A dense barrage of shuriken whistled toward Aburame Ryoma.
Amid a series of dull thuds and clouds of dust, Aburame Ryoma vanished from where he stood.
The next moment, a large hand firmly grabbed Kazashiro by the back of his collar and lifted him up.
Aburame Ryoma, whose leg should have been completely numb, stood steadily behind Kazashiro. Expressionless, he held Kazashiro by the collar and said coldly,
"You did well, Young Master Kazashiro. You have the methods, but you were not ruthless enough. If, instead of striking my acupoint, you had used Chakra to shred the nerves in my leg, this battle would have been yours."
Kazashiro, slightly short of breath, obediently nodded. "I understand. I'll work toward that next time. But I'd like to know how you recovered your ability to move."
Gently setting Kazashiro down, Aburame Ryoma lifted his pant leg, revealing the spot Kazashiro had struck.
"You did indeed hit my acupoint. However, every member of the Aburame Clan raises Kikaichū inside their body. When you stimulated the acupoint, I mobilized the Kikaichū within me to forcibly restore the blocked chakra pathways, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind you."
The wound Kazashiro had inflicted did not bleed. Instead, squirming Kikaichū filled his view.
"In the ninja world, all kinds of Kekkei Genkai and Secret Clan Techniques exist. Even stranger abilities than mine emerge without end. Therefore, the most important thing I want to tell you is that you must never let your guard down, no matter when."
Lowering his pant leg, Aburame Ryoma took up a stance, signaling that Kazashiro could continue his attack.
"Yes!"
"Alright, the spar is over. Both sides, form the Reconciliation Seal!"
As Makoto Ito called a halt to the spar, Kazashiro formed the Reconciliation Seal, then pulled Obito to his feet.
"You bastard, wasn't that a little too dirty? You specifically hit places I couldn't see?"
Obito, whom Kazashiro had pulled up, clutched his butt and complained unhappily.
"Well, how should I put it? There were all sorts of reasons..." Kazashiro scratched the top of his head, recalling Aburame Ryoma's teachings.
There was no helping it. Learning from a killing machine like that naturally meant learning practical killing moves.
Honestly, kicking you instead of using Thousand Years of Death was already showing plenty of respect to you, the second Sage of Six Paths, okay?
Supporting Obito as they returned to the spectator area, Kazashiro saw that Obito refused to sit and would only stand there. He smiled with thirty percent apology and seventy percent delight. "Sorry, sorry, I kicked a little too hard—pfft..."
Before he could finish, Kazashiro failed to hold it in and burst out laughing.
"Kazashiro, you bastard!" Obito's face was full of grief and indignation, like a young wife who had been teased.
"Next group, Might Guy versus Iroha Hyuga! Both sides, form the Opposing Seal!"
Dodging Obito's spiteful kick, Kazashiro turned his gaze toward the field upon hearing the next pair of contestants.
"Hmph, just a lowly dead last. I advise you to surrender now, otherwise..." Iroha Hyuga was as pretentious as ever.
[I can't beat Kakashi, but can't I beat a green-skinned freak like you?]
Taking up the Hyuga Clan's standard opening stance, Iroha Hyuga lazily watched Might Guy, not taking him seriously at all.
"Got you!" Taking advantage of Kazashiro's attention being on Might Guy, Obito grabbed Kazashiro by the collar and wildly rubbed his hand over Kazashiro's head.
"I'll teach you to act cocky, I'll teach you to act cocky... Agh!" Obito did not persist for long in his attempt to ruin Kazashiro's hairstyle, because Kazashiro directly felt his way to Obito's butt and gave it a vicious pinch, making Obito tear up from the pain.
"Hmph, trash." Giving Obito, who was squatting on the ground, a disdainful glance, Kazashiro fixed his hair and walked over to Kakashi, who was sitting at the edge with a book in his arms.
Glancing at the contents of the book in Kakashi's hands, Kazashiro only saw several little figures and curiously asked, "Hey, Kakashi, what kind of porn novel are you reading?"
"What porn novel? This is my family's inherited sword technique!" Frightened by Kazashiro's outrageous words, Kakashi hurriedly defended his innocence, afraid that the nearby students would actually believe him.
"Huh? An inherited sword technique? Let me see." Kazashiro abruptly snatched the book from Kakashi's hands and flipped through a few pages, discovering that they really were all diagrams of attack movements.
Kakashi had no intention of taking the book back. He simply sat there with his head tilted up, watching Kazashiro.
"I see. Covering the blade with Lightning Release Chakra, then killing the opponent through rapid slashes..." After Aburame Ryoma's training, Kazashiro could more or less discern some of the mysteries of the sword technique.
"Here, take it back." Sitting cross-legged beside Kakashi, Kazashiro handed the book back.
Kakashi accepted the book and continued reading it on his own.
On the other side, Might Guy had already rushed forward and begun fighting Iroha Hyuga.
"Say, which of these two do you favor?" Watching Iroha Hyuga struggle to defend against Might Guy's attacks, Kazashiro asked Kakashi beside him.
Hearing Kazashiro's question, Kakashi did not even raise his head as he replied, "I don't care about them."
"You're really no fun. Might Guy is your lifelong rival, after all. What's wrong with showing a little concern?" Kazashiro reached out and flicked the white hair atop Kakashi's head.
With a look of disgust, Kakashi slapped Kazashiro's hand away. Only then did he finally raise his dead-fish eyes toward the two fighting in the field. "What lifelong rival? Didn't you force that title on me? That guy clearly comes looking for you every time."
"Well, I'm just a passerby. He and you are the true love, understand?" Kazashiro wore the expression of someone who had been there before.
Already accustomed to Kazashiro occasionally spouting incomprehensible nonsense, Kakashi sighed helplessly. Watching Iroha Hyuga find an opening to counterattack and strike Might Guy's leg weights with one palm, only to immediately clutch his own hand and howl in pain, Kakashi shook his head. "Isn't it already over? That weird guy won."
Even if Iroha Hyuga were beaten to death, he would never have imagined how many iron blocks Might Guy had stuffed inside those leg weights.
Striking that thing with an unprotected hand, without wrapping it in Chakra, and merely clutching his hand and howling was already a very good outcome.
"How boring. I wanted you to give an evaluation before the result came out." As Kazashiro complained to Kakashi, he caught sight of Obito's sneaky figure from the corner of his eye. The instant Obito pounced, Kazashiro used a Body Flicker to dodge aside, resulting in Kakashi becoming the one knocked down.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who would've thought you two played so wild? Right out in public..." Seeing the two tangled together, Kazashiro wore a wicked grin.
"Get off me, Obito! I'm going to kill that guy!" Kakashi, whose anger had been stirred by Kazashiro, kicked Obito off himself.
"Argh! Damn it, Kakashi, where are you kicking?!" Obito howled again.
Before you continue