"Ooooh! I'm fired up!"
Just as the tension between the two grew heavier, a shout from the crowd shattered it completely.
Might Guy pumped his fist excitedly. "This is youth! Fighting alongside your friends, improving together! A true showdown of youth!"
"That Guy..." Obito grimaced, one hand on his hip and the other scratching his head. "It's impossible to feel tense with him around."
"That's a good thing too, isn't it?" Rin smiled casually beside him.
"..."
Xue Ge's breath caught. With a peculiar expression, he looked at Kakashi, whose sharp, serious gaze had turned into a dead-eyed stare.
"...Must be rough?"
"Yeah..."
When it came to Might Guy, the two had found common ground.
"Forget about Guy for now." Kakashi shook his head, then grew serious again. "Give it everything you've got, Xue Ge. I know you held back when you fought Guy yesterday."
"Of course." Xue Ge nodded.
Kakashi's gaze sharpened, and his body vanished from where he stood.
So fast.
Xue Ge narrowed his eyes slightly. He could sense Kakashi moving rapidly around him. He was faster than Guy had been yesterday, though not by much.
Tightening his grip on his sword, Xue Ge leaped to one side and swept his blade in a gleaming arc.
Clang! A crisp metallic ring sounded as Xue Ge's sword met Kakashi's kunai, scattering sparks.
Kakashi came into view, his kunai flying out of his hand, a hint of surprise on his face. He hadn't expected Xue Ge to pinpoint his position so accurately, much less react so quickly.
In less than half a second, he drew the short sword from behind his back and slashed sideways at Xue Ge's neck.
Xue Ge thrust his left hand into the blade's path. The sword bit into his arm with a dull thunk.
"What?" Kakashi yanked at the hilt, only to find the blade lodged firmly in his opponent's arm.
The next instant, Xue Ge pulled his arm free, leaving half a wooden prosthetic limb trapping Kakashi's short sword. Where the prosthetic had come off, a sharp blade embedded in the wood was exposed.
His prosthetic limbs were expendable, ready to be discarded at any moment, and his forearm doubled as a sheath for a hidden blade.
Whoosh! The forearm blade shot forward, stabbing straight at Kakashi's face.
With his other hand, Kakashi flicked a kunai from his sleeve and deflected the thrust in front of his face. Then he kicked Xue Ge in the chest, driving him away. Xue Ge staggered back two steps before whipping the sword in his right hand at Kakashi.
Thud! Kakashi raised his short sword, and Xue Ge's cane sword cleaved through the prosthetic still caught on its blade.
Keeping his sword behind him in one hand and holding his kunai horizontally in the other, Kakashi closed in on Xue Ge.
They clashed again, blades flashing and figures weaving past each other, neither able to gain a clear advantage. With his bizarre swordsmanship and his pair of long and short blades, Xue Ge fought Kakashi to a standstill, even gaining the upper hand at certain moments.
Yet Kakashi never showed any sign of faltering. His footwork was as nimble as the wind, and whenever Xue Ge had to control his prosthetic limbs to pursue him, he fell a step behind.
Their battle reached a fever pitch. Their clashes stirred clouds of dust across the surrounding ground, which trembled faintly beneath their feet.
Amid the swirling dust, Xue Ge and Kakashi flickered in and out of sight. Their flashing blades were almost impossible to follow.
Uchiha Lan, Wenyi Hyuga, Asuma, and the others watched, dumbstruck. Uchiha Lan and Wenyi Hyuga had never known their class contained two fighters this strong. Asuma knew how capable Kakashi was, but even he hadn't realized he was this powerful.
These two shouldn't even be students!
And Xue Ge-what kind of disabled person moved that fast? That blade hidden inside his prosthetic was downright sneaky!
After another exchange, Kakashi retreated to put some distance between himself and Xue Ge, throwing five or six shuriken in quick succession. Xue Ge dodged and swayed while knocking them aside with his sword.
This won't work. Xue Ge can't catch me, but his speed isn't actually inferior to mine. Once I get close, his swordsmanship puts me at a disadvantage.
Kakashi's feelings were complicated. Reluctant as he was to admit it, he had realized... his taijutsu seemed to be inferior to Xue Ge's.
With only sword techniques and shuriken, he could avoid losing, but winning was impossible.
That realization only stoked Kakashi's competitive spirit.
"Maybe I can't beat you with taijutsu alone, but taijutsu isn't all I've got."
Whoosh! A slender blade cut through the air. Xue Ge rushed forward in a few strides and brought it down on Kakashi with unstoppable force.
Ryosuke was growing nervous on the sidelines. The battle had become far fiercer than he'd imagined, and if anyone was killed or injured, he would have no way to account for it. As their homeroom teacher, he had to stop them before they went too far.
Pop!
Just as Xue Ge's sword struck Kakashi's head, a sound like a bursting balloon rang out. A puff of smoke rose, and Kakashi suddenly turned into a log.
Ryosuke, who had been about to rush forward, froze.
"The Substitution Technique?"
Xue Ge frowned as his strike missed its target and immediately darted to the side.
Flames erupted, and a crimson fireball smashed into the spot where Xue Ge had just stood.
Everyone turned toward the source of the fireball. Kakashi was descending toward the ground, his fingers still held before his lips.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Uchiha Lan could no longer sit still. "Where did he learn that? Wait, how does he know ninjutsu at all???"
The crowd of tiny first-year students was stunned. These two were already absurdly strong at taijutsu, but at least taijutsu was something they had encountered themselves. Who knew there was another level beyond that? Why did a five- or six-year-old child know ninjutsu?
And what was with that disabled kid who dodged the ninjutsu instantly without even looking? Was he really blind in one eye, or had that eye grown on the back of his head instead?
Before the flames could disperse, just as Kakashi landed, two shuriken pierced the fire and shot toward him.
Kakashi ducked out of the way. The flames before him split in two, and Xue Ge charged straight through them, raising his sword to strike him.
Kakashi hurriedly blocked Xue Ge's sword with his kunai, but at the same time, his opponent's short blade stabbed him in the arm.
"Urgh!" Kakashi's face twitched, and blood spurted out.
"Xue Ge is fast-far faster than an ordinary person." Asuma struggled to follow the dizzying action. "But his greatest strength has to be his swordsmanship. Both blades have plenty of speed and power, but the most important thing is how unpredictable their paths are... A blade fitted inside a prosthetic limb. I've
never heard of a sword like that before."
Watching Xue Ge, Wenyi Hyuga murmured, "His eyes... He's blind in at least one eye, which means his field of vision is worse than Kakashi's, and judging distances is harder too. Those shuriken just now... Did he anticipate that?"
With his Byakugan, he could see more details than the others. Even so, he knew he would never withstand either fighter's rapid attacks if he stepped into the fight. Seeing clearly and reacting in time were two different things.
Xue Ge drove Kakashi back with a slash and charged again. This time, he gave Kakashi no openings, forcing him to retreat step after step.
Xue Ge grew faster and faster, his swordsmanship increasingly fierce. Kakashi fell onto the defensive. He found Xue Ge's swordsmanship far too strange, with attacks always coming when he least expected them.
Moreover, Xue Ge's prosthetic limbs were extraordinarily flexible. The long and short blades were almost impossible to guard against, and their arm-length thrusting reach made them difficult for Kakashi to handle.
He must have undergone special training with those prosthetic limbs.
That was the only conclusion Kakashi had reached throughout the fight.
And Xue Ge still hasn't used ninjutsu... Does he not know any?
Kakashi rapidly retreated while forming hand seals, then spat a blue-green sphere of wind from his mouth.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Bang! Xue Ge cleaved straight through the Vacuum Sphere with the blade in his prosthetic limb. Even as the prosthetic was blasted apart, he closed in until he was almost face-to-face with Kakashi.
With one hand, he swept his cane sword upward in a vicious slash at Kakashi's waist and abdomen.
Kakashi pressed down on the long blade in his hand and thrust straight at Xue Ge's chest.
Just as their blades sliced through the fabric of each other's clothes, a pair of large hands descended from above. One seized Xue Ge's wrist; the other pushed down Kakashi's short sword.
"That's enough!"
Ryosuke had finally intervened.