The white short sword, entwined with lightning chakra, dazzled the human eyes... rendering the person unable to fully open them....
Shisui and Itachi stood nearby, suppressing their curious thoughts, wanting to look but worried about being punished by Roy. In their dilemma, a sneak peek resulted in two stones jumping out of the basket.
"Two thousand more each."
The faint words flowed in, the curiosity of the foolish brothers was understandable, the excitement too, but... the level of focus in practicing the sword was still lacking.
Roy coldly threw down this remark, facing the lightning and white fang directly, deeply gazing at the man in front of him.
The other, as one of "Konoha Eight Colors," like the "Yellow Flash" Minato Namikaze, had long been cautioned by the leadership of various ninja villages...
Whenever encountering them, one could abandon the mission without punishment, indicating... the unparalleled strength of the man in front!
Not to mention, "Character Data Book" and "Character Data Book" describe him, one mentioning that "the Three Legendary Ninja are but a hazy presence before Konoha's White Fang Hatake Sakumo," while another clearly states "Konoha's White Fang Hatake Sakumo's prowess surpasses the Three Legendary Ninja."
Facing such a character....
Roy slowly drew his Shallow Strike, which trembled in excitement and delight... until another sharp sword cry was emitted....
The young man with black hair moving automatically without wind, pointing the tip of the sword at Hatake Sakumo's throat, said softly: "Is it my honor, Uncle White Fang?"
"At least if Father knew, he might scold me for not showing you enough respect."
"Daring to show me your blade is the greatest respect you can give." Hatake Sakumo held his sword in one hand, as Lightning Style danced, a surge seeped from the blade tip, followed by a puncture in the ground.
This scene reminded Roy of a person, a child with short golden hair, pure in heart, timid and passive, fearing dying alone, but would fall into a semi-conscious state at extreme tension, wielding lightning, avenging his grandfather by killing his senior... Zenitsu Agatsuma!
"Here it comes." Suddenly, a flash of lightning zipped by... accompanied by a gentle reminder......
With "White Fang" in hand, Hatake Sakumo turned into lightning, using [Lightning Style] to greatly stimulate muscles, increasing speed, swiftly appearing before Roy, swinging a swift sword towards his chest!
If this strike were against an enemy, not Roy, it wouldn't just target the chest, but... the neck!
"So fast!" The great battle was imminent, Shisui swore he genuinely wasn't disobeying Nissan's words. His eyes displayed blood lust as the Sharingan activated to try and capture Hatake Sakumo's movements,
Yet, the man was too fast, so fast that in front of Shisui, only a thread of lightning chakra flashed by, quickly leaving his sight, his hand involuntarily trembled, scattering two more stones on the ground,
"Itachi, two thousand more!"
"Dividing attention, young one, you're still not focused enough." Hatake Sakumo's words followed closely after Roy's.
Then came the crisp sound "ding~"....
After the sound of clashing swords, Roy, slower but cleverly, blocked Sakumo's strike deftly with a vertical sword block, displaying calmness, "Uncle White Fang, you're overly concerned, I can barely manage."
The collision lasted only a moment... sword against sword, man against man, Shisui felt a chill behind him, as Itachi was watching him, just opening his mouth to apologize, to his surprise... Itachi simply tossed all stones from the basket, sat cross-legged, quietly taking the role of an observer.
"Shisui, ten thousand more!"
The eclipse quivered, turned red, ignited, then burst forth a cluster of great solar flames, instantaneously forcing White Fang to retreat!
Roy, expressionless, gazed at Hatake Sakumo, remarking without turning his head... Shisui glanced at Itachi, then at the sword in his hand and the basket hanging on it, simply emulating Itachi's laid-back posture, sitting cross-legged beside Itachi...
Today, he didn't plan to stand going home, even if his arm was dislocated from exhaustion, not wanting to miss this... perhaps once-in-a-lifetime "swordsmanship" duel!
"Whoosh~" Flames soared upwards, dwarfing the great sun overhead!
With White Fang in hand, Hatake Sakumo used Lightning Style to enhance, similarly erupting with a blinding surge of electricity!
From above, red and white intertwined and collided, the contest of momentum, already startling forest birds, fleeing in haste...
"Fire Style... isn't ordinary fire,"
The youngster could blow up the academy with a Fireball Technique the day before, showing his proficiency in Fire Style, an anticipation Hatake Sakumo had already foreseen.
However now... what truly surprised him——
The strike he initiated earlier, even with the intention of holding back, Roy still blocked it with a later counter, and this was.... without activating the Sharingan,
Hatake Sakumo gripped White Fang tighter, smiling... smiling joyously.....
This was only the second time he hadn't managed to defeat an opponent with a single strike, the first time... was when Ya helped him block that strike years ago.
"Sizzle~" More electric light penetrated, causing White Fang to flicker with white light,
A gust of wind came, moving Hatake Sakumo's white hair, the man's fiery gaze locked onto Roy, reverse-gripping White Fang, asking with narrowed eyes: "Not activating the Sharingan?"
The Uchiha clan's most famed Sharingan possesses not only observation, replication, hypnosis among other powerful abilities. The user is endowed with exceptional insight, can observe chakra flow, apply and discern illusions, copy body techniques and non-bloodline limit ninjutsu.
Roy not using it meant forgoing the Uchiha's greatest advantage.
"Comparing swords, not eyes."
"Moreover," the youth grasped the sword single-handedly, twirled a splendid sword blossom,
As Sakumo watched, his eyes flared into two suns, and in this moment, he was both Uchiha Jin and Kamado Eiichiro, standing between two worlds, stepping forward with the wooden clogs on his feet...
As if during celebrations, he returned to the Demon Slayer World, that great mountain, that small courtyard, that drifting snowfall, and his father Tanjuro dancing barefoot, along with his brother Tanjiro... his sister Nezuko, mother Kie Kamado, two brothers Takeo and Mao, and his smallest sister Hua Zi, snuggling against Grandma...
With snowflakes fluttering, synchronizing with father's rhythm, celebrating the holiday together by dancing "Dance of the Fire God,"
Roy reverse-gripped his sword anew, suddenly exhaling a majestic breath with remnants of infinite memories and warmth: "I have the 'Sword Eye,' no need for the Sharingan."
[Eye of Truth] activated!...
The eyes derived from [Transparent World] emitted a fierce red glow... a delicate gray abruptly extended from under Roy's feet... extending... extending further....
Until it submerged Hatake Sakumo along with Shisui and Itachi, once they regained their senses, gazing to measure the world,
Surrounding green trees, blue stones, flying birds, white clouds, gentle breeze... all vanished without a trace....
As if at that moment, the entire world had stripped away all colors, leaving only Roy and the three of them, isolated outside the world....
Hatake Sakumo: "....."
Shisui: "....."
Itachi: "..."
For a moment, they were all speechless.