"Tch. Angry already?" Fujimoto Tōma said lightly, hands in his pockets as if they were chatting over tea. "Honestly, if you hadn't gone out of your way to poke Konoha, I wouldn't have bothered with you at all. But something in your head clearly short-circuited."
Hiruko's fury spiked. He stopped talking.
Hand seals snapped into place.
"Storm Release: Thundercloud Pulse!"
Black thunderclouds exploded into existence around him, heavy and swollen, lightning crawling across their surface like living veins. In the next instant, bolts surged forward, tearing through the air toward Tōma at blinding speed.
Too bad speed was relative.
To Tōma's senses, the lightning crawled.
He stepped aside casually, movements loose and unhurried, as if strolling through drifting leaves. Every bolt missed him cleanly, carving the cliff behind into molten scars.
Hiruko's pupils shrank.
After slipping past the last strike, Tōma glanced back at him. "I've read your file. Tsunade talked about you too. Back then, none of them believed you'd actually cross that line."
"Heh." Hiruko's smile twisted. "What does belief matter? They still followed the Third Hokage's orders and tried to kill me."
Chakra erupted from his body, dense and violent.
"Oh?" Tōma tilted his head. "That's interesting."
"Storm Release Secret Art: Storm Dragon!"
The clouds spread outward, swallowing the sky. Day collapsed into night. Thunder roared overhead, pressure crushing down on the mountaintop.
Tōma didn't even look up.
"Have you ever wondered," he said calmly, "how you escaped all three of the Sannin back then? You didn't even have a kekkei genkai at the time. One of them would be impressive. All three? That's different."
Hiruko snorted. "That just proves how foolish they were. They underestimated the Chimera Technique."
He understood what Tōma was implying. That they had held back.
He rejected it outright. He had been there. Without the Chimera Technique reinforcing his body, he would have died.
"Maybe," Tōma replied. There was no argument in his voice, only mild regret. "Still, after learning your story, I didn't think you were wrong. Born without talent, without clan backing. If you want power, taking a different path makes sense."
Hiruko laughed bitterly. "Saying that now is pointless. You weren't Hokage back then."
"True." Tōma nodded. "I was just curious about one thing. Why Kakashi? Why spend years planning just for him?"
"If it were me," he continued, almost thoughtfully, "I'd have taken an easier bloodline first. Or grabbed Kakashi quietly on a mission. You made a lot of noise."
Hiruko fell silent.
Because there was no time.
The four bloodlines he'd already collected had cost him years. Each one had been dangerous. Kakashi couldn't be predicted. Missions changed. Windows closed.
As for why Kakashi specifically…
Maybe it was the Sharingan's power. Or maybe Kakashi had been the turning point in his research. Proof that bloodlines could be transferred.
Either way, Kakashi mattered.
Seeing Hiruko's silence, Tōma let it drop.
He stretched lazily. "Alright. Enough talking. You've got four kekkei genkai, right? Show me. While you still can."
He formed a single seal.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets."
Invisible pressure screamed forward like gunfire.
"Useless!" Hiruko thrust out his palm.
A hollow, seal-like mark opened in the center of his hand. The wind chakra vanished on contact, swallowed whole.
"Dark Release?" Tōma murmured.
Storm Release was obvious. Lightning and water. But Dark Release was different. Not quite like a bodily bloodline. Closer to a function than a form.
"Take it back!" Hiruko roared.
The absorbed chakra was expelled as a massive compressed sphere, tearing toward Tōma.
"Interesting," Tōma said, sidestepping. "But not enough."
He flashed forward.
Hiruko didn't even have time to react.
Tōma's fist buried itself in his stomach.
The sound was dull. Heavy.
Hiruko's eyes bulged as blood sprayed from his mouth. His body launched backward, smashing through walls and stone pillars before finally collapsing in a heap.
Tōma shook his hand once. "Steel Release, huh? Your defense still needs work."
Hiruko coughed violently, terror creeping into his eyes. That punch would have shattered real steel. Complaining about Steel Release felt almost insulting.
Worse, he hadn't even seen the attack.
Still… Tōma didn't follow up.
That hesitation gave him time.
Ignoring the pain, Hiruko formed seals again. His body blurred.
"Hm?" Tōma shifted aside as a fist grazed past him.
Another followed. Then another.
Hiruko's speed had exploded. For the first time, Tōma was forced to move seriously, dodging in quick succession instead of strolling.
Not relaxed anymore.
But excited.
"Wind and lightning combined?" Tōma's eyes lit up. "Swift Release?"
Before this, Hiruko's movements had been sluggish to him. Now, the difference was night and day.
And more importantly, the chakra composition was familiar.
"These are my best elements," Tōma thought. "Interesting."
He continued dodging, studying the chakra leaking from Hiruko's body, memorizing its rhythm.
"Heh." Hiruko grinned, feeling the pressure ease. "So the Sixth Hokage, master of Flying Thunder God, gets countered by raw speed?"
"Swift Release…" Tōma repeated softly.
Space-time was instant movement. Speed was everything else. Attacks. Reactions. Follow-through.
Against enemies who could already react to Flying Thunder God, speed was the missing piece.
If Swift Release was layered on top of it…
Even Six Paths-level opponents might not be fast enough.
That wasn't a small improvement. That was a fundamental change.
Tōma smiled.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Let's keep playing a bit longer."