Chapter 515

Might Gai concentrates all his strength into his arms; veins bulge on his arms, and he seems to transform into a poised tiger ready to strike.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Might Gai clenches his fists and delivers ultra-fast punches at a single point in front of him, faster than ordinary eyes can track, stirring up a fierce gale.

The Daytime Tiger is not only wide-reaching but also powerful; Might Gai feels that even Kakashi wouldn't be able to easily block this technique.

And after blocking the Daytime Tiger, Kakashi might not have enough chakra left to execute the Thoughtless Slash.

"Indeed, chakra capacity is a fatal weakness." Seeing this, Kakashi instantly understood Might Gai's plan and let out a soft sigh.

Might Gai's tactics were simple but effective.

In most battles, Kakashi's chakra forced him to make choices instead of having it all.

"But they say that potential is forced out under pressure. Since no matter what I choose I'll end up losing, I'll go all out." Kakashi silently entered the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode.

A simple Earth Style Wall could not block Might Gai's Daytime Tiger. Whether he used an offensive technique to cancel it or a defensive ninjutsu to block it, after dealing with the Daytime Tiger Kakashi would lose the ability to unleash the Thoughtless Slash.

So Kakashi decided to use all his chakra to deliver the most powerful slash of his life, betting that this slash would both cut through the Daytime Tiger and catch Might Gai off guard.

If the bet succeeded, Kakashi would win; if it failed, Kakashi would lose.

If this were a real fight, Kakashi might have hesitated—losing combat ability on the battlefield is terrifying.

But this was just a match, and his opponent was a friend; Kakashi felt he could take this gamble.

After all, not gambling would mean certain defeat and accepting the penalty of losing something akin to an internal conflict; gambling gave him a chance to advance.

Zzzz!!

The crackling sound of lightning rang out; dazzling purple lightning blossomed on Kakashi's arm and eventually flowed along his hand into the White Light Short Blade he had just drawn.

"Daytime Tiger!"

Under Might Gai's rapid punches, the air in front of him was continuously compressed. At the moment the air was compressed to its limit, Might Gai roared, changed his fists into palms, and fiercely clapped his hands together.

Roar!!

The air compressed to the extreme burst forth like a volcanic eruption, and a powerful blast wave exploded outward. The roaring airflow was as piercing as a tiger's roar.

Then the expelled air condensed into the shape of a tiger, charging at Kakashi with a roar like a real tiger.

At that moment, without needing excellent perception, Kakashi could feel the terrifying power of the Daytime Tiger, an advanced taijutsu, just from the painful wind hitting his face.

"Hah." Kakashi slowly exhaled, tightly gripping the hilt of the White Light Short Blade with his right hand, pouring all his strength into it.

Now the entire White Light Short Blade was enveloped in purple lightning. Even someone standing near Kakashi couldn't see its exact form; spectators far away felt as if Kakashi was holding a clump of lightning.

Under the enhancement of the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode, all of Kakashi's chakra was rapidly converted into lightning-nature chakra, most of it concentrated in his right arm and the White Light Blade, while a small portion was used to strengthen his entire body.

"Thoughtless Slash!"

Just as the tiger-shaped blast wave was about to reach him, Kakashi swung his blade.

The moment the White Light Short Blade left its sheath, a brilliant and dazzling purple electric light appeared on the field.

Even though that purple light did not have the scale of Nagato's Fire Style sea of flames or Kisame's Water Style waves, at that moment all the fighters and spectators were drawn to that flash of purple.

Boom!!

The purple lightning blade suddenly swung out, a thunderous boom erupted, and a narrow bolt of lightning instantly sliced through the air, speeding to collide with the white tiger formed by the blast wave.

At the moment of collision, a dazzling light burst from the point of contact, rapidly spreading to cover the entire battlefield, blinding to the eye.

Rumble!!!

Then, a deafening explosion rang out, mingling with tiger roars and thunderclaps, echoing throughout the arena.

The shockwave from the explosion spread outward, and the ground trembled violently under the impact, as if it were about to crack.

Even the audience in the stands felt a fierce gust of wind, forcing many to squint.

This sent a chill through many eliminated fighters—could it be that the eight strong ninjas were all monsters?

They had thought the battle between Sasori and Nagato was the unsurpassable peak of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, but they never expected Kakashi and Might Gai in the next match to be equally formidable.

The dust and haze cleared.

Hiss!!

As if to tear everything apart, the lightning ripped through the air tiger before him with the momentum to cut through all, slashing the tiger into nothingness, then shot straight toward Might Guy at extreme speed. The air along its path seemed to be torn by this lightning, emitting a piercing roar.

"To think you can even cut through this move, Kakashi Hatake. Isn't your blade meant to protect your comrades? How does it look like you want to leave your comrade without a burial?" Zabuza couldn't help but mock.

The might of the Thoughtless Slash was truly terrifying. Back then, Daytime Tiger had wiped out all of Kisame Hoshigaki's sharks and severely wounded Kisame himself, yet it was still cleaved apart by this terrifying lightning.

"As expected of my eternal rival! Youth is burning!" Facing the incoming lightning, Might Guy was not frightened but delighted, laughing loudly.

Although his battle with Kisame Hoshigaki was fairly exhilarating, most of the time it was just Kisame getting pummeled. That was not the kind of battle Might Guy most desired.

The battle Might Guy hoped for should be back-and-forth, not him overwhelmingly crushing the enemy.

Therefore, Kakashi's lightning blade cutting down Daytime Tiger was exactly what Might Guy had been hoping for. How could he be afraid of something he hoped for?

"Golden Horizon!"

Since the lightning was rapidly approaching, Might Guy had no time to perform the perfect Golden Horizon. He merely poured as much power as possible into his fingers, then pressed his index and middle fingers together and swung them like a sword.

A golden thread, like dawn breaking through darkness, appeared before the dazzling purple lightning.

Boom boom!!

Another extremely violent explosion occurred, shattering the ground, sending rocks and sand flying. For a moment, a fierce wind arose, dust swirled, and the arena was once again enveloped in gray fog.

"Both are top geniuses. Unfortunately, they are both Konoha ninja." Kitsuchi shook his head regretfully.

The young geniuses of this generation from Hidden Rock are clearly far inferior to Konoha. Both Might Guy and Kakashi can easily demolish any Rock ninja under eighteen, and even if you raised the age to twenty, the result would be the same.

"Konoha really has an abundance of geniuses now." Thinking that five of the eight quarterfinalists were Konoha ninja, Kitsuchi felt that Ōnoki's actions targeting Konoha were absolutely correct.

If they did nothing, after twenty years of one side gaining while the other lost, Hidden Rock would certainly be no match for Konoha.

"Guy, go for it!" Obito stared intently at the battlefield, cheering for Might Guy in his heart.

At this moment, his heart was filled with personal emotions, without a trace of greater justice.

Kakashi losing was meaningful to him, because the penalty for Kakashi losing an internal match was a week of not refuting anything Obito said.

Although the current Kakashi could still threaten Obito even without speaking, Obito could also use Kakashi's inability to refute him to threaten Kakashi, creating a mutual deterrence.

"To have such strength at this age. Without the Rinnegan, I would not be a match for them." Nagato sighed inwardly.

Nagato felt that Muyue's other disciples were better than him, because he relied solely on being born with a pair of good eyes, while Might Guy and the others, through their own hard work, had mastered such powerful techniques at an even younger age than him.

"What is the result?" Hanzō focused his gaze on the center of the mist, where the dust was about to clear.

Although Kakashi's Thoughtless Slash performed well, Hanzō still hoped Might Guy would win and then face Nagato, as that would give a higher chance of victory.

Because Hanzō could see that Kakashi's Thoughtless Slash was used with difficulty, and he might not be able to use it a second time in a single battle. In that case, it would be hard for him to defeat Nagato.

The dust completely dissipated, revealing two standing figures.

"Eternal rival, that slash was really powerful." Might Guy laughed heartily on his face, but his right hand trembled uncontrollably.

Kakashi looked over and saw that Might Guy's middle and index fingers were covered in wounds, and one could even easily see the white bones wrapped in blood and flesh.

Although he used Golden Horizon, it was not easy for Might Guy to receive that move.

"Fortunately, Teacher Muyue is here. We can ask Teacher Muyue to heal you. It shouldn't delay the afternoon match," Kakashi said.

Compared to the healers of the Shinobi Sect, Kakashi naturally trusted Muyue more.

The next morning was the quarterfinals, and the semifinals started at 3:30 PM. Given Muyue's medical abilities, plus the effect of the Breathing Technique that enhances recovery, a few hours would be enough for Might Guy to fully recover.

"Announce his victory. I lost." Kakashi looked calmly at the referee and said.

That slash had truly bet all his strength. He was only standing now through sheer willpower.

Hearing Kakashi's words, the referee accepted Kakashi's forfeit and announced: "Might Guy wins!"

The audience erupted into loud discussion instantly.

Although this battle was one of the quickest in the entire knockout tournament, its brilliance was beyond doubt.

The two had almost no buildup, going straight into various big moves from the start, with effects and shock factor maxed out.

"What an unforgettable battle. I probably won't forget it for a year," Might Guy sighed, walking toward the competitor lounge.

Watching Kakashi not moving at all, Might Guy asked in confusion, "Kakashi, why aren't you walking? The next match is about to start soon."

"Because I'm waiting for you to come over so we can go find Teacher Muyue in the stands together." Kakashi replied calmly, maintaining his standing posture.

Might Guy showed a look of sudden realization, exchanged a few words with the approaching Ninja Sect staff member, indicated that he didn't need the Sect's medical treatment and wouldn't be returning to the contestant lounge for now, then headed toward the stands.

"What I meant was come over and help me up," Kakashi said directly, seeing that Might Guy hadn't caught on at all.

Only then did Might Guy help Kakashi all the way up to the stands.

"Number nineteen, Uchiha Shisui versus number twenty-four, Sarutobi Asuma!" the referee rapidly announced the next pair's names.

Shisui and Asuma wasted no time and quickly stepped onto the battlefield.

"Unbelievable, Asuma actually made it to the top eight," Raido Namiashi sighed from the stands, recalling the previous two matches.

Although Asuma's strength wasn't weak, compared to the four contestants in the two prior matches, he was undoubtedly the one dragging down the average strength of the top eight.

"Saying that is a bit harsh on Asuma. We should earnestly congratulate him on reaching the top eight later," Yuuhi Kurenai said.

"The fight hasn't even started, and you've already decided Asuma will lose?" Raido Namiashi retorted. Kurenai's words packed a punch too.

"Well, his opponent is Shisui. To be honest, it's hard for Asuma to win," Kurenai explained candidly.

When Kurenai first met Shisui, he had just started his first year not long ago. At that time, Shisui took part in special training as an outstanding first-year student, while Kurenai joined as a graduated shinobi.

But even as a first-year, Shisui left a deep impression on Kurenai. Back then, he truly was invincible.

Neither already graduated shinobi like Asuma and Kurenai, nor outstanding upperclassmen like Obito and Might Guy, could shake Shisui's top position.

Although quite some time had passed without much contact with Shisui, he had earned the title "Shisui of the Shunshin" and been promoted to jōnin, undoubtedly growing even more formidable.

"Indeed," Raido Namiashi nodded.

Even though Asuma was his good friend and teammate, if he couldn't beat Shisui, he couldn't beat him—they had to stick to the facts and reason.

"Begin!"

"Wind Breathing, Full Concentration!"

Asuma instantly focused his Wind Breathing to enhance the nature transformation of Wind chakra, gathering a large amount of chakra in his throat for the change.

"Vacuum Sphere!"

Asuma sharply inhaled a huge gulp of air, then fired several vacuum light spheres toward Shisui.

He knew Shisui had the Sharingan with strong insight, so he used the Vacuum Sphere, which allowed continuous attacks.

Though not guaranteed to hit, it was harder to dodge than ordinary Wind Release.

Bang! Bang!

The spheres Asuma spat left hole after hole in the ground but failed to even touch Shisui's clothes.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

While dodging, Shisui rapidly formed hand seals and spat out a huge fireball, hurling it toward Asuma.

Even though Asuma was an old defeated opponent, Shisui did not let his guard down. He planned to first probe Asuma's full strength before going all-out.

"Fire Release: Flame Bomb!"

Asuma spewed a large amount of flame, trying to cancel out Shisui's attack with fire against fire.

In terms of nature transformation theory, Asuma's idea was not wrong, because attacks of the same nature change can cancel each other out one-to-one.

However, precisely because it was one-to-one, the prerequisite for blocking with a same-nature technique was that one's level couldn't be inferior to the opponent's.

Asuma had clearly underestimated Shisui's Fire Release. The Great Fireball swallowed Asuma's Flame Bomb and continued crashing toward him.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Shisui didn't think a single Great Fireball would hit the enemy, so he added several flame-coated shuriken to seal off Asuma's position.

"As expected of Shisui, so cautious."

Seeing that Shisui hadn't fallen for it, Asuma had no choice but to aim the fingers that had been gathering Wind chakra since releasing his Fire Release at some of the shuriken, firing wind blades to deflect the flame shuriken.

Asuma's original plan was to fail in the fire-versus-fire confrontation to lure Shisui closer, then strike with a Wind Blade that required no hand seals.

After all, he now primarily cultivates Wind Release; how could he be foolish enough to think his Fire Release could compare with Shisui's?

However, Shisui obviously thought of this as well and didn't act rashly.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Barrage!"

Shisui gathered chakra and spit out three slightly smaller great fireballs in succession.

Asuma had no desire whatsoever to compete with Shisui in Fire Release; he used Wind-nature chakra nature transformation to accelerate and escape the range of the great fireballs.

Boom!!

The three great fireballs exploded together, unleashing a fierce blaze that temporarily made Asuma lose sight of Shisui.

When the explosion's light and dust cleared, Asuma saw two Shisuis.

"He used the Shadow Clone Technique," Asuma thought.

Since there is a more advanced solid clone, of course no one would use the ordinary Clone Technique, unless there was some special battle plan.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

One of the Shisuis formed hand seals rapidly and spat out a vast sea of flames; the sea of flames spread and expanded swiftly, then rapidly split into four streams of fire surging toward Asuma.

"As expected, Shisui hasn't been going all out before," Asuma thought, not too surprised to see Shisui use such an exaggerated Fire Release.

Compared to Obito, who would kill his opponent with a single high-powered opening move, Shisui was much more low-key, using ordinary Fire Release, taijutsu, and genjutsu to deal with his opponents.

Although he felt it would be difficult to win, Asuma did not give up; while evading with all his might, he secretly gathered chakra, preparing to unleash a Wind Blade.

"Why does Shisui's expression look a bit strange?" Asuma felt that Shisui using Fire Release seemed to be holding back a laugh.

However, Asuma didn't think too much about it because there was still a Shadow Clone interfering with his dodging.

Seeing a flame about to hit him, Asuma couldn't care about anything else; he had no choice but to release a Wind Blade at the Shadow Clone, as he did not have the ability to withstand Fire Release with his bare body.

But something unexpected happened to Asuma: a layer of black substance appeared on the Shadow Clone Shisui, blocking the Wind Blade he had released.

The raging flames struck, and Asuma instinctively covered his face with one hand and his groin with the other.

Something even more unexpected happened to Asuma: the flames hitting him did not cause any pain, nor did they ignite his hair or clothes.

"Can I be immune to fire?" Asuma thought. "No, no, no, maybe I'm under genjutsu?"

Asuma's mind was still clear; if he could be immune to fire, he wouldn't have kept losing to Shisui and Obito all this time.

Arriving simultaneously with the flames was Shisui's kunai; Shisui seized the moment when Asuma was dazed, used the Body Flicker Technique to reach his side, and placed a kunai against Asuma's neck.

At the same time, the main body of Shisui in Asuma's eyes transformed into a gray-black fox with its chest puffed out, tail raised.

"Uchiha Shisui wins!"

Hearing the referee announce the result, Shisui put away his kunai.

Just now, taking advantage of the firelight as cover, he had not used the Shadow Clone Technique but the Summoning Technique.

If it were just to win, Shisui could have won with genjutsu by himself; Shisui wanted to train Zorua through this battle he could control.