Naruto: The Hidden Shadow Style

"Haseo, are you sure you're okay? Over the past three days, you've literally... ballooned up," Sakumo Hatake said to Haseo with clear concern. The "ballooning" he referred to wasn't about any change in Haseo's attitude—it meant a literal, physical expansion.

"I'm f-f-fine... It's just a little water retention."

At this point, Haseo was already having trouble speaking clearly. He had yet to master the 7-nanometer refinement, and it seemed increasingly likely he might never do so in his lifetime.

In reality, he wasn't just "a little" swollen—he was extremely bloated. Compared to just a few days ago, his body had expanded multiple times over. His skin stretched tight and glistened, giving him the same taut, swollen appearance as a full-term pregnant woman's belly.

Haseo's experiment ran into difficulties right from the start. First, chakra could only flow smoothly through the chakra circulatory system, meaning he couldn't use water-natured chakra to create an artificial (pseudo) circulation network. Second, although generating [Water Release] internally could theoretically achieve his goal due to its physical presence, the result was exactly what he looked like now… Even a slab of pork couldn't keep absorbing water forever.

"What exactly are you doing?" Sakumo Hatake asked again, clearly dissatisfied with Haseo's explanation.

What normal ninja would let their own body swell up to such a degree? Sakumo Hatake even began to suspect that Haseo was deliberately putting himself through this just to stay in the hospital and avoid returning to the battlefield.

It wasn't as if Sakumo Hatake had malicious intentions; on the surface, Haseo's behavior did seem exactly like that.

"Just experimenting with a new ninjutsu technique. Don't worry, I've almost figured it out—the swelling issue will be resolved soon," Haseo replied.

For once, he wasn't bluffing. At that moment, he really had reached a breakthrough. Without hope, Haseo wouldn't have kept pushing like this—at least not knowing that if things went on for another couple of days, he might end up needing a midwife.

Right now, Haseo was attempting to stabilize himself precisely at the equilibrium point where water-natured chakra transformed into [Water Release], using that intermediary state between the two to simultaneously embody both energetic and elemental characteristics.

Only then did Haseo finally confirm just how much natural talent he had for [Water Release]. Regardless of whether it originated from the Second Hokage or not, his abilities in this area were absolutely no weaker than the Hokage's... It was precisely this talent that enabled him to gradually discover the key.

However, while he'd found the path forward, the time consumed in the process still exceeded Haseo's expectations. Five days later, instead of going into labor, he finally began to reduce the swelling. Twelve days after the experiment started, he had finally returned to the same physical condition he'd been in before entering the hospital.

Haseo had already been at the Front Line for over half a month, yet he'd only spent half a day on the battlefield itself. The rest of the time he'd been loafing around at the frontline hospital. Normally, someone like him should've already been forcefully removed by medical ninja, but thanks to Kinoto's endorsement, he was still able to keep loafing around there.

Of course, Kinoto wasn't that kind of unprincipled ninja. The reason he could make an exception for Haseo was simply because he knew Haseo was conducting some in-depth chakra-related research.

Although most young ninja's research tends to be impulsive whims with largely unreliable results, after witnessing Haseo's level of dedication, Kinoto was still willing to give him some leeway—after all, not everyone could cruelly force themselves to swell up like bloated pigs within a few days. No one understood better than medical ninja the pain caused by disrupting internal physiological systems.

Yet throughout the entire process, Haseo never complained once (though it was entirely self-inflicted). At the very least, this perseverance and research spirit deserved praise—though it might have helped that the initial pain faded as the severe swelling dulled his senses.

Oh well, you see—even ninja have their soft sides sometimes.

...

Within the Land of Rivers, east of Konoha's frontline camp, there was a large lake. This area was under Konoha's effective control and considered a safe "rear area."

Haseo, his three squad members, along with Kinoto and Sakumo Hatake, were all present here.

"I merely wanted to conduct the final test of my jutsu. There's no need for everyone to come along. If I fail, it'll just become public knowledge." Originally, Haseo hadn't intended for those guys to follow him here. At first, he chose this relatively distant location simply to avoid attention.

However, since everyone had already followed along, all he could do now was offer verbal complaints.

"At least we want to understand what exactly you've been doing all this time," said Kinoto, voicing the confusion shared by everyone else besides Haseo himself.

They wanted to figure out exactly what Haseo's "secret research" was all about.

"Then just watch from here. Hopefully, you won't leave disappointed." Saying this, Haseo turned away from the others at the lakeshore, stepping alone onto the water, walking to a position slightly farther away from the shore... He was still cautious enough to keep his distance, just in case he failed and ended up dragging the rubberneckers into the mess.

Haseo didn't mind exposing his jutsu because no one else would possibly understand what he was doing anyway.

Stepping across the lake's surface, he stopped and closed his eyes briefly to calm his mind. Soon afterward, his pseudo-meridians—fueled by partially transformed water-natured chakra—began circulating smoothly inside his body.

His pseudo-circulation system functioned perfectly; this was Haseo's biggest achievement during this period.

Next, Haseo began forming hand seals slowly and steadily… These were the seals for Lightning Release.

"Those are Lightning Release hand seals, right? Has Haseo already mastered Lightning Release?"

Kōga barely managed to identify the seals Haseo was forming, then voiced this question.

But his question received no response.

In the blink of an eye, Haseo completed the seals. A torrent of Lightning Release surged all around him in an instant, yet instead of wildly surging out of control, it began cycling repeatedly along the optimal "conductive medium"—his Pseudo-meridians.

This Pseudo-meridians specifically designed for Lightning Release functioned exactly as intended, gathering its wild energy into a single "main artery," which then circulated throughout Haseo's body.

Meanwhile, during this circulation process, the Lightning chakra gently permeated outward from the Pseudo-meridians, appropriately and harmlessly enhancing every single cell in his body. By the time it finally seeped out his skin surface, only bright azure electric arcs remained...

Completely devoid of the thunderous crackling typically accompanying potent Lightning Release techniques.

"This Lightning Release... seems kinda weak, doesn't it?" Sakumo Hatake couldn't help but frown. Had Haseo really spent all that time just to create this?

Just as he thought this, Haseo simply stepped forward with one leg... and suddenly disappeared from sight, leaving behind only ripples on the lake's surface.

"Body Flicker... No, this speed—could it be Space-time Ninjutsu?!"

Clearly, what Haseo used couldn't possibly have been actual Space-time Ninjutsu, but his speed was certainly enough to impress.

By the next instant, Haseo had already appeared in the middle of the lake.

"It really... finally worked."

Haseo mused silently. How do I even put into words the exhilaration of high-speed movement?

The water shimmered with delicate ripples stirred by the wind. The brief contact of fingertips sent out blue sparks of electricity. Eyes met—solitude at full throttle scattered clouds like smoke, as though riding upon a cosmic meteorite, flying at incredible speed to reach anyone's side...

Too bad Haseo wasn't sporting green hair—this totally would've been his breakout moment as a cosmic pop idol.

"How does it feel?"

The very next moment, Haseo suddenly reappeared before everyone, asking them their opinions about this new ninjutsu.

"What... technique is this?" Sakumo Hatake couldn't help but ask.

At this moment, Haseo stood right in front of Hatake, yet he felt as if facing an endless plain quietly ablaze beneath an endless sky.

"A name? What about [Lightning Release: Kira]?"

"..."

Firstly, Hatake's question absolutely wasn't just about naming the technique; secondly, no one reacted at all to Haseo's naming choice.

Haseo secretly slapped himself once. "[Lightning Release: Mikage]. I've been saving that name for a while now."

What he just pulled off wasn't just "lonely" acceleration—it was full-on orphan-tier speed.

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