This Battle Had Been Nothing but Playing Around from the Start!

Inside the shrine.

Facing the anxious Kakashi, Yamada Tetsuya kept swinging his blade to suppress him, preventing Kakashi from going to the rescue. A delighted, bloodthirsty smile spread across his face as he said,

"Hahaha! Although Koichi usually talks in that irritating roundabout way, he's pretty useful when it counts!"

"Bastard, just watch another bastard die right before your eyes!"

Clang!

Kakashi barely blocked the katana before him. Watching Hyuga Setsuna, who was about to be struck by the three-headed wolf, anxiety and fury flickered endlessly in his eyes.

Damn it, if only I were a little stronger.

Consumed by rage and anxiety, Kakashi no longer merely defended against Yamada Tetsuya's slashes. Instead, he launched a near-frenzied counterattack.

The short blade in his hand constantly turned into sharp streaks of light as it slashed at Yamada Tetsuya. He had completely abandoned defense; every move was a strike meant to take them both down.

Seeing the kid before him acting so differently, Yamada Tetsuya grew excited as well. Failing to take down this brat for so long had been a humiliation to him.

Now that the brat had finally lost his composure, his chance had come!

Splurt!

Fresh blood flowed from Kakashi's forehead, passing over his exhausted eyes and blurring the world before him.

The dog-faced mask that had covered his face had long since been knocked far away.

Boom!!

A terrifying sound suddenly rang out, accompanied by a horrifying pressure from the green wind.

Kakashi's already weakened body was swept up by the wind pressure and sent flying.

Using his short blade planted in the ground to prop himself up, Kakashi looked despairingly toward where Hyuga Setsuna had vanished. His blood-covered face was filled with grief and regret.

"Setsuna was clearly so strong. How did this happen?!"

If... if I had listened to him and fought that sensory-type guy, then Setsuna... he wouldn't have died.

Did Setsuna die because of me?

Tokugawa Koichi lowered the arm he had held before himself. Looking at the spot where Hyuga Setsuna had vanished after being struck by the three-headed wolf, he mockingly said to Kakashi with a casual expression,

"Oh my, I never expected that guy to be so weak!"

Hearing Tokugawa Koichi's mocking words, Kakashi opened his mouth to retort, but his severe injuries forced him to spit out blood.

"Urgh, cough cough!"

Bright blood kept dripping onto the ground. Looking at Kakashi not far ahead, Yamada Tetsuya raised the Snow Walker blade resting on his shoulder and said,

"All right, that bastard is dead. Since I can't feed him to the dogs, I'll have to chop you into mince and feed you to them instead!"

With that, Yamada Tetsuya walked toward Kakashi with a bloodthirsty smile on his face.

Just then, a crisp voice filled with teasing suddenly rang out across the battlefield.

"Hey, Kakashi, you're already done for?"

"I told you long ago to fight that kidney-deficient sensory-type guy, but you just had to stubbornly go fight that idiot over there!"

As that crisp voice rang out, the expressions of the three people present instantly changed.

Tokugawa Koichi's face immediately turned pale, because that voice had come from behind him.

Yamada Tetsuya stopped walking toward Kakashi, the bloodthirsty smile on his face frozen stiff.

Kakashi, who was half-kneeling and leaning on his short blade, froze upon hearing that voice. The despair and grief on his face gave way to uncontrollable joy and laughter. He kept coughing, but his laughter never stopped.

"Setsuna, you bastard! If you weren't dead, you should've come out sooner!!!"

Then, somehow finding the strength, Kakashi shakily straightened up, proudly raised his head, widened his eyes, and said to the stunned Yamada Tetsuya nearby,

"Idiot, our fight isn't over yet!!"

Perhaps because he had spent so much time with Hyuga Setsuna lately, the once icy Kakashi had become sharp-tongued as well!

Kakashi pulled his short blade from the ground, relentlessly squeezing the Chakra within his body dry. Then he leaped at Yamada Tetsuya. Lightning began to coil around his blade as it drew an arc like a thunderbolt and slashed down at him.

Yamada Tetsuya also came back to his senses. Looking at the short blade slashing toward him, he roared and charged forward.

Seeing Kakashi regain his fighting spirit, becoming even fiercer than before, Hyuga Setsuna smiled as well.

Then, the smile on Hyuga Setsuna's face changed as he looked at Tokugawa Koichi, whose cold sweat continued to pour down. He spoke with cruel mockery in his voice.

"You didn't actually think I'd be defeated so easily by your Genjutsu and Ninjutsu, did you?"

"This battle had been nothing but playing around from the start!"

Feeling the cruel words from behind him, Tokugawa Koichi wanted to say something to buy time and recover his Chakra. However, an invisible ripple suddenly locked onto him tightly.

Along with that ripple came an Eight Trigrams formation that suddenly unfolded.

Only then did Hyuga Setsuna's voice slowly reach him.

"Forget it. I'm not interested in hearing you talk. Next, it's time for me to send you to the world of the dead!"

With that, Hyuga Setsuna assumed the stance of the Gentle Fist Art.

Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!

Two Palms!

Four Palms!

Eight Palms!

Sixteen Palms!

Thirty-Two Palms!

Sixty-Four Palms!

As Hyuga Setsuna's crisp voice rang out, blue Chakra flared from his hands as he continuously struck at the sixty-four Chakra points across Tokugawa Koichi's body.

Watching the incoming Gentle Fist: Sixty-Four Palms, Tokugawa Koichi desperately wanted to move his body out of the way. But the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu he had used earlier had already exhausted all of his Chakra.

Bang!!

A sky full of palm shadows shook everything with overwhelming force as they landed upon Tokugawa Koichi!

Tokugawa Koichi's frail body was like a tattered rag as it was blasted away by that immense force and smashed viciously into the distance!

While fighting Kakashi, Yamada Tetsuya saw Tokugawa Koichi crash to the ground like a discarded rag, and his expression immediately froze.

A sharp gleam flashed through Kakashi's eyes. He swiftly seized the opportunity, and the short blade in his hand traced a bleak arc as it fell toward Yamada Tetsuya.

Splurt!

Fresh blood splashed across the ground like a fountain. Yamada Tetsuya's chest and heart had been torn open, leaving behind a horrifying wound.

With disbelief in his eyes, Yamada Tetsuya looked at Tokugawa Koichi's corpse on the ground in the distance. He ignored the pain coming from the ghastly wound through his chest and heart.

He licked his dry lips, his blood-red eyes filled with indescribably complicated emotions, and said hoarsely,

"Hey, Koichi, if you're not dead, get up and say something!!"

Yet all that answered him was deathly silence.

An inexplicable emotion seemed to rise within his heart, making him feel awful.

Second update!

I feel like writing battle scenes might not suit me all that well...

Psychological descriptions feel so exhausting. I really envy those great authors who can sketch out an unforgettable character in just a few sentences... It feels like I've killed off a whole bunch of brain cells!