Chapter 54: Battle Against the Instructor
At 6 AM the next morning, all members of Team 3 gathered at Training Ground 17.
It was a small clearing situated in the middle of a dense forest. Renjiro was the last to arrive.
Seeing his genin squad already assembled and waiting, he greeted them with a simple good morning and announced,
"As I mentioned yesterday, before I begin your formal training, I want to assess your current abilities. So we'll have a sparring match—the three of you against me."
He paused for a few seconds to let that sink in, then declared,
"Let's begin!"
The instant he finished speaking, he lunged forward with tremendous speed, throwing a powerful punch. This caught all three genin completely off guard.
Mieko hastily jumped backward to create distance, while Hodaka leaped to his left. Kaito, on the other hand, used Body Flicker Technique to evade directly.
Renjiro's fist slammed into the ground where the three genin had been standing just a moment before, causing the earth to crack violently and kicking up a massive cloud of dust that completely obscured him from view.
Renjiro thought to himself with mild surprise,
"Not bad at all. I intended to punch the ground in front of them as a warning, but I didn't expect all three to react so quickly. Especially that Kaito kid—did he just use Body Flicker Technique without forming any hand seals?"
Kaito was also thinking frantically as he used Body Flicker.
"Damn it! His attack was way too sudden—I instinctively used Body Flicker to escape without thinking about the consequences."
Then he noticed the dust cloud rising and covering Renjiro's position, and so did Hodaka and Mieko.
Kaito immediately began sensing Renjiro's chakra location, Mieko activated her Sharingan, and Hodaka activated his Byakugan.
After pinpointing Renjiro's position through his sensing ability, Kaito thought with resignation,
"Since I've already exposed my seal-less Body Flicker, I can't hide that ability anymore. I might as well use it a few more times during this fight. I didn't expect it would be this difficult to conceal my true strength. I really need to be more careful in case he pulls something like this again. I hope I can keep my other secrets hidden for at least another year or two."
Just as Kaito finished this thought, Hodaka and Mieko both charged toward Renjiro's position, preparing to engage him in close combat.
Renjiro stood calmly in place, waiting for their attack with complete confidence.
Hodaka reached him first, while Mieko launched several shuriken at Renjiro from medium range.
Renjiro casually dodged the projectiles, then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Hodaka.
He effortlessly deflected Hodaka's Gentle Fist strikes. When Mieko joined the melee, he suppressed both of them with equal ease, barely exerting himself.
However, his brow soon furrowed in concentration. He attempted to sense the battlefield, but he couldn't detect Kaito's presence anywhere.
Using the distraction provided by his teammates' assault, Kaito had completely disappeared from sight, having perfectly suppressed his chakra signature.
Although Renjiro couldn't sense Kaito's location, Kaito was closely observing their battle from concealment, patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Soon, Kaito identified an opening when Renjiro was aggressively punching and kicking Hodaka.
Kaito threw several shuriken with maximum force and precision.
However, Renjiro sneered internally, thinking,
"A fake opening. This bait technique works every single time against inexperienced kids."
He took a measured step backward, seemingly avoiding the shuriken, but the projectiles suddenly curved through the air toward him. This genuinely surprised Renjiro.
He was about to dodge again when he suddenly sensed something off.
"No, something isn't right here."
So instead of continuing to evade, he directly intercepted and caught the shuriken mid-flight.
However, the instant he caught it, he detected two small chakra signatures rapidly approaching from behind.
He turned his head sharply and saw two compressed spheres of wind chakra heading directly toward him.
He shifted his weight to dodge, but at that exact moment, Mieko launched Fire Release: Fireball Technique toward the direction he intended to move.
Recognizing the trap, he instantly adjusted his trajectory, avoided both jutsu with minimal movement, and created significant distance between himself and his students.
Seeing their combination attack fail, Hodaka immediately rushed forward to re-engage him in taijutsu.
As Hodaka charged toward him, Renjiro analyzed thoughtfully,
"Good tactical awareness. However, this coordination doesn't appear pre-planned—their teamwork still requires considerable improvement. But it's promising that they can recognize and exploit opportunities created by each other. Not to mention I felt wind chakra coating that shuriken, which means Kaito used Manipulated Shuriken Technique to control its trajectory. Smart kid—he didn't waste effort on follow-up attacks but disappeared again while using Mieko's Fireball as cover."
He entered another round of close combat with Hodaka and Mieko. Kaito, observing the battle carefully from the shadows, thought analytically,
"As expected from an elite jonin. That opening was deliberately created as bait to determine my location. Moreover, he caught the shuriken with his bare hands without any hesitation! However, I wonder what he would've done if I'd infused sharp wind chakra into those shuriken. Anyway, I want to test if I can deceive him using a Shadow Clone."
Kaito remained hidden and quietly formed the hand seal to create a Shadow Clone.
A minute later, both Hodaka and Mieko looked like they were about to be completely overwhelmed.
The Shadow Clone suddenly launched two Wind Release: Pressure Damage techniques at Renjiro, interrupting his assault on the other two.
The clone then threw more shuriken. Renjiro dodged all the attacks and rapidly approached Kaito's position, preparing for close-quarters combat.
However, the Shadow Clone instantly flickered away, repositioning itself behind Mieko and Hodaka for protection.
Seeing Renjiro approach aggressively, Hodaka moved to intercept and engage him.
At the same time, Kaito's real body sensed an enormous amount of chakra suddenly gathering in Mieko's position and shouted urgently,
"Hodaka, get out of the way! Now!"
This warning startled Hodaka, who glanced back to see Mieko rapidly weaving hand seals, her chakra almost completely mobilized.
He quickly disengaged and ran to the left to create safe distance.
In truth, Mieko had been growing increasingly frustrated throughout this entire battle.
The girl had been desperately trying to use her Sharingan genjutsu on her instructor since the fight began, but he had meticulously avoided making direct eye contact even once.
In sheer desperation, she unleashed Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique, pouring nearly all of her remaining chakra into the attack.
Kaito's Shadow Clone immediately recognized this and used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.
His technique launched right after Mieko released her jutsu, and he carefully controlled its range to envelope and enhance her Fire Dragon completely.
The result was a dramatic increase in both the destructive power and effective range of the Fire Dragon attack.
Renjiro had no intention of tanking this combined technique head-on, so he evaded it swiftly.
The sheer power of this combination jutsu genuinely surprised both Hodaka and Mieko.
Especially Mieko—she was utterly shocked by what her technique had become.
Kaito continued watching Renjiro's movements intently.
He noticed Renjiro used Body Flicker Technique without forming any hand seals, and the distance he traveled was precisely calculated to evade the jutsu with minimal wasted movement. He thought with a sigh,
"That's the first time he's actually used ninjutsu this entire fight. Anyway, this battle seems to be approaching its conclusion. Hodaka has taken quite a beating. Mieko has too, and her chakra is almost completely depleted. Only I'm still in relatively good condition. Unfortunately, my Shadow Clone and I can't accomplish much more at this point. It's really frustrating not having effective long-range offensive techniques. Even though I'm well concealed, I can't actually do significant damage."
Just then, Kaito suddenly used Body Flicker Technique on pure instinct.
However, just as his feet left the ground, a hand suddenly emerged from underground and grabbed his right ankle firmly. This caused him to fall forward at extreme speed.
Fortunately, he managed to brace himself with both hands just in time, preventing his face from slamming violently into the ground.
Almost immediately, another hand grabbed the back of his neck firmly, pinning him completely to the ground.
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