Kakashi Wants Revenge

Near noon, two figures leaped one after another between the branches and trunks, heading deep into the Konoha forest.

The leader was Kakashi, his face cold and expressionless, his eyes appearing as if they were dead.

Following the loss of his father, his friends, and his love, Kakashi had now suffered the loss of his master and mistress; under the weight of these successive blows, he was nearly crushed.

Guy was deeply worried about Kakashi's state and had dragged him out to engage in a contest.

Under normal circumstances, Kakashi would have refused such a meaningless competition, but now, he too wanted to shift his focus elsewhere.

"Hoo..."

Guy let out a long breath, his feet coming to a stop on the shore of a large lake, his legs half-sunk into the damp soil. He turned his head to look at Kakashi, who had just arrived beside him, and a bright smile appeared on his face. "38 wins, 38 losses. Kakashi, we're tied again."

Kakashi didn't speak, only panting heavily.

Competing in a footrace against a taijutsu fanatic like Guy left no room for him to relax. His body was already nearing its limit, sweat pouring from his pores and soaking through his clothes.

Kakashi gazed at the shimmering, serene surface of the lake and suddenly felt a bit better, as if some of the heavy burdens in his heart were being metabolized away along with his sweat.

...If only the village could be as peaceful as this lake, always.

Kakashi thought to himself.

And then, he was sent stumbling by a wave of water rushing toward him.

"Wind? No, it's ninjutsu!"

Kakashi snapped back to reality, immediately dropping into a combat stance. He leaped up, jumping onto a tree trunk to conceal his figure.

Guy landed beside Kakashi and pressed a hand onto his shoulder. "Don't be nervous, Kakashi. It's not an enemy; it's likely someone practicing ninjutsu."

Hearing Guy say this, Kakashi also realized something was off; if the previous wave was meant to be an attack, its power was far too weak.

Just as he was about to investigate who was practicing the ninjutsu, his peripheral vision caught sight of Guy's attire, and his steps faltered.

Guy's clothes were also soaked, but the reason was clearly not the lake water.

Guy noticed Kakashi's gaze, and their mutual understanding allowed him to guess what Kakashi was thinking. He grinned and said, "I didn't expect you to fail to dodge that; the wave wasn't even moving fast."

Kakashi didn't reply and leaped toward the lake without looking back.

Losing a contest to Guy was one thing, but the earlier incident had been somewhat embarrassing. Kakashi now wanted to find the person practicing ninjutsu as quickly as possible and take a small revenge to regain his dignity.

Kakashi wasn't a petty person, but right now, he wanted to immerse himself in this feeling of retaliation.

As for whether he could succeed, Kakashi had no doubts. Judging by the ninjutsu from earlier, the other party's strength wasn't very high—at most, a chunin.

"Kakashi, wait for me."

Guy took long strides and chased after him.

The person releasing the ninjutsu was not far away, and the two soon caught sight of them.

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing as he said in surprise, "Orochimaru. It's actually him."

"Oh, it's Lord Orochimaru," Guy said, puzzled. "He released that ninjutsu? How can that be? The power was clearly so small."

Guy's question was also Kakashi's question, but even if he had questions, not even Guy would be thick-headed enough to jump out and ask directly.

That was one of the Sannin, a major figure in the village.

Guy's curiosity came and went quickly, and he sighed, "It's a pity it's Lord Orochimaru; there's nothing to be done about that. Your revenge won't happen. Let's go."

Kakashi held back Guy, who was about to leave. "Let's stay here and watch."

"That doesn't seem right."

"We won't hide our presence. We'll just watch from here; if we're discovered, we'll just say it was a coincidence."

"Well... alright then."

As the two talked, Orochimaru's ninjutsu never stopped, and the observant Kakashi soon discovered the clue.

"His ninjutsu... the execution is so standard."

"Standard? I didn't notice that," Guy said, eyes wide. "I only saw that the power wasn't great; it looked like something even a genin could perform."

"You don't understand. Orochimaru is showing off his technique."

Kakashi glanced at the confused Guy and explained, "Consuming the absolute minimum amount of chakra while fully unleashing the power of the ninjutsu—that requires an extremely deep understanding of ninjutsu and superior chakra control."

As he spoke, Kakashi's gaze returned to Orochimaru, who was still performing the ninjutsu.

He could achieve this level of technical display himself, but only with ninjutsu he was familiar with. For Orochimaru to perform so many, so rapidly—the reputation of the Sannin was truly not for nothing.

"Oh, I see." Guy looked bewildered.

The Strong Fist Style was known for speed and ruthlessness and was not suited for delicate chakra manipulation. Guy, in particular, barely knew any ninjutsu, so he lacked understanding of what Kakashi was saying.

He scratched his head. "There's nothing much to see here, let's go."

"Fair enough."

Kakashi nodded. Improvements in ninjutsu understanding and chakra control could not be achieved overnight, and merely watching would have no effect.

At that moment, Orochimaru suddenly stopped showing off his techniques and instead used a summoning jutsu, drawing a sword from a snake's mouth.

Kakashi saw at a glance that this was an exceptional blade, of higher quality than his own family heirloom, and his steps involuntarily came to a halt.

"Wait a moment, let's take another look."

"This sword is called the Kusanagi Sword?"

Genie gently wiped the saliva off the blade and said, "A nice name, and a nice sword."

"But you don't seem satisfied with it," Orochimaru remarked. "You're holding it, yet your mind is on a different sword."

"Is it that obvious?"

Genie nodded, acknowledging Orochimaru's observation. "In my previous world, my host was a swordsman. I spent a long time around blades with him, so now that I see a new one, it's hard not to make comparisons."

"Was his sword very good?"

Orochimaru was quite interested in the other world and Genie's former host; since a topic had come up, he wanted to gather as much information as possible.

Genie did not answer the question directly, but instead asked a rhetorical one, "In the ninja world, what kind of weapons do ninjas use?"

Without waiting for Orochimaru to answer, he continued on his own, "Senbon, kunai, shuriken, short blades... there are so many different types of ninja weapons."

"But in that previous world, those Demon Slayers had only swords."

"They had to use those swords to hunt down demons whose physical capabilities were far superior to their own."

"Often, a broken sword meant a lost life."

"Tell me, is a sword like that strong or not?"

After a brief silence, Orochimaru nodded. A weapon that one entrusts their life to is naturally strong; it has to be.

"So, don't underestimate the swordsmanship I'm about to demonstrate."

Genie gazed at the calm surface of the lake, standing with the sword at his back. "The previous world belonged to swordsmen. They had no flashy ninjutsu, no wide variety of ninja tools; all they had was swordsmanship developed to its absolute peak."

"Actually, I was quite worried before that your body was too weak to bring out the true power of this swordsmanship."

"Prepare yourself to be severely injured."

If you have some spare votes, feel free to cast them.