Kakashi's first probing attack came!
He suddenly cut in from Shinichi's blind spot, the short blade making no sound as it stabbed toward the elbow joint of Shinichi's sword arm like a venomous snake, the angle extremely tricky.
Shinichi did not try to block the swift strike with his long blade—that could have missed.
He chose the most direct response—his foot snapped back in a short half-step retreat. At the same time, his waist twisted, and using the momentum of that backward movement, the long blade swept out in a heavy yet rapid horizontal slash, using offense as defense. The blade's arc covered all the paths Kakashi might use to advance!
This strike was powerfully weighted, yet its speed was astonishing as well, carrying a whistling pressure of wind!
Kakashi's pupils shrank slightly. He instantly pulled back the thrusting motion, then without the slightest hesitation leaned back and spun his body. Like a willow leaf blown by the wind, he narrowly let the blade edge skim past the tip of his nose.
He neither took the hit nor gave Shinichi any chance to borrow momentum to pursue. With a light tap of his foot, he had already slid off in another direction.
After being crushed in the first taijutsu exchange, Kakashi had long since come to a profound realization of Shinichi's inhuman strength.
Therefore, when this second bout of swordplay began, his tactics were perfectly clear from the very start:
Move constantly, search for an opening, strike once to kill—never give the opponent any chance to bring that strength advantage into play.
Thus, in the first exchange, the clash occurred within a hair's breadth, yet there was no real collision.
But soon, Kakashi's offensive rose like an unbroken tide.
His figure flickered left and right. The short blade would sometimes dart forward like lightning in a direct thrust, and at other times glide like a light breeze toward the knee, wrist, ribs, and other weak points in defense.
His swordplay was agile and elusive, his footwork exquisitely precise. Fully exploiting the flexibility of the short blade and his own speed, he brought the traits of speed and variation inherent to White Fang swordsmanship to their fullest.
Shinichi, meanwhile, was like a reef in a raging current. His range of movement was small, but every step was firm and grounded. He abandoned any attempt to chase Kakashi's ghostlike figure and instead focused on defense and counterattacks.
When his long blade moved, it became the most effective tool for blocking and driving the enemy away.
Each swing was broad and heavy, the blade wind surging. He did not seek to land a hit—only to force Kakashi to keep his distance, preventing him from closing in and completing those refined combinations.
Slash!
The short blade swept past Shinichi's upper arm, slicing open his clothes, but the muscles he tensed in time—together with a slight turn of his body—shed most of the force, leaving only a shallow mark.
"Hah!"
The long blade slashed back, but Kakashi had already leapt away in advance; the blade edge only cut through the afterimage left behind.
Whoosh!
Kakashi rolled in low along the ground, his short blade flicking upward. Shinichi's knee snapped up, his iron-hard knee knocking the blade off its line. At the same time, the pommel hammered down, forcing the other back.
After several exchanges, the scene settled into a bizarre balance: Kakashi's offense was like a violent wind and sudden rain, yet each time he was about to succeed, Shinichi dissolved or drove it back with overwhelming strength and that almost instinctive defensive intuition.
Outside the ring, none of the students dared to breathe, staring without blinking.
And the two homeroom teachers—Fumio and Inoue—were even more taut. Their expressions were tight, bodies leaning slightly forward, eyes locking onto every single movement of the two in the field like hawks.
Chakra was already circulating silently within their bodies, ready to step in at any moment the instant things might cause a student serious injury—or worse.
He's fast, but!
Not faster than me! And not agile enough!
Maybe I can do it like this…
A sharp light flashed in Kakashi's eyes. He finalized his plan. No longer satisfied with circling and probing, his figure paused—then he burst out at extreme speed, faster than before, transforming into a straight silver flash as he launched an ultra-fast thrust!
Finally took the bait!
Shinichi's lips curved into a faint arc, at the very instant Kakashi drove his speed to its peak—when old force was spent and new force had not yet been born, and his trajectory was hardest to change.
Shinichi moved too!
[Agility (White): Your movements are more nimble than ordinary people's; your bodily coordination and action speed both receive a slight boost.]
He indeed only had an [Agility] Entry that slightly increased his agility and speed; it did seem that speed truly was not his strong suit.
But Entries were ultimately just equipment. A personal status panel would not display the values he himself had forged through training.
Moreover, supported by powerful physical qualities and enhanced by chakra, Shinichi could also force a miracle in speed through sheer strength!
Bang!
The sand and gravel beneath his feet suddenly exploded!
No retreat, no block—instead, at a speed not the slightest bit inferior to Kakashi's thrust, he charged straight into that silver flash head-on.
The long blade in his hand became a precise, swift, diagonal upward slash, condensing the full-body strength and speed he had gathered!
This strike came later, yet it was as if it had foreseen everything. The blade's trajectory targeted the space at the front end of Kakashi's thrusting path, as well as the joint of the arm holding his blade!
This was a precisely calculated interception!
If Kakashi's speed was like a ghost—flickering, elusive, impossible to grasp—then Shinichi was like a heavy yet violent gale: calm at its eye, but once unleashed, utterly devastating.
And now was the moment of release!
Kakashi's pupils contracted sharply as he faced the oncoming blade, impossibly fast as it bore down on him head-on.
He wanted to change his move. He wanted to evade.
But at such extreme speed, his body was already hard to control. All of his momentum and force had been poured into this single thrust.
Retreat?
Too late!
Dodge?
The blade had sealed off every angle!
Withdraw the strike?
His balance was already lost!
He had no choice but to take it head-on!
Clang!!!
The short blade and the long blade finally collided—unavoidable, solid, and direct!
The sound was ear-splitting, far surpassing any previous exchange!
Sparks burst from the point where the two blades struck!
Kakashi felt an irresistible, torrential force smash violently into his weapon. His arm went numb with pain, the short blade in his hand shuddering violently, nearly flying free. His guard was blown wide open, his flaw fully exposed!
Now!
A cold light erupted from Shinichi's eyes. That violent gale finally broke free of all restraint, transforming into a destructive tsunami!
He stepped forward, his entire presence surging to its peak. The long blade was brought down without the slightest reservation, crashing straight down in a simple, brutal arc!
No flourish at all—only the purest expression of strength and speed!
And Kakashi, once again, felt with absolute clarity what he had experienced in their first battle: Shinichi's merciless, advantage-pressing assault, a suffocating chain of attacks like a raging storm that left him no room to breathe!
Clang!
The first strike! It blasted away the short blade Kakashi had barely managed to raise!
Bang!
The second strike! The back of the blade slammed viciously into the arm Kakashi had hurriedly brought up to block, drawing a pained grunt from him as his defense collapsed completely!
Slash!
The third strike! The cold edge of the blade was already pressed firmly against the skin of Kakashi's neck, sending a bone-chilling cold through him.
The violent storm rose in an instant—and then came to an abrupt halt.
Once more, the weapon in Shinichi's hand stopped steadily before Kakashi's throat.
On the field, an absolute deathly silence fell, as if all sound had been stripped away.
Only that long blade—the symbol of total victory—reflected a merciless sheen beneath the sunlight.
Victory and defeat, at this moment, were beyond all dispute.
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