Chapter 420: Flame Emperor
"The battle begins!"
As Mugetsu gave the order, Might Guy instantly opened the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates, tightened his breathing, and charged straight in.
Against a Guy going all out, Shisui did not dare to be careless. He immediately activated his three tomoe Sharingan and fully concentrated his Flame Breathing.
This was Shisui's first time using his three tomoe Sharingan in a formal fight.
During the Chunin Exams, no opponent had been able to force him to rely on his dōjutsu. He had defeated everyone with Fire Release and taijutsu alone.
With the Sharingan active, even Guy's frightening speed seemed to slow. The rhythm of his movements became visible.
Even so, Shisui still chose not to clash with Guy head on in taijutsu.
Seeing an attack was one thing. Keeping up with it was another. His eyes could follow the motion, but his body might not be able to match Guy's pace.
Rock Breathing provided the strongest physical boost among the breathing techniques, and with the first four gates open, every one of Guy's taijutsu strikes carried power far beyond normal standards.
Unlike Obito, Shisui treated every fellow disciple except Rin as a hypothetical enemy. He analyzed them carefully and built battle plans around their habits and strengths.
Shisui believed the only way to defeat Guy was to drag the fight out and survive his peak window.
Eight Gates combined with Rock Breathing was terrifying, but it also put extreme strain on the body. The longer the battle lasted, the more it favored Shisui.
The idea was simple. The execution was not.
Guy was not just strong. He was fast, and he wielded the terrifying Golden Skyline. If Shisui made even a small mistake, Guy could end it instantly.
In the last fight against Guy, Shisui had tasted Golden Skyline once. Even with Armament Haki, he could not block it.
In pure destructive power, it was the strongest taijutsu Shisui had ever seen.
Still, Shisui knew Armament Haki was not weak. He simply had not mastered its training yet.
Relying on a highly polished Body Flicker Technique and his three tomoe Sharingan, Shisui avoided every approach, not letting Guy touch even a thread of his clothes.
But that kind of evasion was not easy for Shisui either. Repeated high intensity Body Flicker bursts wore down his legs, and the constant mental focus consumed stamina just as fast.
To ease the pressure on himself and to burn down Guy's peak period even faster, Shisui began weaving Fire Release into his retreat.
He dodged, then launched one fire technique after another.
Guy's body was tough, but he had no reason to tank ninjutsu for free. He kept dodging as he chased, forcing Shisui to keep moving while still maintaining offense.
"This is too boring," Obito complained. "They haven't even touched each other once."
"In real combat, any tactic that wins is a good tactic," Kakashi replied evenly.
If Kakashi were in Shisui's position, he would do the same.
Shisui had the speed, the perception, and enough chakra to fight Guy through attrition. He was qualified to try it.
Kakashi could not use that approach against Guy. He would run out first.
Thunder Breathing burned through chakra and stamina. Kakashi had more chakra than most, but he still could not compare to an Uchiha with a three tomoe Sharingan like Shisui.
In Kakashi's judgment, he would need a strike even stronger than Guy's to bring him down.
"I didn't say it was bad," Obito muttered, lips puffed out.
He was only complaining. If it were a real fight, he would absolutely choose the path to victory, assuming he could even think of one.
Shisui fled, Guy pursued, and their figures flickered across the forest in rapid bursts. Trees snapped and crashed down one after another in their wake.
"Golden Skyline!"
In the end, Guy forced his win with a single golden line. Shisui was finally caught.
"If Obito and Shisui were combined, it might work," Kakashi analyzed silently.
If Obito had Shisui's Body Flicker mastery and battle intelligence, or if Shisui had Obito's Flame Breathing proficiency, either of them would have a real chance of defeating Guy.
"Might Guy wins," Mugetsu announced, ending the match.
Shisui's loss was within Mugetsu's expectations.
Shisui was slightly behind Guy in overall strength, and on top of that, he was naturally countered.
Genjutsu was Shisui's strongest field, and Guy happened to be one of the least affected by genjutsu. With that tradeoff, beating Guy became even harder.
Mugetsu's mid to late stage plan for Shisui would gradually reduce the emphasis on genjutsu.
On paper, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were the three pillars of a shinobi. But Mugetsu, who knew how the story escalated, understood that this rule mostly applied to ordinary shinobi.
Even Mangekyo level genjutsu struggled to decide battles in the chaotic late stage clashes between monsters, let alone standard genjutsu. At least in this world, the genjutsu path did not go far enough.
"My final opponent is you, Kakashi! Is this our bond?!" Guy shouted, excited before the next match even began.
Kakashi's face darkened.
Only four people were fighting today. What bond was Guy talking about?
After resting and recovering, the two stepped forward and prepared.
Kakashi's eyes sharpened. This time, he had a real chance to take the title of Mugetsu's strongest disciple.
Compared to three months ago, Kakashi had fully mastered Armament Haki. Guy's Eight Gates and Rock Breathing, on the other hand, had not improved much.
"The advantage is mine."
Kakashi's breathing tightened. The moment Mugetsu shouted "Start," Kakashi entered the Transparent World state instantly.
Kakashi knew Guy's Eight Gates was only a hair away from full power. He refused to give Guy any chance and attacked at full force from the very first exchange.
Thunder Breathing fully concentrated, amplifying his body and Lightning Release nature. Lightning Release chakra further boosted his strength. Transparent World delivered perfect, ruthless efficiency in every movement.
Then Kakashi coated the White Fang short blade in Armament Haki, pushing his momentum to its peak.
Even though Guy also fought with everything he had, the pressure from Kakashi hit like a blade at his throat. Wounds quickly opened across Guy's body.
The burning sting of those slashes did not make Guy retreat.
Instead, he laughed, eyes blazing.
Kakashi was the rival Guy acknowledged. Guy had always believed Kakashi would catch up, just as Guy believed he would become the strongest in taijutsu.
Seeing Kakashi suppress him like this was proof of everything Guy wanted.
How could he not be thrilled?
"Eight Gates, Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, open!"
Guy did not fall.
His resilience carried him through the extreme state, and he forced the Fifth Gate open, multiplying his power.
The moment Guy's chakra surged, Kakashi's expression changed.
The further the gates went, the more terrifying the amplification became, and this boost was not small.
The situation flipped in an instant.
Guy not only escaped his disadvantage, he gained an even greater edge than Kakashi had held moments ago. Kakashi, who had already burned through most of his chakra, was pushed into a desperate corner.
Kakashi had no choice.
He gathered everything he had left and bet it all on a single slash.
A dazzling lightning strike collided with a thin golden line.
The lightning tore apart, and the result was announced in silence.
"Might Guy wins again," Mugetsu declared.
"Still a little short," Kakashi muttered, utterly drained. With no chakra and no strength left, he collapsed to the ground.
Because he had only just mastered it, Kakashi's Armament Haki was still average in strength. It could not overcome the violent chakra boost brought by Guy's Fifth Gate.
"Might Guy won again. That's incredible," Rin praised warmly.
To her, Kakashi and Obito were already unbelievably strong. Guy defeating them both, twice, and taking final victory again was something she could only admire.
Hearing Rin's praise, and seeing Kakashi lying powerless on the ground, Obito felt a surge of frustration. His desire to defeat Guy burned even hotter.
Shisui, too, wondered how much longer he would need to train before he could reclaim the title of strongest disciple.
"Everyone's tired after fighting," Mugetsu said with a smile, pulling cooking tools from a scroll. "No more training for the rest of the day. We'll rest, eat hot pot, and call it done."
The tension scattered instantly. Joy replaced it, and every disciple brightened.
It was not even about getting a break from training.
It was the fact they could eat hot pot together.
While preparing the ingredients, Mugetsu opened his panel.
[System: Disciple Might Guy improved under your guidance. Reward: Exploding Fist (Mastery Level).]
At first, Mugetsu did not recognize which world the technique came from. The name sounded almost too ordinary.
Only when the training memories settled into his mind did he realize it was a fighting type move from Pokemon.
In Pokemon, it had low accuracy, but if it hit, it guaranteed confusion. After localization, that confusion became a temporary disruption of the enemy's chakra.
It was not a particularly special effect. A Rasengan landing cleanly could also disrupt chakra for a moment.
Even so, Mugetsu was curious about the technique itself.
Rasengan was ninjutsu, driven by extremely compressed, rotating chakra.
Exploding Fist was taijutsu.
After sorting through the memories, Mugetsu found the principles were surprisingly similar.
It required channeling the body's full power into the fist while condensing a large amount of chakra inside it, compressing and circulating it, then releasing everything in an explosive burst at the moment of impact.
"Even though it's taijutsu, it isn't very suitable for Guy," Mugetsu thought.
Once the gates were open, Guy's chakra became too violent for that level of precise control.
Exploding Fist also demanded proficiency. If used poorly, it took time to compress the chakra, making it impossible to fire instantly and giving the enemy a chance to defend. Mugetsu suspected that was how the original low accuracy translated into reality.
After hot pot, Mugetsu patted Kakashi on the shoulder.
"Go back and rest well. I have something new to teach you tomorrow."
Kakashi's eyes lit up immediately.
When Mugetsu specifically mentioned teaching something, it was almost always good.
"Mugetsu sensei, what about me?" Obito asked, eyes shining with hope.
Whack.
Mugetsu flicked Obito on the forehead. "Master the Fire Release you're learning right now first."
Learning Fire Release and taijutsu under Mugetsu was a rare advantage. Mugetsu had many highly refined techniques in both fields, and his understanding ran deep.
Maybe because Guy had taken the strongest disciple title twice in a row, Obito and Shisui trained with explosive enthusiasm.
Before long, they triggered breakthrough rewards as well.
[System: Disciple Uchiha Obito improved under your guidance. Reward: Great Flame Ring: Flame Emperor (Mastery Level).]
[System: Disciple Uchiha Shisui improved under your guidance. Reward: Water Body Flicker Technique (Mastery Level).]
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