Uchiha Maí extended his left hand, seized Kakashi's head, and slammed it back against the ground. With a kick, he knocked the dagger away and said calmly:
"You've lost, Kakashi."
With the back of his head having taken a heavy blow, his chest pierced by five wounds so deep the bones were visible, blood pouring out relentlessly, Kakashi no longer had any real chance of winning this exercise that would end at eleven o'clock.
"Hmph…"
As if accepting his fate, Kakashi stopped struggling, closed his eyes, and lay flat on the ground. He didn't spout any nonsense about being tricked or about an unfair victory.
Among ninjas, it was that simple. The winner stood, the loser lay down.
The side with greater raw strength naturally had a higher chance of victory, but it was never absolute. Only someone at the level of Senju Hashirama who could face anyone other than Uchiha Madara with at least a ninety-nine percent chance of winning could truly claim a guaranteed victory.
Kakashi's overall strength was slightly greater than Maí's, but the gap wasn't large enough to make Maí's chances negligible. In a situation like that, losing due to carelessness left little room for complaints.
A few breaths later, Kakashi, who had seemingly given up, suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze sharpened as he reached toward the alarm clock at Uchiha Maí's waist, trying to destroy it.
According to the rules, if the alarm clock was destroyed before eleven, both sides would be judged defeated.
Smack!
Maí raised his hand and caught Kakashi's wrist, smiling faintly.
"I already expected you'd try this. Do you really think I wouldn't be prepared?"
Putting himself in the other's shoes, Maí knew that if he were in a completely disadvantaged position, he'd also try to destroy the alarm clock. If he couldn't win, he wouldn't let the other side win either.
How despicable!
With his last hope cut off, Kakashi suddenly laughed.
"Uchiha Maí… thinking that someone like you will be my teammate in the future actually makes me feel pretty at ease."
It's not godlike opponents you should fear, but pig-like teammates.
Through this exercise, Uchiha Maí had earned Kakashi's respect and trust with his own strength, proving he was qualified to join Minato Namikaze's elite team.
There was no need to wait until eleven. The outcome had already been decided.
Minato arrived a bit late and delivered the final verdict on the exercise:
"Kakashi, you've lost. The winners of this exercise are Maí and Might Guy. I believe that through this test, all of you now have a deep understanding of your teammates' strength and characteristics. Guy and Kakashi are more seriously injured and will need a few days to recuperate. Take these days to recover properly, and after that we'll begin formal cooperative training."
No one raised any objections.
Among the three, Uchiha Maí's injuries were the lightest mostly minor cuts. Even the slash Kakashi landed on his back hadn't hit any vital points.
Kakashi's and Guy's injuries, by comparison, were much more serious. Konoha's medical ninjas could heal their external wounds, but the vitality they'd lost would take time to recover.
After a flurry of activity, all three were sent to Konoha Hospital to receive treatment from the medical kunoichi. They were all familiar faces, and the nurses were already numb to it.
One day later, the injury on Uchiha Maí's back had fully healed. Taking advantage of a moment when the nurses went to check on other wards, he quietly slipped out of the hospital.
He went to the lakeside where yesterday's exercise had taken place and began pondering a new technique.
Because of age limitations, his chakra reserves couldn't increase significantly in the short term. Pure taijutsu had already reached a bottleneck, and fire release on its own was rather underwhelming.
What Maí wanted was to develop a new technique that fused fire release with taijutsu.
Nintaijutsu wasn't as simple as just using ninjutsu at the same time as taijutsu.
There were meridians within the human body. Different ninjutsu required different chakra pathways and flow speeds. The Sharingan was able to copy techniques precisely because it could see through an opponent's chakra flow.
Ordinary taijutsu was relatively simple, with a fairly uniform chakra circulation. Only special styles required chakra to move along specific routes.
Nintaijutsu meant combining ninjutsu and taijutsu while maintaining two separate chakra flow paths within the body without interfering with each other, producing a true one-plus-one-equals-two effect.
Developing something like that wasn't easy. It required a deep understanding of both taijutsu and ninjutsu, along with a solid foundation of knowledge.
Even a genius like Kakashi had only developed the Chidori at the age of twelvea powerful technique that required just three hand seals.
What Uchiha Maí wanted to create was a nintaijutsu that required no hand seals at all, a difficulty no less than developing the Chidori itself.
By the lakeside, Maí calmed his breathing and fixed his gaze on the training dummy in front of him. Combining his understanding of taijutsu with the teachings of True Explanation of Fire Release Izuna's Commentary, he carefully adjusted the flow of chakra within his body.
Once he was sure he had found that delicate balance, he lowered his stance slightly and burst forward.
In an instant, he was already in front of the dummy. He drove his left elbow violently into its jaw, launching it into the air.
Then he leapt upward himself, raising his left fist and smashing it into the dummy's jaw again, the chakra gathered in his fist ready to erupt.
Maí-Style Ancient Martial Arts · Hundred Forms · Demon Burn!
The inspiration for this move, of course, came from Iori Yagami in The King of Fighters.
In fighting games, ground-to-air techniques are usually called uppercuts, and there's even a saying: "All martial arts come from the uppercut; when in doubt, use an uppercut."
Iori Yagami's uppercut was precisely the Hundred Forms · Demon Burn.
This move dealt three instances of damage to the enemy: the elbow, the punch, and finally the explosion of flames.
At the moment the flames erupted, the user would also spin their body three hundred and sixty degrees in midair to avoid being affected by the fire, making it incredibly flashy and stylish.
The elbow strike and the jumping punch had both been executed perfectly.
Next was the punch erupting with flames to deliver the third hit, along with the full spin to evade the fire.
Suddenly, the two chakra pathways inside Maí began to interfere with each other. The chakra that was supposed to flow as planned went berserk.
Uchiha Maí lost control of his chakra, and the flames exploded a moment too early.
Damn it!
There was no time for a flashy spin. He immediately raised both arms to protect his faceafter all, he made a living off his looks.
In the next instant, Maí was blasted away, suffering burns across his body as his clothes caught fire.
Without a second thought, he jumped straight into the lake. Ever since ancient times, anime had followed the rule that falling into water meant you wouldn't die.
A few moments later, Uchiha Maí climbed out of the lake, surveyed the wrecked scene around him, then touched his face to make sure it wasn't ruined.
Only then did he let out a sigh.
"Developing ninjutsu… really isn't easy."
"If you know it's that hard, then why not ask your teacher for help?"
That voice sounded familiar.
Maí looked up and saw Minato Namikaze bending down, extending a hand toward him. His golden hair gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
End of the chapter.