"Suiton: Kiri!"
Hikari dispelled her Shadow Clone Technique.
Closing her eyes, she sorted through the memories flooding back to her.
In mere moments, she had already grasped the method for Shape Transformation—Snake.
She raised her hand.
Her heart pulsed subtly.
Deep blue chakra morphed into flowing water.
No hand seals needed.
Water-natured chakra spread from the chakra points in her palm, swiftly twisting into the form of a serpent.
This time, it moved far more fluidly and rapidly than when her clone had attempted it—as if she had practiced this transformation countless times before.
"Wait… you—you mastered it just like that?!"
"Yeah."
Hikari suppressed a smirk as she watched the utterly defeated expression on Kazama Koshī's face.
The true challenge of Shape Transformation lay in its intricate internal structure—something nearly impossible to discern with the naked eye.
But the Byakugan's penetrating vision changed everything.
With it, she didn't just observe the snake's anatomy—she analyzed it from every angle, in 360 degrees of detail.
Coupled with the Byakugan's long-range sight, every minute movement of the wind serpent was magnified to perfection.
Add in her precise chakra control, and no Shape Transformation, no matter how complex, could remain beyond her grasp for long.
The Byakugan's synergy with chakra was unmatched.
Nature Transformation might still be tricky, but Shape Transformation? For a Byakugan user, it was as effortless as breathing.
Kazama Koshī fell silent.
Suddenly, he felt like all his years of training had been wasted on a dog's life.
He remembered the grueling effort he'd poured into mastering serpentine Shape Transformation—how he'd slept with slippery snakes just to study their movements—and here was Hikari, toying with Water Release like it was child's play.
His already fractured ribs ached even more dully.
"Y-You… you've trained this before, haven't you?!"
Seeing Kazama on the verge of crumbling, Hikari almost felt bad.
Sure, she made it look easy.
But the gap between an ordinary shinobi and a kekkei genkai wielder was vast. Just one glance at the network of scars lining Kazama's chakra pathways told her how much he'd suffered to reach this level.
If she didn't reassure him soon, he might refuse to teach her Wind Release altogether!
"My family used to raise snakes. I had a… head start."
"Oh—that explains it."
Hikari's diplomatic reply soothed Kazama's wounded pride a little.
True or not, at least it made him feel slightly better.
"Kazama-sensei, I don't think the serpent form suits Water Release well."
"Wind Release's strength lies in its offense—the smaller and faster the snake, the better it harnesses wind's cutting power."
"But Water Release's nature ispressure. If we replace the water snake with a massive python, its crushing coils could amplify Water's inherent force—wouldn't that work better?"
Seeing Kazama's expression soften slightly, Hikari elaborated on her idea.
As she spoke, she restructured the water serpent's body, thickening it until it rivaled the girth of a grown man's thigh.
Coiling the enormous water python around her arm, she activated its constriction.
The fusion of Water's nature transformation and the python's muscular structure created terrifying force—even Hikari's iron-like bones screamed under the pressure.
It worked.
Releasing the python, she rolled up her sleeve to inspect her arm.
A spiral of deep bruises marred her pale skin, the flesh slightly indented.
A grin spread across her face.
And this was without full power. If she went all out, even steel would be crushed into scrap.
"Just test it yourself. Don't ask me."
Kazama's face was wooden. What else could he say?
Damn it.
He'd just watched Hikari go from zero understanding of Shape Transformation to developing her own jutsu—and nailing it on the first try.
A genius-level concept—merging a python's crushing force with Water's pressure—and she'd pulled it off effortlessly, with devastating results.
What was left for him to do?
Name the damn thing for her?!
"Kazama-sensei, what should we call this jutsu?"
"Figure it out yourself."
Kazama's glare could've melted stone. "Once you've got a name, I'll teach you Wind Nature Transformation."
Hikari wracked her brain but came up empty.
She was terrible at naming things—nothing like a prodigy such as Namikaze Minato.
Just listen to his jutsu names:
"Spiral Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three!"
Now that was a legendary name!
But Hikari? Her creativity was nowhere near that level. After agonizing for ages, she sighed in defeat.
The gap between her and Minato wasn't just wide—it was unfathomable.
Even among geniuses, there are hierarchies.
Kazama had no idea why she suddenly looked so dejected, but he didn't care anymore.
Right now, he had one goal:
Teach her Wind Release. Then make this monster LEAVE before she shatters my will to live.
"Wind Nature Transformation isn't about sharpness—it's abouttearing. I've said this before."**
"Tearing?"
"Exactly. Sharpness is just the surface. The core isripping. A single strand of Wind chakra must generate two opposing forces."**
After a lengthy explanation, Hikari still looked lost—so Kazama plucked a petal from the lilies on his nightstand.
Holding it between his fingers, he split it cleanly—not by cutting, but by pulling it apart in opposite directions.
The demonstration clicked instantly.
So that's why.
She'd never understood why "wind" equated to "sharpness"—pressurized water made more sense as a blade.
But the truth was different:
Wind didn't cut—ittore. By generating opposing currents, it forced objects apart at the seams.
No wonder her experiments at the Academy had gone nowhere—she'd been approaching it all wrong.
Seeing her comprehension, Kazama accelerated the lesson.
At this point, he knew how absurd Hikari's talent was. His teaching style adapted—swift, direct, no fluff.
"Wind's tearing comes from duality—itsdispersivenature. But Wind can alsocondense."**
"Compress Wind chakra enough, and you createair cannons. Scatter or gather it at will—flexibility and lethality combined. Without a doubt, Wind is the** strongestnature transformation."
Hikari nodded—though she mentally edited out that last bit of bias.
(Strongest? Debatable.)
But Wind's versatility—its ability to shift between precision and overwhelming force—already had her spellbound.
Her extreme body modifications had boosted her taijutsu's power at the cost of speed—not raw movement, but agility.
Her sheer weight made her attacks unstoppable—but also predictable. Once committed, she couldn't easily redirect momentum.
The Eight Gates had helped mitigate this flaw, but Wind Release might eliminate it entirely.
And there was another issue:
When chakra saturated a shinobi's muscles, their body gained blunt-force resistance—like a reinforced tire.
Most strikes lost 70% of their impact against it.
But Wind's tearing properties?
They'd let her bypass that defense—shredding armor to strike the flesh beneath.
A single punch—blunt forceplusWind's ripping effect.
Who could withstand that?
"Let's start. Now."
Hikari licked her lips, eyes blazing with hunger.