Chapter 400: Muyue's Strongest Disciple

"We'll win!" Obito thought confidently.

Shisui, the legend of being undefeated in internal battles, was in the past. After undergoing multiple transformations through various accidents, Obito was confident he could defeat Shisui, who was two years younger than him.

Shisui awakened his Sharingan earlier than him, but it was Obito who reached three tomoe first. That was proof that he had already surpassed Shisui.

Obito was already thinking about who his opponent in the second match would be.

Obito and Shisui walked together to the open space, took their stances, and formed the opposing seals.

"Begin!" Rin Nohara shouted when she saw the two were ready.

As soon as Rin's words faded, both concentrated their breathing to heighten their physical abilities and rushed forward using the Body Flicker Technique.

Thud! Thud!

Their fists and feet interchanged, continuously producing sounds of physical impact, and for a moment they were evenly matched.

Just then, Shisui suddenly switched from offense to defense and seized the opportunity to use the Body Flicker Technique to create distance.

He was clear about his strengths and weaknesses. Due to age, Obito's body was taller and larger; though it seemed stalemated, if it continued, Obito would have the advantage.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Obito did not choose to pursue immediately, because he knew Shisui was very skilled in the Body Flicker Technique; blindly chasing would allow Shisui to lead him around, and he might eventually show an opening.

A large amount of chakra gathered in Obito's throat, and then in an instant, it all transformed into fire-natured chakra and was expelled in one breath as flames.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The large amount of flame rapidly formed a huge orange-red fireball up to five meters tall, hurtling toward Shisui.

As an Uchiha who frequently used the Fireball, Shisui understood its various characteristics. To conserve chakra, Shisui did not use a jutsu to cancel it out, but instead used his agile footwork to dodge.

Normally, Shisui's chakra was sufficient and he didn't need to conserve it, because as an Uchiha who had already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, his chakra was much greater than that of an ordinary ninja.

But this battle was different. Shisui's opponent, Obito, was also an Uchiha who had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan. He wanted to use Armament Haki to break the situation, so he had to reserve some chakra for Armament Haki's use.

Seeing that Shisui did not use Fire Style to counter the Fireball but instead dodged, Obito immediately launched a fierce attack. He first threw a large number of shuriken, then used the Body Flicker Technique to close in and perform various rapid taijutsu attacks.

When using the Fireball, Obito had already prepared two attack plans.

If Shisui used Fire Style to cancel it, he would immediately suppress him with an even stronger Fire Style. Obito was very confident in his Fire Style, after all, he could enter the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

If Shisui did not fight head-on, then Obito would take this opportunity to consume more of Shisui's stamina and inflict some minor injuries.

Facing Obito's fierce offensive, Shisui calmly activated his three-tomoe Sharingan to enhance his abilities.

Obito also immediately gathered chakra and activated his Sharingan, continuing to maintain his dominant posture.

"As expected, I am stronger now," Obito thought to himself.

He had speculated he was stronger based on the previous battle between Kakashi and Shisui, but since a long time had passed since that battle, and Obito hadn't sparred with Shisui during that period, before the fight Obito only despised Shisui strategically; in his heart, he didn't have a 100% guarantee of victory.

After these few exchanges, Obito could be sure that Shisui's strength was inferior to his. In overall strength, he had already surpassed Shisui by a lot.

The probing was over. Obito concentrated his breathing to the extreme and entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, preparing to defeat Shisui in one go.

The Flame Breathing Chakra Mode not only greatly enhances nature transformation ability and increases Fire Style power, but also boosts the body to a higher level. It has almost no drawbacks except for the large chakra consumption.

Feeling the power surging endlessly in his body, Obito couldn't help but smile.

In the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, he could release Fire Style without hand signs and with tremendous power. What could Shisui use to fight him?

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu."

Obito clasped his hands together, then opened his mouth and spat out a large number of small fireballs toward Shisui.

Shisui retreated rapidly, his hands moving quickly, and finally, just as the mass of fireballs was about to reach him, he succeeded in using a jutsu.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!"

Although they used the same jutsu, because Obito had entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, not only were his fireballs greater in number than Shisui's, but also larger in size.

With the same nature transformation and even the same jutsu, naturally the stronger side would win. Obito's fireballs overwhelmed and canceled out Shisui's fireballs and continued to hurtle toward Shisui.

Facing such a large-scale attack, Shisui could only use chakra to protect himself as much as possible and then dodge frantically.

But the distance was too close; Shisui inevitably got injured. Obito's Sharingan could clearly see Shisui's wounds.

"Shisui, even though I'm technically your older clansman, I can't let you win in something like this." Obito thought the victory was certain, feeling a bit guilty.

Thinking about having to do many problems if he lost, that little guilt in Obito's heart quickly disappeared, and he burst out chakra and charged straight at Shisui.

Before being injured, Shisui could barely match him in normal taijutsu with a fifty-fifty chance. Now that he had activated Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and Shisui was injured, it was a ninety-ten split.

Actually, Obito thought it was a hundred-zero split, but he felt that would seem a bit arrogant, so he gave Shisui a one.

Obito gathered chakra in his palm and quickly converted it into fire-nature chakra. Fierce flames bloomed in Obito's hand, and every punch and slap carried scorching flames.

Facing Obito like this, Shisui seemed unable to withstand it and could only keep dodging, but was injured by Obito's rapidly executed large-scale Fire Release. The scales of victory gradually tilted toward Obito.

"It looks like Obito is going to win." Rin Nohara felt Obito had a great advantage.

Compared to Shisui, Obito was not only in a superior position but also had no injuries at all.

"Not necessarily." Kakashi shook his head and immediately expressed his opinion.

"Shisui shouldn't be suppressed like this. Even if Obito wins, he shouldn't win this easily."

Kakashi didn't see what trump card Shisui had hidden, but he was sure Shisui was definitely hiding something.

This battle went too smoothly for Obito, so smoothly that Kakashi felt Shisui was acting.

"Is this the bond between best friends? I think so too." Might Guy laughed and gave Kakashi a thumbs up.

Might Guy felt that Shisui was intentionally showing weakness to the enemy, sometimes even preferring to get injured rather than use ninjutsu.

"Fire Release: Flame Fist!"

Obito clenched his fist and gathered a large amount of chakra, preparing to use a Fire Release ninja body technique for the final finish.

Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was really strong, but its consumption was also really high. Obito realized he had already consumed two-thirds of his chakra without noticing.

But something unexpected happened: the flame fist he threw was actually caught by Shisui's palm—more precisely, by Shisui's black palm.

Obito was momentarily stunned, but immediately realized this was the Armament Haki secret technique that Muyue had taught them earlier.

Obito immediately wanted to burst out all the fire-nature chakra gathered on his fist, since he had thought Shisui was about to lose just now and hadn't used much power.

However, Shisui had predicted Obito's thoughts and immediately slammed Obito hard onto the ground, the immense force kicking up a cloud of dust and leaves.

Obito had no time to care about the pain in his palm and back; he gathered a large amount of chakra in his throat and then opened his mouth to spew a torrent of flames at Shisui. While Shisui dodged, Obito quickly scrambled to his feet.

But soon Shisui used Body Flicker Technique to close in again. As long as Obito dared to use ninjutsu, he would definitely take Shisui's Armament Haki iron fist. Obito could only engage in taijutsu combat with Shisui again.

Although hand seals weren't needed, casting ninjutsu still required a bit of time. What Obito lacked now was exactly that bit of time.

The situation completely reversed, turning into Shisui suppressing Obito. With his right fist injured, Obito couldn't defeat Shisui, who was using Armament Haki, in taijutsu.

"So he's mastered Armament Haki, no wonder he's using this tactic." Kakashi realized with understanding.

Shisui's earlier injuries were not only to lull Obito into complacency but also to conserve chakra for using Armament Haki, as this secret technique required a fair amount of chakra.

"He's already lost." Kakashi had already foreseen Obito's defeat in his heart.

Overall, Obito's comprehensive strength was still greater than Shisui's, even though Shisui had already learned Armament Haki.

Obito lost because of information and carelessness. If Kakashi had Obito's strength, he would be seventy-five percent sure of defeating Shisui.

As Kakashi expected, Obito quickly lost.

"I lost." Facing the flame kunai with a black luster in front of him, Obito admitted his defeat.

"Shisui wins." Rin Nohara announced the winner of the first battle and went to treat both of them.

The battle ended, and the stone hanging over Shisui's heart dropped. Winning one match meant he wouldn't have to accept punishment.

Obito in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was stronger than he had imagined. If it had been a normal fight, he would almost certainly have lost.

"I need to step up my training in the Breathing Technique." Despite winning, Shisui felt an even greater sense of urgency.

Obito had Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Kakashi had mastered Transparent World, and Might Guy, though like him he hadn't mastered the advanced breathing technique ability, had the powerful Eight Gates.

And although Armament Haki was strong, his current level of chakra couldn't allow him to fully use other ninjutsu while also using Armament Haki.

"It's just losing one battle, no big deal. Just try harder next time." Seeing Obito bow his head in silence, Rin Nohara gently comforted him.

"Ahaha, yeah, just a battle." Obito looked up and forced an ugly smile. "I don't mind."

Lies. Obito was so upset he could cry. Before the fight he talked big, then lost to Shisui, who was weaker than him. All kinds of emotions exploded inside him—shame, chagrin, regret.

He wanted to travel back to before the fight and slap himself hard. Why was he so confident? He ended up being the strong one who lost to the weak.

As sad as he was, he still had to put on a brave face in front of Rin. That was his last shred of stubborn pride.

Watching Obito, who looked like he might burst into tears any second, Rin wanted to say something but held back. In the end she chose to stay silent, thinking it might be better this way.

Obito took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, but the more he thought about it the angrier he got.

But he wasn't angry at others—he was angry at himself. Angry that he had looked down on Shisui during the fight.

"Don't be so down." Kakashi patted Obito on the shoulder.

Obito was a little surprised. He hadn't expected Kakashi to not rub it in and instead comfort him. "Kakashi, you..."

Before Obito could finish, Kakashi continued, "If you're sad, just think about the exam papers and questions you have to take next. That'll make you even more depressed."

Obito: …

Obito killed the gratitude in his heart. Unable to hold it together, he cursed, "You're laughing at me now. Wait till you lose too—you'll be even more laughable."

Kakashi's expression didn't change. "Losing to Guy doesn't prove anything. Guy's strength isn't inferior to mine."

Obito, once again hit by the implication, turned red, but lacked the confidence to argue back at Kakashi.

Seeing Obito too angry to speak, Kakashi nodded with satisfaction inside.

That's right—only by humiliating him like this would Obito learn his lesson. Being careless in practice just gets you punished; being careless in a real fight could mean death.

"From now on, no matter who the enemy is, as long as I haven't defeated him, I must never underestimate him." Obito resolved in his heart.

He never wanted to experience being humiliated to his face by Kakashi like that again.

Next, Kakashi and Might Guy walked to the open space on their own and squared off.

"My rival, let me feel your growth." Might Guy looked excited.

"This is a fight. Why do you have to say it so weirdly?" Kakashi couldn't help complaining.

One minute later, Rin announced that the second match had officially begun.

"Youth, burn up! Eight Gates: Gate of Opening, open… Gate of Rest, open!"

With a roar, Might Guy opened the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates. His chakra and aura both surged.

Facing Might Guy, who had simultaneously opened the Fourth Gate and entered Concentrated Breathing, Kakashi dared not be careless. He immediately focused his breathing as well and entered the state of the Transparent World.

In full power, Might Guy was extremely fast and possessed immense strength. Kakashi could not afford any mistakes.

"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"

Might Guy erupted with chakra, sprinting toward Kakashi under a huge boost, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Because he had entered the Transparent World, Kakashi could see through Might Guy's body movements, allowing him to easily dodge the first Whirlwind Kick.

Kakashi didn't rush to counterattack. Instead, he threw a few shuriken at Might Guy to probe his current strength.

"Leaf Hand Knife!"

Might Guy condensed a large amount of chakra in his palm, then slashed fiercely in the direction of the shuriken. A transparent air blade shot out, deflecting the shuriken and cutting down a large tree.

Then, with undiminished momentum, Might Guy continued his attack on Kakashi.

"Leaf Powerful Whirlwind!"

This time, Might Guy's attack was even stronger and faster.

Boom!!

All the trees around Kakashi were snapped off by Might Guy's Whirlwind Kick. The force was so great that the wind from the kick made the leaves rustle loudly.

This time, Kakashi used Lightning Release chakra to strengthen his legs for extra speed, and he dodged successfully again.

"His physique has improved a lot, but there hasn't been a qualitative change." Kakashi compared Might Guy to how he was in their last fight.

"I have a chance to win." The probing finished, Kakashi prepared to switch from defense to offense.

If Might Guy couldn't open the Fifth Gate, then he still had a good chance of victory.

Kakashi said he didn't care about losing to Might Guy, but if he could win, he definitely wanted to.

Not to mention anything else, the punishment for losing was really hard to bear—how wildly would Obito be dancing for that whole week?

"My rival, how about we settle this with a single decisive blow?" Might Guy suddenly said.

Might Guy wanted to see Kakashi's strongest attack at full strength; he was worried that if they kept dragging on, neither of them would be able to use their ultimate moves.

"Alright." Kakashi thought for a moment and agreed to Might Guy's proposal.

Not because it would be faster, but because Kakashi felt it was advantageous for him.

Along with improvements in Thunder Breathing and Lightning Release chakra nature transformation, Kakashi could now simultaneously strengthen most of his body at the cost of more chakra. If he used Thunderclap Flash in this state, its power would be greater than the normal version.

Normally, Kakashi wouldn't use this move because betting so much chakra on a single technique was too risky.

Since Might Guy took the initiative to propose it, he wouldn't hold back.

A smile appeared on Might Guy's face. Since he dared to propose settling it in one blow, of course he had confidence—he had been training hard on Golden Horizon for these past few months.

The good news was that Golden Horizon had become more refined; Might Guy could use more Eight Gates chakra to enhance it. The bad news was that it was too strong—after using it once, those two fingers would be useless for a day.

Although Might Guy didn't use hand seals, taijutsu shinobi's fingers were still important, so he thought it was better to just decide the match with one strike.

Might Guy took out a nunchaku, wrapped the chain around his index and middle fingers, and placed his right hand at his waist in a sword-drawing posture.

"Golden Horizon!"

Might Guy poured all his strength into those two fingers, then concentrated a huge amount of chakra in them, and finally swung his fingers in a swift charge.

Zzzzzttt!!

A dazzling yellow lightning enveloped Kakashi's body. Under the lightning's glow, Obito and the others could barely make out Kakashi's face.

Kakashi gripped the White Fang short blade tightly; a large amount of Lightning Release chakra surged from his arm into the blade, extending a lightning-edge from it.

"Thunderclap Flash!"

Boom!

A thunderous crash exploded, and Kakashi shot forward like a real bolt of lightning, leaving a scorched trail on the ground.

BOOM! BOOM!!

The lightning slash and the golden thread collided at high speed, triggering a massive explosion. The ground cracked, and a fierce wind swept the surroundings.

Rin Nohara squinted her eyes looking at the battlefield; the distance between them seemed like a road without end.

Although Rin Nohara worked very hard, every time she saw Kakashi and the others fight at full power, she still felt a little emotional.

"So strong, but it probably isn't a technique they can use casually," Shisui said, somewhat surprised by the terrifying attacks of the two.

For now, the strongest jutsu Shisui could use was still far behind theirs.

"Come on, Guy!" Obito stared intently at the battlefield, silently cheering for Might Guy.

If Kakashi lost too, then he would feel much better.

Bang!

The lightning-edge extending from Kakashi's White Fang shattered on impact, and at the same time, a spray of blood burst from Kakashi's body as he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, both of Might Guy's fingers were covered in bloody cuts, and after breaking the lightning-edge, they hung limply.

"I need to learn Armament Haki as soon as possible, or I won't be able to use White Fang to fight Guy in the future," Kakashi thought as he glanced at the White Fang short blade in his hand.

He had almost thought the White Fang his father left him would be shattered by Might Guy, but fortunately he had reinforced it with chakra.

"Guy wins." Rin Nohara announced the result of the match.

From a medical-nin's perspective, Rin Nohara judged that Might Guy's finger injury might be even more serious than Kakashi's physical wounds, but since Kakashi was on the ground, Might Guy won.

"Guy, great fight!" Obito was instantly overjoyed.

He was sad about losing his own fight, but he was happy that Kakashi, who had mocked him, also lost.

Mixing those two feelings, Obito was now half-sad.

Kakashi had just wanted to taunt Obito back, but thinking about his own punishment, he silently shut his mouth.

"What a grueling week." Kakashi felt that the punishment he had imposed on himself was a bit too harsh.

Not hearing Kakashi's response, Obito was a bit puzzled at first, but then immediately thought of Kakashi's punishment.

Just as Obito was about to launch a torrent of verbal abuse at Kakashi, Kakashi walked away.

"Aren't you going to train?" Obito called out to Kakashi, asking.

"Nothing much, just going to ask Teacher Muyue to come up with some problems." Kakashi replied flatly.

The smile on Obito's face stiffened, instantly shifting from fifty percent misery to seventy-five percent misery.

Originally, Shisui had wanted to postpone the third match by a day, since Might Guy's fingers, even after treatment, had still not returned to their peak, which would affect his combat ability to a certain extent.

"Let's do it today. I've also learned about your Armament Haki, Shisui, so that makes us even." Might Guy refused Shisui's proposal.

"Besides, it's not like I can only use Golden Horizon with these two fingers." Might Guy grinned broadly, showing two rows of big white teeth and laughing loudly.

To cope with more situations, Might Guy had specifically trained his little finger and ring finger, bringing them to a level where they could also use Golden Horizon.

Although not as powerful as his index and middle fingers, their power was still considerable.

Shisui thought it over and accepted Might Guy's proposal.

Might Guy's words did hold some truth. Even if his first opponent wasn't Obito, Shisui was confident he could catch Might Guy or Kakashi off guard.

It was hard to say whether he could win, but at least he could give them a shock with Armament Haki.

Watching Might Guy perform the Seal of Confrontation, Shisui took a deep breath.

Against a peak-condition Might Guy, Shisui believed he had almost no chance of victory, but the current Might Guy had two fingers that hadn't fully recovered—this was Shisui's opportunity.

"Begin the battle!"

Hearing Rin Nohara's command, Shisui immediately focused his breathing, activated his Sharingan, and charged toward Might Guy with the Body Flicker Technique.

With the support of Armament Haki and a three-tomoe Sharingan, he might be able to gain an advantage in taijutsu.

"Eight Gates: Gate of Healing, open!"

Might Guy laughed fearlessly and rushed forward to meet him. He wanted to test the strength of Armament Haki.

Bang! Bang!

The two clashed at high speed. The two unhealed fingers didn't seem to affect Might Guy at all; his taijutsu remained fluid and powerful.

Shisui was extremely astonished. Even in this state, Might Guy's taijutsu was still not at a disadvantage.

Though it was somewhat an unworthy victory, Shisui still chose to seize every possible opportunity to win, deliberately attacking Might Guy's fist with the injured fingers.

But what Might Guy did next caught Shisui off guard. Even with his Sharingan, he couldn't find an opening in Might Guy's movements.

Shisui immediately changed his attack method. He shouldn't fight Might Guy, who trained only in taijutsu, using taijutsu—it would be underestimating the taijutsu Might Guy had honed through daily, tireless effort.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Shisui gathered chakra in his throat and continuously spat out a barrage of small fireballs at Might Guy.

With Might Guy's Total Concentration of the Stone Breathing plus the fourth gate of the Eight Gates, ordinary Great Fireball Techniques had almost no effect on him, so Shisui chose the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique with more numbers.

Then Shisui combined ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, forcing Might Guy to dodge all over the place.

Kakashi, who had returned after obtaining the exam papers, nodded. Ninjas like them, who developed evenly, should flexibly use their own advantages.

"But Shisui still lacks experience." Even though Shisui's performance was impressive, Kakashi still believed Might Guy would win.

Shisui's raw strength was indeed somewhat inferior to theirs, not only due to physical development but also life experience. Kakashi and the others had also undergone several life-or-death crises to attain their current power.

Obito's Flame Breathing chakra mode, Kakashi's Transparent World—both were awakened by unleashing potential at the brink of life and death. Might Guy's rapid progress in the Eight Gates was also the same.

The battle developed as Kakashi had expected. Although Shisui could gain some advantage to a certain extent, he couldn't defeat Might Guy.

On the other hand, Might Guy seized an opportunity and used Golden Horizon again with his little finger and ring finger, decisively defeating Shisui.

"Guy wins." Rin Nohara announced the final victor.

"Hahaha!" The victorious Might Guy burst into laughter. The sharp pain coming from his fingers did nothing to dampen his excitement.

"I am Teacher Muyue's strongest disciple!"

Shisui clenched his fists in unwillingness. This title had been his for a long time, until he was defeated by Kakashi after the Chunin Exam.

"Next, I'll train more in the Armament Haki secret technique." Kakashi increased his training time for Armament Haki, striving to master it as soon as possible.

With the ultimate lightning release sword technique plus Armament Haki, Kakashi didn't believe he couldn't break Might Guy's Golden Horizon. If that still didn't work, he'd have to go ask Muyue.

Obito looked at the smug Might Guy, then at the unwilling Shisui and the dejected Kakashi.

"Next time, I must win it all." Obito didn't want to be one of the disappointed members three months later.

He preferred to be laughing while receiving Rin Nohara's congratulations. Then Obito thought about how to defeat Might Guy; to win three months later, Might Guy would be a tough opponent.

The three defeated people simultaneously began thinking of plans to deal with Might Guy.

PS: I'm feeling much better today, but I was still a bit sleepy while writing. I originally wanted to write 8k, but ended up stopping at 7k. I'll try harder tomorrow.