"Ready?"
"W–Wait! Kaito… are you sure this won't go wrong?!"
"Sasuke, we already ran safety tests. Relax."
"…O-Okay. But can you summon the sunflowers first?"
Around eight in the evening, Kaito kept his promise and brought his little brotherrrrrr out for Lightning Release training.
Unfortunately…
A small problem surfaced.
Kaito realized he actually knew very little about Lightning Release.
The Uchiha clan specialized in Fire Release. Even within Konoha, lightning-based training methods were rare. Kaito had asked Fugaku earlier in the day, and his father had said he'd look into it—but it would take time.
Sasuke, however, couldn't wait. He was desperate to get stronger.
And coincidentally, Kaito had gotten some inspiration from stories about Kumogakure's lightning training methods.
So after saying goodbye to their parents, Kaito dragged Sasuke to a remote utility pole outside the village. After running a series of voltage safety tests, Kaito came to a rough conclusion:
In this ninja world, with their reinforced physiques, the safe tolerable voltage was around ninety volts.
Much highe than in his previous life.
Once the testing was done, Kaito tied Sasuke directly to the pole and pulled down two wires from above.
To avoid messing with his own household's power meter, Kaito had deliberately chosen a deserted area that wouldn't affect anyone else. Even the pole itself looked abandoned and half-decommissioned.
"…Yeah. Better safe than sorry."
Kaito's appearance was bizarre. To avoid suspicion, he'd wrapped himself in several sunflowers the same way Sasuke had earlier, and he was wearing thick insulated gloves.
He set the wires down, opened his system inventory, and summoned his "Left and Right Guardians."
Sasuke, tightly bound to the pole and staring at the crackling wires in Kaito's hands, swallowed hard.
He truly wanted to get stronger.
No matter how bitter the training, he wouldn't back down.
But…
Being electrocuted?
Thee was no way anyone wouldn't panic.
Kaito adjusted his gloves, bent down, and picked up the wires again, his expression serious.
"Sasuke. Are you ready?"
Sasuke swallowed again. "Kaito… are you sure this is how Kumogakure trains?"
"I… I feel like something's not right…"
Kaito's face twitched slightly.
Of course he couldn't explain things like cellular stimulation or electrical adaptation. That would only invite endless questions.
Whethe this would actually work…
Honestly, he wasn't even completely sure.
But at the very least, it would increase Sasuke's tolerance toward lightning chakra and make future training easier.
As for danger?
Kaito didn't worry too much.
Ninjas were tough. A little shock wouldn't kill him.
Besides, Kaito had healing orbs.
"Sasuke, there's nothing wrong with it," Kaito said solemnly. "If you want to master Lightning Release, you first need to understand what it feels like to be struck by lightning."
Sasuke stared at the sparking wires, heart pounding.
"…But when we trained Fire Release, we didn't burn ourselves. Water Release doesn't mean soaking in water eithe… and Wind Release doesn't mean climbing mountains to get blown off cliffs, right?"
Kaito: "..."
That was… annoyingly logical.
For a brief moment, Kaito genuinely had no comeback.
After a short silence, Kaito glanced at the moon.
"So are you training or not? If not, I'm going home to sleep."
"If you're scared… then forget it."
At this point, even if Sasuke wanted to retreat, he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"I—I'm not scared at all!"
He squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his teeth, and tensed his whole body so stiff that Kaito almost felt like he was interrogating a criminal.
High up in a nearby tree, Kakashi had been silently observing the entire scene.
From the moment the brotherrrrrrs left home, he'd followed them.
At first, Kakashi thought Kaito truly had some Lightning Release technique to teach Sasuke. As one of the few shinobi in Konoha proficient in Lightning Release, he was actually curious.
But…
What he witnessed left him completely speechless.
Tying someone to a utility pole and electrocuting them…
Wasn't this just torture?
Kakashi couldn't understand this training method at all.
Yet he was deeply, profoundly shaken by it.
After watching for a long moment, he muttered under his mask:
"These two… are they insane…?"
"This is way too reckless."
With a sigh, Kakashi vanihed from the treetops, heading toward Fugaku's home, hoping to warn him before these two idiots accidentally killed themselves.
With Kakashi gone, Kaito finally began the "special training."
He instructed the sunflowers to closely monitor Sasuke's condition and immediately spit out healing orbs if anything went wrong.
"I'm starting."
Kaito tightened his grip on the wires and decisively connected them.
Zzzzt—zzzzzt—!
The instant the wires touched, a powerful current surged through Sasuke's body.
Sparks crackled violently as Sasuke convulsed against the pole, screaming uncontrollably.
"AAAAHHHHHH—!"
The air filled with the sharp smell of ozone and scorching metal.
His hair stood straight up from the current, instantly unlocking something that looked suspiciously like a Super SaiKaito form.
Whethe it made him stronger was unknown.
But visually?
He looked terrifyingly powerful.
Kaito didn't blink for even a second, fully prepared to trigger emergency healing at any moment.
About ten seconds later—
A violent electrical arc burst from the pole with a loud bang, sparks scattering wildly.
In that instant, every streetlight in Konoha went dark.
Television noises cut off abruptly. Dogs began barking in chaos. Villagers ruhed outside in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened.
ANBU and Root units instantly went on alert, converging toward the Uchiha district.
Inside the Hokage Tower, the Third Hokage stepped onto the balcony, hands clasped behind his back, gazing toward the darkened village.
His voice was low and grave as he spoke to the figure behind him.
"Itachi…"
"Did your father… make his move?"
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