Chapter 107: The Ambition of a Kage
Ishiro knew his current path wasn't ideal. In the ninja world, every renowned shinobi had their signature jutsu—a technique they had refined to its peak. It didn't have to be one they created, but it had to be mastered completely. For Ishiro, that path had always been the development of Water Pressure Line. But his ambitions were too broad. Beyond that, he also aimed to fuse chakra natures and unlock a kekkei genkai. As a result, time was never enough.
In the original timeline, Kakashi had become a jōnin at eleven and had already developed Chidori by then. Ishiro had originally tried to follow that example. When he first upgraded Water Line to Water Pressure Line, he had been excited. Though still classified as a C-rank jutsu, its piercing power rivaled B-rank techniques. It was ideal for deeper development, and Ishiro had planned to model it after Tobirama's Water Severing Wave.
But things didn't go as planned. Maybe he progressed too quickly—opportunities to learn high-level jutsu kept piling up. He ended up learning eight B-rank jutsu, spending considerable time refining their hand seals for real combat use.
Then came the A-rank Light-Weight Boulder Technique. Without realizing it, Ishiro had started to drift away from specialization, moving toward a broader—but shallower—path.
It wasn't what he had envisioned. He now hesitated. Should he give up on refining Water Pressure Line?
That night, with Shironeko and Dan'go both away, Ishiro spent the entire evening in solitude, contemplating his future.
The next morning, he went to the Tsuchikage's office and laid out everything on his mind to Ōnoki, asking for advice.
Ōnoki listened carefully and, after a long period of thoughtful silence, said something that caught Ishiro completely off guard.
"Ishiro, your growth has been remarkable. Since the founding of Iwagakure, we've never had a jōnin rise to power primarily through mental strength. So the village doesn't have many resources that suit you."
"You didn't walk the Yin Release path, probably because you knew the village couldn't support you there. But have you ever considered—did the predecessors who developed new jutsu always have templates to follow? Did they always have easier paths available?"
"Take my teacher for example—the Second Tsuchikage. He developed Dust Release, Light-Weight Boulder, and Heavy-Weight Boulder techniques. But what if he had ignored all that and simply trained the village's existing Earth Release jutsu?"
Ishiro thought for a moment. "With the Second Tsuchikage's talent, he probably still would've reached Kage-level, and could have elevated Iwagakure's Earth Release techniques even further."
Ōnoki nodded. "Exactly. Iwagakure is known for its Earth Release; we've been a major power among the Five Great Nations because of it. Our archives are full of advanced Earth jutsu. Had my teacher stuck to those, he might have become even stronger."
"But if he had done that, he would have missed the opportunity to reach even higher. Like me—my strength today places me among the top few in the current ninja world. But in the era of Hashirama and Madara, I wouldn't have stood out."
"Compared to my teacher, I didn't forge a new path. So this… is the limit of my strength. Even if I train for another ten or twenty years, I won't grow stronger. But my teacher… had he not died alongside the Second Mizukage, he might've gone even further."
Ishiro was shocked. To think that in Ōnoki's eyes, Kage-level strength was not the end. Of course—Ōnoki had experienced Madara's power firsthand. He knew there were realms beyond Kage.
And then Ishiro understood.
Ōnoki hadn't made the choice for him—but his meaning was clear: Ishiro lacked the ambition. Despite reaching jōnin strength and being one of the most talented among his peers, despite acting and strategizing like a future Kage, his heart wasn't yet worthy of the title.
Ishiro was stunned, but clarity followed.
He had indeed become blinded—obsessed with learning high-level jutsu, chasing power he could see and measure.
When Nagato gave him new jutsu, he had been ecstatic. When he earned enough contribution points for B-rank jutsu, he had been thrilled. When he got his first A-rank jutsu, he couldn't wait to cash it in.
At one point, he had even considered exchanging his jōnin promotion reward for contribution points, just to get another A-rank jutsu.
Looking back now… he realized he'd lost his way.
But Ishiro was also grateful—for his past life. In that life, he had done nothing. His biggest regrets were all born from inaction: choosing the wrong major, entering the wrong field, failing to get certifications, always thinking it was too late to change.
But the truth was—it's never too late.
So now, at fourteen, Ishiro didn't hesitate. He chose to change course.
Sure, he was no Kakashi, who had become a jōnin at eleven. But compared to the regret-filled version of himself from his past life—he was still just a child.
After leaving the Tsuchikage's office, Ishiro felt like a new man—a blade freshly unsheathed, brimming with sharpened purpose.
He didn't realize it himself. But from the window above, Ōnoki saw it all—and was deeply pleased.
His efforts hadn't been in vain.
He had long known Ishiro was developing Water Pressure Line, and also knew how much time had been consumed by learning Light-Weight Boulder Technique.
He didn't call him out—instead, he deliberately gave him another A-rank jutsu, further distracting him.
Seeing Ishiro's excitement then, Ōnoki had been disappointed. Though he favored Ikura more, he still hoped Ishiro would become a powerful successor.
But this sort of realization couldn't be forced. Even if he had pointed it out, Ishiro might still be unable to let go of the lure of strong techniques.
Now that Ishiro had come to the conclusion himself—everything was different.
This was the kind of mental fortitude every true strong ninja had to develop. It was similar to the "enlightenment" Ishiro experienced before.
The difference was—last time, it had catapulted him from chūnin to jōnin. This time, it wouldn't show results so quickly. But Ōnoki believed that from now on, Ishiro would progress twice as fast in his personal jutsu development.
"Ha… now I've got a real dilemma over who to name as my successor," Ōnoki muttered happily.
Among the Five Great Nations, Konoha was the strongest—militarily, economically—but that wasn't what the other four envied most.
Take Ōnoki, for example—what he envied most about Hiruzen Sarutobi was this:
He had too many successors to choose from.
That kind of "trouble" was a blessing.
White Fang's death had caused ridicule from the other villages, but behind that mockery was envy.
If White Fang had been the only Kage-level shinobi besides Hiruzen, would the village have allowed him to be sacrificed by rumor?
No.
It was because Konoha had too many strong candidates that Hiruzen could afford to let one be discredited.
Every other Kage… could only watch and wish.
Now, for the first time, Ōnoki looked at Ishiro and Ikura as equals in his mind.
From this moment on, any discussion of Iwagakure's next Tsuchikage would have to include Ishiro's name.
Grinning to himself, Ōnoki called out into the empty office: "Bring me Owl."
Several Anbu silently appeared, acknowledged the order, and vanished just as silently.
—
Ishiro knew none of this. He hadn't even realized what had changed inside him.
But now that he understood he'd strayed from his path, he didn't even bother choosing the new A-rank jutsu right away.
Instead, he went straight to the training grounds.
From now on, everything would take a backseat to Water Pressure Line.
The technique worked by manipulating water pressure transmission, and when combined with chakra, gave the strike far more piercing power than Water Line.
That was step one—already achieved.
Step two: maintain the projected water line, then rotate it horizontally for a slicing effect.
In theory, this was sound. Pressure was uniform in all directions, so the lateral slicing force should be equal to the forward thrust. But executing it was extremely difficult.
It just so happened that among the scrolls he recovered from Rain-nin was a C-rank technique called Water Whip.
This jutsu manipulated water in sideways motion—a perfect reference.
With his chakra control and volume, Ishiro learned it quickly. Within three days, he even reduced its hand seals to eight.
Then he began trying to apply its principles to Water Pressure Line's motion.
But it proved even harder than he imagined.
To boost its power, he had incorporated pressure propagation, making the internal balance incredibly delicate. Just trying to curve the line would cause it to collapse.
He could feel he was on the right track, but his control wasn't precise enough.
The water line extended up to a hundred meters, sometimes. Keeping it stable while moving it sideways was beyond his current ability.
So he scaled it down.
He practiced using shorter water lines, just one or two meters long, and slowly experimented with lateral control.
It was slow, but it was working.
He was finally making progress.
Now it was just a matter of patience—and chiseling away at it like water over stone.
♧♧♧
We've hit 200 Power Stones goal As promised This week, here's the bonus chapter. Thank you for your support—please keep it coming!