It took three days for Kaito to stabilize the sudden surge of power within his body. Three days of steady breathing, honing his control, and forcing the raging energy to bend to his will. By the end of the third day, his presence was calm again, restrained until he seemed no different from any ordinary person.
Then, without warning, the world before his eyes distorted. His vision swirled, and in a flash the barren wasteland shifted around him as though he had been teleported.
"So, I'm finally out?" Kaito murmured, his tone quiet but edged with curiosity. "That was faster than expected."
He immediately summoned a thousand Shadow Clones, letting them adapt to his newly strengthened body while he processed the flood of knowledge that had suddenly forced itself into his mind the moment he opened the Eighth Gate.
The memories weren't ordinary—they were instructions, instincts burned into him. They revealed the principles behind yin and yang chakra, the creation of the Truth-Seeking Orbs, and other techniques that transcended the limits of normal shinobi.
Kaito closed his eyes briefly, attuning himself to his chakra. Wind, lightning, water, fire, earth… and beyond those, yin, yang, and something else.
The five elemental natures were clear, familiar. Yin chakra flowed with a calm darkness, yang pulsed with a bright golden-yellow instead of its usual green. But the silver-white energy that flickered within him was completely alien.
"This… isn't part of the five elements," Kaito muttered, frowning. "Could it be…?" His expression shifted. "A spatial attribute?"
The thought sent a thrill through his chest.
Shaking his head, he chuckled under his breath. "No point overthinking. Let's test it."
He focused, drawing the mysterious white chakra into his hand. He thrust it forward—
Riiip!
The air itself tore apart. Five ragged claw marks slashed open before him, revealing a deep black void beyond. The energy that poured from the cracks made his body tremble with instinctive caution.
The pressure of raw space.
Kaito's eyes widened. "So it really is a space attribute…" His heart raced, excitement bubbling beneath his calm exterior. "If that's the case…"
A faint glow flickered in his pupils. Black and white merged as his vision shifted into a three-dimensional landscape. Countless gray nodes shimmered in the space around him, each one pulsing with spatial stability.
He reached out, touching one with his finger. Instantly, the world rippled like disturbed water, and in the blink of an eye, his entire body was swallowed.
When he reappeared, he was thousands of meters away.
"Space teleportation…" Kaito whispered. His pupils constricted in awe.
He checked his chakra reserves. To his shock, the consumption was almost nonexistent. The amount used was so small that his natural recovery had already restored it.
"Does that mean… I can use this freely?" he whispered.
He repeated the process, teleporting back to the same spot. The speed, the efficiency—it was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.
"I never imagined opening the Eighth Gate would lead to this," he admitted to himself. "A space attribute… this is rarer than even Naruto or Sasuke's gifts."
In truth, Kaito didn't yet understand that anyone who broke through to the Six Paths level naturally awakened all chakra natures. But to him, it felt like destiny had singled him out.
"No use wasting time. Let's keep going."
With another thought, Kaito lifted off the ground. His body rose into the sky, weightless as a drifting cloud. A grin broke across his face.
"So I can fly too…"
He descended slowly, savoring the sensation. His body felt light, unburdened, as if gravity no longer held him down. The changes the Six Paths power had wrought were profound—so profound that even he, hardened by countless battles, needed time to absorb them.
The next morning, he sat cross-legged, shutting his eyes. His clones had tested the basics yesterday: teleportation, space rifts sharp enough to cut like blades, and a rudimentary storage dimension. But today, he had bigger plans.
Two goals burned in his mind. First, to attempt the Tailed Beast Bomb. Second, to begin work on fusing Truth-Seeking Orbs.
He clasped his hands, focusing. Following the principles of the Tailed Beast Bomb, he drew upon yin and yang chakra, merging them in the precise two-to-eight ratio. He had already experimented enough with this fusion that the process felt almost natural.
Particles of black and gold swirled together in his palms, condensing into a dense sphere.
Moments later, a dark sphere the size of his head floated above his hands.
Kaito's eyes gleamed. "It worked… The Tailed Beast Bomb." He smirked. "If that's the case… I wonder if I could combine it with the Rasengan instead?"
He weighed the sphere, studying it carefully. Its power pulsed violently against his skin. He could have made it larger, but this was enough for a test.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled it into the distance.
BOOOOM!
The explosion ripped across the wasteland like the wrath of a storm god. Fire and smoke erupted skyward, and the ground shuddered violently. Cracks spiderwebbed outwards in every direction, tearing the earth apart. The shockwave swept across the land like a hurricane, carrying dust and shattered stone into the air until the battlefield was swallowed in chaos.
Kaito rose higher into the air, calmly raising his hand. A gust of wind surged at his command, blowing the smoke and debris aside.
When the dust cleared, a crater more than a hundred meters wide scarred the earth below.
"Not bad," he muttered. "Equivalent to several massive Rasenshuriken, at least. And the chakra cost… almost negligible. My recovery covers it instantly."
His lips curved into a rare smile. "Which means I could use it endlessly."
Excitement flared in his chest. "And if I infused elemental chakra into the Tailed Beast Bomb…" His eyes narrowed with ambition. "That could be even more devastating."
Without hesitation, he split off a hundred Shadow Clones to experiment on the idea.
"Now," he said, flexing his fingers, "the Truth-Seeking Orbs."
These orbs were forged from yin and yang chakra, their structure then stabilized with the combined might of all elemental natures. In the original war, even those who lacked every affinity, like Naruto, had been able to form them once they received Six Paths power. But Kaito was not blessed by Hagoromo. He would have to do it the hard way.
Still, that suited him. He preferred earning his power.
He created another five hundred clones, assigning them to test the fusion process. He didn't expect results immediately, but he needed to build the experience.
Satisfied, he turned his focus inward once more.
Szzzztt!
Gray lightning sparked to life in his palm, jagged and unnatural. The air trembled around it as though the world itself feared the energy he now held.
Kaito gazed at it in silence. His power had grown beyond recognition.