Chapter 592: Obito, Open?
As the sun slowly sank in the west, the day's training in the South Border Forest was nearing its end.
Obito glanced at Rin, who was receiving guidance from Minato, then walked over to Kakashi, who was sitting nearby.
"Kakashi, you don't look too good today. If you're too tired, you can cut back on training a little. Everyone knows you're pretty weak," Obito said, pretending to sound concerned.
Kakashi, who had just finished refining his Chakra, opened his eyes and looked at Obito expressionlessly.
He had originally planned to challenge Guy, the strongest in the group, to test how much the Yang Seal had improved him.
But now he had changed his mind.
He was going to teach Obito a lesson first.
After mastering Lightning Release Chakra Mode, his strength was now slightly above Obito's. Still, because of his Chakra limitations, one mistake could still give Obito a chance to turn the tables.
That made Obito the perfect test subject.
"In that case, Obito, you must be pretty strong, right? I'd like to see how strong you are now," Kakashi said immediately, issuing a challenge.
"Uh…"
Obito hesitated.
"No, I'm not really in the mood to fight lately," he refused, grabbing a random excuse.
He felt his chances of winning were low, and there was no point fighting Kakashi right now.
Why take a fight you were likely to lose, especially when there was no reward?
"If you win, I'll destroy all the photos," Kakashi said calmly.
He understood Obito too well. Obito would never agree to an ordinary fight he was likely to lose.
But if there was a prize Obito cared about, then Obito would be willing to gamble. After all, even a small chance was still a chance.
"You need to tell me what kind of photos first." Obito's heart instantly stirred, but he was worried Kakashi was playing word games, so he pressed for details.
Kakashi pulled out the photo of Obito wearing a twisted expression from his ninja pouch and said lightly, "This one. If you win, I'll destroy them all. Not a single one left."
"Alright, I get it."
Obito hurried over to help Kakashi tuck the photo away before anyone else could see it.
And just like that, a pleasant sparring match was arranged.
Since training time was almost over anyway, the other disciples gathered around as soon as they heard there was going to be a fight.
"We're only testing raw strength. No Summoning Jutsu allowed," Obito said before the match started.
Charizard was countered by Kakashi's Lycanroc, so the crafty Obito proposed the no summoning rule to improve his chances.
"I know," Kakashi replied calmly.
He was testing the Yang Seal. Rules like that made no difference to him.
"I have to win!"
Obito took a deep breath, his eyes burning with determination.
To him, this battle was as important as a life or death struggle.
If he won, that socially humiliating photo would be completely erased.
If he lost, then whether he was socially dead or not would still remain in Kakashi's hands.
"The match begins!" Mugetsu announced as referee after confirming both of them were ready.
The instant Mugetsu spoke, both of them focused their breathing to strengthen their bodies, and Obito directly activated his Sharingan as well.
Although keeping the Sharingan active continuously consumed a lot of Chakra, its sharp insight gave Obito much more room for error and made it less likely for Kakashi to catch him off guard.
More importantly, Obito had more Chakra than Kakashi.
Against Kakashi, he did not need to be too conservative, because Kakashi's endurance in prolonged combat was worse than his.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Kakashi did not activate the Yang Seal right away. Instead, he casually threw several shuriken at Obito.
Clang! Clang!
Obito threw out the same number of shuriken. Each one struck Kakashi's precisely, intercepting them all.
Obito could not help but smile smugly.
Shuriken had always been one of his strong points since his Academy days, and with the Sharingan helping him, something like this was easy.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Kakashi formed hand seals while moving and split into two Shadow Clones.
"Clones? Watch me burn all of you in one shot!"
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Obito retreated slightly, gathered a large amount of Chakra in his throat, and spat out a huge wave of flames.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Kakashi quickly formed hand seals and raised a thick earthen wall in front of himself.
The raging flames slammed into it, leaving scorch marks across the surface, but they failed to break through.
Obito continued feeding Chakra into the attack, silently controlling the sea of fire and splitting it into three fire dragons that attacked from both sides and above the earth wall.
That was the advantage of Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. Even with a large scale attack, it could still be manipulated with flexibility.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just then, three Kakashis suddenly burst out from behind the wall, slipping through the gaps between the fire dragons and charging straight at Obito.
Obito's expression did not change at all. He had expected it.
Kakashi had mastered Transparent World. The earth wall could block Obito's sight, but it could not block Kakashi's.
So it was no surprise that Kakashi had seen Obito redirecting the fire dragons and responded immediately.
"Flame Breathing Chakra Mode!"
Obito pushed his breathing to the extreme and instantly entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
"Flame Vortex!"
Obito pressed his palms together, and a vast mass of flames burst out, surrounding the three Kakashis who were rushing at him and forming a vortex of fire that rapidly tightened inward.
"Bold and careful. Obito really has grown a lot," Minato praised.
That attack had clearly been planned in advance, not guessed blindly.
Minato felt that as long as the opponent was not overwhelmingly stronger than Obito, most shinobi in the world would be caught off guard and seriously injured, if not killed, by that move unless they already had information on him.
The hand sign free, instant release of Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was truly a huge advantage in one on one combat.
Bang, bang, bang!
The three Kakashis trapped in the vortex of flames all turned into white smoke and vanished.
"Eh? Why were they all Shadow Clones?" Yamato asked in surprise.
A moment ago, he had been worried Kakashi would be seriously injured if that Fire Release hit him, but he had not expected all three to be clones.
At the same instant, a hand quietly reached out from behind Obito.
Whoosh!
Obito's body instantly moved at high speed, narrowly causing Kakashi's hand to miss.
The moment Kakashi realized Obito had seen through his move, he did not hesitate at all. He immediately surged forward, raised his hand, and struck.
Zzzzt! Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
Brilliant purple lightning gathered in Kakashi's palm, turning his hand into a blade of Purple Lightning.
"Fire Release: Flame Fist!"
Obito compressed flames around his fist and swung his burning fist straight into Kakashi's lightning coated hand.
Crackle! Crackle!
Rumble! Rumble!
Purple arcs and fiery red sparks shot everywhere as a violent explosion erupted.
The impact forced both of them back by several steps.
"Hehe, Kakashi, this time I saw through all your tricks. Let's see how you're going to win now," Obito thought smugly, feeling incredibly pleased with himself.
Even though it looked like the two of them were evenly matched, Obito knew he held the advantage.
Kakashi's endurance was worse than his, so as long as he kept dragging this out, Obito was sure he would win.
What pleased Obito the most was that he had successfully seen through every single one of Kakashi's attacks.
Kakashi was always saying he was reckless and had no tactics. Obito really wanted to see what Kakashi would say after losing this time.
"Three Shadow Clones and one Purple Lightning. I want to see how many more attacks you can still put together," Obito calculated silently.
Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall did not consume too much Chakra, but Purple Lightning definitely did.
Right after that, Obito canceled Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
Keeping both the Sharingan and Flame Breathing Chakra Mode active at the same time was too extravagant. Most of the time, using one was enough.
"Earth Release: Stone Pillar Spear!"
The Kakashi whom Obito thought was about to be cornered still maintained his previous rhythm and launched another attack immediately.
Kakashi did not use Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but he cycled through all kinds of different techniques instead.
Lightning Release, Earth Release, and fast swordplay combined together and gave Obito a lot of trouble, but none of it managed to defeat him.
Obito's smile grew wider and wider.
"Haha, after using that many Ninjutsu, even if he activates Lightning Release Chakra Mode next, he won't have enough Chakra left for any Ninjutsu," Obito laughed wildly in his heart, already picturing his own victory.
In his eyes, Kakashi had underestimated him in this fight, still treating him like the old Obito and completely misjudging his stamina.
"Let me teach you a painful lesson."
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Obito spat out a giant fireball at Kakashi.
Kakashi's Chakra should have been almost empty by now. It was finally Obito's turn to press the attack.
Whoosh!
Facing the incoming Great Fireball, Kakashi used Body Flicker Technique to dodge.
Obito did not let up. He burst forward and continued the chase.
In an instant, offense and defense had switched places.
"Is Obito actually going to win this time?" Rin asked in surprise.
She had originally favored Kakashi.
It was not that she looked down on Obito, but Kakashi's earlier performance had clearly looked stronger.
"Not necessarily. Kakashi still hasn't used Lightning Release Chakra Mode," Guy said, shaking his head.
He believed Kakashi would win this one.
As for the reason, it was simply a gut feeling about his best friend.
"Flame Breathing Chakra Mode!"
Seizing the chance to strike while the enemy was down, Obito once again entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, intending to defeat Kakashi with everything he had in the next two minutes.
Facing the aggressively advancing Obito, Kakashi brought his hands together, interlocked his ring fingers and pinkies, and extended the other three fingers in overlapping alignment to form the Tiger seal.
"Yang Seal Release!"
The instant Kakashi released the Yang Seal, the huge amount of Chakra stored inside it surged out, instantly pushing him into Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
His body underwent a tremendous boost, and his aura rose sharply.
"Hm?"
Obito immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The Sharingan was not as precise as the Byakugan in seeing Chakra, but it could still give a general impression.
"This isn't right. How does Kakashi still have that much Chakra? Where did all that Chakra come from?!"
Obito stared at the massive surge of Chakra erupting from Kakashi and was both shocked and confused.
Was this still the same Kakashi who would collapse after one all out slash?
Obito wanted to report Kakashi for cheating. How could someone suddenly gain this much Chakra out of nowhere?
"Hahaha, as expected of my best friend!" Guy laughed loudly with his arms folded.
"I need to prepare an even stronger new move for my best friend," Guy thought.
Recently, Guy had been trying to combine all his Taijutsu knowledge to create a brand new technique, one that could only be used when Rock Breathing Chakra Mode was stacked with the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates.
Although the Taijutsu taught by Mugetsu was already excellent, Guy believed self created techniques held special meaning.
After all, no one understood his body better than he did. A technique made by himself would definitely suit him best.
And in the future, he could pass it on to his own disciples too.
Kakashi drew the White Fang Short Blade from behind his back, stepped forward with his right foot, swept his left leg behind him, and tilted his body left with the motion.
"Flash: Godspeed!"
Bright yellow lightning erupted around Kakashi as he shot forward like a real bolt of lightning.
Obito had already begun retreating the moment he sensed something was wrong, but the distance between them was too short. Kakashi, who had already burst into extreme speed, caught up almost instantly.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Obito had no choice but to burn Chakra at full speed through Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, transform it into Fire Release Chakra, and spit out a huge wave of flames to stop Kakashi from closing in.
"One Thought Cut!"
Purple Lightning continuously flowed from Kakashi's palm into the White Fang Short Blade, extending the White Fang into a purple lightning blade.
Crack!
A sharp crack of lightning rang out.
A dazzling purple slash flashed through the air, splitting the flames rushing at Kakashi in two before dispersing them entirely.
Thud.
Before anyone could fully understand why Kakashi had suddenly become so terrifying, Obito dropped to the ground, a scorched lightning wound visible across his chest.
But when everyone looked at the ground in front of Obito, they immediately understood that Kakashi had already held back.
The earth before Obito had already been carved open into a scorched trench.
If Kakashi's slash had struck Obito fully, then what they would be looking at now might have been two pieces of Obito.
"What an astonishing strike. Even Senior White Fang might not have been able to achieve something like that," Minato thought in surprise.
In terms of pure burst output from a single attack, Minato felt Sakumo might not necessarily have surpassed Kakashi as he was now.
Of course, Kakashi still had a long way to go overall. A shinobi's true strength depended on overall capability, not just one powerful finishing strike.
Even so, Minato still found it unbelievable.
After all, Kakashi was only eleven years old, not twenty one.
"Kakashi wins," Mugetsu announced the result.
For Mugetsu, who knew the full situation, this battle had never really contained any suspense.
After mastering the Yang Seal, Kakashi at full strength was no longer on the same level as Obito.
Kakashi had always been restricted by his Chakra reserves, and the extra Chakra provided by the Yang Seal was simply too significant for him.
.....
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