Obito originally thought Night Maple was messing with him. With Hoshigaki Kisame looking that terrifying, he didn't want to fight him at all!
But Night Maple suddenly stepped back ten meters, leaving Obito standing at the very front.
"Haha, interesting. You trying to train the rookies?"
"I'll kill every last one of you right here—cut off your legs and throw you to the sharks!"
Night Maple smiled. "Feed sharks too much and one day you're the one getting fed to sharks."
"Die!"
Kisame burst with chakra.
Kakashi's eyes flashed; the kunai in his hand flew at once.
Kisame swung the great blade in his hand and sliced the oncoming kunai in a heartbeat, then chopped down toward Obito.
"Ah!"
Obito shrieked and dropped to the ground—and, by sheer luck, avoided death.
Vines had sprouted at Kisame's feet, slowing him just a fraction.
That fraction skimmed over Obito's scalp.
But the hair on top of Obito's head—skin and all—was shorn clean off.
Instantly bald…
Night Maple couldn't help laughing.
Obito burst into tears.
His eyes brimmed with terror. So Night Maple really wouldn't save him.
So scary!
Kakashi snapped, "Obito, move!"
Kisame roared with laughter. "Brat, all you know is crying? Die already. Blame your useless grown-up for not saving you!"
At the brink of death, Obito's Sharingan began to whirl; he raised his kunai and caught Kisame's great sword.
And Night Maple's figure suddenly appeared in front of Kisame, blocking him.
Kisame's great blade still carried its momentum and slammed onto Obito's kunai.
Bang!
Obito was hurled backward, his entire arm going completely numb.
"Obito—not bad. You blocked a jōnin's strike. That's praise-worthy."
Obito blinked, glanced back—Sensei?
Then looked forward—another Sensei was trading blows with the terrifying shark-man.
A clone?!
"Obito, I'll heal you!"
Rin hurried over and cast a healing technique, gathering chakra into her palm and pressing it to Obito's arm.
Obito stared, dazed; his arm felt wrapped in a warm current.
"All done!" Rin pouted. "Sensei, isn't this a bit dangerous? Obito's arm nearly fractured."
Hearing Rin worry, Obito's heart went warm; he started daydreaming about becoming Hokage and marrying Rin someday.
Of course, that was just a little shut-in's wishful thinking.
Night Maple chuckled. "Not dangerous. How else do you grow?"
On the battlefield, Kisame's scalp prickled!
A clone was keeping him from striking back?
Just as Kisame prepared to unleash his trump card—Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave—to turn this whole place into a vast ocean, Night Maple suddenly withdrew.
Night Maple said, "Kakashi, your turn. This is a great training opportunity."
An ugly look crossed Kisame's bluish-gray face. This guy was using him as a sparring partner for three brats?!
Kakashi nodded. "Okay, Sensei. I was just about to use the new finisher I created!"
"Ah—Lightning Release!"
With Kakashi's shout, blinding lightning flared along the short blade in his hand, shrieking like a thousand birds.
Night Maple's eyes lit up. So young—and Kakashi had already created Chidori?
"Not bad, brat."
Kisame smirked, vanished in a blur, and punted Kakashi through the air.
Kakashi's cool lasted all of three seconds; he slammed into the ground, coughing blood.
Night Maple winced.
It looked cool, but Kakashi was still too young; the move had a long wind-up, and he got interrupted before he could launch it.
"Kakashi!"
Rin rushed to heal him again, while Obito threw shuriken at Kisame—no longer just freezing up like before.
Watching from the side, Night Maple nodded with satisfaction.
After Night Maple's earlier training, at least they didn't panic now; they could play their part in a fight.
The only funny part was Obito's hair—cleanly planed off by Kisame.
As Obito hurled shuriken and kunai, he couldn't help crying again.
His hair was just gone. He'd borrowed Rin's mirror a second ago—too ugly. Rin wouldn't like him anymore.
"Raaah!"
Kisame was furious!
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
With his shout, torrents of water gushed from his mouth in an instant, swiftly drowning the entire grove.
A vast lake appeared before them.
Everyone found themselves trapped inside it, like a giant swimming pool.
Obito, Rin, and Kakashi all blanched and turned to Night Maple.
They'd never faced anything like this.
Night Maple hadn't expected Kisame to be this strong already.
Kisame laughed cruelly at them. "You're all dead now. In a battlefield that's entirely mine, you'll wait obediently for death—struggling slowly in this watery abyss!"
He threw back his head and laughed.
"Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!"
With a barked cry, Kisame's chakra formed shark-shaped water missiles and launched them at the trio's position.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Night Maple flashed through hand signs; a rank of pillars curved from the ground to form an arched bulwark before him and Team Seven.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The water-shark bullets smashed into the Wood Locking Wall and dissipated on impact.
But Kisame wasn't worried.
In water, his chakra-sharks were inexhaustible!
And this relatively flimsy wall would only take time to break.
Rin said anxiously, "Night Maple-sensei, those sharks seem endless as long as there's enough chakra on the water's surface!"
Obito opened his Sharingan and nodded. "Sensei, his chakra isn't going down—it's going up."
Kakashi stared at Night Maple. "Sensei, at a time like this—can you get serious?"
Night Maple shook his head. "I am. I'm just thinking how to break his Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
"Wood Release—Tree World Emergence!"
The earth boomed; the ground split into a web of cracks and trembled!
Countless saplings burst through the soil and, at a speed visible to the naked eye, grew wild and rampant—transforming the area into dense forest in a blink.
From every direction, trees stretched out savage, thick branches like living things.
Kisame's eyes nearly popped!
The lake created by his Exploding Water Colliding Wave seeped into the ground fissures in an instant and vanished.
"What kind of release is this?!"
"Since when did Konoha produce a monster like that?!"
Kisame's first instinct was to run!
He couldn't beat this guy!