Tying Up Kakashi in One Move, Snatching the Bells with Ease

"Lightning Cutter!"

Kakashi became a streak of blue lightning that tore through the air.

The piercing sound of chirping birds made everyone's eardrums ache.

Savage lightning-release chakra, carrying an unwavering resolve, shot straight for Sen's heart!

Faced with this S-rank killing ninjutsu that could take a life in one blow,

Sen stood where he was, the eager smile on his face completely unchanged.

He could not even be bothered to use a defensive ninjutsu like Wood Locking Wall.

"Good!"

Just before that destructive mass of lightning was about to touch his chest,

Sen's lips curled into an extremely confident smile.

He suddenly raised his right foot and stomped heavily on the ground!

"Boom!"

"Wood Release: Silent Strangulation Technique!"

With Sen's low shout,

the hard dirt beneath Kakashi's feet exploded without warning!

These were not the hard wooden spikes from before.

They were hundreds upon thousands of dark-brown, soft branches that moved like living creatures!

These branches were more agile than venomous snakes and tougher than steel cables!

Like a pack of hunters lying in wait, they launched a fatal ambush the instant Kakashi entered their attack range!

"What?!"

Kakashi's pupils abruptly contracted.

He wanted to change direction, but Lightning Cutter's straight-line dash was too fast—there was no time to react!

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Countless soft branches shot forth like nimble snakes, instantly wrapping around Kakashi's legs as he ran at high speed.

A tremendous dragging force struck him, reducing the speed he was so proud of to zero in an instant.

Then, even more branches surged in from all directions.

They tightly bound the right hand holding his Lightning Cutter, his waist and abdomen, and his neck!

"Break!"

A fierce glint flashed through Kakashi's eyes as he tried to use the violent current of Lightning Cutter to forcibly sever these damned branches.

However.

The instant that savage lightning touched the branches,

the expression on Kakashi's face completely froze.

He felt it.

The lightning-release chakra that could cut through anything, the moment it touched this strange wood,

was absorbed and devoured like a clay ox sinking into the sea by an incomparably greedy force!

The passive effect of [Life Drain]!

Wood Release spawned from the Divine Tree Origin inherently possessed the terrifying ability to plunder life and chakra!

"Crackle... crackle..."

The dazzling blue lightning around Kakashi's right hand

rapidly dimmed at a visible rate in barely one second.

In the end, only a few weak sparks jumped unwillingly twice before going completely dark.

"H-how..."

Kakashi was utterly dumbfounded.

His strongest attack had been... neutralized so casually by the other side in such a way?!

And it was not over yet.

More branches surged over like a tide, wrapping him layer upon layer.

In less than three seconds,

Konoha's foremost technician, the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake,

was wrapped by those soft branches into a...

giant mummy with only his head and one Sharingan exposed!

The battle ended unexpectedly quickly.

So quickly that Naruto, tied to the wooden post, and Sasuke, buried in the earth, had not even reacted yet.

Deathly silence returned to the training ground.

Only the rustling of leaves in the breeze could be heard.

Sen slowly lowered the right foot he had stomped down with and dusted off his hands, though there was no dust on them.

He looked at Kakashi, who was bound so tightly that he could not move even a finger.

Then he sighed helplessly.

"Ha, I still didn't control my strength well."

"I only wanted to tie you up a little, but it drained you a bit too fast and directly emptied your chakra bar."

As Sen spoke, he leisurely walked up to Kakashi.

Kakashi glared at him fiercely. His scarlet Sharingan was now plainly conveying three words.

Something's wrong with you!

Sen completely ignored his accusatory gaze.

He reached out and casually removed the two jingling bells from Kakashi's waist.

He had taken them.

With ease.

Sen weighed the bells in his hand, finding them somewhat boring.

He had thought they could play a little longer.

"Jingle, jingle..."

The crisp ringing echoed through the silent training ground, as though announcing the end of this farce.

Naruto, tied to the wooden post, had his mouth open wide enough to fit a watermelon.

"W-won?"

"Big bro tied up that white-haired teacher in one move?!"

Sasuke, buried in the earth, felt as though his worldview had suffered an unprecedented impact.

He had personally seen Kakashi's Chidori, the move that even made his heart tremble with fear.

Yet it had been extinguished by a few lousy branches like someone turning off a light!

"Th-this... what kind of Wood Release is this..."

Sasuke muttered, his eyes hollow as if he had lost his soul.

Sen paid no attention to his two teammates, who had already shut down completely.

Holding the two bells, he walked over to Sasuke.

He stuffed one into Sasuke's slightly open mouth, which had been left agape in shock.

"Here. Yours."

Then he walked over to Naruto, who was tied to the wooden post.

He hung the other bell from a tuft of Naruto's blond hair that had stuck up from all his struggling.

"Yours."

After doing all that, Sen yawned and leisurely returned to his luxurious wooden recliner.

He dropped into it.

Putting his sunglasses back on, he crossed one leg over the other.

He looked as though that earth-shaking battle just now had been nothing more than a little post-meal entertainment.

He lazily waved at Kakashi, who was still bound like a mummy with only one eye exposed.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei."

Sen's voice carried a hint of undisguised teasing.

"Now that we've got the bells,"

"does that mean we passed this exercise?"