Kakashi's original Lightning Cutter, the Chidori, was already a masterful blend of lightning-nature chakra transformation and shape transformation.
But White Fang's secret art… surpassed even that.
He didn't just shape chakra — he refined it to its extreme.
Lightning-nature chakra had been made visible, transformed into a dazzling white blade of energy. That was the famed White Fang's White Chakra Blade.
Yako, by contrast, was innately aligned with Chakra Nature: Earth, and thus found it easiest to extract and circulate that element. Naturally, he chose to crystallize his earth-nature chakra.
Drawing the chakra into his palm, he followed the secret art's method of refining it.
Layer upon layer, the earth-nature chakra began to condense—growing increasingly dense, teetering on the edge of materialization.
Soon, it formed a thin film in his palm.
That delicate sheet was actually forged from over a dozen layers of compressed chakra.
Unlike the white gleam of lightning chakra, the earth-nature variant, once crystallized, took on a rich metallic hue—a dark copper red.
Among the five elemental chakra types, Earth had the strongest defensive potential. Once crystallized, its defensive strength skyrocketed.
White Fang's swordplay was lightning-fast, but this secret technique didn't require hand signs at all. Chakra extraction could be done internally; the refining itself happened in an instant.
And so, the reddish-bronze chakra appeared in Yako's hand almost immediately.
To test it, he created a Clone, commanding it to throw a kunai at him.
Clang!
A crisp metallic ring echoed out. The bronze chakra layer on his palm had effortlessly blocked the kunai, sending it spinning into the air.
If this refined, copper-hued earth chakra could be spread across the whole body…
Then Yako now possessed a kind of absolute defense.
Stripping off his shirt, he summoned over a dozen clones.
Each clone came at him with kunai and short swords, attacking from all sides.
Yako's bare torso gleamed with the dim luster of tempered bronze.
Every blow bounced off him. Clink! Clink! Clink! rang through the clearing, metal against metal.
He suddenly recalled a jutsu from the original timeline: Earth Release:Earthen Lance Armor.
That jutsu hardened the skin to block even explosive tags.
But his version required no hand seals. It was faster—far faster—than Earth Spear.
To test it further, Yako pulled out an explosive tag and handed it to a clone.
The clone affixed the tag to a kunai and hurled it at him.
BOOM!
Smoke clouded the clearing. Yako raised his hand and swept it aside.
'That... that defense is insane.'
The blast's shockwave barely fazed him. It was well within his tolerance.
The tremor had passed through his skin, rattling his muscles and bones, but didn't cause real harm.
If he concentrated chakra into his muscles, he could even absorb the vibrations — shielding his organs from damage.
What remained was practice — honing the ability to form the chakra armor instantly in combat.
He named the technique: Absolute Defense: Bronze Light.
With his current chakra reserves, full-body coverage would last about three minutes.
In a normal battle, partial coverage would be more efficient — conserving chakra.
He stepped toward a nearby boulder, palm glowing faintly with bronze light, and thrust forward.
Crack.
His hand pierced the stone like a spear. Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the point of impact.
Absolute Defense: Bronze Light didn't just provide near-impenetrable defense — it also amplified his taijutsu.
A punch with this? Like being struck by a tungsten-core anti-armor shell.
It wasn't as visually dazzling as White Fang's chakra blade, but to Yako, the Bronze Light offered something even better: a sense of absolute safety.
'It's not flair that makes a ninja great. It's staying alive.'
Hatake Sakumo had crystallized his lightning chakra and earned the title of White Fang.
Yako pondered what title he might earn.
Bronze Pea? Tough, unyielding, impossible to crush or cook — a single copper-colored legume echoing through the battlefield?
Bronze Arhat? Hmm… apart from the Fire Temple or the Senju clan, few practiced the Way of Shinobi Buddhism.
Forget it. Let the enemy name him.
Once they've tasted enough despair… they'll come up with something suitably cool.
The next day, Chisa Kojii and Yako patrolled the construction site together, acting like nothing had happened during the latter half of the previous night.
Living through the month again, and with knowledge of future events, Yako was more at ease.
He regularly pointed out issues to Chisa — quality of materials, which workers were slacking, things no one else noticed.
That afternoon, back at the Daisōin, Yako helped her review the project finances.
In front of a civil engineering expert, shady accounting tricks and shortcut materials had no chance.
Chisa felt a rare sense of ease. With Miqū¹ helping, everything had changed.
But Miqū was ANBU. He wouldn't be staying forever.
Just as she was lost in thought, his voice came.
"Let's make it earlier tonight. No need to wait until 2 AM. Eleven is fine."
Chisa chuckled softly. "Alright. I'd be way too tired tomorrow morning otherwise."
At 11 PM sharp, Yako slipped into her room.
He secretly hardened certain spots — at last, he was catching up to the pig–deer–butterfly trio in the art of depravity.
Chisa blinked. "You feel… different today."
"Do I?"
She couldn't put it into words — but something definitely was different.
Thirty minutes later, lying in the dark, Yako gently stroked her shoulder.
"Chisa… have you ever considered learning ninjutsu?"
She replied:
"Among the feudal clans of the Land of Rivers, ninja talent is rare. We're not like Konoha, where skilled bloodlines are everywhere.
"The only thing I've ever been good at is a little swordsmanship."
Yako said, "I know a sword art — one that's perfect for your style of blade."
"Huh? But isn't teaching ninjutsu to outsiders forbidden in Konoha?"
"This one's from a Cloud ninja," Yako said. "Konoha doesn't care. It's called Cloud-Style Swordsmanship — all about deception and flexibility. Starting tomorrow, I'll make time to teach it to you."
A few days later, a dispatch arrived from the Land of Earth, promising not to sabotage the hydroelectric plant.
Yako bid farewell to Chisa and returned to camp.
There, just like in his previous life, he was assigned to poisoning missions.
First up: the Arc of the Waning Moon.
Yako and Leaf Monkey infiltrated the oasis to spread poison, while Blossom Deer and Field Duck provided air support via paraglider.
This time, Yako decided to switch tactics.
He signaled for Leaf Monkey to fall back — he would handle the incoming Sand ninja.
He leapt into the middle of them.
No defensive jutsu. No hand signs.
As kunai, explosive tags, and puppets rained down, he calmly wove hand signs for Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
Leaf Monkey nearly had a heart attack. Captain's not dodging?
Taking all that just to form hand seals? That's suicide!
What the hell is going on?! Has the squad leader lost it?!
Kunai struck Yako's body.
Clink! Clink! Clink! A dozen metallic notes rang out.
Explosive tags detonated in front of him, smoke swallowing his silhouette.
Leaf Monkey panicked. He's gone mad. Utterly insane.
He sprinted forward, ready to dive into the smoke and rescue his captain.