The night of the fishing assessment.
After releasing the small fish from the bucket, Kakashi used the remaining five large ones to prepare a grilled fish feast for Hui, Naruto, and Sasuke.
His method wasn't particularly unique, but the taste was exceptional.
He first seared the fish over an open flame until they were about 70-80% cooked, then simmered them in a special spicy sauce with slices of apple for a hint of sweetness. The result? Crispy, chewy skin and tender, flavorful meat that melted in the mouth.
Hikari used her chopsticks to peel off a piece of fish skin wrapped around the juicy flesh, dipped it in the sweet-and-spicy broth, and took a bite. The explosion of flavor nearly sent her into orbit.
Naruto and Sasuke were too busy stuffing their faces to even look up, their mouths burning but unable to stop praising the meal—finally admitting that Icha Icha Paradise was, indeed, a masterpiece worth experiencing.
With his culinary skills redeeming his reputation (no longer just the "pervy book guy"), Kakashi cooked even more enthusiastically. For a brief moment, the team was in perfect harmony.
After that night, Team 7 was officially formed.
Normally, the next step would be grinding through low-rank missions to accumulate experience before attempting the Chunin Exams.
But this team was anything but normal.
Ignoring Kakashi—one of the village's elite Jonin—Naruto and Sasuke were already Special Jonin-level outliers.
Sasuke, with his early mastery of kenjutsu and the unfair advantage of the Sharingan, was progressing at a terrifying rate. His only weakness was his limited chakra reserves, but once his "chakra seed" fully bloomed, he'd easily reach Jonin tier.
Naruto, trained by Might Gai, couldn't open the Eight Gates due to his overwhelming chakra, but his raw physical strength had skyrocketed. With pure taijutsu and shadow clones alone, he was already Jonin-level.
His complete lack of genjutsu and shaky ninjutsu control left him slightly weaker than Sasuke in normal conditions, but the moment he tapped into the Nine-Tails' chakra, his ceiling shot straight to Kage-level.
And then there was Hikari—half a step into Super Kage territory.
Sending this team on D-rank missions was like using a nuke to kill a mosquito—a ridiculous waste of talent.
But this was the mandatory path to promotion.
Without enough mission experience, they couldn't participate in the Chunin Exams, forever doomed to remain the most overpowered genin in Konoha.
Rules were rules. Even Kakashi couldn't bypass them.
Everyone had to go through this. The Fourth Hokage himself had been Jonin-level at graduation, and he'd still spent his early days picking up trash.
Naruto and Sasuke grumbled but had no choice but to endure it, using the downtime to repair their weapons.
Ordinary steel weapons were cheap—a decent ninja tool could be bought for just a few thousand ryō. But the moment chakra-conductive metals entered the equation, prices skyrocketed by dozens of times.
The more chakra metal a weapon contained, the more expensive it became. Worse yet, even if you had the money, finding the right weapon was nearly impossible due to scarcity.
Naruto didn't mind much.
His fighting style didn't rely heavily on weapons. A simple pair of brass knuckles from the weapon shop would do.
Cheap tools had terrible chakra conductivity—maybe only 20-30% efficiency—but who cared when you had Naruto-level reserves?
Even the mythical "100% conductivity" metals would only let him output ten units of chakra as ten units of power.
But with ordinary steel? He could pump in a hundred units, and even if only 10-20% made it through, it'd still crush most chakra-metal weapons.
Brute force solves everything.
Sasuke, however, didn't have that luxury.
His sword style—inherited from the Uchiha and Hatake clans—was flashy and lethal, but it demanded high chakra conductivity.
With his limited reserves, he couldn't afford waste. Only a chakra-metal blade could unleash his full potential.
So while his broken sword was being reforged, he was stuck in the village, grinding through menial missions—unclogging drains, picking up litter, finding lost cats… anything to pad their mission count.
Hikari, of course, wasn't about to waste time picking up trash.
She sent a shadow clone to babysit Team 7 while her real body returned to her most loyal stronghold—Root.
Third Base, as always.
"Lady Hikari!"
Root operatives lining the brightly lit hallway bowed low, their eyes burning with fervent loyalty as they greeted their savior.
"Any unusual movements from Danzō?"
Hikari scanned the crowd as she strode toward the research division. A Root intelligence officer fell in step beside her, reporting Danzō's recent activities.
"As you predicted, Danzō used Kotoamatsukami on Kōsuke! He tried to rewrite his loyalty, but thanks to your warning, we were prepared. No damage done."
At the mention of mind control, the agent's voice trembled with fear and hatred.
The ability to alter wills was terrifying. A single glance, and you could become someone's puppet without even realizing it. Even if you weren't targeted, what if a brainwashed friend or family member stabbed you in the back?
His gaze toward Hikari grew even more reverent. Without her warning, they'd never have known Danzō possessed such a vile ability. Root would've remained his blade of tyranny.
Serving Lady Hikari is the only right path.
Only she can lead us against Danzō's evil rule!
Hikari nodded, observing the Root operatives around her. The auras above their heads—thick with worship, gratitude, and loyalty—were deeply reassuring.
Kotoamatsukami and the Nine-Tails'善恶感知 (Good and Evil Perception) had synergized perfectly.
She could use Kotoamatsukami to subtly guide loyalty, while the Nine-Tails' instinct let her see that loyalty in real time. If anyone wavered, she could either brainwash them properly or… eliminate the problem.
Only through such measures could she fully absorb Root—an organization Danzō had controlled for decades.
"Any leads on the sleeper agents in ANBU?"
"Yes! Recently, Danzō contacted some of his old operatives embedded in ANBU—a squad leader and two intelligence officers. We didn't move against them to avoid alerting him."
The intelligence officer detailed the three suspects meticulously.
"Root has been feeding operatives into ANBU for years. There's no way these three are the only ones. Monitor them closely—see if they lead us to more."
"Understood!"
With a dismissive wave, Hikari sent the agents away and entered the research division alone.
The honeycomb-like labs were unchanged from before, except now they no longer focused on Hashirama Cell transplants. Instead, they studied chakra seeds derived from those cells.
This was her order.
To reach the Six Paths level, she now had three potential paths:
1. The Pure Path: Fuse all seven chakra natures to create Kekkei Mōra (Bloodline Elimination)—naturally ascending to Six Paths through sheer mastery.
- Difficult but flawless. The orthodox method.
2. The Divine Tree Path: Use the God Tree seed to devour Ōtsutsuki Shibai's corpse, seize the Nine Tails, and cultivate a new Chakra Fruit. Consuming it would make her the next Chakra Ancestor.
- High risk, high reward. A shortcut to godhood.
3. The Jinchūriki Path: Directly absorb the Nine Tails to become a miniature Ten-Tails.
- Too dangerous. Risked possession by Kaguya. Already discarded.
But upon reflection, she realized these three paths were fundamentally the same.
Whether she fused chakra herself, used the God Tree to do it, or relied on the Ten-Tails—elemental fusion was unavoidable.
Even the Tenseigan on the moon likely skipped this step artificially. Once separated from the Tenseigan, Shibai's power faded—proof that fusion was the core requirement.
Naruto and Sasuke reached Six Paths by borrowing Hagoromo and the Tails' chakra. Once the battle ended, they regressed.
Countless methods, one true path.
Thus, for the past five years, she'd dedicated countless shadow clones to studying chakra fusion, while Root researchers dissected the secrets of Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limits).
Now, they'd finally made a breakthrough.
The same underground chamber housing the Thousand-Handed Tree.
The sea of green chakra pulsed endlessly, the fleshy base writhing slightly. Time had left no mark on this tree—in a way, it had destroyed the Senju but also preserved them in eternity.
Before the tree, several white-coated Hikaris (her shadow clones) were busy with experiments. The only distinguishable one was her Yang Release分身 (clone), clad in Root attire.
Before she could speak—
Skrrrt!
The sound of scales scraping stone echoed as Samehada wriggled across the floor like an overgrown caterpillar, "accidentally" blocking her path with its gaping maw.
Hikari sighed and fed it a single unit of chakra. The gluttonous blade immediately slithered aside, wagging like a pleased dog.
"You're here?"
The Yang clone noticed her arrival and approached, cutting straight to the point:
"The Kekkei Genkai research—"
"See for yourself."
Before Hikari could finish, the clone pressed a fist to her chest (purely for dramatic effect), syncing her memories instantly.
Unlike the early days—when memory dumps left her dizzy—Hikari now only needed a moment to process the flood of information.
Years of using shadow clones had honed her tolerance.
Plus, her Sage Body's second stage had strengthened her soul and mind alongside her physique. She suspected her fear aura was a side effect of her abnormally powerful spirit.
Now, the side effects of shadow clones were negligible. By the third stage, she might even spam them like Naruto.
As she reviewed the memories, her eyebrows shot up.
The discoveries her clones had made… rewrote everything she thought she knew.
"As you can see, I analyzed Wood Release's chakra structure. It's a fusion of earth and water, with a hint of Yang Release mixed in."
The Yang clone, noting her surprise, calmly explained the truth behind Wood Release—and all Kekkei Genkai:
"The idea of 'chakra fusion' is actually a misconception.
Think of hydrogen and oxygen forming water. It's not a 'fusion'—their atoms bond chemically to create a new compound.
Chakra works the same way.
The smallest 'particles' of chakra arrange into primary structures—wind, water, fire, earth, lightning. These are the basic nature transformations.
You could call them… elemental pure forms.
But if you extract these pure particles and recombine them with Yin-Yang chakra as the bonding agent, they form complex secondary structures—new 'compounds' with unique properties.
That's what Kekkei Genkai really is.
Wood Release particles, for example, are earth and water primary structures linked by Yang chakra.
I suspect other Kekkei Genkai follow the same rule: two elemental natures as the base, with Yin or Yang as the glue.
For Kekkei Tōta (Bloodline Selection, like Dust Release), you'd need three primary structures in a stable configuration—maybe a triangular bond with Yin-Yang at each vertex.
But it's possible Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōta are entirely different systems. Otherwise, Ōnoki should've had three Kekkei Genkai, not just Dust Release.
Regardless, the core theory stands:
Fuse all five basic natures with Yin-Yang as the bridge, and you achieve Kekkei Mōra—Seven Nature Fusion."