NIHM: Ch. 08

Reaching the three-tomoe Sharingan level at such a young age, he didn't know many who had.

Yet after Kazuha revealed his Sharingan, he showed no pride or arrogance. With an ordinary tone, he told Kakashi that awakening the Sharingan was actually quite simple.

"I think... any Uchiha who has witnessed the fall of their clan can awaken it."

Riiing~

As the two conversed, the alarm they had set off to the side began to ring, signaling the appointed time had arrived. But at that moment, he suddenly turned his body sharply, spun around, and raised a hand to point.

Ding~

A crisp sound like clashing steel rang out. His finger, wrapped in chakra, collided with a kunai, yet remained uninjured, as if his finger were made of steel.

Shigan + Tekkai = Hagane Shigan.

The Rokushiki could be freely combined. In Naruto world, his body had been developed with a focus on precision. The techniques of Rokushiki had been adapted into a form of nintaijutsu.

Where Kakashi had originally been standing, his figure still remained. But in the next moment, poof, it turned into smoke.

"The bell rang. Didn't that make you lower your guard?"

"Sorry, but I happened to know... your model of alarm clock doesn't make that sound." As Kazuha spoke, he revealed the latest model of Konoha's watch on his right wrist.

"Besides, there are still two minutes left."

It was clear, the test wasn't over yet. It wasn't that Kakashi's alarm had malfunctioned. He had deliberately set the time ahead slightly.

Perhaps to catch Kazuha off guard. Or perhaps... this was all part of Kakashi's test for him.

Looking at Kazuha, he thought, Two minutes should be enough for me to get a glimpse of the Uchiha prodigy's composure.

His body again turned to smoke, leaving a wooden log in his place. Kazuha's expression remained calm. In the next moment, he unhesitatingly kicked the falling log.

His kick had enough power to shatter the log outright, but it merely sent it flying.

In midair, the log transformed into Kakashi's figure, only to again vanish in a puff of smoke.

An advanced trick: a shadow clone used Transformation Jutsu to disguise itself as a log, then used the Substitution Jutsu to swap places, creating the illusion that the log was the substitute.

If he had focused on finding the real Kakashi, the shadow clone might've landed a surprise attack. But just as he destroyed the shadow clone and began searching for Kakashi's true body, he suddenly felt a hand grab his foot from below.

A powerful force surged from the hand, attempting to drag him underground. He didn't panic in the slightest. He suddenly channeled strength through his leg, and stomped downward in the direction of the pull.

His step carried with it a surge of fire chakra, which blasted straight into the ground.

The owner of the hand sensed danger and tried to let go, but Kazuha's brutal stomp drove it into the earth.

The ground caved in, white steam hissing from beneath.

This stomp wasn't just powerful, it carried intense fire chakra. The heat instantly evaporated the moisture in the earth around that spot. In that brief moment, the ground temperature in that area likely exceeded 200 degrees Celsius.

After the strike, the hand aboveground lost all resistance, limp and unmoving. Still, he didn't believe Kakashi was defeated so easily.

A jonin's true strength wasn't just shown in how they react during battle, but also in the psychological warfare within, and the seamless integration of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

And a ninja wasn't just about brute strength, it was about technique.

You might be proud that you could perform an A-rank jutsu, but if that jutsu couldn't hit your target, and the opponent dodged it with a simple Body Flicker Technique, then that jutsu was basically wasted.

In battle, such waste was something that, aside from chakra monsters like Naruto, most ninja simply couldn't afford.

Even someone like Kazuha, whose stamina had grown immensely, still didn't waste chakra like Naruto.

That was why, the more he fought Kakashi, the more he realized just how valuable the other's skills were.

In a way, Kakashi was similar to the Third Hokage. Actually, when it came to technique, the Third Hokage was even stronger and more experienced than Kakashi. The title "The Professor" wasn't baseless among normal people.

Having spent so many years as a background character, Kazuha was well aware of the massive gap between average people and the so-called "cheat characters."

You could admire the way they lived their ninja lives, but you couldn't imitate them.

Even now, as he gradually transformed from an average ninja into someone others would call a "cheat character" himself, he still instinctively avoided displaying his full power.

Potential and strength, at his current age, it was enough to just appear remarkable. No need to seem monstrous.

Just like Naruto.

He could be ridiculously strong, but he had to have obvious flaws and weaknesses.

Kazuha, on the other hand, had already decided on his own "weakness." His three-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun, ignoring all flashy distractions, focusing purely on insight and perception, scanning for Kakashi's location, his fighting spirit rising with every passing second.

Found you.

In the next instant, he vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, he thrust his hand forward toward a large tree. But instead of the tree being pierced as expected, a figure dispelled their camouflage and quickly dodged the strike. Still, the shockwave from the near-hit sent the figure flying over ten meters away.

That figure was skilled. Using the momentum of being thrown back, they quickly used a Clone Jutsu and had their real body vanish again.

But Kazuha didn't even glance at the clone. Before the Sharingan, all normal tricks and illusions were meaningless.

Step by step, he pressed forward. Kakashi kept retreating and dodging, the fight appearing more and more one-sided, like a crushing defeat.

However, he wasn't careless at all, he was still holding back some strength in reserve, just in case. And sure enough, after a long bout of dodging, the seemingly passive Kakashi suddenly exploded with speed and power far beyond normal. While holding off Kazuha's assault, he quickly formed hand seals.

In a blur of motion, he slammed his palm into the ground. A puff of smoke, and over a dozen large dogs of various breeds appeared, charging fiercely at Kazuha.

These were summoned beasts, capable of using chakra. Their fangs and claws were nothing to scoff at, even he couldn't ignore them.

As he swiftly countered and sent the dogs back to the summoning realm one by one, Kakashi was already preparing his ultimate move. With his Sharingan locked onto Kazuha and lightning flashing in his hand, Kazuha tried to dodge, but Kakashi, who was a dozen meters away just a moment ago, appeared right in front of him in an instant.

Chidori in hand, he thrust it directly at Kazuha. But just as the Chidori was about to pierce through Kazuha's body, a sound rang out.