"Kakashi-senpai, let me hit you. Just once."
Kōki kept trying to close in on Kakashi, attacking with both fists and feet, but Kakashi dodged every blow with his agile movements.
The entire training ground, however, became riddled with craters under Kōki's blows, and every so often, he knocked down a tree with a single punch.
The spectators were stunned by the scene before them. The attacker and defender had switched roles in an instant. Even more shocking was that the genius ninja Kakashi was being chased all over the place by a little boy, without any chance to strike back.
Kakashi, however, had troubles he could not put into words. Every time he opened up some distance and tried to form hand seals to drive Kōki back with Ninjutsu, Kōki closed in so quickly that he could not complete them. Kōki was too fast now; the slightest lapse in attention gave him an opening to get close.
Among the crowd, Obito secretly counted himself lucky that Kōki had not used this move during their fight. Otherwise, he would already have been chatting with the Sage of Six Paths in the Pure Land.
"Does anyone else think the Taijutsu that kid's using looks a little familiar?"
"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."
"Me too. I think I saw it on the battlefield. I remember it was during the Second Shinobi World War."
"Now that you mention it, I remember! This Taijutsu is unique to Lady Tsunade. It's called Superhuman Strength!"
Among the spectators, members of ninja clans with extensive family knowledge finally remembered.
The Taijutsu Kōki was using was unique to Konoha's Princess Tsunade. It was a technique that gathered the chakra from the entire body into any one body part, then released it all at once.
This Taijutsu, which released chakra in a single burst, could inflict tremendous damage on its target.
But only someone with exceptionally strong chakra control could use this Taijutsu.
That was why, in all of Konoha, only Princess Tsunade, who was the best at Medical Ninjutsu, knew it.
What those ninja clan members had not expected was that Kōki, despite being so young, possessed such powerful chakra control too.
Moreover, judging by the destructive force Kōki produced when using Superhuman Strength, his chakra reserves were considerable as well. The only thing puzzling them was where he had learned Superhuman Strength.
A secret technique like this was not something ordinary civilians could gain access to.
Then they recalled the earlier rumors. This boy seemed to have an unusual relationship with the Third Hokage. People had previously reported seeing Kōki training with Hiruzen Sarutobi at the village training ground, and had also seen Hiruzen Sarutobi chatting with Kōki outside the Ninja Academy.
This information made the ninja clan members wonder whether this child was Hiruzen Sarutobi's newest disciple. Judging by Kōki's talent, he would have no problem becoming the next Princess Tsunade.
As it happened, the ninja hospital's standards had been somewhat lacking since Tsunade left Konoha, so finding someone with a talent for medicine and training him from childhood was perfectly reasonable.
If Kōki, who was still fighting, had known what these ninja were imagining, he probably would have had some scathing comments. Hiruzen Sarutobi was hardly training him to become another Tsunade. He was clearly preparing to train him to become another Tsunade's grandfather, Hashirama Senju.
While the spectators let their imaginations run wild, Kōki and Kakashi's duel reached a fever pitch. Kōki's fists could not hit Kakashi, and Kakashi could not launch a counterattack against Kōki.
Although Kakashi wanted to force Kōki back with his swordsmanship, every time he drew his blade, Kōki acted as though he were madly willing to trade injury for injury, leaving Kakashi unwilling to exchange blows with him.
After all, during the assessment, Kakashi could not strike Kōki's vital points with his blade. But if Kōki's fist connected, even a blow to a nonvital spot would immediately put Kakashi out of the fight.
The two kept chasing and evading each other, but as time slowly passed, Kōki could clearly feel Kakashi's movements becoming less agile, no longer as smooth and fast as before. At that point, Kōki realized the outcome was about to be decided.
Kakashi, too, could feel that his situation was deteriorating. Every dodge cost him a considerable amount of chakra to successfully avoid the attacks. He also had to maintain intense concentration, leaving him a little dizzy and struggling to keep up with Kōki's movements.
No. If this drags on, I'll definitely lose. I have to win with a single strike before my chakra runs out.
Knowing how critical his situation was, Kakashi immediately made his decision. He stopped and turned to face Kōki head-on.
"Finally done running, Kakashi-senpai? In that case, let's settle this."
Seeing Kakashi stop dodging and face him head-on, Kōki looked a little excited, but inwardly remained perfectly calm. He knew Kakashi would not give up just like that, so he paid close attention to Kakashi's next move.
As Kōki's fist came straight at him, Kakashi ducked beneath it and tried to point his blade at Kōki's throat.
But Kōki reacted quickly too. He immediately raised his knee and drove it hard toward Kakashi, never expecting that this was exactly the moment Kakashi had been waiting for.
Kakashi had already prepared for Kōki's move. The instant he saw Kōki raise his leg, he turned, shifted his weight, and unleashed a sweeping kick.
He knocked Kōki off his one supporting leg, and before Kōki could get up, a short blade was pointed at his throat.
"You've lost," Kakashi said, panting.
But the moment he finished speaking, he sensed something was wrong. The referee had not announced his victory.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and glanced behind him. A figure stood at his back, pointing a kunai at him. It was Kōki Itō. Just then, the Kōki on the ground vanished with a pop. The Kōki lying there had actually been a Shadow Clone.
"When did you create a Shadow Clone?" Kakashi asked in astonishment. He had been watching Kōki's hands the entire time and had not seen him form any hand seals.
"If you mean when I used the Shadow Clone Technique, it was when you were trying to kick my legs out from under me."
"At that moment, Kakashi-senpai, all your attention was on my right hand and my knee, but you forgot to watch what my left hand was doing. Like this."
As he spoke, Kōki rapidly formed hand seals with his left hand alone. "Shadow Clone Technique!" Another Kōki appeared in front of Kakashi.
"Kakashi-senpai, I practiced these one-handed hand seals so hard precisely so I could catch enemies off guard when their attention was elsewhere," Kōki said proudly. Giving Kakashi Hatake such a surprise left him with quite a sense of accomplishment.
"What an incredible method. It really was unexpected."
Kakashi was astonished by such a brilliant maneuver too. He had never imagined a method like one-handed hand seals existed. It broke with ninja convention.
The spectators watching from the sidelines were also dazzled by Kōki's maneuver, but what shocked them most was still the fact that Kōki could defeat Kakashi.
After all, one-handed hand seals were merely a way to catch someone off guard, but a new Ninja Academy student defeating a genius Chunin was the truly unimaginable part.
Before this duel began, no one had thought Kōki could win. The instant Kakashi appeared, they had felt even more certain of the final outcome.
They simply had not expected Kōki to overturn their understanding again and again through his outstanding strength, giving them a deeper understanding of the word genius.
At that moment, the ninja referee also recovered from his shock and immediately announced, "The winner of this graduation assessment is Kōki Itō."