Chapter 144: Triggered Mission

Just when Obito had begun celebrating victory in his mind, something unexpect happened.

Kakashi, caught in the aftermath of the Fire Style explosion, vanished with a puff of smoke.

Obito naturally didn't think he had killed Kakashi; if he had been blown up by Fire Style, the corpse should still be there.

"It was a Shadow Clone!" Obito sensed danger, but it was too late. The moment Obito relaxed, Kakashi, hidden underground, struck decisively.

"Konoha Hidden Technique: One Thousand Years of Death!"

Kakashi formed the Tiger hand seal with both hands and burst out from underground, aiming for Obito's weak point.

"Aaaah!" Obito's expression instantly changed drastically; the sharp pain in his vulnerable area made him jump several meters high. Even after hitting the ground, he kept protecting the severely struck weakness with both hands, but it was useless.

Obito lay on the ground with his rear in the air, letting out an indignant roar: "Kakashi, you despicable bastard!"

"You were just too careless," Kakashi said calmly as he walked up.

"When the enemy disappeared from your sight, you didn't observe carefully after seeing him again and just charged in. If I were the enemy, you'd have died several times already." Kakashi spoke bluntly.

In terms of chakra, Obito currently had only 1,100 points of chakra, while Mu Yue, months ago, had seen Kakashi at 2,500. Obito was completely outclassed in chakra.

"At your current level, even if you challenged me ten thousand times, you could never win," Kakashi said flatly.

"But doing this well is still pretty good. The opponent is that genius Kakashi after all. Even a new teacher like me occasionally hears legends about him from the ninja academy," Mu Yue said with a smile.

Kakashi stood there with a calm expression, while Obito, with a look of humiliation and unwillingness, covered his injured area and slowly walked away.

"Just a Kakashi—I'll beat him sooner or later," Obito said. He hoped that one day he too would become famous and be known by Mu Yue, making Mu Yue proud of him.

This shocked Kakashi greatly. Just a few months ago, Obito couldn't even beat his five-year-old self, and now he had strength on par with Kakashi at age six. The rate of progress was simply too large.

If it weren't for his overwhelming combat experience over Obito, Kakashi would have had to put in some effort to deal with Obito.

If Obito had awakened the Sharingan, such rapid progress would be normal. But Obito hadn't used the Sharingan, which was very strange.

"Why has his strength suddenly improved so quickly, and yet he hasn't awakened the Sharingan…" Kakashi wondered to himself.

Although he hadn't personally seen the two of them fight, Mu Yue's account was full of flaws.

…

As for ninjutsu, Mu Yue didn't know Kakashi's specific stats. He hadn't used the upgraded Appraisal technique on Kakashi before, but going by the earlier Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall, Kakashi's level was certainly not lower than Obito's, and most likely stronger.

Because the injured area was rather awkward, Obito waited a while until he felt better before going to Mu Yue, hoping Mu Yue could help him review the match before he fought Kakashi again.

"I believe that one day, Obito, you will defeat Kakashi," Mu Yue said warmly.

"With your current stamina and chakra, you can't maintain the Breathing Technique for too long. That crucial Total Concentration Breathing burst must be saved for the critical moment to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy."

Although it had been over two years since he became a chunin, Kakashi had wasted over a year due to certain events, so his strength hadn't undergone a qualitative leap compared to when he was six.

"Let's go," Kakashi said coldly, glancing at Obito's back.

"Just you wait," Obito said, feeling underestimated as he headed toward the door while holding his rear.

But Kakashi's heart wasn't as calm as his expression; in fact, he was very surprised.

Just then, Kakashi's teammates arrived and saw this bizarre scene.

"You used Total Concentration Breathing too early," Mu Yue said, shaking his head after hearing the details of Obito's fight with Kakashi.

"Uh, was our timing off?"

If he had a Breathing Technique level like Mu Yue the Sage, mere Kakashi couldn't have made him so miserable.

"But right now, it's difficult. You'll need to train harder," Mu Yue said, describing Kakashi's current strength to Obito.

Since Kakashi had said so, the two teammates had nothing to add and followed along.

"What do you mean timing? Our fight is over. He has plenty of free time now," Obito said, then left without looking back.

Obito's current strength was impressive, but wanting to beat him was wishful thinking.

"Damn it…" Obito couldn't refute it, because he really lost—not to some powerful jutsu, but to a Shadow Clone.

And from Obito's description, Kakashi was able to quickly recover from an initial setback and counterattack, showing that Kakashi's taijutsu and combat experience were superior to Obito's.

"Better stop with the big talk. If you want to dream of defeating me, you'd better train for a few more years first," Kakashi said with a calm expression.

"Damn it, if only I had the Sharingan, if only I had mastered Flame Breathing..." Feeling the waves of pain from his vulnerable spot, Obito punched the ground in frustration.

After all, Kakashi was going on a mission. If it took a long time, he might not return for a week or even half a month. Obito could use this time to get stronger and then challenge him again.

"I see, it's true that using Total Concentration Breathing makes you feel a bit tired." Obito listened carefully to Muyue's analysis.

"Maybe so, Hatake. The teacher said to gather at the Hokage Building later; we have a mission today."

"There's still some time to prepare. The teacher said this mission will be quite difficult," his teammate reminded.

Because after the recent fight, Kakashi judged that Obito now had the strength he himself had at age six. That is to say, Obito currently had the strength to pass the Chunin Exams, but he was temporarily not qualified to take them.

If Obito had lost because of ninjutsu clashes, he wouldn't have felt so regretful. This was purely his combat experience being crushed.

Unlike him, this student, Kakashi had been a ninja for over three years and had experienced real life-and-death battles.

"Damn you, Kakashi. I just let my guard down. Once I'm healed, get ready to taste defeat." Obito felt that by learning from this failure, he might succeed next time.

"As a ninja, I am ready to go on a mission at any time." Kakashi walked straight toward the Hokage Building.

After the whole match, aside from the breathing technique he hadn't fully mastered, Muyue couldn't see where Obito's advantage lay.

"So that Kakashi guy is actually this strong?!" As Obito listened to Muyue's point-by-point analysis, he realized he had underestimated Kakashi's strength.

"Good thing I came to find Teacher Muyue." Obito thought gratefully; if he had suffered another One Thousand Years of Death, that would have been a real pain.

Just as Obito was thinking that Muyue was the right teacher, Muyue also received a notification.