Chapter 510

Whoosh!

Kakashi took a deep breath, concentrating the Lightning Breathing more and more, entering the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode.

Traces of electric light flickered around Kakashi's body, pulsing with the rhythm of his breath like dancing lightning serpents, strengthening his body and steadily boosting his power and speed.

As his breathing deepened, the lightning glow on Kakashi became even more dazzling, and a powerful aura emerged, blowing away the dust and smoke around him.

Hōzuki Mangetsu sensed the dramatic change in Kakashi and stopped in his tracks, gripping his longsword tightly as he began to retreat.

Although Kakashi liked to treat the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode as a supplementary technique for Muramasa-less Slash, the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode itself was actually an extremely powerful ability.

It not only activated the body, greatly enhancing physical capabilities, but also improved the nature transformation of Lightning Release Chakra, allowing him to use Lightning Release without hand seals and with even greater power.

However, the issue of chakra efficiency always forced Kakashi to make trade-offs; he had to carefully allocate his abilities to maximize combat effectiveness.

Swish! Swish!

Just as Hōzuki Mangetsu was wondering what kind of technique Kakashi was using, Kakashi shot two kunai at him at lightning speed, and these kunai were imbued with Lightning Release chakra nature transformation!

Clang!

Bang!

Hōzuki Mangetsu swung his sword to cut at the incoming kunai while forming a pistol shape with his other hand to shoot water droplets to intercept.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Because he compared Sōsuke to the Ninja Order, and the Rain Village to the Ninja Sect, the result was that all the Ninja Sect's entrants—Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan—advanced, while more Rain Village participants fell before the elimination rounds. In terms of the next generation of genius ninja, the Rain Village lagged far behind the Ninja Sect.

During the Chūnin Exams, she had felt that Kakashi was just so-so—though stronger than her, not entirely without a chance of winning.

"I lost…" Hōzuki Mangetsu's eyes widened, never expecting to be so easily defeated in the first round.

Her Hidden Mist Technique was of a very high level, and most detection methods in the ninja world couldn't break through its effects.

Terumī Mei put herself in his shoes; even if she had been in his place, she couldn't have dodged Kakashi's lightning-fast slashes.

Looking at the results, Terumī Mei had indeed improved, and by no small margin, but the actual gap between them had only widened.

Bang!

Before Hōzuki Mangetsu could even see Kakashi's figure, Kakashi was already in front of him, pressing the White Light Short Blade wrapped in boundless lightning against his neck. Hōzuki Mangetsu could clearly feel the dancing arcs of electricity on it.

"Hanzō, why did you suddenly laugh? Is a Rain Village contestant about to appear? I don't recall any Rain Village ninja making it to the elimination rounds—or am I misremembering?" Kakuzu, sitting to Mugetsu's left, asked curiously.

Hōzuki Mangetsu had no time to think too much; he stepped back with difficulty, then raised his hand to release a jutsu.

Boom!

"Hatake Kakashi wins!" the referee announced.

"Lightning Flash: God Speed!"

Hōzuki Mangetsu hadn't expected Kakashi's next strike to come so quickly. He desperately used the Water Transformation Technique to try to dodge, but was still caught by the lightning.

Boom!!

Thunder roared as all the power erupted the moment the Lightning Release chakra burst. Kakashi shot forward like a streak of lightning, leaving a scorched black trail on the ground.

Hanzō really hoped that a dark horse would appear in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament and steal first place, because Sōsuke's expression would definitely be very amusing then.

The only countermeasure Terumī Mei could think of was to release the Hidden Mist Technique in advance.

Due to the nature of lightning, Hōzuki Mangetsu couldn't maintain his full water-body form, and the parts struck by lightning suffered severe damage.

At that moment, her feelings were like when, in the last exam, Kakashi scored seventy-five while she only got seventy.

Whether it was due to lack of strength or bad luck in facing strong opponents, all Rain Village ninja fell in the preliminaries, with none advancing to the elimination rounds.

The current Kakashi, Terumī Mei felt, was truly terrifying.

A mass of water droplets, like raindrops, formed in front of Hōzuki Mangetsu's palm and then shot out.

"Water Release: Water Hail!"

Since Hanzō was to attend the Youth Martial Arts Tournament as a special guest, quite a few Rain Village ninja participated in the tournament.

He knew Kakashi mastered Lightning Release and had been deliberately on guard, but he never expected Kakashi to be able to perform seal-less Lightning Release so quickly; the intelligence he had on Kakashi didn't include this ability.

Kakashi expelled a sharp bolt of lightning at Hōzuki Mangetsu without performing any hand seals and with no warning.

For Hanzō, this was a bit embarrassing.

Hōzuki Mangetsu felt greatly aggrieved inside—he still had many wonderful uses of his Hydrification Technique he hadn't shown, many moves he hadn't used. How could he lose like this?

Hanzō's face, which had originally been faintly smiling, stiffened instantly, then returned to its usual expressionlessness.

"To think he even hid a hand-seal‑less Lightning Release…" Hōzuki Mangetsu's expression turned ugly as he felt the pain spreading through his body.

When Kakashi walked back into the waiting room, many of the ninja inside were still replaying in their minds the lightning‑fast slash Kakashi had delivered.

Seeing the referee announce the winner, Kakashi sheathed the White Light Chakra Sabre and walked toward the contestant waiting room.

Judging by Kakashi's performance, he was undoubtedly a super genius. However, Kakashi was a few years younger than Nagato and had a disadvantage in training time; otherwise, the final outcome of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament might have been different.

Kakashi was not the kind of person who liked to give his opponent any chance, so he immediately used his strongest technique aside from the Mu Sō Ittō.

After working hard for a long time, she scored eighty points, but Kakashi scored ninety‑five.

Hanzō stared at the arena where the next match had not yet started, his expression indifferent. He wished the fight would begin and end quickly so he could return to Amegakure; staying in this Rikudō Castle made him thoroughly uncomfortable.

He concentrated all his strength, his body taut like an arrow just about to leave the bowstring.

"What's going on? I feel like I've trained so hard, but the gap is getting even bigger." Terumī Mei was somewhat baffled.

"That speed is a bit interesting. If it were a little faster and a little stronger, he might have had a chance to snatch first place from Nagato." Hanzō shook his head with a hint of regret.

Having believed his own disciple strong enough, he had set his strongest jutsu as the first prize—only to have some outsider come out of nowhere and take it. Just thinking about it made Hanzō find it amusing.

But on the other hand, Hōzuki Mangetsu was somewhat convinced, because Kakashi's strength and combat ability were both extremely formidable—he was not someone that Mangetsu could defeat at this point.

"Why is it like this?" Terumī Mei felt very frustrated inside.

"As expected of Kakashi. Though he's stronger, he's still so steady." Nohara Rin smiled, clasping her hands together.

If Kakashi wanted to pursue the fastest way to defeat his opponent, he could have gone all‑out from the start and beaten Hōzuki Mangetsu, possibly in even less time than Might Guy.

But Kakashi didn't do that; instead he chose to probe for information first, then finish off the enemy in one go.

Nohara Rin felt that Obito really needed to learn this from Kakashi.

Based on Nohara Rin's understanding of Obito, when an opponent was a bit weaker than he was, Obito would generally pick the flashiest fighting style.

Obito curled his lip, "He's just showing off. Let him try cutting twice more."

With Kakashi's amount of chakra, if he cut twice more, someone would have to carry him into the waiting room.

"Hatake Kakashi… What relation is he to the 'White Fang of the Leaf,' Hatake Sakumo?" Sasori's eyes flickered, and he couldn't help taking a look at the approaching Kakashi.

Before the elimination tournament, he hadn't cared about any of the participants, so naturally he wouldn't have paid special attention to an unfamiliar Konoha ninja.

Now Sasori carefully analyzed Hatake Kakashi's features and suddenly realized that this young ninja named Hatake Kakashi looked very similar to the White Fang of the Leaf.

The person Sasori hated most in his life was that ninja known as the White Fang of the Leaf.

Because it was the White Fang of the Leaf who had killed his parents, robbing him forever of the warmth of his parents' embrace.

One of Sasori's main motivations for learning the Puppet Technique was to kill the White Fang of the Leaf and avenge his parents.

However, fate played tricks—by the time Sasori had mastered the Puppet Technique, news of the White Fang's suicide quickly reached Sunagakure, and Sasori thus lost the great goal of his life.

Sasori had no revenge to pursue because his enemy was already dead. For this reason he was despondent for a long time, feeling that life had lost its meaning.

"The child of the White Fang of the Leaf… Very well. Your father killed my parents—I will be the one to kill you." Sasori's long‑dormant vengeful heart began to burn.

At this moment he no longer cared about that so‑called million‑ryō chakra blade; if he could avenge his parents, what were a few materials for making puppets?

Although he had closed his Transparent World, Kakashi was very sensitive to the smell of danger. He suddenly sensed a faint killing intent and instinctively scanned the waiting room.

Because of Kakashi's recent brilliant performance, many ninja in the waiting room were looking at him. Kakashi memorized everyone's expression, but for the moment he couldn't pinpoint who exactly harbored killing intent toward him.

"No, I can't strike here." Sasori put on a calm expression and suppressed the killing intent inside him.

A large number of young geniuses were gathered here, and there were also ninja from the Ninja Sect. Sasori wasn't sure whether he could kill Kakashi under these circumstances.

Kakashi's speed just now had been too fast; as long as Sasori couldn't land a one‑hit kill, Kakashi could escape with his extreme speed.

If at that time the Ninja Master Sōsuke and the Demi‑God Hanzō acted together, it would be difficult for Sasori not only to kill Kakashi but even to escape safely.

He needed to find a suitable opportunity, just like when he killed the Third Kazekage.

"Who could it be? Kirigakure, Iwagakure, or Kumogakure?" Kakashi pondered which ninja had murderous intent toward him.

Using normal logical thinking, it was definitely more likely to be the ninja villages that had been at war with Konoha.

Among the three great ninja villages, Kakashi thought Kirigakure was the most suspicious, because he had killed many Kirigakure ninja on the eastern front battlefield, and it was possible that among them were relatives or friends of the Kirigakure participants.

Secondly, Kakashi and his team were more famous in Kirigakure than in the other ninja villages, so it was not impossible for Kirigakure to have their own participants try to assassinate him during the tournament.

Although he knew someone wanted to kill him, Kakashi was not flustered at all, because his four teammates were beside him, and Muyue was not far away.

Even if Mizuki Kan and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were resurrected and came again, they would not be qualified to kill him.

"Be careful from now on. Someone might be targeting us Konoha ninja." Kakashi sat down next to his teammates and wrote this sentence on a piece of paper.

After seeing it, Obito's eyes widened and he wanted to say something, but Kakashi put his finger to Obito's mouth and shook his head slightly.

At the moment, they were in the open while the enemy was hidden, so they could not reveal that they had discovered the enemy's intentions.

Shisui swept his gaze over all the participants without leaving a trace, looking for suspicious ninja.

Rin Nohara tensed her body, ready to gather chakra and fight at any moment.

"We have plenty of strength on our side, no need to worry too much." Kakashi wrote another line.

After thinking about it, Rin Nohara agreed. With Might Guy and Shisui here, they were now an elite squad of five jonin.

The matches continued in an orderly manner.

After Kakashi's match, there was a fight between an Iwa-nin and a Kumo-nin, and in the end the Kumo-nin narrowly won.

Next was Shisui's match, and his opponent was also an Iwa-nin.

Shisui won this match very easily. He used only the Sharingan genjutsu to effortlessly defeat the Iwa-nin.

This greatly pained Kitsuchi in the audience. Although many Iwa-nin advanced to the elimination rounds, most of them lost in the first round.

Further on, Kakashi saw an acquaintance — Asuma, who had come to the tournament with them.

Kakashi felt that Asuma's position was a bit awkward.

If you said Asuma was weak, he really wasn't that weak. Asuma hadn't had much trouble defeating his opponent in the first round of the elimination tournament. But if you said he was strong, Asuma was still quite far behind them.

Although his strength level was somewhat awkward, Kakashi thought Asuma would probably make it into the top eight.

Because Asuma had gotten a very good draw — he wouldn't encounter too strong a ninja before the quarterfinals.

Everything had to be compared. Asuma didn't measure up when compared to them, but compared to most participants, his strength was already quite decent.

In addition, Mei Terumi, whom Kakashi had suspected, also advanced to the second round.

When Obito's match, the second-to-last, began, he immediately activated his Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and used a large-scale Fire Style to defeat his Iwa-nin opponent.

Both contestants in the final match were not from the major ninja villages. One was a ninja from Kusagakure, and the other from Shimogakure. In the end, the Kusagakure ninja won the match with superior skill.

This made Kakashi sigh at the disparity in the world. Some people fight Nagato or Might Guy in the first round, while others fight a Grass-nin in the second round. Obito's draw was really too favorable.

Thus, the first round of the elimination tournament ended.

Since the later contestants fought while the earlier ones rested, the earlier fighters in the second round could also rest after their matches.

So the halftime intermission was not long. After half an hour, the second round officially began.

Starting again from the first number, Nagato, in order.

PS: I was too sleepy today. I almost fell asleep while writing, it's really ridiculous. I was almost face-rolling the keyboard while typing.

It's probably the backlash from staying up late yesterday. Only one chapter today. Tomorrow I'll see the situation and write more, trying to make up for it.