Keep Growing with Hatred

Who had ever seen the Hidden Leaf Village at four in the morning?

Kakashi saw it every day.

Whenever he woke from nightmares, it was always four in the morning.

The moment he woke up, he saw someone outside the window.

Uchiha Ling waved at him.

Kakashi knew it was time for their agreed-upon duel.

As the sky began to pale, Kakashi jumped out the window.

The two ran one after the other until Uchiha Ling led Kakashi into the woods behind Hokage Rock.

This was the most secluded place Uchiha Ling could find. The guard squads on the Hidden Leaf Village's walls could not see this place.

After they stopped, Kakashi stared at Uchiha Ling with his dead-fish eyes.

"What secret do you know about my father's death?"

Uchiha Ling smiled with the wickedness of a villain:

"Kakashi Hatake, not only do I know, I'm one of the people behind it. Do you want to know? Come on, defeat me. I don't respond to soft tactics. Begging won't get a single word out of me, but if you defeat me, I'll surrender immediately."

Anger rose within Kakashi Hatake.

What did he mean, one of the people behind it? Behind what?

They threw kunai at the same time.

The kunai whistled through the air before colliding precisely, ringing with a sharp metallic clang.

Uchiha Ling glanced at the point where the kunai had collided. It was closer to him.

They formed hand seals at the same time.

After six seals, Uchiha Ling spewed out a Great Fireball as tall as a person.

The Great Fireball rolled and spun, scorching the grass on the ground.

An Earth-Style Wall burst from the ground, blocking the fireball before Kakashi.

The Great Fireball struck the Earth-Style Wall and exploded.

After the explosion, Kakashi charged out of the thick smoke with a kunai in hand, moving at incredible speed.

Uchiha Ling frowned. They said Might Guy's taijutsu was powerful, yet whenever Might Guy sparred with Kakashi in taijutsu, he had never won.

Uchiha Ling formed seals again. After three seals, he used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

The way he used Great Breakthrough was highly unusual. After forming the seals, he pressed both hands against the ground and lowered his head.

A high-pressure wind blast surged forward, while his hair rapidly grew into pitch-black steel needles, shooting at Kakashi like a dense metal storm.

Kakashi's heart tightened, and his pupils shrank. Uchiha Ling had actually mastered such an advanced combination ninjutsu?

He hurriedly dodged, but the black-gold steel needles and the wind blast turned at the same time, pursuing him.

Kakashi performed three consecutive forward rolls, dodging the black-gold steel needles that followed him closely. However, before he could wait for their force to run out, he was struck by the final wave of needles.

More than a dozen black-gold steel needles were embedded in Kakashi's body.

Uchiha Ling was quite pleased. Even Kakashi would find it difficult to evade the combined ninjutsu of Wind Release and black-gold steel needles, right?

He named this combined ninjutsu Black-Gold Wind Needles.

Bang!

Kakashi turned into a puff of white smoke.

A Shadow Clone Technique?

The sound of something slicing through the air rang out beside his ear!

Uchiha Ling hurriedly raised his kunai to defend himself.

Clang!

The sound of kunai colliding beside his ear made his scalp tingle.

Kakashi's kunai was less than twenty centimeters from his ear.

Their movements were incredibly fast as their kunai struck each other again and again. Bright sparks flew, grazing Uchiha Ling's eyelashes.

In their final exchange, they pressed their kunai together and struggled for leverage. The sound of the blades sliding and scraping stirred up a fear of harsh sounds, like fingernails scratching glass or metal, making their scalps tingle.

With a clang, they both retreated and formed hand seals again.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

This Great Fireball was even larger, nearly two people wide in diameter.

The Great Fireball dragged across the ground, plowing a shallow trench through it.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"

Unexpectedly, Kakashi had already mastered two defensive escape techniques.

Water Release countered Fire Release. When the Great Fireball struck the Water Formation Wall, its heat was rapidly exhausted.

From behind the mist, Uchiha Ling heard dense footsteps.

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique? Or...

The footsteps vanished in an instant.

Eight ninja dogs suddenly burst out of the ground all around Uchiha Ling, their successive barks right in front of him.

Uchiha Ling hurriedly gathered chakra and sent it into his hair.

Before the ninja dogs could bite him, his hair rapidly wrapped around him, bundling him up like a rice dumpling and blocking the dogs' sharp teeth.

"Hey! Kakashi! Have your dogs been vaccinated for rabies? Why are you so uncivilized?"

After using trash talk to draw Kakashi's attention, spikes extended from the black-gold covering, about to pierce the eight ninja dogs.

The eight ninja dogs were extremely cautious. After failing to land a hit, they immediately retreated and dodged the black-gold spikes.

Their ninjutsu probing ended in another draw. Neither could do anything to the other.

They raised their kunai and clashed again, rapidly exchanging moves with their blades.

Uchiha Ling secretly concentrated chakra in his feet, then sent a second wave of chakra rushing into his legs and feet.

Double-chakra Body Flicker Technique, combined with chakra bursting from the acupoints in his legs, greatly increased his speed. He suddenly slammed into Kakashi's embrace.

His kunai slashed diagonally upward toward Kakashi's chest, and Kakashi hurriedly raised his hand to evade it.

Chakra erupted from the acupoints in Uchiha Ling's arm.

For a moment, it was impossible to tell which of them was more skilled in the taijutsu techniques of the White Fang of the Leaf.

Clang!

Kakashi's kunai was knocked away.

Uchiha Ling stood still, his kunai already resting against Kakashi's throat.

Kakashi stared at Uchiha Ling in shock.

He had just taken first place in the Chunin Exams, yet Uchiha Ling's strength was actually above his?

"Kakashi, with that little strength of yours, you still dare to wear your father's death on your face every day?

Who are you putting on a show of unhappiness for?

Even at the Chunin Exam awards ceremony, you kept that cold face. You've got some nerve.

You're courting death.

If the people who added fuel to the fire over White Fang's death see you looking like this and decide you've been holding a grudge all along, your future will be miserable. They won't miss any chance to deal with you.

You'll encounter enemies far beyond your ability. You'll get yourself killed, and you'll get your teammates killed too."

Having been defeated by Uchiha Ling, Kakashi was already unsettled. Hearing this mockery made his emotions surge even more violently.

Uchiha Ling lowered his kunai, stepped half a pace closer, leaned near Kakashi's ear, and said:

"Do you remember what happened on your final day at the academy? I mocked you, and you broke my head?

To tell you the truth, I did it deliberately at someone's instruction.

White Fang's actions did cause the Hidden Leaf Village to suffer losses. To a certain extent, he brought it upon himself by abandoning the mission for his comrades, but someone also added fuel to the subsequent storm of rumors.

Kakashi, you're too weak. Like this, how are you supposed to investigate the truth?"

Kakashi asked in terror, "Who! Who added fuel to the fire?"

"Live on with hatred and anger. Keep growing stronger.

One day, I'll grant you a chance to challenge me.

I won't tell you who instructed me unless, someday in the future, you can defeat me."

Kakashi instantly crumpled, staring in disbelief with his mouth agape.

[There is a ninja nearby whose defenses have been broken. The Defense-Breaking System is activating...]

He had successfully broken Kakashi's defenses at this point in time.

Given Kakashi's tragic fate, breaking his defenses again in the future would not be difficult.

Poor Kakashi...