Meanwhile, Sasuke had also observed the situation from the woods with his Sharingan. Unlike Hinata, however, the instant Naruto and Hinata were defeated, he put everything he had into evading and retreating.
A Konoha Jonin is far stronger than I imagined. Even Naruto lost that easily?
Sasuke grew increasingly agitated as he watched Kakashi, unable to put any distance between them no matter what he tried. Even his breathing began to falter.
Seeing this, Kakashi's Shadow Clone seemed to spot a perfect opening as he pursued Sasuke. He, too, drew a blade wreathed in Lightning Flash. The chirping of a thousand birds suddenly rang out, and the clone accelerated just as Kakashi had when he struck Naruto.
"Lightning Blade: Edge!"
Kakashi's Shadow Clone even shouted the technique's name.
"This is bad!" Seeing his opponent use the same move that had just defeated Naruto, Sasuke panicked. Without much thought, he crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive stance, hoping to reduce the damage from this unavoidable blow!
But...
With a pop, Kakashi's Shadow Clone vanished the instant he drew close to Sasuke.
"Hah... hah..." Cold sweat trickled down Sasuke's forehead as he landed weakly on the ground. Only then did he notice his surroundings. While dodging and retreating, he had unknowingly left the Training Ground.
"Tch. I failed because I wasn't watching the boundaries... just like that idiot?" For some reason, Sasuke felt a sense of relief.
Deep down, he seemed glad that his constant vigilance had ultimately allowed him to avoid the move that had defeated Naruto.
At least I didn't get hit. That's better than getting hurt!
But this seemed to mean that none of the three of them had passed the combat exercise, and that tempered some of Sasuke's pride.
He couldn't help suspecting that their