Damn, Is It Genjutsu?

Although Kakashi had been in the right, Sunny Day had touched Kakashi's most painful wound in order to win back a round.

Watching Sunny Day laugh uproariously, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to slash him with a blade.

Kakashi took a deep breath and tried to make himself look calmer.

After all, if he truly wanted to teach this guy a lesson, he needed to appear unruffled. Only then could he provoke him into taking the bait.

Since you wanted to play dirty with personal attacks, then let's hurt each other.

Kakashi said with feigned indifference, "Well, someone only reached the same position as me when he was nearly forty. If I were that someone, I'd have committed seppuku in minutes."

"How did you still have the nerve to make such a racket here? Aren't you ashamed?" Kakashi said with a cheerful smile.

"You!" Sunny Day flushed with embarrassment and anger. "You're only relying on Lord Third's favor!"

"Otherwise, how could someone with your lack of seniority possibly hold that position? I was already taking missions when you hadn't even been born!"

Kakashi raised his head to look at the sky. "Well, people without ability always like to harp on seniority. Other than being older than me, what else do you have to show for yourself?"

"How many S-rank missions have you completed? How many A-rank missions?"

"I accomplished in a few years what you couldn't accomplish in half a lifetime, yet all you can do here is talk to me about seniority."

Kakashi's words were like a whip, repeatedly lashing Sunny Day across the face, yet Sunny Day had no way to refute them.

Kakashi handled missions like he was farming orders, finishing them at incredible speed. Almost no one in the entire ANBU could compare to him.

As expected, Sunny Day was thoroughly enraged, his face turning Kurenai as he said, "You only got lucky and achieved a little, yet you dare to spout such nonsense here!"

"What kind of Silver Lightning are you? If you have the guts, get on the arena with me. I'll properly teach you what it means to respect your elders."

A cold smile curled at Kakashi's lips. Hadn't the fish taken the bait?

"That wouldn't be very good, would it? What if I accidentally hurt my senior on the arena? At your age, Senior, if you're injured too badly, you might be forced into retirement. We'd better not."

Kakashi wore an expression that said he was doing this for Sunny Day's own good, making Sunny Day fly into a rage.

"What, are you scared? You're nothing but a flashy fraud!" Sunny Day shouted.

Kakashi shook his head. "Sigh. Since Captain Sunny Day is in such high spirits, I can only oblige. But I hope that if Captain Sunny Day loses too badly, you won't hold it against me afterward."

Seeing Kakashi agree, Sunny Day flashed onto the sparring arena's platform, afraid Kakashi might change his mind.

"Heh, naturally. Likewise, if I beat you until your face is black and blue, don't go crying to Lord Third, little! Brat!"

"Fine, wait a moment. I need to say a few things to my new team member," Kakashi said unconcernedly.

Sunny Day sneered, "Heh, no need to say too much. Just have him carry you to the infirmary later."

Kakashi ignored Sunny Day. In his eyes, this guy was already a dead man.

Kakashi walked to Itachi Uchiha's side and, under his surprised gaze, draped an arm around his shoulders.

Itachi Uchiha hated physical contact with anyone other than his younger brother Sasuke, but remembering that the man before him had just spoken up for him, he could only let Kakashi put his arm around him.

Kakashi whispered a few words into Itachi's ear. Itachi looked at Kakashi in surprise, then nodded after hesitating for a moment.

"Then, let's begin!"

Kakashi leaped onto the platform, drew his short blade with a backhand motion, and slowly lifted his forehead protector.

"Finished arranging your last words?"

Sunny Day sneered as he took two flying sickles from the side and slowly spun them in his hands.

The moment Kakashi stepped onto the platform, Sunny Day only looked at Kakashi's body, avoiding his Sharingan.

How to fight the Uchiha Clan was a required ANBU course. Every member knew what to do, since that clan had always been ANBU's hypothetical enemy.

The flying sickles spun faster and faster in his hands. Sunny Day moved, sending one sickle straight at Kakashi.

Kakashi twisted aside to evade the sickle, then closed in, advancing while Sunny Day could not quickly reel it back in.

Sunny Day swiftly tugged on the chain attached to the flying sickle, while the other sickle swept toward the rapidly advancing Kakashi.

Clang!

Kakashi's White Fang collided with the flying sickle. With a sweep of his short blade, he knocked it aside.

Sunny Day remained unhurried. His hands shifted slightly, and the other flying sickle had already been reeled back, curving at a tricky angle toward Kakashi's back.

Kakashi leaped up, evading the attack.

"I've got you!" Sunny Day cried in delight.

The reason he had deliberately left Kakashi an angle to dodge through was to force him into the air.

Seizing the opportunity, Sunny Day sent the two chains dancing rapidly through the air, the two sickles attacking Kakashi in alternation.

Kakashi's eyes and feet were quick. He stepped on a flying sickle and attempted a backflip to descend to the ground.

Unexpectedly, after the two flying sickles collided in midair, they bizarrely changed direction and came at Kakashi again, one before and one behind.

Not only that, the two chains twisted and crossed as they lashed toward Kakashi.

Wind Release: Ki Flow Dance!

Kakashi clapped his hands together, generating a gust of Ki that blew the chains aside, and Kakashi narrowly landed back on the platform.

"Playing Wind Release with me? You're overestimating yourself!"

After all, Wind Release was Sunny Day's signature specialty!

Sunny Day sneered and unleashed his killing move. Countless wronged souls had wailed beneath this technique.

Wind Release: Nine Sickle!

Violent wind-natured chakra rapidly gathered in the air, forming seven scythe-like wind blades.

Nine sickles howled toward Kakashi, completely locking him in without the slightest room to evade.

"Heh, Silver Lightning?"

"Today, I'll show you how I earned the title 'Bloodthirsty Sickle.'"

"Ah!" With nowhere to evade, Kakashi was slashed by the sharp sickles, blood spraying everywhere.

Watching Kakashi collapse helplessly into a pool of blood, Sunny Day felt utterly satisfied. At last, he had vented his evil Ki.

"Just as I thought, he's only a Kiba-sharp-tongued little brat. With this much strength, how could he possibly become captain if Lord Third hadn't promoted him excessively?"

Sunny Day crouched beside Kakashi, who seemed to be barely clinging to life, and lightly patted his cheek. "Young man, be more polite to your elders in the future, understand?"

But was that really what had happened?

The people below the platform only saw Sunny Day start dancing and gesticulating wildly in place shortly after going up, as though he had gone mad. His lips seemed to be muttering something, and they began whispering among themselves.

"Damn it, was that genjutsu? When did it happen?"