The blue lightning danced in Hagoromo's palm as if it were alive.
His fingers trembled slightly, as though even he could barely restrain the mass of chakra. Danger and destruction seemed ready to erupt at any moment.
Kakashi and the others instinctively leaned back, subconsciously trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and that cluster of lightning.
It was simple—their instincts were screaming at them that this thing was dangerous.
That said, Hagoromo showed not the slightest hint of shame while demonstrating someone else's future original jutsu right in front of its true creator.
Not even a trace.
"Power on par with an S-rank jutsu," Minato Namikaze said, his eyes shining brightly.
Unlike Kakashi's instinctive retreat, Minato's reaction was one of pure interest. The sheer power of the jutsu was impressive—but that wasn't what fascinated him the most.
What he saw was this:
A jutsu released without hand seals.
Chakra nature transformation achieved without forming seals, and shaped into a massive, stable construct—just imagining the difficulty of that made it astounding.
That was the truly remarkable part.
"Incredible… Kushina," Minato said sincerely.
"I never imagined your student could develop a hand-seal–less jutsu of this level…"
At this time, Minato himself was drawing inspiration from the Tailed Beast Ball and experimenting with hand-seal–less jutsus. The Rasengan was still only a rough prototype in his hands, far from complete—let alone incorporating chakra nature transformation.
Hand-seal–less jutsus had one overwhelming advantage: instant activation.
Compared to jutsus that required dozens of hand seals, their combat value was incomparable.
"That's only natural," Kushina said smugly.
"The facts prove that I'm very good at teaching students and guiding them to unlock their potential."
Hagoromo briefly considered what would happen if he admitted that this jutsu had been completed before he ever met Kushina.
After thinking it over, he decided to agree with her version of events.
He had absolutely no interest in discovering the consequences of telling the truth.
However, Minato had misunderstood something, and Hagoromo quickly corrected him.
"Minato-senpai," he said,
"you're mistaken. This jutsu doesn't actually count as a hand-seal–less ninjutsu."
"Oh?" Minato looked puzzled.
"But you clearly didn't form any seals just now."
That couldn't be wrong. If Hagoromo had formed seals, there was no way Minato would have missed it.
So why did Hagoromo say otherwise?
"In truth, Chidori itself isn't a hand-seal–less jutsu," Hagoromo explained as he dispersed the lightning.
"My body is just somewhat special. I have an exceptionally high natural affinity for Lightning Release, which allows me to activate it without seals."
"Chidori normally requires hand seals."
As he spoke, Hagoromo began forming seals again.
Ox → Rabbit → Monkey
After the third seal, lightning once more erupted in his palm.
To be honest, this demonstration was mainly for Kakashi's benefit.
Hagoromo still had some conscience as a plagiarist. Even if he'd lost the naming rights, he wasn't about to strip Kakashi of the right to use the jutsu as well.
With the hand-seal sequence revealed, Kakashi—Chidori's original creator in the proper timeline—would almost certainly be able to master it quickly.
"I see… so it's because of natural talent," Minato said thoughtfully.
Once he learned that Chidori wasn't truly a hand-seal–less jutsu, his interest diminished noticeably.
After a brief exchange, Minato still had to admit that Hagoromo was undeniably a prodigy. Setting Chidori aside, being able to wield Lightning Release with such proficiency at such a young age was extraordinary.
But it wasn't the same thing as what Minato was pursuing.
At present, Hagoromo could already use Lightning Release and Fire Release—two chakra natures he possessed innately. Between the two, he clearly favored Lightning Release.
Lightning and fire each had their strengths:
Lightning excelled at single-target penetration, while fire dominated in area-of-effect destruction.
Of course, that wasn't the real reason Hagoromo disliked Fire Release.
The real reason was simple—
He couldn't get his hands on any A-rank Fire Release jutsu.
That's right. Even Kushina didn't know any A-rank Fire Release jutsus. It was said that Konoha itself didn't have any on record.
A truly tragic story.
Aside from his innate chakra natures, Hagoromo was also studying other elemental transformations under Kushina's guidance, though there hadn't been much progress yet.
Regardless of anyone else's thoughts, Hagoromo enjoyed the meal thoroughly.
Over the next few days, he barely saw Kushina at all. Only after Minato departed did she return to full energy, throwing herself into sealing jutsu research with renewed vigor.
Then, within the span of a single week, she overcame several critical obstacles.
And just like that—
The forbidden jutsu was declared complete.
One Week Later
Early morning.
At the northwestern edge of Konoha's barrier, deep within an uninhabited forest, two figures moved furtively under the faint light of dawn.
One tall, one short.
One man, one woman.
Naturally, it was Uzumaki Kushina and Hagoromo.
Kushina carried an enormous sealing scroll on her shoulder and stopped at a fixed distance from the village's protective barrier.
She couldn't go any further.
If she approached the barrier too closely, it would trigger a reaction—one that could attract ANBU attention and potentially halt their forbidden jutsu test altogether.
"Hagoromo," Kushina said,
"take this scroll and place it near the barrier. For special reasons, I can't get too close myself."
Hagoromo nodded, took the scroll—nearly taller than he was—and carefully walked toward the edge of the barrier.
He understood why Kushina couldn't approach it.
She had previously attempted to sneak to the front lines. Though she'd been caught and brought back by the Hokage, the village barrier had since been modified to react specifically to Nine-Tails chakra.
If Kushina, as the Jinchūriki, approached the barrier, the Hokage would be alerted immediately.
Thus, for Kushina, Konoha was both—
A shield that protected her
And a cage that confined her
Hagoromo carefully placed the scroll at the very edge of the barrier, then unrolled it on the ground as instructed.
The interior was densely packed with characters.
Characters formed lines.
Lines formed arrays.
Arrays formed a complete sealing formula.
The complexity of this formula far surpassed that of the Four Symbols Seal—and it was clearly different from the original Reverse Four Symbols Seal known in canon.
After laying out the scroll, Hagoromo quickly retreated back to Kushina's side.
Not because he was timid—
but because he preferred to stay far away from something that dangerous.
"Reporting to Second Squad Leader," he said solemnly,
"our artillery is in position. Ready to detonate at any time."
Kushina had no idea what nonsense he was spouting—
And yet, somehow, she understood exactly what he meant.
She nodded. At this moment, she was nothing like her usual self. Her expression was grave and focused.
"Alright," she said.
"Let's retreat a bit more. And then a bit more after that."
"The effective range of this jutsu is still unclear. We need to make sure we're safe first."
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