"How about it, do you dare to compete with me?" Obito taunted.
"Do you think someone who's always been the winner would fear the challenge of a loser?" Kakashi couldn't help but say.
Although he wasn't confident about the fight in his heart, seeing Obito so arrogant made Kakashi uneasy.
"That's all in the past. Now I'm the stronger one." Obito said confidently, arms crossed.
Having activated the Double Tomoe Sharingan and improved his Breath of Flame significantly this mission, he had made remarkable progress, not just against Kakashi, but he was confident enough to challenge Shisui too.
"Save those words for when you actually beat me." Kakashi replied softly.
Seeing the tension between them rising, Mokgetsu gathered all disciples to watch while acting as the referee.
"A little competition sometimes is good." Mokgetsu chuckled, quite optimistic about Obito this time.
Now Obito not only had surpassed Kakashi on paper but also performed excellently against the Hidden Cloud Jonin, far from the inexperienced fighter he once was.
Obito and Kakashi stood facing each other and formed the Seal of Opposition.
"Obito, Kakashi, do your best!" Nohara Rin cheered them on, waving her small fists.
Hearing Nohara Rin's words, Obito thought to himself that this time he had to beat Kakashi thoroughly, to show Nohara Rin his true strength.
"Begin the battle!" Mokgetsu swiftly declared.
Bam!
Just as Mokgetsu's voice fell, Obito and Kakashi both instantly threw punches, their fists meeting each other.
"Kakashi, your punch lacks strength." Obito laughed, then quickly adjusted his breathing rhythm, entering the Flame Breathing state, and pushed Kakashi back.
Kakashi's expression didn't change, using the force from Obito and the nearby tree, he sprang forward and landed a punch on Obito.
Their taijutsu styles were quite different, with Obito's moves being wide and powerful, focusing on brute strength, while Kakashi relied more on technique.
The clash was intense, constantly colliding but remaining evenly matched.
"This is what youth should be like." Watching the fist-to-fist combat, Might Guy's blood boiled, itching to replace Obito and fight Kakashi himself.
Seeing Might Guy eager to jump in, Mokgetsu waved two fingers in front of Might Guy's eyes.
"Youth needs proper rest too." Might Guy suddenly remembered he was still in recovery and wasn't allowed strenuous exercise.
"Breath of Flame, Full Concentration Breathing!"
After some tentative attacks, Obito went all out, entering a highly concentrated breathing state, absorbing a vast amount of oxygen to reinforce himself.
After using Full Concentration Breathing, Obito's physical abilities instantly improved, both speed and strength increasing, overwhelming Kakashi.
"Breath of Thunder!"
Kakashi also entered the Breath of Thunder state. Although not as intense as Obito's augmentation, it still provided a boost.
Whizz!
Kakashi swiftly drew the White Fang Short Blade and slashed rapidly towards Obito.
With a whoosh, Obito used Soru to dodge out of the way.
Although he was stronger, he couldn't withstand Kakashi's blade with just his body.
After retreating, Obito immediately began forming seals, then quickly retrieved a large number of shuriken from his ninja pouch and hurled them at Kakashi. The Breath of Flame's greatest strength was its enhancement of Fire Release, not physical abilities.
"Fire Release: Impatiens Claw Red!"
The current strongest Fire Release technique Obito had mastered was the Impatiens Claw Red, not only wide-ranged but impressively powerful, combining the sharpness of shurikens and the high-temperature flames.
Obito spewed a large mass of flames, and the shurikens turned into small fireballs as they passed through, hurtling towards Kakashi.
"Lighting Release: Pseudo-Darkness!"
Kakashi's hands moved swiftly, amassing a large amount of chakra in his throat, rapidly transforming it through Nature Transformation, finally creating a Thunder Spear which he spat out.
Rumble!!
The lightning traveling at high speed soon collided with the many small fireballs from Impatiens Claw Red. A massive explosion sounded, and the airflow from the blast sent Obito and Kakashi's hair flying backward, leaving a scorched mark on the ground.
"They're both amazing." Nohara Rin sighed, watching the two clashing with their ninjutsu.
Compared with Obito and Kakashi, she seemed a bit one-sided now, primarily relying on taijutsu for combat.
"To think even my fully enhanced Impatiens Claw Red with Flame Breathing was blocked, looks like I'll have to use the Sharingan." Obito decided to go all out.
Initially, he wanted to see if he could defeat Kakashi without the Sharingan, but it seemed they'd end in a draw without it.
Obito focused his chakra in his eyes, their color rapidly changing to crimson, with two tomoe patterns appearing in his eyes.
"Finally used it." Kakashi cautiously stared at Obito, wary of Obito's sudden attack, while planning how he should counterattack in a moment.
Although he knew his odds of winning were slim, Kakashi didn't give up. A single mistake in a mission would have Obito talking about it for a month. If Kakashi lost here, Obito would likely remind him every day about his loss.
"Sharingan, and it's a Double Tomoe!" Shisui exclaimed with a look of surprise upon seeing Obito's eyes.
Since Obito had slept all day yesterday and only practiced this morning, neither Shisui nor Nohara Rin knew Obito had awakened his Sharingan, and with two tomoe at that.
Shisui was deeply shocked. Before the mission, Obito didn't have the Sharingan, and now he could use it. This could only mean Obito awakened it during the mission, and in such a short time, there's no way the Sharingan could have trained and evolved. This means Obito's Sharingan awakened at the Double Tomoe stage.
As a member of the Uchiha Clan, Shisui knew what this meant. It indicated that Obito had great talent in the Sharingan.
Shisui felt a deep sense of danger because his Sharingan was still only a Single Tomoe.
"So that's the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan." Nohara Rin was not as surprised as Shisui.
She only knew about the Sharingan because Obito often bragged that if he had the Sharingan, he would definitely defeat Kakashi. She wasn't aware of the Sharingan's significance or the value of awakening it with two tomoe.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!
After activating the Sharingan, Obito became extremely confident. He casually pulled out a handful of shurikens and flung them at Kakashi, then drew a kunai to charge at Kakashi.
Kakashi dodged the shurikens but in doing so gave Obito the chance to seize the opportunity, and a new round of combat between them began.
Clang!
Kakashi's White Fang Short Blade continuously clashed with Obito's kunai. Although Obito hadn't learned any special sword techniques or kenjutsu, with the powerful insight of the Sharingan and the physical abilities enhanced by his Breathing Technique, he succeeded in leaving several scratches on Kakashi's clothing.
"What strong insight, all my attacks are seen through." Kakashi frowned tightly.
Previously, he saw Obito activate the Sharingan and didn't think Obito surpassed the Hidden Cloud Jonin in close combat. He thought he could narrow the gap between their strengths by relying on his skills in kenjutsu.
The actual combat experience showed that the boost from the Sharingan was much greater than he had imagined.
"Purple Lightning!"
Kakashi knew he couldn't keep entangled with Obito like this, so he exploded his Chakra in his hands, a dazzling purple lightning appeared in Kakashi's hand.
Obito immediately dodged and retreated upon seeing this, he was well aware of this Ninjutsu's power.
But Obito didn't expect this was a feint by Kakashi. The Chakra consumption for both Purple Lightning and Pseudo-Darkness was intense. He had used Pseudo-Darkness once before, doing another Purple Lightning would nearly exhaust Kakashi.
Scaring Obito off, Kakashi quickly retreated into the dense forest, playing tactics since he couldn't win head-on.
Kakashi hid behind a tree, temporarily losing Obito's line of sight.
Obito quickly leaped to a high position to observe the surroundings using his Sharingan but failed to find Kakashi's movement.
"Looks like he's hiding there," Obito nodded, then quickly made hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Obito concentrated his Chakra in his throat and then exhaled a large amount of flames, forming a large fireball three meters high aimed at the tree where Kakashi was hiding.
Knowing how sneaky Kakashi could be, Obito used the powerful but less consuming Great Fireball to test him — if Kakashi doesn't come out, he'd have to endure the Great Fireball.
Just as Obito expected, Kakashi decisively ran out.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Obito launched an attack on Kakashi.
Swoosh!
The kunai cut through where Kakashi's body was, but this Kakashi turned into smoke and vanished.
"Breath of Thunder: Thunder Flash!"
Having sneaked away using Earth Release, the real Kakashi emerged, gathering his breath as much as possible and exploding Chakra from his feet, swinging the hilt at Obito.
At this moment, Kakashi was as fast as lightning, even Nohara Rin could barely keep track of him.
"Haha, I've been waiting for this move from you!" Obito wasn't worried; instead, he was pleased. He was well aware that Kakashi wouldn't be easy to deal with and had been on guard the whole time.
To Obito's Double Tomoe Sharingan, the extremely fast Kakashi in Nohara Rin's eyes wasn't all that quick.
Obito intensely focused his breathing and sidestepped Kakashi's slash. When he noticed Kakashi's body momentarily pause, he dashed forward and held a kunai to Kakashi.
"Obito wins." Mokgetsu announced the result directly, this Kakashi was the real one.
As expected, having the advantage of a Double Tomoe Sharingan was significant.
"Haha, this time I won!" Obito couldn't help but cheer.
After four years, he finally personally defeated the genius he always looked up to; he wasn't the tail-end Uchiha Obito but the genius Uchiha Obito because he had defeated the genius Hatake Kakashi!
"Hard work does yield harvest!" Watching Obito cheer, the emotional Might Guy empathized, recalling the joyous moment he first defeated Kakashi.
At that moment, he truly felt that all his efforts hadn't been in vain, and everything had finally paid off.