Although Nara Kazuki didn't possess the Sharingan—meaning he couldn't perceive fast-moving targets or change direction mid-charge with Chidori—he did have the Rasengan.
Once the Rasengan was formed, the next move was always the Monkey Steals the Peach. In this scenario, Kazuki could rely on Chidori's speed to close the gap, then follow up with a Rasengan for a devastating high-speed combo.
"I can teach it, but this jutsu's tricky. Normally, you need the Sharingan to track the enemy's position while moving at that speed." Kakashi didn't mind. He had a good relationship with Kazuki. Honestly, even if Kazuki had asked for something more complex than Chidori, Kakashi would still have taught him.
"No worries. I've got a workaround." Kazuki rubbed his hands together with excitement. Once he mastered this, he'd be able to experiment. Who knew? Maybe left-hand Chidori, right-hand Rasengan—a double whammy.
Kakashi shrugged. Fine by him. Maito Gai, however, looked completely uninterested. Ninjutsu wasn't really his thing. Taijutsu was his true passion.
Still, as he watched Kazuki and Kakashi talk about Chidori, Gai began to feel a bit left out. As Kazuki's friend, he figured he should also teach him a jutsu—to deepen their friendship. The only problem... was that all his jutsu were Taijutsu.
Gai scratched his head, torn.
Kazuki followed Kakashi to a training ground outside the village. There, Kakashi began teaching him the basics of Chidori. It wasn't easy, but Kazuki's natural aptitude for Lightning Release was pretty good—likely thanks to the bonuses from his "Flame Demon Aspect" state.
Under that form, he had built-in buffs for both Fire and Lightning Release ninjutsu. So it made sense that he had some natural affinity.
Even so, it still took him three full days to learn Chidori.
As the sharp sound of birds chirping pierced through the forest, Kazuki's hand stabbed cleanly through the trunk of a thick tree. Kakashi nodded with approval. Kazuki's Chidori had taken form—it looked solid.
But the jutsu was loud. While fast and deadly, if you couldn't see your target clearly, landing the hit was a challenge.
"You'll need to work on directional control," Kakashi said as he watched Kazuki sitting absentmindedly on a tree stump, seemingly lost in thought.
"No... I don't need to change direction. What I need is..." Kazuki murmured. He was deep in thought. Chidori was fast, sure—but it still had room for improvement.
Its piercing power was good, and the speed was excellent, but for Kazuki, only one thing mattered: speed.
Of course, if he could have both speed and destructive power, that would be ideal. But if he had to pick, speed always came first.
"Tell me—can Chidori get even faster?" Kazuki asked, locking eyes with Kakashi.
Kakashi paused. He had considered that question before. Chidori was his original technique, after all. Of course he'd tried optimizing it—making it faster, stronger.
"It can go faster... but the strain on your body would be..." Kakashi trailed off, glancing at Kazuki's powerful physique. Then he changed the subject.
"To increase speed, you'd have to let Lightning chakra stimulate your leg muscles. But that'll also make the Chidori louder, and reduce its piercing power. Not sure it's worth it," Kakashi said, squatting on a tree stump and sipping the drink Kazuki had tossed him. He explained his own experiments.
Kazuki nodded. Kakashi had clearly researched this deeply.
So Kazuki gave it a try.
The noise really was louder. Even hundreds of meters away, it would be impossible to miss. It would definitely alert enemies.
But the speed boost was substantial.
Kazuki grinned. That was the Chidori he wanted. It wasn't a weapon—it was a booster rocket for his Rasengan warhead.
Next step: testing the Rasengan in tandem with Chidori. If he could launch with Chidori and strike with Rasengan, the power would be devastating.
Unfortunately, he didn't have time for full tests. He had a mission to run.
"Kazuki! When you come back, I'll teach you a really awesome jutsu!" Gai gave him a big thumbs-up before departure. Kazuki blinked, then laughed. That kind of line... it sounded an awful lot like a death flag.
Gai just laughed goofily. He had already made up his mind—he'd teach Kazuki the Eight Gates. Kazuki had always trained hard in Taijutsu too, so Gai believed he could master it. But with Kazuki learning Chidori recently, Gai hadn't wanted to interrupt.
After all, learning two techniques at once would be tough even for Kazuki. Better to wait until Chidori was fully mastered, then pass on the Eight Gates.
"It's gotta be the Eight Gates, right?" Kazuki thought as he walked toward the coast, fiddling with the Rasengan in his hand.
He'd seen it coming. Gai was a Taijutsu-only shinobi. What else could he offer? Of course it'd be the Eight Gates.
"Guess I'd better give something back." Kazuki rubbed his temples. It didn't feel right to just accept help from friends without offering something in return.
He figured he needed to develop a jutsu of his own—something worthy of gifting. For Gai, it would be a Taijutsu technique. But Kakashi... that was trickier. All of Kazuki's techniques were heavily modified, but the base hand seals weren't particularly unique.
Developing a new jutsu was no small feat in the shinobi world. Most techniques had already been discovered. Innovation was rare.
"Creating a jutsu..." Kazuki pondered. His mind drifted to weapons from his past life.
One notorious weapon came to mind: white phosphorus grenades. Self-igniting on contact with air, extremely hot, clingy, and incredibly destructive. If...
It wasn't impossible. After all, the shinobi world had similar jutsu—like Asuma Sarutobi's Ash Pile Burning, which used powder combustion. Or Jiraiya's Toad Oil Flame Bullet, which mixed oil and fire release.
So conceptually, white phosphorus fire release wasn't outside the realm of possibility.
The problem? White phosphorus was dangerous—too dangerous. Easily ignitable. One misstep and he'd torch himself. But this wasn't Earth. In this world, he might actually get away with it.
Still... he didn't have any white phosphorus.
Kazuki stared at the Rasengan spinning in his palm. It enhanced damage through rapid rotation—centrifugal force. Could he replicate that effect with fire? That would basically be... a Fire Release version of the Rasengan.
"What a pain," Kazuki muttered. Creating jutsu was exhausting.
After traveling all day, he made camp for the night. He caught a rabbit and began roasting it by the fire.
The shinobi world wasn't huge—but it wasn't small either. Random shinobi encounters were rare. Still, to avoid attention, Kazuki decided to cook beggar's rabbit—buried in clay to roast, concealing the scent.
"Ninjutsu, ninjutsu..." He scratched his head again. After a day of brainstorming, he had a rough idea.
A large-scale jutsu.
A cluster bomb—mother shell splits mid-air, releasing thousands of sub-bombs to cover a massive area. If he could pull that off, it'd be devastating.
"Next time I see Jiraiya-sensei, I need to ask how the hell he turns chakra into oil. If you can turn it into oil, can you turn it into uranium? Imagine spewing a chakra nuke... that'd be hilarious." Kazuki buried the rabbit and kept testing.
He still didn't get how Jiraiya had done it. Turning chakra into oil? Insane.
While the rabbit roasted, he kept experimenting.
"Fire Release... chakra compression... unstable internal structuring to cause fragmentation... if coverage area is large enough..." Kazuki grimaced. His head was spinning. But he'd keep testing. He wasn't expecting instant success.
It would take time.
By the time he boarded the ship the next day, he was mentally fried. His jutsu research hadn't made major progress. Sure, with his massive chakra reserves, he could perform large-scale fire jutsu. But pure fire release was too easy to counter. Too much chakra drain. Not efficient.
He'd keep adjusting. But now that he was aboard, he couldn't test anymore—not without blowing his cover.
"You heading to work at Kaado Shipping too?" an overly friendly man approached him on the rocking deck.
Kazuki blinked.
Kaado Shipping? Kaado had a company now? Growing fast, huh.
"Just trying my luck." Kazuki smiled. He was disguised as a common man headed to the Land of Water for work as a sailor.
It was a decent cover. Sailors earned well, especially on long-haul routes. Dangerous job, but decent pay.
"You've got the build for it! If we end up working together, that'd be great." The man eyed Kazuki's muscular physique with envy. Strength was a plus in this line of work.
Kazuki didn't mind chatting. It helped reinforce his cover—and who knows, he might overhear some useful intel.
But when they arrived in the Land of Water, he hadn't learned much—just that the guy's life sucked. He'd been at sea for a year. Came home. Wife just gave birth. Timing was brutal.
Kazuki didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"If we get to work together, that'd be awesome!" the man said cheerfully as they disembarked.
Kazuki nodded. But in truth, that wasn't happening. He wasn't here for labor. He was here to rendezvous with a spy from the village—and maybe gather some intel on Ao.
Though, honestly, with what he remembered from the manga, he could probably bluff his way through. The mission was mainly about extraction anyway—intelligence gathering was secondary.
"Kaado Shipping is hiring! Want to get rich? Step aboard! We offer excellent employee benefits!" Kazuki had barely set foot on the dock when he saw recruiters waving banners.
"Kaado Corporation—A Company with a Conscience!"
"Join Kaado Corp. and Live the Life of Success!"
Kazuki's eye twitched. He hadn't expected this version of Kaado to be so... friendly.
Such a stark contrast to the bloodsucking capitalist he'd become later. Right now, Kaado didn't need to be strung up on a lamp post—yet.