Naruto: Lost to Hinata on Purpose, and Now Everything's a Mess Chapter 75 75 : First Hokage, The Power To Suppress An Era

Seeing Haku's body slowly sink into the water, Riku shook his head. "What a pity. The Ice Release is lost now."

In truth, for Riku, mastering Ice Release was far less difficult than rging Wood Style, but it still required a trendous amount of energy and ti. It would likely take him years to fully integrate it.

So even though Riku liked Ice Release, he had no intention of rging it into his arsenal.

Kakashi walked over with a faint smile. "What? You interested in Ice Release?"

Riku replied honestly, "Ice Release does have its rits, but mastering it would take a lot of ti and energy—and it wouldn't benefit that much in the long run."

Even though Ice Release was impressive, now that he had fully mastered Wood Style, Riku clearly understood that Ice Release was more of a novelty to him.

Kakashi nodded. "Mastering Wood Style is more than enough."

"Your Wood Style already surpasses Yamato's by a large margin. I didn't realize until that day just how powerful the First Hokage's Wood Style really was."

Because Kakashi didn't know much about the First or Second Hokage, he had always assud their strength couldn't match that of the Third or Fourth.

But the mont he saw Riku unleash that terrifying Wood Style, he finally understood: the First Hokage's power was indeed overwhelming.

Riku smiled. "Kakashi-sensei, it seems you don't know much about the Hokages."

"If the First Hokage, the man who founded the Hidden Leaf, hadn't possessed terrifying strength, how could he have ended the chaos of the Warring States period?"

"I've read that his Wood Style could literally reshape the terrain. I'm still nowhere near that level."

Although Kakashi had served in the ANBU, he never had reason to learn the detailed history of the earlier Hokage. It simply wasn't sothing he paid attention to.

Kakashi chuckled. "Sounds like you've done your howork."

Riku sighed. "It wasn't until I really started looking into it that I realized just how powerful the First and Second Hokage truly were. They once dominated the entire ninja world. Especially the First Hokage—he was the man who suppressed an entire era. While he was alive, no one dared start a war. He really did deserve the title 'God of Shinobi.'"

Kakashi had only known the basics—that the First Hokage had founded the Hidden Leaf.

Seeing Riku speak of him with such admiration, Kakashi smiled. "Maybe you'll grow into that kind of ninja one day."

Riku laughed softly. "I hope so, but it's going to be hard. The First Hokage was terrifying. Even though I've mastered Wood Style, there's still a massive gap between mine and his."

"If the records are accurate, the First Hokage could level an entire mountain range stretching for tens of kiloters with a single jutsu—and destroy a country without breaking a sweat. I think that's one of the main reasons no nation dared to start a war during that era."

"And it wasn't just him—the Second Hokage was also a terrifying ninja. He developed the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, the Shadow Clone Jutsu… Most of Konoha's Forbidden Techniques originated from him."

"That's why, the more I learn about the previous Hokage, the more I realize how far I still have to go."

Truthfully, Riku's current strength had already surpassed Senju Tobirama's.

But he would never say sothing as arrogant as "The Second Hokage is beneath ."

This was the first ti Kakashi had heard such details. Seeing Riku speak so highly of the First and Second Hokage, Kakashi smiled again. "So they're your target? You've already inherited their jutsu and Kekkei Genkai. With your talent, I think it's only a matter of ti before you reach their level."

Kakashi had a lot of confidence in Riku as his student.

Riku's talent and foundation far exceeded Kakashi's at the sa age.

Riku chuckled, then looked at Kakashi. "If you hadn't been burdened by all that back then, I think you'd be even stronger than you are now."

Kakashi smiled faintly. "Everyone has to go through things they don't want to. But those experiences are what make us stronger."

Riku nodded.

But before Kakashi could finish, he looked at Riku seriously. "But since I've already lived through it, I don't want you to go through the sa pain."

They looked at each other and laughed quietly.

Just then, Sakura stood on the walkway and shouted, "Kakashi-sensei! Riku!"

Seeing her, Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why is Sakura wearing your clothes?"

Riku smiled awkwardly. "It's a bit complicated. I'll explain when we get back."

He didn't know how to explain it. He'd promised Sakura he wouldn't say anything, so now he had to think of a way to cover for it.

Kakashi didn't push the issue. If Riku didn't want to talk, that was fine.

After they buried Zabuza and Haku's bodies, Kado arrived looking for trouble.

He brought over a hundred n and surrounded the village.

Among them were several hired samurai.

Gato shouted arrogantly, "Tazuna! Stop building that bridge, or I swear, I'll kill everyone in this entire village!"

From high in the trees, Riku watched Tazuna lead the villagers in confronting Gato .

Kakashi stood beside him with a calm expression. "Not worried at all."

Even with a few samurai around Gato , there was nothing to fear. Samurai, on average, were no match for shinobi—unless it was soone like Mifune.

After a short standoff, Gato and Tazuna failed to reach an agreent. Eventually, Tazuna refusal enraged Gato .

"Tazuna, don't be so full of yourself! I swear, I'll wipe this entire village off the map!"

Tazuna scowled. "Even if you kill us, we'll still finish this bridge. Gato, you've monopolized the Land of Waves' economy for too long. You've driven our people into poverty. Do you really think we'll keep bowing to you?"

Gato face darkened. "So you've chosen death. Fine, then you can join your son-in-law in the afterlife."

"Kill every last one of them!"

The n behind him, wielding swords, hesitated at first—but eventually charged forward.

Watching this unfold, Riku sighed in disbelief. "Idiots. Even Zabuza and Haku couldn't survive us. What makes these guys think they stand a chance?"

Kakashi also found it baffling. Did Gato truly not understand what it ant to face an Elite Jonin?

Apparently not— Gato seed to think sheer numbers could win.

Riku found the whole thing tedious. "Since he ca here to die, I'll help him along."

From his perch in the tree, Riku raised one finger and pointed it at Kado, who was standing dozens of ters away.

Zzt!

A crackling bolt of lightning shot from Riku's fingertip.

Gato, who had been laughing maniacally, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest—and collapsed.

When his body hit the ground, a charred hole the size of a finger had pierced straight through his heart.

His heartbeat ceased instantly. Within ten seconds, he lay still and lifeless.

Riku remained calm, and Kakashi smiled. "That technique… it's derived from Chidori, isn't it?"

Riku nodded. "A lot of variations can be developed from Chidori."

Chidori was just the foundation. Raikiri, Kakashi's personal technique, was an S-rank evolution of it.

Riku had never learned Raikiri—it was unique to Kakashi.

Instead, Riku had developed his own S-rank Lightning Style techniques.

He just didn't use them often—because their destructive power was simply too great.

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