The reason a kekkei genkai was called a kekkei genkai was because its ability was limited by "bloodline." In a certain sense, a kekkei genkai was a hereditary trait of shinobi.
Taking the Uchiha clan's Sharingan as an example, that damn thing was even a recessive inheritance. In practical terms, that meant… even if people possessed the same blood, some of them would never manage to open their eyes in their entire lives.
Compared to organ-based kekkei genkai like the Sharingan or Byakugan, unique chakra nature transformations were actually somewhat broader when speaking of "limits," because this kind of bloodline ability seemed as though it could be mastered after birth.
But was that actually the case? Not at all. Whether one could combine basic chakra natures and achieve a new nature transformation was, in essence, still determined by a shinobi's innate talent. If a person could use Lava Release, then before they were even born, it had already been decided that they would be able to use Lava Release.
As for people who did not possess that indescribable innate condition, no matter how hard they worked later in life, they would never be able to do it.
In this world, innate conditions and bloodline factors were simply that important. So important that as long as someone was born into the right circumstances, they might surpass the lifelong efforts of others. Because for shinobi, "effort" was something everyone put in. If the foundations between two sides differed too greatly before either even began working hard, then the results of that hard work would also be worlds apart. Therefore, throughout the past and present of the shinobi world, the very top shinobi—with better foundations, higher growth rates, and higher upper limits of strength—shared a common origin.
In any case, although being able to use Storm Release meant one could use Water Release and Lightning Release, the reverse was not true. Being able to use Water Release and Lightning Release had no necessary connection to being able to use Storm Release.
Kekkei mōra could govern all chakra natures, but being proficient in Wind, Lightning, Earth, Fire, Water, and even yin and yang was not comparable to kekkei mōra at all.
Shinobi like Yagoromo and the Third Hokage could indeed freely control chakra of all five basic natures, but they had not mastered a single chakra-based kekkei genkai.
In fact, forget fusing chakra of different natures. Yagoromo could not even use chakra of two different natures at the same time.
Therefore, when a "jack of all five poisons" shinobi like Yagoromo used composite ninjutsu, he either had to release different elemental techniques in sequence, such as the Third Hokage's Fire Release: Earth Dragon Flame Bullet, or use shadow clones to coordinate multiple chakra natures, such as Yagoromo's Sage Art: Fire Release: Kirin.
…He could not even fuse them, let alone know exactly how they had to be fused to produce a new transformation.
In truth, Yagoromo could create the illusion that he was using "Lightning Release" together with the other four elemental techniques, but that was not coordination on the chakra level. It was merely a demonstration of his electricity-generating ability working alongside chakra-based ninjutsu.
As for how to produce a new nature transformation? Yagoromo truly did not know.
Taking the "production process" of the Storm Release currently used by Haku of the Yuki clan as an example, the raw materials were Water Release and Lightning Release. The intermediate process was completely a black box, and the "product" that came out was Storm Release.
As for how the operation inside that black box proceeded, it was completely unknowable.
Most likely, even Haku himself could not explain what was going on… At the end of the day, whether a person could roll their tongue or not did not depend on training after birth.
In short, it was still the same saying: if you could do it, you could do it; if you could not, you could not.
So regarding Haku suddenly being able to use Storm Release, Yagoromo was first shocked, then accepting. There was also a little gratification and a little depression mixed in.
He was gratified because Haku was, after all, his student. He was depressed because this student had easily done something his teacher could not.
Because of these feelings, Yagoromo crudely and simply attributed Haku's talent to the idea that each land nurtured its own people… The Land of Water was rich in dual-kekkei-genkai talent. First there was the brown-haired, full-figured foxtail grass; later there was the fair-faced, feminine-looking gourd baby.
The Land of Water was a good place, and Yagoromo's expectations for Haku's growth increased once again.
…
"So, Yagoromo, where exactly did you pick up these children?" Jiraiya sounded rather depressed when he asked this question.
At this moment, Yagoromo and Jiraiya were sitting face-to-face across a table. After completing their scheduled studies and training, the children had gone off to do whatever they were supposed to do. Yagoromo did have something to say to Mirai, but that was not urgent. His conversation with Jiraiya was more important for now.
However, it was said that at the Ninja Academy, the "big sister boss" was no longer satisfied with ruling her own grade. She had already begun leading her "minions" in an invasion of the higher grades…
As for the fact that his own home had been blown up, Yagoromo honestly did not know what to say. He had faintly foreseen that such a day would come.
As someone who had started blowing up other people's homes in his teens, and who had frequently carried out such violent demolition work afterward, with his troublemaking sites spread all across the shinobi world, Yagoromo would eventually face a case of "an eye for an eye."
This could only be called Heaven opening its eyes.
As for whether his old home had commemorative meaning to him… it did. There were quite a few of Yagoromo's memories here, but it was not as heavy as Jiraiya imagined. Besides, with Yagoromo's own personality, there were some things he would not care too much about.
Uncle Jiraiya had also shown enough sincerity in his apology…
But his current depression… what did this uncle have to be depressed about? Yagoromo had only relied on Mirai's special ability to pick up two bloodline-limit children, while this perverted old man in front of him casually picked up disciples who were either on Minato's level or outright on the Rinnegan's level, all right?
But there was no meaning in saying those things now.
"Haku being able to control two kekkei genkai is also an unexpected joy for me… However, that isn't what I want to talk about right now," Yagoromo replied.
Jiraiya also reacted. Yagoromo had left Konoha with an important objective, and now that he had returned, had that objective been achieved?
"Did you find that shrine from the rumors?" Jiraiya asked.
He did not imagine that anything complicated would have happened in between, because as far as he knew, at most, Yagoromo had gone to "rob a tomb." But who would have thought that tomb-robbing was actually only a secondary objective for this guy? His main objective had been to whip a corpse.
Yagoromo did not answer Jiraiya's question. Instead, he placed the two scrolls on the tabletop and pushed them in front of Jiraiya.
"What are these?" Jiraiya asked, puzzled.
"The legacy left behind by the Sage of Six Paths: Yang Release, which represents the power of life, and Yin Release, which represents the power of the spirit."
"The Sage of Six Paths' Yin-Yang Release?!"
Yagoromo's words greatly startled Jiraiya, who was just picking up the scrolls. Even his hand paused slightly.
"So you really did find the shrine's location?"
"Mm. Although the process was a little troublesome."
It was not just a little troublesome. It should be called extremely troublesome.
Do not be fooled by how Yagoromo currently looked as though nothing had happened. In truth, he was still far from recovering from the mental damage caused by the battle, and his strength had also temporarily been weakened to a great degree. If someone could detect this, then now would absolutely be the best opportunity to deal with him.
But precisely because of that, Yagoromo's behavior was no different from usual.
After Jiraiya had only unfurled a portion of the scroll, he was able to understand just how important these things were.
Just as "senjutsu" and "Six Paths Senjutsu" were different, Yin-Yang Release and the Sage of Six Paths' Yin-Yang Release were also different.
Once the words "Six Paths" were attached to something, it often meant it was of the highest level.
"How do you plan to handle these two things?" Jiraiya asked.
"This is exactly how I plan to handle them… I intend to entrust them to Uncle Jiraiya for safekeeping. When necessary, hand these two things over to Naruto and Mirai respectively."
Jiraiya neither refused nor agreed. He fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Why not hand them over to them personally?"
Also, when exactly was "when necessary"?
He did not ask that second question out loud.
"Even if I gave the scrolls to those two children now, there wouldn't be much meaning in it. After all, the difficulty of training in them is right there. And if it really reaches the 'necessary' moment, perhaps I won't have the chance to pass them on personally."
Yagoromo said this calmly.
To put it plainly, this was only a preparatory measure against the most extreme possibility among all possible outcomes.
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