A massive blaze erupted from Sasuke's mouth, its rolling heat instantly swallowing Kakashi whole.
When the flames dispersed, the ground was scorched black, and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.
Naruto clutched his head and screamed in terror. "Aaaah! Sasuke, did you burn our teacher to ashes?!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. If a Jonin were that easy to kill, Konoha would have fallen long ago.
Suddenly, the earth beneath his feet loosened.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
Rumble!
A large hand burst from the ground, seized Sasuke's ankle, and yanked him down.
Sasuke was instantly planted in the earth with only his head sticking out, like a crooked radish.
Kakashi emerged from the ground and dusted off his hands. "Not bad. You almost beat me."
As he spoke, he turned toward Lei Dou and Naruto, who had yet to make a move.
"Are you two just going to stand there and watch me bury your teammate?"
Teamwork didn't mean people could read one another's minds on their very first meeting.
Lei Dou understood the situation perfectly. There was no need to force some performance of heartfelt bonds.
He walked toward Kakashi, slowly reaching his right hand behind his back to grip the hilt of the ninja blade called Zangetsu.
Naruto was still shouting. "Lei Dou, let's go together! We can definitely grab them!"
Lei Dou didn't even turn his head. "No need. Do what I told you earlier. Don't screw it up!"
Naruto muttered a few reluctant complaints but obediently stepped aside.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. This kid even came up with a strategy? Interesting.
Knowing how to plan tactics was a good thing, but throwing a teammate under the bus would cost points in Kakashi's book.
Shing!
With a clear ring like a dragon's cry, Lei Dou drew his blade.
Its ink-black surface didn't reflect the sunlight-it swallowed it. Faint, deep-blue patterns flowed along its edge, beautiful and dangerous.
Kakashi's gaze sharpened. "A fine blade! The craftsmanship is extraordinary. This is certainly no cheap street-stall weapon."
Lei Dou gently stroked the blade. "Its name is Zangetsu. It's my partner."
Even Naruto and Sasuke, who knew nothing about blades, stared in awe. It looked a hundred times better than a kunai.
Kakashi mulled over the name. "Zangetsu... cutting down the moon? Quite ambitious. Your file says you created your own swordsmanship?"
"You could say that," Lei Dou admitted readily.
"The younger generation is impressive, but you should understand that in the ninja world, swordsmanship is only a supporting skill. Ninjutsu is what truly matters."
Was he trying to lecture me?
An amused smile curled Lei Dou's lips. "Really? Kakashi-sensei, you're the son of the Konoha White Fang. Your family's blade techniques once terrified the Shinobi World, and now you're telling me swordsmanship is no good?"
Kakashi's pupil contracted slightly. "You actually know about that?"
Lei Dou shrugged. "Who hasn't heard of Konoha's Copy Ninja? I've admired the legendary blade techniques of the Hatake Clan for a long time."
So he was a little fanboy? Kakashi understood.
Since the boy was a fellow blade enthusiast, he couldn't afford to be too halfhearted.
He took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and spun it in his hand.
"Although I put down my blade years ago, this kunai will be more than enough to give you a few pointers on swordsmanship."
Far away in the Hokage Building, the old Third Hokage shook his head as he watched. "Kakashi, you're going to regret that. Common sense doesn't apply to this kid."
Lei Dou stared at the shabby kunai in Kakashi's hand, his gaze gradually turning cold.
You think a lousy kunai can stop my Zangetsu?
This wasn't just contempt. It was outright provocation!
Lei Dou drew a deep breath and gave him an exceptionally "nuclear-friendly" smile.
The next second, the earth shattered!
Boom!!
With an explosive crash, the ground beneath Lei Dou's feet collapsed into a large crater.
He shot forward like a cannonball, leaving an afterimage in his wake.
That terrifying burst of power made Kakashi's dead-fish eye widen.
Was that really the speed of a damn genin?!
Before the dust could settle, Lei Dou had already swept past the buried Sasuke.
The gale stung Sasuke's face, and he barely managed to catch a glimpse of a black silhouette.
That... that speed... how could he be faster than me?!
At that moment, a crack appeared in Sasuke's pride.
While Sasuke was questioning everything, Zangetsu traced a hauntingly beautiful blue arc in Lei Dou's hands.
The crescent slash screamed through the air, descending straight toward Kakashi's head.
Clang!!
The deafening clash of metal sent sparks exploding like fireworks.
Kakashi crossed his hands, bracing two kunai firmly against Zangetsu's edge as the muscles in his arms instantly tightened.
At some point, he had drawn a second kunai, barely managing to block that crushing blow.
Holding his blade in both hands, Lei Dou stared into Kakashi's astonished eyes with a gaze as sharp as steel.
"Kakashi-sensei, fighting me with toys like those could get you killed!"
Shing!
Lei Dou turned the edge, redirecting the opposing force as Zangetsu slid along the kunai toward Kakashi's throat. Then he flipped his wrist into a vicious upward slash.
Cold sweat broke out on Kakashi. If that slash connected, it would send his jaw flying.
He hurriedly leaped backward to gain distance.
But Lei Dou gave him no chance to breathe. He shifted his two-handed grip, shattered the ground with a step, and pursued him like an affliction that refused to let go!
All this time, Lei Dou had been holding himself back.
Ever since he developed Water Breathing, it had been quietly leveling up in the background.
Countless days and nights of passive improvement had strengthened not only his swordsmanship but also his reaction speed and explosive muscular power, all at an exponential rate.
His previous opponents had been too fragile. He feared he would cut them dead if he got even a little serious.
But Kakashi was different!
This was the Shinobi World's famous fifty-fifty man!
Lei Dou could finally unleash his full firepower without restraint. Even if he went all out, this guy would suffer serious injuries at worst. He wouldn't die!
Battle hunger blazed in Lei Dou's eyes, and his presence actually made Kakashi's heart tremble.
He was an elite jōnin, yet a newly graduated brat had overwhelmed him with sheer presence?
Utterly absurd!
The black blade swept toward him again, wrapped in flowing blue light.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew, and the webs between Kakashi's thumbs and forefingers went numb from the impacts.
What was with this monstrous strength?! What had this kid grown up eating?
This pressure... why did it feel like trading blows with that lunatic Guy after he opened his gates?!
And this was a "Guy" proficient in lethal swordsmanship. An absolute nightmare.
Kakashi was driven back again and again, his feet plowing two deep furrows through the grass.
Lei Dou grew more excited with every exchange, grinning from ear to ear.
Just what I'd expect from Kakashi. Now let me show you what real madness looks like!
He gripped the hilt with both hands, blue torrents seeming to surge through his eyes.
His entire presence abruptly changed, as though an asura demon had descended.
Swish, swish, swish!
Zangetsu became a storm of black shadows, enveloping Kakashi from every direction like a torrential downpour.
Watching from the side, Sasuke nearly popped his eyes out. He couldn't even make out the paths of Lei Dou's strikes.
If he faced an attack like that himself... the very first stroke would probably cut him in half.
This guy... he'd been playing the slacker at school all along, when he was actually a hidden final boss!
Damn it... was my top ranking just a joke to him?
Conflicting emotions churned inside Sasuke. He felt as if he had been living inside Lei Dou's script all along.
Crack!
A sharp snap broke through the clamor of battle.
Everyone's gaze instantly converged.
Half of a broken kunai spun through the air before embedding itself deep in a nearby tree trunk.
Kakashi fled clumsily from the flashing blades and landed in the clearing beside the river, panting hard.
Scrape... scrape...
Dragging his long blade, Lei Dou advanced one step at a time. Its tip scraped over the gravel, trailing sparks with a teeth-grating screech.
Looking at the boy who resembled a demon god, Kakashi sighed helplessly.
"I really didn't expect that little body of yours to hold such monstrous strength. And that swordsmanship..."
"In terms of swordsmanship alone, you've already surpassed me."
Lei Dou remained expressionless. He took that sort of polite praise with a grain of salt.
But the two rookies nearby were dumbstruck.
A Jonin had personally admitted that his swordsmanship was inferior to a genin's?
It was as surreal as a doctoral supervisor admitting that an elementary school student was better at arithmetic.
"The warm-up is over. Now I'm going to get serious."
"Your Self-Created Swordsmanship is certainly impressive, but I won't keep meeting you head-on with kunai alone."
Kakashi lifted his forehead protector, exposing his crimson Sharingan. Clearly, he had no intention of suffering an embarrassing defeat.
If he lost here today and Guy found out, he would never hear the end of it.
"Sensei, you've misunderstood."
Lei Dou suddenly stopped and flashed a brilliant smile. "That was just wild hacking. I'm only about to use my actual Self-Created Swordsmanship now."
Kakashi was stunned.
That storm of attacks, every stroke lethal and exquisitely executed-and he called it wild hacking?
That didn't even count as damn swordsmanship?
"Sensei, watch carefully!"
Lei Dou's voice suddenly took on an ethereal quality.
Kakashi snapped his head up, his heart seeming to skip a beat.
The whole world seemed to fall silent in an instant. The air grew damp and heavy.
Water Breathing, total concentration!
Bang!
The ground exploded, and Lei Dou vanished from where he stood.
He was even faster than before! Even fiercer!
Kakashi's pupil shrank sharply, and he instinctively flung several shuriken to block his path.
But Lei Dou neither dodged nor slowed. Instead, he accelerated.
"First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
Towering waves seemed to surge into existence in the air.
Zangetsu swept horizontally, blue chakra gathering into a broad slashing wave that crashed toward Kakashi like a tsunami.
The incoming shuriken were instantly deflected.
Kakashi's scalp prickled. At the last possible moment, he leaped high into the air.
The next second, a tree behind him, thick enough to require two arms to encircle, was cleaved through its middle and crashed to the ground.
Whoosh!
Before Kakashi could land, the sound of something cutting through the air reached him from behind his ear.
Lei Dou had actually accelerated a second time in midair and appeared at his flank.
He crouched low, like a cheetah poised to spring.
"Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
Before his words had faded, the black blade arrived.
A winding water dragon seemed to appear in the air. Lei Dou darted along its flowing path, his blade flashing in an endless tide.
Swish, swish, swish!
The two crossed paths in midair.
The water dragon surrounding Kakashi exploded!
Naruto covered his mouth, watching in horror as Kakashi's body broke into more than a dozen pieces in the air!
"He... he killed him?!"
Naruto was about to scream, but Lei Dou landed without even glancing at the pile of flesh.
He turned smoothly, a wicked smile of success curling his lips.
Zangetsu thrust out violently again, this time targeting the seemingly harmless bushes nearby.
"Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!"
The strike was as fast as lightning and as powerful as thunder, as though it could pierce space itself.
The blade's tip instantly plunged deep into the bushes.
Behind him, the shattered "Kakashi" turned into a dozen pieces of rotten wood with smooth cut surfaces amid a puff of white smoke.
A disheveled figure scrambled out of the bushes, rolling and crawling.
Watching this through the Crystal Ball, the Third Hokage nearly dropped his pipe, then burst out laughing.
Kakashi certainly lived up to his reputation, managing to perform the Substitution Technique even in such a desperate situation.
But this kid named Lei Dou...
He had truly given everyone a tremendous surprise!
There was no denying it: Lei Dou's mastery of swordsmanship was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
That thrust had been as fast as a sudden bolt of lightning streaking across the night sky.
Yet strangely, the sword's movement had looked incredibly gentle, like a clear stream trickling through the deep mountains in midsummer.
But beneath that seemingly gentle surface lurked devastating destructive power!
Boom!
A fierce torrent shot straight ahead, carrying the momentum to tear through everything in its path.
The dense bushes along its course were instantly pulverized, and even the ground was plowed into a shocking trench.
That deep sword scar stretched over a dozen meters, with soil churned up and every blade of grass and branch shattered.
Although Kakashi had rolled clumsily out of the attack's path, the sight of the deep trench beside his feet after he stood up brought a sheen of cold sweat to his back.
Had he reacted even a fraction slower or slipped, he would probably have ended up with a bloody hole punched clean through his body.
This kid... he has no idea how to hold back. Is he seriously trying to kill me?
While Kakashi was momentarily distracted, Lei Dou showed no intention of stopping.
For Lei Dou, this battle was exhilarating to his very core.
What a rush!
An unprecedented sense of exhilaration flooded his entire body. He did not have to worry about his opponent being too weak to take a hit; he only needed to swing his sword without restraint and let it all out.
Strictly speaking, this was probably the first time Lei Dou had truly unleashed his full strength since transmigrating.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
Before the aftermath of his first strike had even settled, Lei Dou shifted like a phantom and followed up with another vicious sword attack.
Hearing Lei Dou's battle-hungry roar, Kakashi's expression beneath his mask darkened. The kid had been acting like a man possessed this whole time.
Attack, attack, and more attacks.
The relentless chain of strikes left him not a moment to catch his breath.
Does this kid have unlimited stamina?
Ever since Lei Dou had begun seriously using that unique swordsmanship, the chakra nature transformation erupting from his blade had left even the experienced Kakashi dumbfounded.
Even veteran ninja who had spent their entire lives studying Water Release could hardly produce ninjutsu more powerful than this!
More absurd still, Lei Dou had perfectly integrated chakra into his swordsmanship, allowing him to unleash these lethal attacks instantly without cumbersome hand seals.
Such a continuous barrage of high-intensity attacks was a hellish test of stamina, chakra reserves, and fine control over nature transformation.
Yet Lei Dou remained so full of energy that he showed no sign of exhaustion whatsoever.
At that very moment.
Accompanied by a raging torrent that surged out of thin air, Lei Dou hurtled toward him like a cannonball fired from its barrel.
He seemed to ride solid waves beneath his feet. The roar of rushing water was deafening, and in the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance.
The sharp Ninja Blade once again filled Kakashi's vision, its cold edge whipping up a fierce wind as it came straight for his face.
Simply dodging!
Was no longer fast enough!
Almost the instant Lei Dou moved, Kakashi instinctively began forming hand seals at lightning speed.
Just as the blade slicing through the air was about to touch the tip of his nose.
Kakashi finally completed his seals.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
With a boom, a thick earthen wall shot up from the ground directly in front of Kakashi.
Clang, crack, crash!!!!
An ear-piercing metallic clash exploded as Lei Dou's blade slammed into the earthen wall. Infused with chakra, the rock and soil were practically as hard as steel.
If you encounter ads such as "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!