Weeds that had sprouted during the early spring of the new year carpeted the ground, and a gentle breeze carried the faint scent of damp earth.
Guy kept one hand behind his back while holding the other palm up, angled toward Kakashi and Obito.
After discussing it with Might Duy, Guy had decided to use the Eight Inner Gates, but for safety, he was fighting with his left hand tucked away.
"Watch out! I've just mastered this move!"
"Understood. Bring it on."
Boom!
The grass beneath Guy's feet exploded.
He blurred into a green afterimage, closing the distance between him and the duo at high speed.
But Kakashi and Obito weren't about to let him get close so easily.
Both quickly wove hand signs.
Two jutsu were released simultaneously.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Earth Style: Earth Flow River!"
As the muddy river formed, the fireball struck at the same time.
Facing the combined obstruction.
Guy, still mid-dash, easily evaded with a few backward leaps.
He looked up at the muddy riverbed, now baked dry by the Great Fireball, and the fire in his heart was instantly ignited.
"From now on, I won't give you any time to cast jutsu!"
"Eight Inner Gates: Second Gate, the Gate of Rest—Open!"
Guy's hair drifted upward as a pale green aura of chakra steamed from his body.
The grass at his feet swayed violently within the surging flow.
'What is this?' The question barely surfaced in Kakashi's mind.
Obito, with his Sharingan active, shouted a warning right into his ear.
"Kakashi, look out!"
"Hyaaa!"
Boom!
Guy, who had been in a starting stance, crossed ten meters in an instant, appearing before Kakashi as if he had teleported.
By the time Kakashi could even react.
Guy's flying kick, tearing through the air, slammed into the arms Kakashi had barely managed to raise.
The violent force of the Leaf Strong Fist poured directly into him.
With a loud crash, Kakashi was sent flying, colliding with a tree outside the training ground and shaking loose a storm of leaves.
Farther away, only Obito remained, barely predicting Guy's movements thanks to the kinetic vision of the Sharingan.
Cough, cough!
Spitting out the stagnant air trapped in his chest.
Kakashi tried to push himself up, only to find his legs were too weak to stand.
He had lost.
One hit from Guy, and he couldn't even get back up.
With the Eight Inner Gates open, that eerie green figure's speed had completely surpassed his neural reflexes.
There was simply no time to weave signs.
Against such speed, ninjutsu was useless.
He had been defeated in an instant.
Yet, Obito was still holding his ground.
Crimson Sharingan eyes flickered within the green whirlwind; Obito was becoming increasingly adept at predicting Guy's straightforward attacks.
As time ticked by.
Guy's stamina began to flag.
Gradually, Obito gained the upper hand!
In a reversal, he began to suppress the sweat-drenched Guy.
For the first time, a complex emotion of being surpassed welled up inside Kakashi.
People were catching up to him.
Obito, Motomu, Guy.
Over the past two years, their rate of progress had only accelerated.
Meanwhile, he felt as if he were walking in place.
Was he even the genius people claimed he was?
Bitterness, frustration, and countless other emotions crawled through his heart.
It was just as his father had said.
Guy had caught up to him.
And his swordsmanship—the White Fang style he had inherited from his father—could no longer keep pace with his companions!
'Father, what should I do?'
...
His chakra exhausted, Guy's final punch grazed past Obito's bruised and swollen cheek.
Obito's Sharingan followed Guy's slowing movement.
He reached out, grabbing Guy just as he lost his strength and was about to collapse.
Smack!
Their palms met as the battered and bruised pair shared the same exhilarated grin!
Watching from a distance, Motomu pulled his gaze away from Obito and Guy.
His eyes fixed on the lonely, dejected Kakashi.
'Young man, do you crave power?'
'I have a legendary Divine Palm manual here I can give you for free!'
Motomu's lips curled into a grin; he had been looking for an opening to get Kakashi to learn Orochimaru's mysterious little cultivation technique.
Now, thanks to Guy's kick from the Eight Gates, the opportunity had arrived!
Conveniently, he had already left the impression of being a mysterious master when he 'counseled' Kakashi via Dream Eater before.
Tonight, once the boy fell asleep, he would use Dream Eater again to pass the body tempering manual to the power-hungry Kakashi.
If Kakashi practiced it, he could satisfy Orochimaru and see what this manual was actually about.
This technique was researched based on the Hydrification Technique; he wondered if it might lead to some kind of Firefication Technique.
If it had that effect, he would abandon physical power and go with Plan B.
After all, if the body could be 'firefied,' Little Heart would be able to unleash fire-style moves however he pleased.
During a fight, he'd just have to clap his hands and whatever he wanted would happen!
He took one last look at the boys, who were radiating the spirit of youth.
Motomu let out a few eccentric cackles before quietly vanishing at the end of the road.
Night.
He had returned from Ryuchi Cave.
Motomu still hadn't found the Three Himes or the White Snake Sage in the core area.
Besides that, the other bad news was that he hadn't seen Garaga since defeating him.
Motomu suspected that after being beaten, Garaga had moved house again.
If things continued like this.
The speed of his experience gain would slow down.
He would have to consider terrorizing the other two Great Sage Regions.
His thoughts ended there.
Motomu sent Big Eyeball into the air and boldly made his way toward the Hatake estate.
Psychokinesis had many uses.
As his mental power grew stronger.
Motomu had gradually begun developing these abilities.
First was compressing the air to change its refractive index, creating optical invisibility.
Although he was still far from making his entire body invisible.
Using nearly a ton of telekinetic force to compress the air around the miniaturized Big Eyeball was enough to create a small-scale effect similar to a mirage.
The ordinary civilian chunin patrolling the streets of Konoha at night couldn't detect a thing.
Inside the Hatake home.
Kakashi slashed at a wooden post, over and over.
With every swing, he put his entire body's strength into increasing the speed of the blade.
Amidst the whistling sound of the air being sliced.
Big Eyeball watched him from the eaves.
Ten swings, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand!
Kakashi's bare upper body was completely drenched in sweat.
Under the moonlight, the steaming sweat dripped from his chin and trousers, soaking into the pebbles of the courtyard.
The ground gradually became damp.
Crack!
The wooden training sword and the post snapped at the same time.
His physical strength overextended and his mind exhausted, Kakashi felt his eyelids growing heavier.
'Is this all I'm capable of?'
'If I become a piece of trash, how can I be worthy of wielding my father's blade?'
Just as he was about to collapse, Kakashi's eyes suddenly flew open!
Gasping for breath, he found his balance and stood straight in an instant.
"Wait... where is this?"
Sensing something, Kakashi turned to look at the roof behind him.
Amidst a rustling sound.
The world in his eyes had already changed.
A familiar yet strange bamboo forest now surrounded his small courtyard, stretching infinitely toward the horizon.
An old man with white hair and a youthful complexion, dressed in flowing white robes, sat calmly on the black-tiled roof.
A three-foot longsword floated behind him, swaying slightly with the wind and the rustling bamboo.
As Kakashi turned fully toward him, the old man's half-closed eyes opened, casting a gaze upon him.
"Young man, have you truly seen your sword clearly?"
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