Chapter 35: Dance with Lightning, A Storm's Embrace
The thunderstorm raged with primal fury over the Kumo-controlled mountain range, each flash of lightning momentarily illuminating the jagged peaks, each roar of thunder a drumbeat to Kenji's clandestine ballet. The torrential rain and howling wind were his allies, masking his scent, his sound, his subtle manipulations of the earth as he flowed like water through the Kumo encampment's outer defenses. His new, exquisitely refined sensory abilities, a tapestry woven from multiple harvests, allowed him to perceive the Kumo patrols as flickering chakra signatures in the tempest, their lightning-enhanced senses paradoxically hampered by the sheer elemental chaos of the storm.
He had identified Raikou's personal bunker, slightly set apart from the main barracks, a concession to the volatile nature of the commander's power. Kenji didn't plan a frontal assault. Instead, he used his earth affinity, augmented by the memory of the Iwa-nin's resilient bone structure making his own chakra more resonant with stone, to trigger a series of minor, localized landslides on the slopes above the camp. Not enough to bury it, but enough to create a significant diversion, sending a cascade of rocks and mud towards a secondary ammunition dump, igniting a series of satisfyingly loud (if ultimately minor) explosions.
As anticipated, the Kumo camp erupted into controlled chaos. Patrols scrambled, alarms blared feebly against the storm, and Raikou, a crackling figure of blue-white energy, burst from his bunker, barking orders, his attention drawn to the apparent sabotage.
This was Kenji's moment. While Raikou was momentarily distracted, Kenji, having already infiltrated the network of crude service tunnels beneath the camp (widening them silently where needed with his earth control), triggered a precise collapse directly beneath a section of the path Raikou would take to the "crisis."
Raikou, moving with his characteristic lightning speed, suddenly found the ground vanishing beneath him. He reacted instantly, attempting to use his electrical charge to propel himself clear, but Kenji was ready. As Raikou was momentarily airborne and off-balance, Kenji unleashed a focused blast of Wind Release: Great Breakthrough from a concealed position, not to injure, but to buffet Raikou off his intended trajectory, sending him tumbling into a narrow, pre-scouted ravine.
Before Raikou could recover or unleash his full power, Kenji was there, sealing the ravine's narrow exits with swift, powerful Doton: Earth Flow Spears, creating a temporary, makeshift arena. The natural lightning of the storm still flashed overhead, illuminating the scene in stark, erratic bursts.
"Impressive infiltration, Konoha dog," Raikou snarled, his body already crackling with arcs of intense blue lightning. "But you've trapped yourself with a god of thunder!"
The ensuing battle was unlike anything Kenji had experienced. Raikou was a blur of motion, his every taijutsu strike imbued with shocking force, his speed almost impossible to track with conventional senses. Kenji's Steel Release was put to its ultimate test, his forearms and shins shimmering into dark metal to deflect blows that would have shattered bone. Even then, the electrical feedback was jarring.
Kenji didn't try to match Raikou's speed. He used his environment, his intellect, and his diverse arsenal. He coated the ground in slick mud using his water techniques, subtly altering its composition with his earth chakra to make it particularly non-conductive in patches, hoping to disrupt Raikou's grounding. He used focused Wind Release: Air Bullets to try and break Raikou's momentum, to create openings.
Raikou was relentless, a true master of his Kekkei Genkai. He unleashed bolts of lightning, created electrified wire traps, and even formed a crackling aura of pure electrical energy that served as both offense and defense.
Kenji knew a direct, prolonged engagement was a losing proposition. He needed to end it. The natural storm was reaching its peak. He saw his chance. As Raikou gathered himself for a devastating, wide-area electrical discharge, channeling the ambient storm energy, Kenji acted.
He focused his will, drawing upon the deepest reserves of his earth chakra and the Steel Release. He didn't attack Raikou. He slammed his steel-coated hands into the ravine walls on either side of him, driving them deep. Then, he channeled an immense amount of Doton chakra, not to create spears or walls, but to alter the very geological composition of the immediate rock around him, infusing it with metallic ores he could sense deep within the mountain, creating two massive, crude lightning rods.
As Raikou unleashed his cataclysmic discharge, amplified by the natural tempest, a significant portion of the raw, untamed lightning, instead of focusing on Kenji, was drawn to the newly formed, highly conductive rods Kenji had effectively become a part of, arcing wildly and harmlessly (for Kenji) into the mountainside. The feedback, however, was immense, and the ground around Raikou himself convulsed as the energies warred.
In that moment of chaotic discharge and elemental fury, with Raikou momentarily overextended and his own senses overwhelmed by the lightning he'd summoned, Kenji struck. He used his wind affinity to propel himself through the storm-lashed air with blurring speed, his steel-clad fist aimed not at Raikou's crackling aura, but at a single, precise point on his temple Kenji had identified as a critical nerve junction. The blow, augmented by his own immense physical strength and the element of surprise, connected with sickening force.
Raikou dropped, his lightning aura sputtering out like a dying flame, his body convulsing before falling still.
Kenji stood over him, rain and sweat plastering his hair to his face, his own chakra reserves dangerously low. He wasted no time. This was the prize. He placed his hand on Raikou's chest. The extraction of the Lightning Release Kekkei Genkai was a violent, almost convulsive experience. It felt like swallowing a storm, a raw, untamed power that surged through his pathways, threatening to char him from the inside out. He felt his nerves sing, his muscles twitch, his very perception of energy shift. It was a power of pure speed, of devastating electrical force.
When it was done, Kenji felt utterly drained, but a new, exhilarating power thrummed within him. He quickly rigged the scene. He used his remaining chakra to cause further collapses in the ravine, burying Raikou and making it appear as if the Kumo commander had been caught in a catastrophic natural landslide amplified by his own out-of-control lightning during the storm. A tragic accident.
His escape from the now thoroughly panicked Kumo encampment was aided by the ongoing storm and the diversions he had set. He returned to his Konoha forward base days later, exhausted but reporting that Raikou's base had been severely damaged by natural disaster and infighting, and that Raikou himself was confirmed deceased – intelligence that was later, to Konoha's relief, verified.
The integration of the Lightning Release was a meticulous, dangerous process. It was a volatile element, unlike the stability of earth or the adaptability of water and wind. But Kenji, with his unique physiology and his profound understanding of chakra, began to tame it. He could feel it quickening his reflexes, charging his taijutsu, and opening up pathways to a whole new suite of devastating jutsus. Earth for defense and control, Water for versatility and misdirection, Wind for cutting power and mobility, Steel for ultimate resilience, and now Lightning for unparalleled speed and destructive force. He was becoming a one-man army.
The news of Raikou's demise sent ripples through the Kumo front, causing a temporary disruption in their lightning raids, a small but significant victory for Konoha. Tsunade, when she eventually heard of Kenji's "successful deep reconnaissance mission" and his survival against incredible odds, would likely find her already complicated perception of him further muddled – a man who walked through the deadliest storms and emerged not only unscathed but seemingly… stronger. Orochimaru, Kenji knew, would sense the shift in his chakra, however subtle Kenji tried to make it, and his obsessive curiosity would only grow.
Kenji sat in a hidden cave miles from any front line, feeling the newly acquired lightning crackle faintly at his fingertips. His arsenal was becoming terrifyingly diverse. Each major power he absorbed made it harder to maintain his facade of mere "luck" or "specialized talent." But with each acquisition, his confidence in his ability to navigate any threat, to achieve any objective, grew into an icy certainty. The war was his forge, and he was crafting himself into a weapon of unimaginable power.