Chapter 190: Becoming the Taijutsu Strongest

"I hope you're not just talking." Kakashi said calmly, assuming his stance.

Kakashi wouldn't underestimate Might Guy's strength, but he didn't think the current Guy could defeat him.

So far, he had never lost a fight against anyone his age, let alone those from his year — he hadn't even lost to people two or three years older than him.

"Begin the fight!" Muyue shouted quickly once both were ready.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Kakashi immediately pulled out numerous shuriken and hurled them at Might Guy.

Might Guy burst chakra into his feet and vanished from Kakashi's view with a swoosh, using the Body Flicker Technique to dodge the incoming shuriken.

Sensing the gust of wind coming from his side, Kakashi kicked sideways, and his foot collided with Might Guy's.

Bang! A dull impact rang out, and the immense force sent Kakashi staggering back several steps.

Knowing he couldn't beat Might Guy with taijutsu alone, Kakashi continued retreating while quickly forming hand seals to use a ninjutsu.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

After splitting into two shadow clones, Kakashi stopped retreating and charged at Might Guy along with his clones.

Kakashi's real body hung slightly behind the two shadow clones, ready to rush in with Purple Lightning and pin Might Guy down the moment he left an opening while attacking the clones.

Seeing Kakashi's swift counterattack, Might Guy burst into laughter.

"Kakashi, this is the first time I'm using this forbidden technique in a fight. Ever since I mastered it, I've been saving it for you."

"Breath of Rock: Total Concentration Breathing!" Might Guy entered a state of highly concentrated breathing, absorbing massive amounts of oxygen to enhance his physical abilities. The inhaled air traveled through his chakra pathways and tenketsu, working with his chakra to strengthen his entire body.

That wasn't all. On top of the Breath of Rock Total Concentration Breathing, Might Guy opened the Eight Gates.

"Eight Gates: Gate of Opening, open!" Might Guy roared, releasing the gate that limits chakra within the body. His chakra surged instantly, and his physical prowess increased further.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

The moment Kakashi's shadow clones charged forward, Might Guy unleashed an incredibly fast spinning kick, its sheer power dispersing both shadow clones on the spot.

"My chance!" Kakashi narrowed his eyes, raised his right hand, and concentrated a large amount of chakra in his palm for Lightning Release nature transformation. Then he dashed toward Might Guy.

Kakashi swiftly completed the nature and shape transformations. Brilliant purple lightning bloomed in his palm, as if sheathing it in a purple blade.

But Might Guy, using both the Breath of Rock and the Eight Gates, was stronger than Kakashi had imagined. Although he had just defeated the two shadow clones, the moment Kakashi charged, Might Guy displayed incredible speed and easily dodged Kakashi's slash.

"This speed… how?" Kakashi frowned. The speed Might Guy had suddenly shown exceeded his expectations.

On the second day after joining the team, Kakashi had sparred with Might Guy once, so he was dealing with Guy based on that battle experience. After all, only half a month had passed — Guy shouldn't have improved that much.

But reality told Kakashi he was wrong. Might Guy's speed half a month later was on a completely different level from half a month ago.

Not only Kakashi, but even Obito and Shisui, who were watching, were shocked by Guy's speed.

"What's going on? Did Guy's Breath of Rock make another breakthrough? Why did he suddenly get so fast?" Obito scratched his head and said in surprise.

He couldn't quite understand the burst of speed Guy had just shown, but he remembered it hadn't been long since Guy succeeded in training the Breath of Rock. If anyone was going to break through in breathing techniques, it should have been him first.

Watching the speed Guy displayed, Shisui's expression turned serious. If he were to face this version of Guy, he might need to use his Sharingan to secure a sure win.

Realizing his misjudgment, Kakashi immediately adjusted his technique to compensate. He activated the Purple Lightning in his right hand, turning it into bolts of lightning that shot out in all directions.

The wide-range Purple Lightning sacrificed some power for a larger attack radius, and since it was still lightning, it could paralyze the opponent.

But Kakashi had underestimated Might Guy's combat ability and his desire for victory.

When Muyue was teaching Armament Haki, he had demonstrated Purple Lightning a few times. Since Purple Lightning was different from other Lightning Release techniques — being violet lightning — Guy had a strong impression of it.

When Kakashi used Purple Lightning, Might Guy was already on guard. After dodging the slash, he quickly retreated, evading the incoming purple lightning.

"Damn it." Seeing Might Guy dodge the Purple Lightning, Kakashi knew something was wrong.

Although Purple Lightning was flexible and powerful, it required a lot of chakra. Having expended a huge amount of chakra without achieving any results, Kakashi was already at a disadvantage in this fight.

After evading the Purple Lightning, Might Guy knew the time to counterattack had arrived. He was already on the path to victory. He immediately dashed toward Kakashi at full speed.

Might Guy could feel power surging endlessly from within his body. The breathing technique drew strength from the outside, while the Eight Gates unlocked his inner potential. With both forbidden techniques working together, his power had reached the peak since he began training.

As he ran, Might Guy poured all his strength into his leg, condensing a vast amount of chakra there. He intended to concentrate all his power and deliver a kick of unprecedented might.

If Might Guy were to pull up his trousers at this moment, he could see the terrifying sight of all the meridians on his legs bulging.

"Ultimate · Leaf Strong Whirlwind!"

In the midst of his sprint, Might Guy gathered all his strength and suddenly kicked out with a limit-breaking strike.

The gust kicked up at the moment of his strike was enough to blow Kakashi's white hair backward.

"This attack cannot be met head-on; I have to dodge it." That thought immediately appeared in Kakashi's mind.

However, the next moment Kakashi abandoned that thought, because the rapidly approaching Might Guy showed him through fact that Might Guy was far faster than him; having lost the tactical exchange, Kakashi had already lost the chance to dodge.

When Might Guy dodged the Purple Lightning slash, both Might Guy and Kakashi had two choices: Kakashi could either change the form of Purple Lightning or retreat, while Might Guy could either use his speed to attack with taijutsu or retreat.

The reason Kakashi chose to change the form of Purple Lightning instead of retreating was that he feared Might Guy would directly launch an attack; in that case, retreating would be meaningless for the slower Kakashi.

So Kakashi chose to turn Purple Lightning into a wide-area attack; if Might Guy dared to attack, he would be instantly paralyzed by the lightning.

Although Kakashi executed his idea very decisively, unfortunately Might Guy was equally decisive and successfully predicted Kakashi's move, causing Kakashi's attack to miss and wasting a large amount of chakra.

Might Guy was getting closer and closer to Kakashi, leaving Kakashi no time to think; he didn't even have time to form hand seals, and he didn't have enough chakra to use Purple Lightning, which didn't require hand seals, a second time.

He concentrated chakra on his arms, making a final resistance.

"Kakashi, can you do something? Show some effect!" Although he usually looked down on Kakashi, seeing Kakashi being suppressed by Might Guy made Obito feel a bit uncomfortable.

He really wanted to give Might Guy a thousand ryo to switch places, just imagine how satisfying it would be if that kick were aimed at him.

It might be a bit unfair to Might Guy, but Obito actually wanted Kakashi to win, because he wanted to be the first person to defeat Kakashi.

To defeat Kakashi and then throw back all those sarcastic words Kakashi had said verbatim — just thinking about it made Obito grin from ear to ear.

Mu Yue watched this scene with his hands behind his back, not surprised; Kakashi's mistake was not because his battle intelligence was inferior to Might Guy's, but because his raw strength was inferior, which caused Kakashi to be under great pressure during the tactical exchange, making him more prone to errors.

As the distance between the two grew closer, Might Guy suddenly remembered the first time he met Kakashi; back then, Kakashi was first in enrollment, while he was a failed applicant.

Because of his hard work, he was eventually admitted to the ninja school through supplementary enrollment, and happened to be placed in the same class as Kakashi.

During class, the teacher asked Kakashi to demonstrate the Clone Technique, and Kakashi immediately produced several Shadow Clones; from then on, Might Guy knew what a true genius looked like.

Might Guy still hadn't forgotten the teacher's praise of Kakashi at that time, and the admiring looks from classmates toward Kakashi; from then on, he vowed to surpass such a genius, Kakashi.

But Might Guy's strength at that time was very poor, not only in ninjutsu but also in taijutsu; when Might Guy first challenged Kakashi, Kakashi easily defeated him in one move.

Might Guy was mocked by many for overestimating his abilities, a dead last trying to challenge a genius.

He ignored these people's words, treated the mockery as encouragement, and silently increased his training volume; every time he made progress, he would go challenge Kakashi.

Meeting Mu Yue was a crucial turning point in his life; Mu Yue taught him stronger taijutsu, gave him secret medicine to eliminate fatigue, and created a training plan for him to improve his strength faster.

Faced with Might Guy, whose strength was rapidly increasing, Kakashi gradually had to bring out his full power to deal with him, using all his means.

But challenging a genius was very difficult; until yesterday, in serious battles, Might Guy had never won a single time against Kakashi.

"Guy, I believe you can become the strongest in taijutsu, because you are a genius of hard work."

Mu Yue's words still echoed in his ears; as he breathed heavily, Might Guy felt another surge of power in his body, and he continued to pour that extra power into his leg.

"Super · Leaf Strong Whirlwind!"

The kick he launched was no longer a limit-breaking strike, but a strike surpassing the limit!

Bang!!!

Might Guy's limit-surpassing kick struck Kakashi's crossed arms, producing a loud explosion.

Feeling the immense power coming from his arms, Kakashi's expression instantly changed dramatically; the sharp pain quickly spread from his arms to his entire body. After only a few seconds of clash, under the impact of the tremendous force, Kakashi was sent flying backward and slammed heavily into a tree.

Kakashi felt as if his whole body was falling apart; he tried hard to stand up but failed, collapsing to sit limply on the ground.

"Kakashi, I won this time!"

Might Guy rested one hand on his knee, panting heavily, and gave Kakashi a thumbs-up with a smile.

After four years of hard work, he had finally defeated the genius who had once been able to defeat him in an instant; relying on his body trained day and night and his cultivated taijutsu, he had defeated that genius Kakashi.

This time, it was the victory of the genius of hard work.

【Disciple Might Guy has completed the training mission.】

【Disciple Maite Kai has obtained an optional life quest.】

【Life quest: The path to becoming the strongest in body techniques.】