Uchiha Mai reached out with his left hand, grabbed Kakashi by the head, and slammed him back down onto the ground. He kicked away the short sword and said calmly, "You lose, Kakashi."
After taking a heavy blow to the back of the head and having five deep, blood-gushing holes torn through his chest, Kakashi had no chance of winning this exercise, which would end at eleven o'clock.
"Hmph..."
Kakashi seemed to accept his fate. He stopped struggling, closed his eyes, and lay on his back without saying any nonsense like, "You tricked me, so your victory doesn't count."
Ninja. Two words: the winner stands, the loser lies down. It was that simple.
The stronger fighter naturally had a better chance of winning, but it wasn't a certainty.
Unless you were as strong as Senju Hashirama, with at least a 99 percent chance of beating anyone except Madara, you couldn't claim a guaranteed victory.
Kakashi was slightly stronger than Mai in raw ability, but the gap wasn't that great. Mai's chances of winning weren't negligible.
Under those circumstances, there was nothing to say about losing because he'd let his guard down.
A few breaths later, Kakashi, who had given up struggling, suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze sharpened as he reached for the alarm clock at Uchiha Mai's waist, intent on destroying it.
According to the rules, if the clock was destroyed before eleven, both sides would lose.
"Smack!"
Uchiha Mai raised his hand and caught Kakashi by the wrist. Smiling, he said, "I knew I might pull this trick, so did you think I wouldn't be prepared?"
Putting himself in Kakashi's shoes, Uchiha Mai would also have tried to destroy the clock if he'd found himself at a complete disadvantage. If he couldn't win, he'd make sure the other guy couldn't either.
How underhanded!
With his last hope cut off, Kakashi suddenly laughed. "Uchiha Mai, knowing that someone like you will be my teammate in the future actually makes me feel pretty safe."
You didn't fear an opponent who was like a god. You feared a teammate who was like a pig.
Over the course of the exercise, Uchiha Mai had earned Kakashi's respect and trust through his own strength, proving that he was qualified to join Master Minato's elite team.
There was no need to wait until eleven. The outcome was already clear.
Master Minato arrived late and delivered the final verdict on the exercise. "Kakashi, you lost. Mai and Might Guy are the winners.
"I believe this test has given you all a thorough understanding of your teammates' abilities and strengths.
"Might Guy and Kakashi are both seriously injured and will need a few days to recover. Rest up during that time. In a few days, we'll begin formal team training."
None of them objected.
Of the three, Uchiha Mai had the least serious injuries, all of them minor cuts. Though Kakashi had slashed his back with his sword at the end, it hadn't hit anything vital.
Kakashi and Might Guy, on the other hand, had more serious injuries. Konoha's medical ninja could treat their wounds, but it would take some time for them to recover the energy they'd lost.
After a flurry of activity, all three kids were sent to Konoha Hospital for treatment by the medical-nin sisters. They were all familiar faces, and the young women had grown numb to seeing them.
A day later, Uchiha Mai's back had healed. While the young women were checking on patients elsewhere, he slipped out of the hospital.
He went to the lakeside where they'd held the exercise the day before and began working on a new technique.
Because of his age, he couldn't significantly increase his chakra reserves in the short term. His Taijutsu alone had reached a bottleneck, while his Fire Style was still utterly pathetic.
Uchiha Mai wanted to develop a new technique that combined Fire Style and Taijutsu.
Nintaijutsu wasn't as simple as using ninjutsu at the same time as Taijutsu.
The human body had chakra pathways, and chakra flowed along different routes and at different speeds depending on the ninjutsu being used. The Sharingan could copy various ninjutsu precisely because it could see the flow of an opponent's chakra.
Ordinary Taijutsu was simpler, with chakra flowing in a relatively uniform way. Only certain special forms of Taijutsu required chakra to follow specific pathways.
Nintaijutsu combined ninjutsu and Taijutsu, producing a result greater than the sum of its parts by keeping the two flows of chakra in the body from interfering with each other.
Developing Nintaijutsu was difficult. It required a deep understanding of both Taijutsu and ninjutsu, as well as a solid foundation of knowledge.
Even the genius Kakashi hadn't developed Chidori, a powerful technique requiring only three Hand Seals, until he was twelve.
Uchiha Mai wanted to develop a form of Nintaijutsu that required no Hand Seals, which was no less difficult than creating Chidori.
By the lakeside, Uchiha Mai held his breath and stared at the training dummy in front of him. Drawing on his understanding of Taijutsu and True Explanation of Fire Release: Izuna's Notes, he adjusted the flow of chakra within his body.
Once he was certain he'd found that delicate point of balance, he lowered his body slightly and surged forward, releasing chakra as he charged.
In an instant, Uchiha Mai was in front of the dummy. He raised his left arm and smashed his elbow into its chin, launching it into the air.
Then he sprang upward, quickly raised his left fist, and swung at the dummy's chin again, preparing to unleash the chakra gathered in his fist.
Mai Style Ancient Martial Arts: Hundred-and-Eight Form: Oniyaki!
The inspiration for this move, of course, came from Iori Yagami in The King of Fighters.
In fighting games, anti-air moves were generally called rising dragons. There was even a saying: All martial arts come from the rising dragon; when in doubt, use the Rising Dragon Fist.
Iori Yagami's rising dragon was the Hundred-and-Eight Form: Oniyaki.
This move could hit the opponent three times: with the elbow, with the fist, and finally with the burst of fire.
At the same time, when the flames erupted, the user could spin 360 degrees in the air to avoid being affected by them. It looked incredibly cool and racked up a lot of Style Points.
The elbow and the leap into a punch—the first two steps had gone perfectly.
Next came the flames bursting from his fist to deal the third hit, followed by a 360-degree spin to avoid the fire.
Suddenly, the two chakra pathways inside Mai began interfering with each other. The chakra that was supposed to flow smoothly went haywire.
Uchiha Mai lost control of his chakra. The chakra in his fist turned into a burst of flames a split second too soon.
Oh, crap!
Uchiha Mai didn't have time to do a cool 360-degree spin. He immediately raised both arms to shield his face. He made his living off his looks, after all.
The next instant, Uchiha Mai was blasted away. He suffered burns in several places, and his clothes caught fire.
Without thinking, Uchiha Mai jumped into the lake while surrounded by flames. In anime, it had always been a rule of thumb that "falling into water won't kill you."
A few breaths later, Uchiha Mai climbed out of the lake. He surveyed the wreckage, then felt his face to make sure it hadn't been disfigured.
Only then did he sigh and say, "Developing Nintaijutsu really isn't easy."
"If you know how hard it is to develop Nintaijutsu, why not ask your teacher for help?"
The voice sounded familiar.
Uchiha Mai looked up and saw Master Minato bending down to offer him a hand. His golden hair shimmered in the sunlight.
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