew better than a medical ninja the pain caused by internally damaging one's own bodily functions.

Yet, Hanyu never complained from start to finish (even though he brought it upon himself). At the very least, this perseverance and research spirit were worthy of praise (or perhaps, aside from the initial pain, the severe edema had long since dulled his senses).

Ahem, so, ninjas are also human and value personal connections.

Within the Land of Rivers, east of the Konoha front-line camp, there was a fairly large lake. This was an area under Konoha's actual control, belonging to the safe "rear guard."

Hanyu and his three squad members, along with Koga and Hatake Sakumo, were all present here.

"I just wanted to perform the final test of a ninjutsu; there was no need for everyone to come, right? If I fail, won't it be common knowledge?" Hanyu hadn't intended for these people to follow him here. He had chosen a place far from the camp simply to avoid prying eyes.

But now that everyone had followed him, all he could do was offer a verbal complaint.

"At the very least, we need to understand what exactly you've been doing all this time," Koga said. This was the question on everyone's mind, aside from Hanyu himself.

They wanted to figure out what Hanyu's "secret research" was all about.

"Then just watch from here. I hope you won't be disappointed." Saying this, Hanyu left everyone by the lakeside and stepped onto the water alone, walking to a position a bit further from the shore... He was still a bit worried, so he chose to keep his distance. That way, even if he failed, he wouldn't implicate this group of onlookers.

Hanyu didn't mind exposing the ninjutsu, because the others wouldn't be able to understand what he was doing anyway.

He stepped onto the lake surface, stopped, and closed his eyes to calm his mind. A moment later, the pseudo-meridians composed of semi-transformed water-style chakra began to circulate secretly within his body.

His pseudo-meridians were operating very normally and smoothly; this was Hanyu's greatest achievement over this period.

Next, Hanyu began to weave hand seals, his movements neither hurried nor slow... They were the seals for Lightning Style.

"Are those Lightning Style seals? Has Hanyu already become capable of using Lightning Style?" Koga, standing on the shore, barely managed to identify the seals on Hanyu's hands and voiced this question.

But his question received no answer.

In the blink of an eye, Hanyu finished the seals. A powerful surge of Lightning Style formed around him in an instant, but it didn't begin to run wild in a disorderly fashion. Instead, it followed the optimal "conductive medium"—his pseudo-meridians—and began to circulate back and forth.

The pseudo-meridians, a "pathway" specifically born for Lightning Style, gathered the wild energy of the lightning just as they were designed to. Then, acting as a "major artery," it began to circulate within Hanyu's body.

At the same time, during the circulation process, the Lightning Style energy permeated the outer sides of the pseudo-meridians in the gentlest way possible, subsequently strengthening every one of his cells in an appropriate and harmless manner. Finally, when the lightning permeated his skin, only faint azure electric arcs remained...

There was absolutely none of the harsh, piercing noise that usually accompanied the generation of powerful Lightning Style.

"This Lightning Style, isn't it a bit too weak?" Hatake Sakumo couldn't help but frown. Was this really what Hanyu had spent so much time creating?

Just as he thought this, he saw Hanyu simply take a step forward with one leg, and then... he abruptly vanished from where he stood, leaving only a ripple on the lake surface.

"Body Flicker Technique... No, this speed, could it be Space-Time Ninjutsu?!"

Clearly, what Hanyu was using couldn't be Space-Time Ninjutsu, but he was fast enough.

When Hanyu appeared the next instant, he was already in the middle of the lake.

It really... succeeded.

Hanyu thought silently. How should he describe the exhilaration brought by high-speed movement?

The water surface swayed slightly, the wind stirred up ripples, fingertips touched for an instant, sparking blue electric light. Gazes met, this lonely acceleration shattered the clouds and mist in an instant, as if riding a cosmic meteor, flying to anyone's side...

It was a pity Hanyu didn't have green hair; otherwise, he could have debuted as a trans-dimensional idol at this moment.

"How does it feel?"

The next moment, Hanyu suddenly appeared before the group again, asking for their opinion on this new ninjutsu.

"What... is this technique?" Hatake Sakumo couldn't help but ask.

At this moment, Hanyu was standing right in front of Hatake, but he felt as if he were facing a vast wilderness where a fire was burning quietly across the sky.

"A name? How about Lightning Style: Kira?"

"..."

Firstly, what Hatake asked was definitely not just the name of the technique; secondly, no one gave any reaction to Hanyu's naming.

Hanyu secretly slapped himself. "Fine, Lightning Style: Shadow Control. I had already thought of that name for this technique."

What he had just displayed wasn't a lonely acceleration; it was clearly an orphan-like acceleration.