Konoha, Third Training Ground. An intense sparring match was underway.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Kakashi spun around, his hands forming seals so quickly they became afterimages. After gathering chakra in his throat, he spat out a massive fireball that shot toward his opponent.
God knew how he managed to wear a mask and still spit out a Great Fireball Technique.
The fireball hurtled forward at astonishing speed. A simple basic C-rank Fire Release ninjutsu became faster, hotter, and far more densely packed with chakra in Kakashi's hands than when used by anyone else!
With a fireball at Kakashi's level, even without taking a direct hit, an ordinary person would begin to dehydrate after standing within its range for roughly ten seconds, become dizzy after half a minute, and go into shock from dehydration after around a minute.
What an incredible Great Fireball Technique. Its power had already surpassed that of ordinary B-rank ninjutsu.
Facing Kakashi's ferocious massive fireball, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Instead of retreating, he advanced, gathering chakra in his feet and releasing it in an instant. He burst forward in a rapid dash, tearing through the air with a shrill whistle as he charged straight at the fireball.
There were two Body Flicker Techniques left behind by Uchiha Shisui. One was the most ordinary and widely circulated Body Flicker Technique.
It involved gathering chakra in the legs and releasing it in an instant, allowing the user to move at high speed.
Of course, even this version had been improved by Uchiha Shisui, allowing its user to achieve the greatest results with the least amount of chakra.
This was the first kind Sasuke was using!
Clang!
When Sasuke came within less than five meters of the fireball, he drew his sword without hesitation. A flash of crimson blade light streaked out, and a huge blade of flame erupted from the sword's edge.
With a boom, it cleaved the fireball in half, its remaining force continuing onward as it slashed at Kakashi.
"Quite an impressive Fire Release sword technique."
Kakashi praised him as he leaped away from his original position. At the same time, he drew a white short sword roughly forty centimeters long from his waist, white chakra light radiating from its surface.
The weapon—White Fang!
It had been Kakashi's father's weapon, a specially made chakra short sword and the relic he had left Kakashi. The White Fang Blade had been broken by the blade of Iwagakure jōnin Kakkō during the battle of the Kannabi Bridge mission.
After the war, Kakashi had gathered the fragments again, but he had never had it reforged. It was only after he met Sasuke two years ago that he had the broken sword forged anew.
Whoosh!
The instant Kakashi evaded the flaming blade, Sasuke stomped his foot. Countless afterimages remained where he had stood, and in the blink of an eye, he flashed before Kakashi. The crimson katana in his hand shrieked as it pierced toward Kakashi like lightning.
So fast!
A flicker of surprise crossed Kakashi's eyes. Sasuke had become much faster now.
But he did not panic. He merely turned his right hand and precisely raised his blade against Sasuke's sword.
Clang!
As metal struck metal, Kakashi's hand went slightly numb. He had never expected Sasuke's physical condition to be this exceptional, especially his strength.
"When I was your age, I was nowhere near as strong as you, Sasuke."
With their blades locked together, Kakashi still had the leisure to praise him.
If you ate all kinds of high-grade nutritional supplements for over four years...
And underwent all sorts of devilish physical training...
And took medicinal baths with all kinds of precious herbs every day...
You could have this much strength at this age too!
Sasuke's expression remained calm in the face of Kakashi's praise. He said nothing, merely increasing the force behind his blade.
Over the past few years, Naruto had specialized in taijutsu, investing far more time and energy into taijutsu training than Sasuke. Coupled with his Uzumaki physique, Naruto had already surpassed Sasuke in taijutsu alone.
But Sasuke's physical condition was only a step behind Naruto's, without any particularly obvious gap. Besides his grueling physical training, Sasuke also relied on all sorts of absurdly extravagant spending to make up for his body's shortcomings.
"Looks like I'll have to get serious too."
Feeling the tremendous force coming through the blade, Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, their curves resembling crescents.
The short sword in his hand turned, erupting with white lightning. The dazzling white radiance filled Sasuke's vision almost instantly, and intense light often meant intense darkness.
For an instant, Sasuke could barely see anything. He had temporarily lost his sight.
Yet faced with near-blindness, Sasuke showed no trace of panic. Losing one's vision could cause a ninja's strength to plummet by ninety percent.
But for someone like Sasuke, who had grown accustomed to training while simulating blindness, it certainly had an effect—but at most, only a ten percent one.
With a draw and a counterstrike, he forced Kakashi back. Sasuke then flipped away as well, retreating ten meters before rapidly forming three hand seals.
"Body Flicker Technique!"
In an instant, eight identical clones appeared around Sasuke.
This was the second Body Flicker Technique left behind by Uchiha Shisui, as well as the Body Flicker Technique he had created himself.
According to the records in the book, the Shisui-style Body Flicker Technique instantly created multiple clones with either physical form or afterimage forms. Real and false, solid and illusory, they made it difficult for an enemy to identify the real body.
Once an enemy mistook an Afterimage Clone for a mere afterimage, it could instantly switch into a physical clone or the true body and kill the enemy!
This was also the origin of Uchiha Shisui's title—Body Flicker Shisui.
When Sasuke first saw this record, he had been confused. The Shisui-style Body Flicker Technique possessed both physical clones and Afterimage Clones, and at first glance, it looked like a Body Flicker Technique combined with Shadow Clone Technique.
But the Shadow Clone Technique required only one hand seal, while the Shisui-style Body Flicker Technique required three.
What made it even harder for Sasuke to understand was the effect of instantly switching the Afterimage Clones with the true body or physical clones.
This was already practically Space-Time Ninjutsu, turning the clones into spatial coordinates similar to Flying Raijin Kunai.
But Sasuke knew full well that Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was definitely not Space-Time Ninjutsu.
Only after years of careful study did Sasuke discover the secret behind this ultimate technique.
This Body Flicker Technique was the product of combining the basic Clone Technique with the Shadow Clone Technique. It created both insubstantial Afterimage Clones and solid Shadow Clones at the same time, then carried out high-speed movement and slashing attacks.
The Afterimage Clones lured in and confused the enemy, obscuring their vision while the solid Shadow Clones launched attacks. Meanwhile, the true body hid behind the Shadow Clones and Afterimage Clones, delivering the fatal strike.
It even incorporated some genjutsu techniques and psychological gamesmanship from Uchiha Shisui himself, a master of genjutsu.
This made it extremely difficult for enemies to distinguish Shisui's physical clones, true body, and afterimages. One careless mistake, and they would be killed.
It was truly a ninja technique built on layers upon layers of deception.
"Uchiha Shisui's Body Flicker Technique?"
Kakashi was no stranger to Uchiha Shisui's reputation. The two had interacted back when they were in the Anbu, even carrying out missions together.
He knew exactly how strong Uchiha Shisui was. Back then, he had estimated that if he fought Uchiha Shisui...
His odds of winning would be no more than fifty percent.
In other words, as people often said, it would be an even match.
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