Cold mist struck Kakashi's face, its chill instantly snapping him out of his daze. He abruptly retreated, his toes skidding several inches across the slippery rock before chakra clung to his soles and steadied him on the water.
He lowered his eyes to glance at the half of the sword hilt left in his hand. His silver-gray bangs concealed the flash of astonishment in his eyes, and he quickly regained his composure.
As a genius whose name everyone knew, he had a sufficiently strong mind.
He... did not believe he necessarily stood no chance of defeating Uchiha Gen.
His weapon had merely shattered. He... had more than just Hatake Style Swordsmanship.
"The fight isn't over yet."
As his words fell, Kakashi Hatake loosened his fingers and casually dropped the broken hilt into the rushing water, letting the current sweep it away.
Every stray thought instantly vanished from his dark eyes. Rather than diminishing, his fighting spirit blazed even brighter, its clear, stubborn edge directed straight at Uchiha Gen.
His swordsmanship had failed, so he would discard his sword and fight!
He, Kakashi Hatake, would never lose to anyone in his life!
"Is that so? Then... come again."
Seeing Kakashi Hatake's fighting spirit rise even higher, Uchiha Gen smiled faintly and raised a hand, beckoning him with a curl of his fingers.
Ignoring Uchiha Gen's provocative gesture, Kakashi Hatake abruptly lowered his slender frame, his feet planted firmly on the water.
The next instant, the chakra throughout his body condensed to its utmost and gathered in his right palm.
Vast amounts of Lightning Release Chakra surged wildly through his chakra pathways, compressing and churning, abruptly tearing through the previously silent air!
Sizzle-crackle!
A piercing burst suddenly drowned out the waterfall's roar as dazzling azure lightning exploded from Kakashi's palm!!
In an instant, a cacophony like a thousand birds chirping rang out beneath the waterfall.
Pure, condensed Lightning Release chakra gathered into a sharp, fierce spear of lightning. Fine strands of electricity coiled and surged around it, countless arcs leaping and bursting, tearing through the surrounding mist and stirring waves of scorching air.
The sight heightened Uchiha Gen's interest once more.
That's... Chidori, isn't it? He created it this soon? And that shape... why does it look more like Chidori Sharp Spear... This little white-haired kid is pretty interesting. But can he resolve Chidori's side effects?
The next instant, Kakashi's cool voice supplied the answer.
"Chidori. That's the name of this ninjutsu. After graduating from the Ninja Academy, I worked through countless calculations and attempts, enduring hundreds upon thousands of failures where my chakra went out of control, before refining and creating it on my own-a ninjutsu of my own invention, belonging to me alone."
Azure lightning perched in the boy's palm, unstoppable and poised to strike. Holding that shrill lightning, the white-haired boy spoke proudly.
Having created ninjutsu of such power at so young an age, he had the right to be proud.
"Very good. But it's only a Lightning Release technique. That's nowhere near enough, Kakashi."
The black-haired boy's cool voice cut through the thunder and rushing water, calm yet carrying an unshakable force.
The instant his words fell, the chakra around Uchiha Gen abruptly surged!
The ocular power of Susanoo, which had previously formed armor over only one arm, was fully unleashed. Vast, deep-black chakra gushed from his body.
A deep, heavy vibration of chakra sounded out of thin air as translucent, solidified Susanoo chakra stacked in layers, hardened, and took shape.
First came the shoulders, spine, chest, and arms. Extremely condensed Susanoo bone armor spread and grew at a visible speed, its pitch-black skeletal framework crisscrossing and joining into an incomparably hard suit of torso armor. The markings across it were severe, gleaming coldly like ink-black glass.
Half-Body Susanoo: Armored Might!
At least a Two-Tomoe Sharingan!! Two tomoe at eight years old, or perhaps... perhaps even three tomoe. Could Uchiha Gen grow to the level of those two?
Outside the battlefield, Hatake Sakumo had already moved onto the trunk of a tree on the bank to stay out of the two boys' combat range. Looking at the ink-black, glasslike armor on Uchiha Gen, the astonishment in his eyes deepened.
"Lament your unfortunate fate of having no Sharingan."
The instant the armor formed, Uchiha Gen felt the enormous boost Susanoo brought him and spoke with a smile.
The Sharingan in this Shinobi World far surpassed those in the normal Shinobi World in power. After all, throughout his fight with Kakashi, he had yet to use the Sharingan's Yin Release power.
That possessed a powerful negative effect capable of burning the soul.
Facing Uchiha Gen and his terrifying might, Kakashi lightly pressed his lips together. Rather than rushing into a head-on assault, he merely turned his wrist slightly, and the condensed Chidori lightning in his palm instantly spread!
The violent Lightning Release chakra, previously concentrated at a single point, abruptly unfurled, flowed, and spread. Fine lightning poured down his arm and raced across his body, layer upon layer of electrical arcs covering him and forming an expansive field of lightning.
Chidori Stream!
Watching the azure lightning surging everywhere before him, Uchiha Gen finally showed a trace of profound surprise in his dark eyes.
He was not surprised that Kakashi could master Chidori. He even considered developing a technique similar to Chidori Sharp Spear fairly normal. But...
Isn't developing Uchiha Sasuke's Chidori Stream ahead of time a bit much?
Oh, this Shinobi World itself isn't exactly normal. Never mind, then.
While Uchiha Gen was still surprised, Kakashi moved. Facing the overwhelming might emanating from Uchiha Gen's Susanoo armor, he neither dodged nor retreated, but charged across the water!
The water beneath his feet instantly evaporated into white mist under the lightning, and his figure became a streak of blue electricity piercing through the haze.
With one hand, he formed an exquisitely condensed Chidori Sharp Spear and thrust it straight at Uchiha Gen's Susanoo breastplate. At the same time, Chidori Stream erupted all around him, successive layers of lightning washing over the armor. It was both a direct assault and suppression.
At the same time... it was also the ultimate chain of attacks within the Lightning Release: Chidori system that Kakashi could deliver by exhausting everything he was currently capable of.
Chidori Stream continued, arcs of lightning slashing, piercing, and sweeping sideways, hammering Uchiha Gen's half-body Susanoo armor as densely as rain. Lightning burst without pause, dazzling blue flashes rising one after another and illuminating the dark Susanoo armor.
The lightning shot straight forward, but the next instant, its utterly sharp edge seemed to strike an absolute barrier.
Thud!!!
A reverberating, muffled boom erupted!!
Uchiha Gen stood rooted to the spot, utterly unmoving. No matter how the Chidori lightning raged, it failed to harm him in the slightest.
Facing Kakashi's Chidori, Uchiha Gen activated his Armament Haki at full power, deepening the color of his already pitch-black Susanoo armor. In fact, with Armament Haki operating at full power, faint purple streaks of light also appeared across the armor's surface.
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