[send power stones please]
"Chidori Stream" was originally Kakashi's technique name anyway.
Sure—the person who would eventually cement that name and make it famous might not even be born yet in this timeline, but Hikaru didn't care about that kind of detail. Techniques were dead things. People were alive.
He'd only offered a suggestion.
Whether Kakashi used it or not? That wasn't Hikaru's business. An opinion was an opinion, not an order.
Still, Kakashi clearly liked the name. Hikaru had a feeling it probably wouldn't change.
But those were small matters.
Both of them had more important things to deal with.
For Kakashi, it was obvious: the mission gave them more than half a month. If things got messy, they could even stretch it a bit.
And yet they'd essentially finished everything in less than a week.
With so much time left, why not polish a new technique?
Hikaru needed time even more. A newly acquired summon didn't become real combat power just because you had a contract scroll. That required communication—negotiation, taming, establishing boundaries.
How long that would take, Kakashi honestly didn't know.
His own summons were ninken—ninja dogs. Excellent for tracking and scouting, but not much use as frontline powerhouses. Because of that, his relationship with them was smooth. No drama. No headaches.
Hikaru's case was different.
A summon forced into a contract through brute means?
If it behaved nicely, that would be the real miracle.
"I hope Captain can handle that trouble without too much pain," Kakashi thought quietly.
Hikaru, on the other hand, didn't consider it impossible—but he also had no intention of returning to Konoha early.
Because dealing with this properly required time.
And because he wanted his seeds to mature further.
After a week, his sealing-type chakra seed had reached about twenty-two percent maturity.
If he could drag things out for the full half month—maybe even delay it a little longer—he was confident he could hit fifty percent or more.
Low-level seeds didn't take that long, especially if he focused his chakra on them.
But once a seed reached mid-level, the time curve grew brutally steep.
One mid-level seed might still be manageable.
Several at the same time? That was a nightmare.
And as for high-level seeds…
Just look at Hikaru now.
"If only the mission deadline were a whole month," he sighed inwardly.
But it was just a fantasy.
ANBU had rules. Hikaru had been in the black ops long enough—over five years—to know better than to openly violate them.
Besides, they'd caused way too much of a disturbance.
A towering castle had vanished without a trace.
Inside the Land of Fire.
If Konoha didn't come asking what happened, that would be the truly unbelievable thing.
…
"Chidori Stream!"
In the woods, Kakashi clasped his left hand over his right wrist, his right arm angled downward.
Brilliant blue lightning danced across his palm. With his chakra output, the arcs rapidly expanded—spreading farther and farther until they reached more than ten meters away.
Hikaru stood on a branch nearby, watching.
He nodded slowly.
Kakashi's talent was ridiculous.
How long had it been?
From the moment he'd accidentally used it to now—barely a week—and he'd already refined it to this level?
For a moment, Hikaru almost suspected Kakashi had a "cheat" too.
Use a technique once, and suddenly it's mastered. Then you drag it out a bit, pretend you're polishing it over time, just to keep things believable.
That was literally how Hikaru operated.
Seeing Kakashi like this gave him a strange sense of déjà vu.
He shook his head, cutting off the thought, and hopped down with a gentle smile.
"Not bad." Hikaru smiled. "Congratulations. You've got an offense-and-defense technique now—at least S-rank."
"Thanks." Kakashi's eyes curved into crescents. "If that situation hadn't been so desperate, I wouldn't have thought of using it like that. Honestly… it's still your credit, Captain."
"Enough with that." Hikaru chuckled and lightly punched Kakashi's shoulder.
Kakashi shrugged, then asked, "What about your summon? How's that situation?"
"Lizardmaru?" Hikaru's mouth twitched, then he smiled as if nothing happened. "You've already met it, haven't you?"
Kakashi went quiet.
He had met it.
And that meeting… hadn't exactly been friendly.
A few days ago, Hikaru had summoned Lizardmaru with Kakashi watching nearby.
The lizard's attitude—at least from Kakashi's perspective—was outright nasty.
It went straight for Kakashi the moment it appeared.
It didn't dare attack Hikaru, not with the contract binding in place.
But Kakashi?
Kakashi had no contract. No protection. No relationship with it at all.
Then Hikaru, seizing the moment, had hopped onto the lizard's head.
That had enraged Lizardmaru even further.
The beast had immediately started hopping and bounding away at full speed, vanishing into the distance like some gigantic, furious reptile projectile.
Kakashi hadn't chased it.
He wasn't suicidal.
Who knew if the thing would turn around and go berserk again?
Hikaru only returned that night—and his expression didn't look great.
Kakashi had assumed the first attempt ended in failure.
And over the next few days, Hikaru kept leaving early and coming back late.
From far away, they occasionally felt faint tremors—small "earthquakes" that made it painfully clear things weren't going smoothly.
Hikaru had to admit it:
He'd underestimated just how bad Lizardmaru's temperament was. It put a giant question mark on some of his earlier "loyalty" assumptions.
Fortunately, no matter how nasty it was, the lizard still didn't dare harm its contracted summoner.
That gave Hikaru room to maneuver.
With safety guaranteed, he could afford to "deal with" the big brute properly.
To avoid causing trouble for nearby towns, he always chose a location farther away.
And to Lizardmaru's credit—it still had a sense of contract integrity, even if the method Hikaru used to obtain the contract could only be described as shameless.
After enough effort—
The giant lizard finally calmed down.
Finally listened.
Finally… acknowledged him.
With Lizardmaru's recognition, Hikaru had added a truly lethal weapon to his arsenal.
And that wasn't all.
Hikaru discovered that the lizard clan had a surprisingly useful ability.
Through small lizards that resonated with his chakra, he could—at least to a certain extent—understand animals.
Not necessarily control them.
But communicate with small, insignificant animals?
That was a nuclear weapon for intelligence gathering.
"…Alright." Hikaru let out a soft sigh. "After some effort, I've reached an understanding with Lizardmaru. It's a decent support now."
"Then congratulations, Captain." Kakashi smiled.
"Save the congratulations." Hikaru shook his head and patted Kakashi's shoulder. "Without your help, I wouldn't have pulled it off either."
But then—
His brow furrowed.
His gaze shifted toward the distance.
Something… was there.
◇ 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