[please send some power stones]
With a target in mind, Hikaru suddenly had far better motivation.
He also knew that with his current level, rushing off to "find the Dragon Vein" would end in something ugly.
And with his present status, he couldn't just stroll out of the village whenever he wanted.
But that didn't stop him from thinking about it—and he was certain that within the next few months, he could turn the idea into something reliable.
That was for later.
Right now, what he needed to do was simple: raise his strength properly, then plan step by step.
Without strength, everything was just daydreaming.
And in the world of shinobi, strength was one of the most important currencies.
"Strength… I wonder how far I can really go in the future."
Sometimes, even Hikaru felt unsure. What kind of path could actually carry him into that realm where "gods" practically filled the sky?
This era he lived in was, in many ways, the safest possible time.
The two monsters from fifty or sixty years ago—people who could destroy a village with their own hands—were already dead. And during the decades after them, the shinobi world hadn't produced anything quite that absurd again.
But in the next ten-plus years, "gods" would return.
Or maybe "cheaters" was a better word.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Those two were the type who could shatter the shinobi world by themselves. Just look at the enemies they ended up defeating—none of them were anything less.
And yet the irony was that their "cheat" wasn't permanent. After their final battle, it seemed the Sage of Six Paths reclaimed that power.
After them came an even stranger era—Boruto's time—where the "gods" were so ridiculous it felt less like shinobi… and more like aliens invading the world.
All in all, Hikaru was satisfied with when he had arrived.
Too early, and he was cannon fodder.
Too late, and he was still cannon fodder.
But now? Now he had room to grow—and to think—and to plan a route.
At minimum, he still had a chance to complete that one unique mission tied to the "greatest boss" of the shinobi world.
"Still… this is a bloodline-driven world. A lot of high-end routes are basically locked in place."
After thinking seriously, Hikaru couldn't help shaking his head.
Low-level power could be played in countless ways.
But at the high end, the road was often fixed.
For the descendants of Indra and Asura, the "best" method was to obtain the other side's chakra—completing one's own power, or rather, one's own genes.
But here was the issue:
Hikaru was Senju-descended, yes, but he was confident he wasn't Asura's reincarnation.
Even if he could get close to Naruto and Sasuke—the two "chosen" cheat-children—he didn't even know when their Indra/Asura chakra truly awakened.
If it took too long, it would be meaningless for him.
And worse—if he managed to collect the "set" and that triggered some attention from the Sage of Six Paths, that would be the real disaster.
"The Sage of Six Paths… Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo isn't dead. At that level, how could he be?"
Knowing his limits, Hikaru basically decided not to touch the Indra/Asura route.
The waters were too deep. He couldn't hold that line.
"But I have my cheat. I can obtain every chakra nature through it—that's my advantage."
His eyes narrowed.
The more chakra natures he had, the more "complete" he became. With the cheat, he didn't fear whether he could master them all.
And with fully complete chakra natures, he could obtain something extraordinary—
Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Their power didn't need explanation. They crushed nearly all ninjutsu systems, and stood among the strongest weapons imaginable.
And if all chakra natures fused completely…
"That's Kekkei Mōra."
Kekkei Mōra was the peak—terrifying, absolute, and capable of crushing every ordinary kekkei genkai.
But the birth of Kekkei Mōra was beyond what most people could even imagine: it required the fusion of seven chakra nature transformations.
How many bloodlines existed in the shinobi world?
Hikaru didn't know.
But he did know how rare they were—most villages (with Kirigakure as an exception in certain ways) treated bloodline users as priceless.
A standard kekkei genkai was already the extreme fusion of two natures.
And in the modern shinobi world, only one person was known to hold a Kekkei Tōta:
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
Even at seventy-nine during the Fourth Shinobi World War, that old man still displayed destructive power and combat ability that left the world stunned.
If someone who fused three natures could reach that level…
Then someone who fused seven?
The scale of devastation was almost beyond language.
And Hikaru—absurd as it sounded—actually had the foundation.
Because of the cheat, he could acquire those natures far more easily than anyone else.
Even the mastery wouldn't require him to grind himself into dust.
The only headache left was: how to fuse them.
But he also knew this wasn't something he should obsess over right now.
"Besides… maybe my cheat will eventually let me pull a 'fusion seed' and produce a fusion fruit."
Fusion was the hardest part, and also the most painful.
But the cheat existing at all calmed him.
He still didn't understand how it decided which chakra type could be extracted from which plant.
But as long as extraction came from plants, he could experiment.
For example: could he create a special plant that naturally held a "fused" property?
If that didn't work…
He could even dig into his clan's old texts, then—if he absolutely had to—go to Orochimaru and see if he could help.
Of course, asking Orochimaru was the last resort.
If possible, he would never go near that man.
Because Orochimaru was too smart—and too dangerous.
Dealing with someone like that was a challenge.
And worse: it was a challenge he didn't need.
If Hikaru's strength could completely crush Orochimaru, then fine.
But right now?
Facing Orochimaru, Hikaru would probably end up like canon Kakashi chasing the rogue—having his mask shattered in a single move.
With a quiet sigh, he looked down at the notes he'd filled until the page was dense with writing, and finally stopped his pen.
Without realizing it, he'd written a lot while thinking.
But that was fine.
Even if it was longer than intended—
it was still proof of his sincerity.
[this is your chance to grab the new year discount on patreon]
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto