Chapter 183: Obito Uchiha's Challenge
"Minato-senpai, why aren't Kakashi and the others here?" Hoshikawa asked once Tsunade and Minato Namikaze had finished their conversation.
Rin Nohara involuntarily looked at him, her face showing concern.
"They're out on a mission. Kakashi is leading the team, with Obito and Gai as his squadmates," Minato explained with a smile.
"No wonder." Hoshikawa recalled that Kakashi Hatake was now a Special Jōnin, which qualified him to lead a team.
"That's so like Kakashi, already handling things on his own," Rin said, relieved.
She had worried something had happened to the three of them.
"Kakashi has indeed been a great help to me," Minato nodded.
Hoshikawa was now certain that Kakashi Hatake had become a Special Jōnin precisely to help his teacher with the students.
However, it was a necessary step.
Minato had the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, allowing him to serve as a firefighter everywhere. But taking three students meant the jutsu's stress would be too great, and it would be inconvenient. He also had to worry about their safety.
After all, he was rushing to the most urgent and dangerous areas of the battlefield.
"Minato." Shibi Aburame stepped forward. "Lady Tsunade asked you to attend the meeting in the main tent."
"Be right there." Minato replied, then looked back at the three of them. "Kakashi and the others should be back soon."
He then followed Shibi into the main tent.
"I'm going to the meeting too," Hoshikawa decided.
Information was best heard firsthand to avoid omissions.
Moreover, by combining the source material's plot with his presence, he could offer Tsunade better advice.
"Go ahead." Kurenai Yūhi was already used to this.
"We'll wait here for Kakashi and the others," Rin said gently.
"Hn." Hoshikawa walked into the main tent.
Some people shot him surprised glances, but knowing he had killed Kushimaru Kuriarare, his attendance at a Jōnin meeting seemed perfectly reasonable.
The Jōnin who had fought alongside him in the Land of Rivers proactively greeted him.
It seemed camaraderie was most easily forged during wartime.
Hoshikawa felt that a few more battles would get him recognition among most ninja, which would be very helpful for his future bid for Hokage.
"Teacher." Hoshikawa walked up to Tsunade.
"Hn." Tsunade was looking at a map of the Land of Grass and answered without looking up.
Hoshikawa's gaze dropped to the map in front of her.
The Land of Grass, as its name suggested, had large portions dominated by vast grasslands.
Only the area where they were fighting had complex terrain, such as the numerous mountains.
Hoshikawa's heart stirred.
He saw the Kannabi Bridge marked on the map.
No wonder it was so important.
The bridge was located deep behind the Iwagakure ninja army.
In the original story, it was Minato Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake, and their team destroying this bridge that won the war.
Outside the main tent, Rin and Kurenai were chatting idly.
Ten minutes later, a whooshing sound echoed.
Obito Uchiha appeared before Rin and Kurenai using the Body Flicker Technique.
"Obito," Rin greeted him with a gentle smile.
"You're here?!" Obito asked excitedly. "How long are you staying this time?"
"We're here to support you guys. We should be staying until Iwagakure is driven back," Rin explained after a moment's thought.
"That's great!" Obito said, thrilled. "We can go on missions together again!"
"Rin, Kurenai." Kakashi Hatake, arriving late, greeted them calmly.
Compared to Obito, his emotions were perfectly steady.
"Seeing you two makes my youth burn brighter!" Might Guy raised a thumbs-up, revealing his sparkling teeth.
"You truly haven't changed at all," Kurenai twitched her mouth.
"Kakashi, congratulations on becoming a Special Jōnin," Rin nodded, then added with a smile.
"Thank you," Kakashi replied.
"I'm just a little bit away from Special Jōnin myself!" Obito said, unwilling to be outdone.
Rin hesitated, looking like she wanted to speak but couldn't.
She honestly didn't think Obito was at the Special Jōnin level.
"Obito has improved greatly recently," Kakashi paused, then added, "But he only uses Fire Release, so he won't be ranked as a Special Jōnin."
A Special Jōnin was a ninja talented in specific areas.
Fire Release and the Sharingan were not included in the criteria.
Under normal circumstances, Obito would have to be assessed as a full Jōnin.
Rin was a little surprised to hear this.
Kakashi would never lie.
"My Fire Release is already on par with a regular Jōnin!" Obito noticed Rin's expression and said, quite pleased with himself.
After receiving intensive training from the mysterious old man, his Sharingan and Fire Release had improved by leaps and bounds.
Of course, he was exaggerating to Rin.
He could perhaps barely reach the Jōnin level using high-level Fire Release jutsu at full power.
Overall, his current strength was somewhere between Jōnin and Chūnin.
"Hoshikawa isn't here?" Kakashi looked around, confused.
Obito's heart suddenly jumped. He couldn't help but look at Rin.
If he's not here, that's double the good news!
"He went to the main tent for a meeting," Kurenai pointed to the large tent nearby.
"Has he become a Jōnin already?" Might Guy immediately became excited and asked.
"It's normal for Hoshikawa to become a Jōnin after taking down Kushimaru Kuriarare, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen," Kakashi said, unsurprised.
Even though they had been in the Land of Grass, they had heard of the major event concerning the defeat of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
They had been skeptical of Hoshikawa's record until Minato brought back confirmed intelligence from Konoha.
"Maybe he just got lucky and found a severely injured Kushimaru," Obito muttered.
"Don't talk nonsense, Obito," Rin said sternly. "Hoshikawa also killed several Jōnin in the Kirigakure main camp."
"I..." Obito suddenly froze.
It was the first time he had seen Rin react like this, and he was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Hoshikawa hasn't become a Jōnin yet," Kurenai shook her head.
"I'll definitely become a Jōnin before he does!" Obito recovered and declared, clenching his fist.
His recent improvement in strength gave him a great deal of confidence.
Rin ignored his statement.
In her opinion, no matter how hard Obito tried, he would never catch up to Hoshikawa.
"..." Obito felt like he was spitting blood in anger after realizing no one was engaging with him.
Even the usually gentle Rin refused to agree with him.
That detestable Hoshikawa!
Obito gritted his teeth, wishing he could beat the boy up right now.
Wait.
Since he's at the camp, couldn't I just defeat him?
He had killed Jōnin before.
Just yesterday, he and Kakashi had worked together to kill an Iwagakure Jōnin.
Plus, he was confident that his current Fire Release far surpassed Hoshikawa's.
After all, the mysterious old man was truly amazing.
"What mission were you guys on?" Kurenai asked curiously.
"Minato-sensei sent us to track them after Iwagakure suddenly retreated, just in case it was a trick," Kakashi answered.
"They must have been scared off by us!" Kurenai said with a smile, slightly raising her chin.
"Now that you've arrived, we have enough manpower and won't be so busy," Kakashi nodded. "We've been fighting non-stop for the past two days with no time to rest."
Because Sakumo Hatake was alive, Kakashi wasn't the driven killing machine he was in the original story, frantically taking on missions.
"You must be exhausted. I'm just glad you're all okay," Rin said softly.
"Not at all!" Obito immediately replied with a goofy smile.
Just then, footsteps sounded.
"The meeting is over!" Kurenai's ruby eyes scanned the crowd and quickly spotted Hoshikawa.
She immediately waved to him.
"Kakashi," Minato called out.
"I'll go first." Kakashi bid farewell to Kurenai and the others and quickly walked towards Minato.
"What's the situation with Iwagakure?" Minato asked.
"They've moved their main camp," Kakashi paused, then added, "They retreated about five kilometers back from the previous location."
"That's strange," Minato mused. "They've been attacking fiercely and seemed very impatient for the last two days."
"Perhaps they realized Lady Tsunade's arrival made them incapable of resisting," Kakashi speculated.
"Unlikely," Minato shook his head. "We don't have an absolute numerical advantage over them."
Tsunade suddenly glanced at Hoshikawa.
Could the brat have actually been right?
Iwagakure was feigning an attack on Konoha, primarily to buy time and mislead Kumogakure.
"No matter what Iwagakure is planning, we cannot let them enter the Land of Fire," Tsunade said, collecting her thoughts.
"Yes, ma'am!" Minato immediately responded.
"You are all dismissed to rest. You'll begin missions tomorrow," Tsunade waved them away and walked towards the tent prepared for her.
"Long time no see, everyone," Hoshikawa came up to Kakashi, Guy, and Obito and said with a smile.
"Hoshikawa!" Might Guy couldn't help but ask, "Care for a youthful match?"
"You spar with me first!" Obito stretched out his hand and stopped Guy.
"Obito, Hoshikawa has been traveling all morning. It's not a good time to spar," Rin instinctively looked at him.
Obito felt a pang in his heart.
Rin, why have you become like this?
"I can do it." Hoshikawa agreed.
A quick spar wouldn't take much time, and who knew, he might even gain a new trait.
Especially since his C-Rank trait [Pyromaniac] hadn't been upgraded in a long time.
When he defeated Mei Terumī earlier, his C-Rank trait [A Lot of Water] was upgraded to B-Rank.
The effect was a 150% increase in Water Release talent on top of the original bonus.
He wondered if the current Obito could trigger an upgrade.
Hoshikawa estimated that upgrading a trait probably required defeating an opponent with strength exceeding Chūnin and approaching Jōnin.
"Be careful, and stop when you draw blood," Rin reminded them, seeing Hoshikawa had agreed.
Obito was even more annoyed.
Rin, why are you so obedient in front of him?
"Please." Hoshikawa stood before Obito and formed the Confrontation Seal.
A flash of crimson.
Obito immediately activated his Sharingan, two black tomoe visible.
This was to prevent Hoshikawa from immediately using genjutsu on him.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Obito attacked without hesitation.
A massive fireball erupted from his mouth.
A wave of heat permeated the air.
Rin, being within the fireball's range, instantly felt a burst of heat.
Only now did she truly understand that Kakashi's earlier words weren't an exaggeration.
Kurenai was slightly surprised.
Obito's strength had indeed increased significantly.
But compared to Hoshikawa, it was still too slow.
Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!
Hoshikawa remained standing, forming hand seals to face the overwhelming fireball.
A wall of water rose, blocking the great fireball.
The collision of water and fire instantly produced a large amount of mist.
Obito was not surprised. He knew one Great Fireball Technique wouldn't be enough to defeat Hoshikawa.
His goal was simple: to create mist.
In the mist, the Sharingan would still be affected, but it could see slightly clearer than normal eyes.
Body Flicker Technique!
Obito's body instantly vanished.
He used the cover of the mist to appear behind Hoshikawa.
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!
Obito saw Hoshikawa remain unresponsive, sneered, and formed hand seals.
The linear flames, like a fire dragon, shot out rapidly, instantly covering several meters.
But just as it was about to hit Hoshikawa, a water dragon appeared out of nowhere and lunged at the fire dragon.
More mist erupted, and the fire dragon was instantly extinguished.
Obito's eyes widened involuntarily.
How did Hoshikawa know where he was?
Just then, the ground where he was standing suddenly erupted with an earthen dragon head.
"What?!" Obito was shocked. He quickly used the Body Flicker Technique to escape, narrowly avoiding the mud bullets spat out by the earthen dragon.
Clang!
Obito crashed into an earthen wall.
He was stunned.
When did that earth wall appear? How could Hoshikawa predict the trajectory of his Body Flicker Technique so accurately?
"Damn it!" Obito shook his head and formed hand seals again.
Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique — Claws!
As he spat out flames, he threw shuriken.
The flames, like phoenix flower seeds, assaulted Hoshikawa from all directions.
Obito focused his gaze.
This was a B-rank Fire Release jutsu with a two-fold attack. Many only saw the flames and overlooked the shuriken.
He had successfully fooled many Iwagakure ninja with this jutsu during the last two days of fighting.
Water Release: Water Bullet Technique!
Hoshikawa remained in place.
Streams of water bullets shot out, hitting the shuriken wrapped in flames with extreme precision.
"How is that possible?!" Obito's body trembled.
The sound of rushing air followed.
He instinctively looked up and saw a large mass of sticky clay falling from the sky.
Obito quickly retreated backward but immediately hit an earth wall.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
He hastily spat out a fireball, shattering the earth wall.
But as soon as he took two steps, the ground turned into a huge swamp.
Obito's body began to sink.
He was stunned and terrified. What kind of jutsu was this?
Obito was about to try and escape when he suddenly heard thunder.
He looked up and saw Hoshikawa press his hand to the ground.
Lightning spread, traveling through the swamp and engulfing him.
Obito screamed twice before being knocked unconscious by the electricity.
(End of Chapter)
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