Chapter 506

After the battle at the Long Gate was over, Kakashi returned to the First Arena, waiting for the second round to start while also observing the ninjas in the First Arena.

Since Kakashi returned late, the first round was already mostly over. Kakashi only watched a few matches, and then the second round was about to begin.

Kakashi was very calm. Based on his observations while wandering around several arenas, the average strength of the ninjas in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament was actually that of a Chunin.

Let alone them, even Rin Nohara could easily enter the knockout stage as long as her luck wasn't too bad and she didn't encounter a ninja like Nagato.

"It's easier than I imagined," Kakashi thought.

In Kakashi's original assumption, the highly anticipated Martial Arts Tournament should have been very competitive, with many young geniuses from the five great ninja villages participating.

However, that was not the case. Among the more than two hundred participating ninjas, the ninjas from the five great villages were actually a minority.

On the Konoha side, Kakashi was the clearest: there were eighteen participants in total.

On the Kirigakure side, Kakashi only saw the team of Mei Terumi, a total of six Kirigakure ninjas.

On the Sunagakure side, Kakashi also only saw one team, with only four Sunagakure ninjas.

As for Iwagakure, the number was relatively large. Kakashi roughly counted about twenty-one people, making it the largest ninja village among the participants.

Kumogakure had the fewest participants. Kakashi only saw three Kumogakure ninjas among the contestants, and he didn't see many other Kumogakure ninjas in the Six Paths City either.

The reason for this situation, Kakashi believed, was mainly two factors.

First, it was a time of war with tense circumstances, so the large ninja villages could not send too many young geniuses to the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

Second, it was about the appeal of the reward. Although Fire Dragon Dance now had the title of the strongest fire release, the strongest fire release was still fire release.

For a village like Kirigakure, those who used fire release were truly few. That batch of very few fire release users might not even be able to learn Fire Dragon Dance. Under such circumstances, Kirigakure would not be too interested in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

Kakashi guessed that the reason Kirigakure sent ninjas was the mindset of "we can't use it, but we can't let others take it either."

"It's fine too. If a ninja like Killer Bee had come, even Guy would have had trouble dealing with him," Kakashi nodded to himself.

Killer Bee had become famous at a young age. When Kakashi was still a Chunin, Killer Bee and the Fourth Raikage A were already renowned in the ninja world.

Kakashi had encountered the new AB Combo twice on missions, so he knew a little about Killer Bee's strength.

"Second round, first match: No. 1 Hatake Kakashi vs. No. 3 Komiyama Yuji!"

Hearing the referee's call, Kakashi suppressed his thoughts and walked onto the battlefield.

Komiyama Yuji sighed and walked up as if resigning himself to death.

Although the battle hadn't started yet, based on Kakashi's performance in the previous match, his chance of winning was zero.

"Begin!"

"Flash!"

As soon as the referee's words fell, Kakashi immediately focused his breathing, drew White Fang, and charged like lightning.

Komiyama Yuji only felt a blinding electric light flash before his eyes. He had just drawn his kunai when the next moment, the short blade of White Fang was already at his throat.

The battle ended extremely quickly again.

Unlike the previous match, this time Kakashi's instant kill was beyond doubt, whereas in the previous match some people still didn't know who Kakashi was.

The contestants with numbers within eight looked at their own numbers and couldn't help but sigh in lament. How could they fight? It was like the outcome was already locked in defeat.

After the battle ended, Kakashi did not hesitate and immediately rushed to Arena No. 6.

He had killed his opponent so quickly because he was worried that if he arrived late, he would miss the battle of Sand Crab.

Sand Crab was No. 3, which meant he would be in the first match of the second round.

Fortunately, the pace of battles in the Sixth Arena was slightly slower. By the time Kakashi arrived at the Sixth Arena, the second round had not yet started; the last match of the first round was still underway.

Kakashi stood quietly in the Sixth Arena, waiting for the second round to begin.

Nagato's number was towards the back, so there was no rush to go to the Seventh Arena.

"No. 1 Shuzo vs. No. 3 Sand Crab!"

Seeing the Grass Ninja headband on Shuzo, Sand Crab's opponent, Kakashi was somewhat disappointed.

Although small ninja villages were not without capable fighters, they were too few. Kakashi estimated that he might still not see more of Sand Crab's techniques this time.

As Kakashi expected, the Sand Crab defeated Shuuzou using only taijutsu, without even resorting to chakra threads.

"Second round, second match: No. 5 Momochi Zabuza vs..."

Hearing the referee's call, Kakashi looked up at the battlefield.

"If it's that Mist ninja, he should be able to force the Sand Crab to show some real skill." Kakashi recalled his fight with Zabuza in his mind.

Given the strength Zabuza had shown at that time, as long as he hadn't been too lazy these two years, he shouldn't end up being slaughtered by the Sand Crab's taijutsu like the Grass ninja.

Sensing Kakashi's gaze, Zabuza turned to look at him.

"Did you come specifically to watch my fight? My blade is much sharper now than before."

Two years ago during the Chunin Exam, the power Kakashi unleashed to protect friendship was still unforgettable to Zabuza.

Zabuza hasn't met anyone yet worth swinging his blade for with his life, but he trained hard these past two years.

Not to mention defeating Kakashi, Zabuza felt he should at least let Kakashi experience a little fun in battle.

Since there was still time before Nagato's match, Kakashi went to check on Nohara Rin's fourth arena.

Before he even reached the fourth arena, Kakashi could hear Obito cheering for Nohara Rin.

Kakashi watched for a bit. Nohara Rin's opponent was at the level of an ordinary chunin, and Rin beat him without any chance to fight back using only basic taijutsu.

Kakashi wasn't surprised by this. Although Rin specialized in medical ninjutsu, her overall ability was that of a solid Konoha jonin. As long as she wasn't compared to Kakashi and the others, she was still quite strong.

After greeting them, Kakashi quickly went to Shisui's fifth arena.

At that moment, Shisui had just finished his fight and was walking off the battlefield. He saw Kakashi approaching and greeted him.

Kakashi replied and then asked, "Shisui, did you notice any ninja to watch out for in the fifth arena?"

Kakashi figured Shisui would have noted down the intel on outstanding ninja.

"There's a rock ninja named Nagashi who is quite strong. He has the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai," Shisui replied.

"But his number is very high, so we won't meet in the preliminaries."

"I suspect the tournament's numbering might not be completely random. They're avoiding strong ninja meeting before the elimination rounds," Shisui said his speculation.

"I investigated the surrounding arenas. There weren't any closely matched strong fights—either it was one-sided or both sides were equally weak."

"Your guess is probably right." Kakashi nodded, then told Shisui all the intel he had gathered.

"It seems this Ninja Sect has a considerable intelligence network."

It was one thing to know the strength of the genius ninja from villages in neighboring countries, but to know the strength of all participating young ninja would require intelligence capability.

Because geniuses don't always have combat records—for example, before Kakashi and the others went to the battlefield, even within Konoha village, they weren't very famous, let alone in the Land of Fire or the whole ninja world.

Even if they had records, unless they were on the level of Muyue's feats, they couldn't become known throughout the ninja world. At most, they'd be famous among the combatants and then spread to some extent in neighboring countries.

Kakashi didn't discuss match numbers with Shisui for too long, since overall this arrangement was more favorable to them.

Feeling that Nagato's match time was approaching, Kakashi went to the seventh arena to watch Nagato fight.

"Second round, fifth match: No. 17 Raido Namiashi vs No. 19 Nagato."

Kakashi silently mourned for Raido Namiashi for 0.1 seconds. Winning was impossible for Raido; the question was whether he could last a few moves to give Kakashi more intel on Nagato.

"A tough opponent." Raido Namiashi took a deep breath and walked onto the battlefield with a serious expression.

"Raido, good luck!" Kakashi encouraged, hoping Raido could hold out a bit longer.

"Since Kakashi came to cheer for me, I can't let you down too much." Raido was a bit surprised to hear Kakashi's voice.

When the fight began, Raido immediately retreated, formed hand seals, and created two shadow clones. The left and right shadow clones charged at Nagato in perfect sync, trying to create an opening for the original.

At that moment, Nagato also created a shadow clone. Both the original and the clone expressionlessly formed hand seals rapidly.

"Fire Release: Great Flare!"

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

Nagato's original spat out a compressed fireball in the center of the battlefield. As soon as it landed, the compressed flames inside burst out, creating a sea of fire.

Then the shadow clone spat out a high-pressure wind ball. When the wind ball hit the sea of fire, it turned into a large-scale storm. Wind aided the fire, and the fire's intensity immediately became extremely terrifying, engulfing Raido's two shadow clones.

Namiashi Raido's eyes widened, and his hand gripping the longsword almost failed to hold steady, nearly letting the blade fall to the ground.

What excellent matching mechanism was this, making him fight an opponent of this level?

"Referee, I concede." Namiashi Raido raised his hand and gave up cleanly before the sea of fire spread over.

If he could get close to Nagato, then he, being skilled in taijutsu, might have had a chance to fight, but Namiashi Raido's speed clearly wasn't fast enough to dash in front of Nagato and land a slash before Nagato could release his ninjutsu.

"Nagato wins!" the referee announced the result of the match.

"His fire release is no less skilled than wind release, and he can combine ninjutsu." Kakashi silently noted down this new information, further raising Nagato's threat level.

Next, Kakashi stayed in the seventh arena until the second round was almost over before returning to his own first arena.

Kakashi, as before, quickly defeated his opponent and then hurried to the sixth arena where Sand Crab was.

Now Kakashi had a bit of information on Nagato, but Sand Crab was truly deeply hidden; apart from a skill with chakra threads, it was just ordinary taijutsu.

Zabuza, noticing that Kakashi was watching again, subconsciously puffed out his chest as he walked toward the battlefield.

"Begin the fight!"

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

As soon as the fight began, Zabuza immediately burst out chakra and emitted thick fog to obscure vision.

He had also watched Sand Crab's battles and knew that opponent was not easy to deal with, so Zabuza went all out from the start.

Kakashi frowned slightly. The Hidden Mist Jutsu, as a secret technique of the Hidden Mist Village, had a high ceiling; not only could Obito's Sharingan not see through it, but his own Transparent World couldn't either.

At this moment, Kakashi could not see the fight inside the thick fog and could only judge the general situation of their battle by sound.

"Is there no way to deal with the thick fog, or is it fine not to deal with it?" Seeing that the thick fog hadn't dissipated even after a minute, Kakashi couldn't determine which possibility it was.

After another minute, sounds of intense fighting rang out, and the thick fog gradually dissipated, revealing the fallen Zabuza and the unharmed Sand Crab.

Kakashi felt helpless. Gathering information was really not easy; after watching three matches, he still hadn't gotten anything useful. The only thing he could confirm was that Sand Crab's strength was not weak.

Kakashi watched for a while longer and felt that in the fourth match he should really be able to collect useful information.

The fourth round was the final round of the preliminaries. The ninjas who had won up to the fourth round would not be too weak in strength, and according to the sequence, Sand Crab's opponent in the last match would be an Iwa ninja, who wouldn't start by creating a fog to block vision.

Nagato's opponent in the third round was also average. Nagato still used the wind-fire combination ninjutsu to instantly kill his opponent, and Kakashi did not obtain any new information.

After the third round ended, they did not immediately proceed to the final fourth round; instead, there was a three-hour intermission. The final round would take place after three hours.

Kakashi and the others used this intermission to eat together and then exchange information with each other.

Kakashi first told them all the information he had gathered, then waited for the other disciples to speak.

"There are actually other Akatsuki members participating in the martial arts tournament. In my arena, I saw the leader of the Akatsuki, Yahiko." Obito spoke after hearing Kakashi talk about Nagato's information.

"He seems to be skilled in water release ninjutsu. I only watched one of his fights, so I'm not particularly sure." Obito said honestly.

Kakashi was slightly surprised. He had thought Obito would spend all his time in Rin Nohara's arena, but it turned out Obito did collect some information, though not much.

After Obito finished, Rin Nohara and Shisui also described the situation in their respective arenas.

"In my arena, it feels like there aren't any opponents worth paying attention to." Might Guy rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

In the eighth arena, Might Guy felt that no one could withstand his Golden Horizon.

If Obito had said this, Kakashi would have thought Obito was really putting on airs, but if Might Guy said it, then there was really nothing wrong.

After all, when Might Guy unleashed his full power, stacking the Eight Gates with the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, his strength surpassed even the Four Ninja Swords.

After the fourth round began, since Sand Crab was also in the first match, Kakashi directly split a Shadow Clone to collect information in the sixth arena while his main body returned to the first arena to compete, to avoid missing critical information.

Today, I checked and found a small error in yesterday's content. It has been corrected.

Kakashi had actually seen Nagato before, but they had never spoken. He had also seen Yahiko and Obito, but Konan had only been seen by Shisui.