Remembering how she had mistaken Akira for a pervert earlier, Yūgao Uzuki felt her cheeks heat up again.
After everything was handled, Kakashi, with the seasoned skill of an Anbu captain, easily staged the battlefield to look like the result of Yūgao's desperate fight.
Akira returned home with Pakkun.
That night, he couldn't sleep.
He sat in the corridor, staring blankly at the moon.
Pakkun lay by his feet and yawned.
"Pakkun, if my strength were exposed… would it cause a lot of trouble?"
Pakkun lazily lifted an eyelid.
"There would definitely be trouble. Otherwise Kakashi wouldn't be guarding you like the apple of his eye."
"But don't worry too much. Kakashi may look unreliable, but he's pretty dependable when it comes to things like this."
Akira sighed and rubbed his chin.
"Still, tonight wasn't a total loss. I learned a pretty amazing sword technique."
"If I hadn't copied that move, I really wouldn't have been able to take down that jōnin."
Pakkun's ears shot upright, his dog face full of shock.
"Wait—copied? Yūgao didn't teach you?"
Akira nodded matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. I just watched her perform it once and thought it looked cool, so I memorized it."
"If she could've used even half of that sword jutsu's true power, I wouldn't have needed to step in."
Pakkun's mouth hung open.
"You mean… you learned it after seeing it once?"
"Mm-hmm."
"…You monster," Pakkun muttered.
"Kakashi used to say your talent was even more terrifying than his. I thought he was exaggerating."
"Now I believe him."
"No wonder he's so nervous about you."
Akira smiled faintly.
"Maybe he just doesn't want me to become another tool that only knows how to kill."
---
The next day, Akira went to school with dark circles under his eyes.
He had expected Anbu or maybe even Root to storm into the classroom and drag him away.
But the day passed peacefully, without even the slightest ripple.
"Looks like Kakashi-sensei really has some influence."
On the way home from school, Pakkun poked his head out of Akira's backpack.
The girls who had been walking beside him immediately surrounded them.
"Akira-kun… do you like raising dogs?" Hinata asked softly.
Meanwhile Ino simply reached out and rubbed Pakkun's wrinkled face with a look of disgust.
"Akira, your taste is pretty unique."
"If you want a dog, you could pick one from Kiba's family. This one looks way too… abstract."
Pakkun huffed angrily. If Akira hadn't been holding him back, he might've bitten someone.
Akira laughed and gently brushed the girls' hands away.
"Don't judge a dog by its appearance. Pakkun is a very cool ninken—a ninja dog. He's really smart."
"A ninja dog?" Ino snorted. "Akamaru is a ninja dog too. He's adorable. This one looks like someone punched his face swollen."
Pakkun felt like he had taken critical emotional damage.
---
After sending the girls away, Akira headed straight to the back mountain.
Kakashi was leaning against a tree, completely absorbed in his not-exactly-child-friendly novel.
"Sensei, everything settled?"
Kakashi closed the book and smiled lazily.
"Settled. Yūgao's tight-lipped."
"And since the rogue ninja really did die from the Moonlit Night jutsu, even the autopsy team couldn't find anything suspicious."
Pakkun jumped out of the backpack with a resentful expression.
"Can I go back now? If I stay any longer, I'm going to get depressed."
Kakashi blinked. "Why?"
Akira shrugged.
"Ino and the others said he's ugly. Hurt his self-esteem."
Kakashi couldn't help bursting out laughing.
"Alright, alright. You can go back. Thanks for your hard work."
Pakkun vanished with a puff of smoke, as if pardoned from prison.
Once Pakkun left, Kakashi's expression turned serious.
"Akira, I'm really curious."
"Moonlit Night is Yūgao's signature jutsu. How many times did you watch it before you learned it?"
Akira thought for a moment.
"Just once."
"And honestly, some of her details weren't handled perfectly, so I improved them a bit."
"I was actually thinking of giving her a few pointers next time."
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
"You're going to give her pointers? Are you trying to anger her to death?"
"You already copied her signature move, and now you want to show off in front of her? She might actually kill you."
Akira looked innocent.
"I'm just trying to help."
Kakashi shook his head helplessly. The kid's way of thinking was truly bizarre.
"Alright, enough chatting."
Kakashi stood up straight, his single visible eye sharp.
"Considering that you killed a jōnin yesterday, I think our teaching plan needs some adjustment."
"Today, I'm going to teach you an A-rank jutsu I created myself."
Akira's eyes lit up—he already knew what it was.
Kakashi raised a finger. Lightning crackled at the tip.
"This jutsu is called—Chidori."
"It sounds like a thousand birds chirping, and it's an extreme piercing attack."
"I didn't plan to teach you this early."
"The side effects are severe. If used improperly, you could kill yourself."
"But if it's you… you should be able to handle it."
For the next half hour, Kakashi carefully explained the principles of chakra nature transformation and body activation.
Akira listened with fascination.
This was the flavor of true power.
As the sun set, the shadows of the two figures stretched long across the forest.
A new stage of training had just begun.
Kakashi finished the lengthy theory explanation and slowly walked toward a half-human-height boulder.
His hands moved rapidly through seals.
"I didn't intend to pass this jutsu to you so soon."
"To use it properly, the user must have exceptional dynamic vision. Otherwise, you simply won't be able to hit your target."
"The reason I can bring out its full power is thanks to this Sharingan."
Kakashi's tone was serious.
"Without the Sharingan, this jutsu becomes extremely limited in real combat."
"In fact, it could even backfire and put you in danger."
As his final hand seal completed, his right hand formed a claw-like shape.
Chakra surged wildly in his palm.
"Chidori!"
A piercing electrical scream exploded into the air.
It truly sounded like a thousand birds crying at once.
Violent blue lightning wrapped around his hand, distorting the surrounding air.
The scattered bolts of lightning gathered into a single concentrated point in his palm.
At that moment, it was as if Kakashi wasn't holding lightning—
but an unstoppable blade of thunder.
Zzzzz—
The high-frequency vibrations made one's ears ache.
Kakashi pushed off the ground and shot forward like a blur toward the boulder.
His lightning-wrapped hand pierced the rock like cutting through tofu.
BOOM!
Blinding blue light erupted.
The entire stone exploded apart.
Chunks of rock and dust flew everywhere, leaving behind a crater several meters wide where the boulder once stood.
The destructive power was astonishing.
In terms of wide-scale explosions, it couldn't match something like Dragon Flame Bomb.
But when it came to single-point penetration and lethality, perhaps only the legendary Rasengan could rival it.
Akira observed everything closely and nodded in appreciation.
"Impressive piercing power."
"But I also noticed something."
"This jutsu requires extremely fast thrusting speed. Because of that speed, ordinary eyes can't keep up."
"No wonder you kept emphasizing the importance of the Sharingan, Kakashi-sensei."
"Without that level of perception, charging forward would only make you a living target."
When Kakashi had dashed forward just now, the speed had been outrageous—almost comparable to the Body Flicker Jutsu.
At that velocity, a normal person's eyes would only see a blurry afterimage.
Forget targeting an enemy's vital points.
They probably wouldn't even be able to tell friend from foe.
He might even charge straight into an enemy's trap or get flanked and ambushed from behind.
In short, it was a double-edged sword. Without the Sharingan, the jutsu was essentially incomplete.
Akira thought to himself:
No wonder Kakashi only passed this jutsu down to Sasuke. Without the Sharingan, anyone else trying to use it would just be asking for death.
Kakashi pulled his hand out of the shattered rock, dusted it off, and walked over.
"Give it a try and see how it feels. If you feel like you can't control it, stop immediately. There's no need to risk your life for a single jutsu."
"Without the Sharingan, the risk factor is simply too high."
Akira put away his usual carefree attitude and nodded seriously.
He took a deep breath and began circulating the chakra within his body.
The hand seals for Chidori were actually very simple—only two seals in total.
In the blink of an eye, Akira completed the chakra nature transformation.
"Chidori!"
With a low shout, brilliant lightning erupted from his palm.
To be safe, Akira intentionally reduced his sprinting speed and charged toward another boulder nearby.
Boom!
Even though his speed was slower, the destructive power of the lightning remained terrifying.
His hand pierced straight through the rock, and the violent electricity instantly shattered the five-to-six-meter-tall boulder.
What had once been solid stone collapsed into fine powder.
The power of the strike actually surpassed Kakashi's earlier demonstration.
After the lightning faded, Akira shook his slightly numb hand and frowned.
"My palm feels tingling and numb… looks like lightning-nature chakra really does put a lot of strain on the body."
While he was calmly analyzing the sensation, Kakashi beside him was completely stunned.
He learned it on his first try… and even enhanced its power on his own?
That strike earlier—how was that just Chidori?
It was already approaching the level of the S-rank jutsu Lightning Cutter.
Lightning Cutter wasn't classified as S-rank just because it was difficult to learn—it was because of its terrifying lethality.
Suppressing the shock in his heart, Kakashi said calmly:
"Learning it is only the first step. Being able to use it flexibly in real combat is what matters."
"Chidori makes too much noise. That bird-like screech is its biggest flaw."
"You need to be fast enough that the enemy hears the sound but has no time to react. That's the essence of Chidori."
The name "Chidori" itself came from that deafening noise.
When Kakashi first developed the technique, he intended to compensate for its lack of stealth with extreme speed.
Kakashi wasn't worried about Akira's speed.
What worried him was whether the boy's neural reaction speed could keep up with his body.
Akira thought for a moment before speaking.
"My dynamic vision is a bit stronger than normal people's, but compared to the Sharingan's cheat-level perception… it's still lacking."
That wasn't false modesty. Compared to that crimson bloodline ability, ordinary eyesight was practically trash.
Kakashi stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Let's run a test and see where your reaction limit is."
Akira had no objections.
"Sounds good."
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, Kakashi vanished.
Akira's pupils shrank.
Kakashi used the Body Flicker without even forming hand seals?!
In the next second, Kakashi appeared on a tree trunk dozens of meters away.
Kakashi himself looked surprised.
"Was that also the Body Flicker Jutsu?"
Akira nodded.
"The hand seals for Body Flicker are already few, so I tried simplifying them further—maybe even casting it without seals."
"I just figured it out yesterday. The distance dropped to under a hundred meters, but the activation is much more sudden."
After all, Body Flicker was simply a high-speed movement jutsu, not true space-time ninjutsu. Its principles could still be studied.
Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.
"The speed is impressive. But the real question is—can you maintain this level of reaction while moving at high speed with Chidori?"
This was a life-or-death matter.
If he couldn't change direction or stop precisely during a high-speed thrust, Chidori would become a death sentence.
Akira lowered his head and pondered briefly before raising it with determination.
"There's only one way to find out."
He formed the hand seals again.
Lightning burst forth.
"Chidori!"
The crackling sound filled the air as violent blue arcs danced around Akira's body like lightning serpents ready to devour prey.
If mishandled, those lightning snakes would injure the user first.
Kakashi casually picked up a handful of gravel.
"I'll throw stones in random directions. You'll have to react instantly and destroy them with Chidori."
Akira gripped the lightning in his hand, eyes focused.
"Let's do it, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi didn't hold back.
With a flick of his wrist, the first stone shot toward the left.
Akira moved instantly.
Just before the stone hit the ground, a flash of blue lightning shattered it into fragments.
The second stone flew behind him at a tricky angle.
Without hesitation, Akira twisted in midair and intercepted it.
The third. The fourth.
The stones flew out one after another.
Akira became a streak of blue lightning across the field, darting back and forth.
Every strike hit its target perfectly.
Then, just as the final stone fell and Akira prepared to strike—
Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of him.
There had been no one there a moment earlier.
The lightning-covered hand stopped mere centimeters from Kakashi's chest.
At the critical moment, Akira forcibly halted his movement.
His eyes hadn't even clearly identified the person in front of him yet due to the speed.
But he stopped.
Because his sensory perception had already sounded the alarm.
That extremely sharp sixth sense detected Kakashi's presence before his eyes could.
Kakashi glanced at the lightning blade hovering before his chest. A bead of sweat slid down his temple.
Then he smiled in satisfaction.
"Incredible… what stopped you just now wasn't your eyes, was it?"
"It was your sensory ability."
"I almost forgot—you were born with extraordinary perception. That's a talent even rarer than the Sharingan."
"Full-range environmental awareness like that can sometimes be more practical than dynamic vision."
If eyesight couldn't keep up, then prediction through sensory perception was a perfectly viable solution.
And because sensing worked in all directions, it could even be harder to defend against than eyesight.
Akira dispersed the lightning in his hand and let out a breath.
"Looks like I can use perception to compensate for my visual weakness."
"So… I've officially mastered Chidori."
With the A-rank Chidori in hand, along with the B- and C-rank techniques he had already learned and his refined swordsmanship—
Akira, despite being only six or seven years old, had already stepped into the threshold of jōnin-level combat power.
A jōnin-level fighter at that age would be shocking in any ninja village.
By comparison, Kakashi at that age had only recently been promoted to chūnin.
This kid's talent was simply inhuman.
He could learn ninjutsu after seeing it once, analyze it, and then adapt it into the most suitable combat method for himself.
Kakashi looked at the little monster in front of him with mixed emotions.
Patting Akira on the shoulder, he said:
"Before, when I said you could one day reach the level of the Minato Namikaze, I was just encouraging you."
"But now… I truly believe it."
"As long as you don't die young, reaching—or even surpassing—my teacher's achievements isn't impossible."
Kakashi intentionally held something back.
He didn't teach Akira the S-rank Lightning Cutter.
There was no need.
With talent like this, Chidori was just the foundation. The skyscraper above it would have to be built by Akira himself.
Akira waved his hand modestly.
"Sensei, you're praising me too much. The Fourth Hokage is a legendary figure. I wouldn't dare compare myself."
Of course, that was nonsense.
Akira's ambitions were far greater.
His real goal was the level of monsters like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, or even the legendary Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
The Fourth Hokage, powerful as he was, still represented the peak of ordinary humans.
Still, Akira knew that without Kakashi's wholehearted teaching, his path would have been much more difficult.
That bond between master and student was something he truly valued.
Kakashi took his words seriously and said firmly:
"Don't belittle yourself. Until you've fully grown, I'll shield you from every storm."
Seeing the sincerity in Kakashi's half-lidded eye, Akira actually felt a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry, sensei. I can protect myself now."
"The ninja world is dangerous, and people's hearts are unpredictable," Kakashi replied gravely.
"Strength alone isn't enough."
"There are darker sides to this world that you're still too young to face."
Akira rubbed his nose, choosing not to respond.
If I told you about the dark plans in my head, you'd probably be terrified.
Still, there was one undeniable truth.
With Kakashi's systematic training, Akira's strength was developing three years faster than expected.
This kind of authentic ninja education was something no amount of reading dusty library scrolls could replace.
After learning Chidori, Kakashi didn't try to cram a thousand jutsus into Akira's head.
Everyone knew that trying to learn too much at once leads to mastering none.
Over the following year and a half, Kakashi instead focused on teaching him advanced ninjutsu from all five chakra natures.