Kakashi stared at Konohamaru's back, his vision blurring.
Even though Kakashi had absorbed a solid amount of Hashirama cells from Obito, his Mangekyō presbyopia still flared up from time to time.
But this wasn't a vision problem.
This was pure emotional resonance!
When Kakashi looked at Naruto, he saw the shadows of his teacher, Namikaze Minato, and Jiraiya.
And now, looking at Konohamaru, he saw the phantoms of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Sarutobi Asuma.
Not only that, Kakashi remembered a twisted derivation of Obito's classic quote:
'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.'
'Men without dicks are called eunuchs, but men who cannot protect their comrades are worse than eunuchs!'
Hm?
Why did it feel like he was insulting himself?
Kakashi shook his head and booted that thought from his brain.
"Konohamaru, let's work hard together."
"Okay!"
"..."
After the hot-blooded anime moment passed, Kakashi analyzed the actual logistics of their situation.
Whether it was him or Konohamaru, neither possessed a chakra pool even remotely comparable to Naruto's.
Relying on a massive mob of shadow clones and their sensory feedback to jump-start Sage Mode was a pipe dream.
They needed to engineer a method to compress the timeline as much as possible.
While Kakashi racked his brain, Konohamaru poked his arm.
"Kakashi-sensei, I have an idea."
"What is it?" Kakashi asked, not expecting much.
Subconsciously, he doubted a genin could solve a senjutsu bottleneck this fast.
But... he underestimated Konohamaru.
Because Naruto paraded around as the Child of Prophecy, everyone focused on him and crowned him the Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja.
But Konohamaru honestly wasn't far behind.
"Kakashi-sensei, look. Our chakra isn't as massive as Naruto-niichan. But Grandpa told me the Shadow Clone Technique divides chakra evenly among the copies. It doesn't actually drain that much energy to maintain them.
So we can just do it in batches.
First, spawn a few shadow clones, dispel them, and spawn a new batch. It would be slower than Naruto-niichan brute-force method, but it beats meditating the normal way." Konohamaru laid out his theory.
"Hm... That does sound viable."
Kakashi rubbed his chin.
On the surface, he didn't spot any glaring flaws.
He looked at Konohamaru with genuine surprise.
As expected of the Professor's grandson.
The kid had a brain! And the theory relied on the core mechanics of the Shadow Clone Technique.
The jutsu dictated that no matter how many clones a user spawned, their original chakra pool split evenly among them.
That was exactly why standard dōjutsu couldn't tell the clones apart from the original. Every clone held an identical chakra signature.
Likewise, the maximum clone cap tied directly to the user's raw chakra volume.
If the baseline chakra required to stay conscious was 5, and combat required 10, a shinobi with 100 chakra could safely spawn 10 combat-ready clones.
But if they pushed their limits and tried to spawn 100 clones, the jutsu would fail.
If they forced the issue, the main body's chakra would plummet below the survival threshold, rendering them comatose.
But if they ran Konohamaru's batch-processing method, that bottleneck disappeared.
Sure, casting the jutsu cost a flat activation fee.
But as long as the clones didn't enter combat or cast ninjutsu—merely maintaining their form while performing some "tiny movements"—the upkeep remained incredibly low.
By cycling through batches, a shinobi with 100 chakra could technically spawn a grand total of 100 clones over an extended period. Possibly even more. After all, these clones weren't fighting. They were just... rubbing.
...Wait.
'Something's wrong.'
Kakashi spotted the fatal flaw.
"Konohamaru, think about the logistics. Naruto isn't letting each shadow clone hit full Sage Mode before dispelling them. He's letting them edge into the process, then popping them to stack the feedback on the main body.
If we run your batch method, dispelling the clone resets the progress. Why not just let the first batch finish the job? What's the point of tagging in a second batch?"
Kakashi's logic hit the excited kid like a brick wall.
"As expected... compared to Naruto-niichan, I'm still way too far behind."
Thud.
Konohamaru dropped to his knees in pure despair.
"..."
Kakashi winced, but there was nothing he could do.
Facts were facts. Math was math.
If Konohamaru wanted to survive as a shinobi, he couldn't spend his life listening to Ebisu stroke his ego.
'Hm?'
Kakashi glanced at Naruto, who was casually swimming with the toad in the river nearby.
A spark of inspiration hit him.
Watching Naruto, Kakashi remembered Tsunade's S-rank mission: send the idiot to the major ninja villages and spread this cursed shortcut across the globe!
Kakashi pictured his teacher's old battlefield rival, the Fourth Raikage.
He imagined Naruto walking up to that massive, muscle-bound Raikage, pitching this degenerate method, and pictured the look on the Raikage's face.
The second Kakashi put himself in Kumogakure's shoes, the solution clicked.
Kumogakure's Lightning Release Chakra Mode—the Lightning Armor—used high-voltage chakra to stimulate the nervous system and muscles, drastically boosting strength, speed, and reflexes.
Could that same lightning-stimulation concept apply to this Sage Mode shortcut?
He, Hatake Kakashi, was a certified master of Lightning Release!
Kakashi ran the simulation in his head and suppressed a violent shudder.
Why did this feel like he just invented a highly specific torture method?
However, the high-voltage theory paired perfectly with Konohamaru's scrapped shadow clone batch idea.
This time, the clones would be subjected to localized Lightning Release, meaning they would literally shock themselves into dispelling.
The chakra used would be steeper.
They would need the shadow clones to apply a carefully controlled, low-yield Lightning Release to... specific areas.
"Konohamaru, don't count yourself out yet. Your batch theory works. We just need to cross-wire it with my method." Kakashi stepped forward and patted the kid on the shoulder.
"R-Really, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Really."
Kakashi didn't play the riddle game. He laid out the mechanics straight up.
Unlike Naruto, Konohamaru actually possessed reading comprehension. He grasped the synergy between the techniques instantly, his face lighting up.
"I knew it! Perfect! Let's start right now!"
"Wait!" Kakashi grabbed Konohamaru's arm, stopping him in his tracks. "Before we start experimenting, we need ground rules. No matter what happens, the main body must never perform this jutsu."
Kakashi warned him, dead serious.
Even though Konohamaru declared he'd rather sacrifice his future body than fail to master Sage Mode, there was a massive difference between stunting your growth and literally frying your own dick with high-voltage lightning.
The original shortcut carried a risk of long-term biological damage.
Even if things went wrong, it merely meant a certain piece of 'hardware' might underperform later in life.
But this new lightning method?
One tiny miscalculation with the voltage, and there was a very real chance his equipment would be vaporized on the spot!
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