'Is this the standard of Genins nowadays?' Kaito thought inwardly as he parried Hideki's punch before ducking to the ground just as a foot flew through the space his head was a moment ago.
'This kid…' Kaito felt his composure waver, annoyance crept in as he caught the excited light in the eyes of the owner of the feet. 'Murakami. He is the one who's making the others look good.'
'What is with this kid?' Kaito thought incredulously. Just as he was about to relax a bit, his senses flared, and without hesitation, his figure blurred out of the spot he stood as a barrage of earth spears shot out of the ground.
'He is dangerous.' Kaito mused, but then shook his head. "No, he's… good.' He concluded as he came to a good enough gap between the trio and himself.
Kaito observed that while Hideki and Sora had so many flaws to count in their fighting styles, Murakami always found a way to turn it to their advantage.
'A sensory ability..?' Kaito thought, but then shrugged it off. While that may be possible, Murakami's level of awareness gave the feeling that it was purely physical.
What cemented this thought was that since the battle began, he hadn't felt any chakra fluctuations from Murakami until the very last moment following the earth spikes.
'Did he instantly perform a ninjutsu?' He thought curiously, but then felt that wasn't all.
There was also a strong force he felt from receiving attacks from Murakami earlier.
Dodging it was the only thing he could do, but even at that, there was still the risk of taking damage if not careful.
He was not a heavy hitter after all.
Kaito looked at the clock and found that only 20 minutes had passed since they began and couldn't help but smile wryly.
A keen battle sense and awareness coupled with a keen deployment of ninjutsu and strong physical body.
'This kid isn't a Senju, is he?' he couldn't help the thought from popping up, but then there was no way the village wouldn't have added that to his profile.
He was from a civilian background through and through.
'Sigh, no use crying over spilled milk.'
Shaking this thought out of his head, his eyes locked on to Murakami's, he recalled what Murakami had said the day before about his likes, dislikes and dreams.
Murakami was pragmatic, but that was for men and not kids, and from what he said, Kaito felt he was going through a phase, but now he wasn't so sure.
Pragmatism wasn't a phase, it was a mindset, and for a kid to have such a mindset…
Kaito's gaze slowly sharpened as Murakami stood there, his posture loose and unguarded, eyes calm, as though nothing about the past 20 minutes had truly pressured him.
Kaito rolled his shoulders as his stance lowered just a fraction.
'Pragmatic would be putting it lightly.' His analytic mind from his days in the ANBU spun. From his observation of the past 20 minutes, he saw that Murakami doesn't chase victory.
He simply works towards it.
Every movement from him so far had purpose.
His action flowed into one another.
Even his teammates' flaws had been woven and the flaws weren't apparent since he always covered for it.
Thus making it seem like the perfect teamwork.
'That is not just any random talent, If this continues…'
Kaito's eyes flickered briefly to Sora and Hideki before returning to Murakami.
'…they'll become extensions of him.'
That thought alone made his expression harden slightly.
A Genin who could already control the flow of a three-man engagement…
One had to realize that the three man cell was a newly established system and was still in its experimental stages.
(A/N: It'll later gain prominence with the Sanin managing to hold off Hanzo, a Kage Level powerhouse.)
That was no longer something to casually evaluate, it was something to measure properly.
Kaito straightened slightly.
"…Alright," he said aloud, his voice cutting through as the air shifted.
"Let's raise the level a bit."
The ground beneath him cracked softly as chakra finally began to flare more visibly around his body.
Across from him, Murakami's eyes narrowed just slightly.
Kaito noticed, then smiled faintly. "Try to keep up."
And just then, he vanished from his spot.
…
Murakami was having the time of his life. He always knew the feeling of freedom he'd get from releasing his weighted seal was euphoric, but this was beyond that.
To be able to finally see the fruit of his effort gave him a sense of fulfillment he wouldn't substitute for anything.
And hearing Kaito-sensei's final words before vanishing, he couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face as he bent his head backwards to catch the gaze of Kaito-sensei who had appeared on a tree branch behind them.
'Fast,' He thought, 'but still perceivable.'
"Behind us." He said to his teammates and jumped forward, deftly rotating his body. "Be on your guard, he's getting serious."
His foot touched the ground the moment he finished speaking, and not a moment later, he too disappeared.
"Huh?" Hideki who was still reacting to Murakami's words let out in utter astonishment. "What is going on? How did Sensei and Murakami do that?"
"..." Sora was equally bewildered but he kept his reactions in check. "They're just too fast for us to perceive."
He said and pulled out two kunai and held them defensively. "You heard Murakami, be on your guard."
"..."
"What?" Sora who was seriously looking forward couldn't help asking Hideki who kept his gaze on him.
"Hmm, so it's not a technique I'm unaware of." He said.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked, perplexed.
"Sensei finished talking and disappeared. Murakami did the same, so I thought you'd do the same too." Hideki said with a relieved smile. "It's good to know that you're normal."
Sora felt his eye twitch. 'Was this kid trying to be sarcastic or was he seriously relieved.'
"I just said that they're too fast for us to perceive." Sora said, his voice low in an attempt to hide his annoyance.
"That may be-"
"Watch out!" Sora's eyes widened as he saw Kaito-sensei appear behind Hideki, his hand chopping downward towards the oblivious boy.
But just as his hand could make contact, Hideki's body was replaced as Murakami appeared where Hideki just stood. "Huh?"
"Poof!"
The hand chop finally made contact, but what followed wasn't a groan as Sora had expected, but a burst of smoke that covered their sights.
"What are you both doing being all chatty during a battle?" Murakami's voice rang out from behind him, but just as he was about to turn, he felt the smoke before him part as Kaito-sensei was upon him.
'Shit! I got distracted.' He thought in panic and quickly brought his arms up to guard himself. Unfortunately, the attack didn't come from above as he felt a force from the side.
"Ugh." He groaned and spat out a mouthful of saliva, his eyes bulging, as his figure shot out of the smoke, pain momentarily paralyzing him.
It wasn't until he hit the floor that he managed to regain a bit of control over his body, but even that was difficult, as his body continued on its path.
Just as the despair of the situation was about to get to him, he felt a palm on his back, the force pushing him disappearing instantly.
"Are you okay?" He heard Murakami's voice and couldn't help the gratitude that welled up inside him. However, he couldn't bring himself to talk due to the pain and only nodded.
"Looks like Sensei was still faster." Murakami said with an apologetic smile and turned to the smoke that was clearing. "You didn't have to be so heavy handed, Sensei."
Kaito simply shrugged. "I thought you'd be faster. You managed to get to Hideki, you could've gotten to Sora too."
"Well, I thought, you'd be compassionate enough to not be so heavy handed." Murakami retorted. "This is supposed to be a test."
"Such excuses won't be tolerated on the battlefield." Kaito snorted, then looked to Sora who was still wheezing. "I also did say that the level was going up. He can only blame himself for letting his guard down."
Murakami looked at Sora, then at Kaito, then sighed. "You're not wrong. I also mentioned it to them."
"Good that you know." Kaito-sensei nodded. "Do you still wish to continue?"
Murakami nodded but then said, "But Hideki and Sora can't really keep up with us at this level."
"It's alright. They've already passed."
"Really?" Hideki, who was just running out from where he was substituted, asked as he heard Kaito-sensei's words.
He had an excited look in his eyes. He didn't know how he got to where he was but the last thing he saw before the substitution was the panicked look in Sora's eyes.
Now returning to the clearing, he heard Kaito-sensei saying they had passed.
"Of course." Kaito nodded. "As Murakami said, you both can't keep up at this level, but in the previous level, you've both passed with flying colors."
"We did?" Sora couldn't help asking skeptically while still nursing his ribs. "I don't think we managed to get any hits in."
"You didn't, but your coordination already earned my approval." Kaito said. "Now, you two should step to the side."
Murakami let go of Sora and nodded at him. Sora nodded back and whimpered to the side where Hideki came to meet him.
"What do you think is happening right now?" Hideki whispered curiously to Sora.
Sora turned to him, seeing him alright, an aggrieved light flashed through his eyes before he snorted and turned away.
Hideki was the reason he supposedly lost his guard, and while Murakami was able to pull him out of harm's way, he wasn't so lucky.
"Apparently, we are not strong enough to get involved in the ensuing fight." Despite his grievance, he still answered. He knew that it was just his luck.
If the situation was reversed, Murakami would've likely saved him first and Hideki would be the one hurt.
"That's true." Hideki surprisingly didn't make a retort on that, easily agreeing which left Sora surprised for a moment, but he didn't dwell on it and turned his attention to the two in front.
….
….
(A/N: At the point of their three way deadlock, they weren't Kage Level, they could just hold off a Kage level powerhouse.)