Leaf Village Year 42, March 12, Wednesday, 9 AM.
Kitagawa's usual training ground.
"Kakashi, let's have a match. Use all your strength."
Looking at Kakashi across from him, Kitagawa said.
Kakashi looked a bit confused. As a teacher, Kitagawa certainly knew his abilities.
But since he said it, Kakashi nodded. "Then sensei, I'm coming!"
His words finished, and Kakashi shot forward like a bolt.
"Not bad speed. A bit faster than when fighting Obito."
Kitagawa raised his hand, casually catching Kakashi's punch.
Kakashi didn't respond verbally. His follow-up attacks came immediately—his body leaped, his leg kicking toward Kitagawa's chest with a wind sound.
Kitagawa released Kakashi's fist and instantly grabbed his ankle, simultaneously raising his own leg.
Seeing this, Kakashi immediately kicked his other foot against Kitagawa's forearm, using the force to flip backward and avoid Kitagawa's leg.
But Kakashi showed a confused expression.
Because when his foot kicked Kitagawa's forearm, it felt like kicking an iron plate.
His body flipped three and a half times in mid-air before landing. Kakashi was about to continue attacking when his body froze.
"Power's decent, but speed's a bit slow."
Kitagawa stood behind Kakashi.
Kakashi turned and looked up at him, speaking with slight resignation. "Sensei, you're a chunin."
Kitagawa smiled sweetly. "Of course I need to find your flaws—that's how I teach you!"
"However, your reaction speed is impressive."
"Kakashi, before formal training, I have a question. What's most important for a ninja?"
Kakashi answered without hesitation. "Chakra!"
Kitagawa nodded, continuing to ask, "After that?"
Kakashi thought, speaking with some uncertainty. "Intelligence?"
Kitagawa nodded. "Correct. And after that?"
Kakashi pondered, various answers surfacing in his mind before being eliminated. Finally, "Speed!"
Kitagawa laughed. "Exactly right—speed!"
"The basic Three Body Techniques include Transformation, Substitution, and Clone. Body Flicker isn't among them, yet actually, Body Flicker is also a fundamental ninja technique—even more fundamental than the Three Body Techniques."
"If you react faster, you respond to enemies first."
"If your hand signs are faster, you release jutsu before enemies."
"If you move faster than them, they're finished!"
"Like just now—my speed exceeded yours. Before you reacted, I was already behind you."
Kakashi heard this and nodded, then asked, "So sensei will teach Body Flicker first?"
Kitagawa nodded. "Kakashi, tell me what you understand about Body Flicker."
A simple question.
Kakashi answered directly. "High-speed movement like a breeze!"
"Basic Body Flicker combines chakra with the body, activating it, providing superhuman force for movement."
"Additionally, there are other Body Flicker techniques using various nature transformations, though I've only heard my father mention them—never seen them."
Kitagawa nodded approvingly. "Well said. Body Flicker can indeed be classified as its own category, like Genjutsu."
"Or rather, all high-speed movement techniques could be called Body Flicker."
"I call the ordinary type Physical Body Flicker. There's Water Body Flicker, Lightning Body Flicker, Wind Body Flicker, and even Space-Time Body Flicker."
"Space-Time?"
Kakashi was curious. He obviously knew about space-time ninjutsu—Kitagawa discussed it in class.
Like the common Summoning Technique.
Kitagawa smiled. "Right—space-time. The Leaf Village has one established by the Second Hokage, called Flying Thunder God."
"It's an S-rank ninjutsu. Currently, as far as I know, nobody has mastered it—not even the Third Hokage, despite being called the Ninjutsu Professor."
Kakashi was quite shocked hearing this.
Kitagawa, seeing his expression, smiled. "You can challenge that eventually. For now, we'll start from other directions."
"We know seven conventional nature transformations. Ignoring Yin-Yang, the common ones are Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, and Lightning—five types."
"I've never encountered Earth Style Body Flicker. And from the nature transformation itself, it's not well-suited for Body Flicker, unless it's a special type."
Kakashi's mind worked quickly. "Special type? Sensei, you mean moving underground?"
Kitagawa nodded appreciatively. "Correct. Though we'll set that aside for now. Later, if interested, you can try developing it."
"Next are Wind, Water, Fire, and Lightning. Water Style has advantages in aquatic environments. Fire Style—from transformation properties—has strong burst power."
"Wind Style is also a good direction. But for physical activation, Lightning Style nature transformation stands out most."
"The Cloud Village's Lightning Style chakra mode provides exceptional physical activation, enabling extremely fast movement."
Kakashi grew increasingly curious. "What type of Body Flicker does sensei plan to teach?"
Kitagawa's smile vanished. "Sensei's original Body Flicker technique!"
"During our exchange just now, did you notice anything?"
Kakashi thought hard, furrowing his brow, then shook his head.
Kitagawa then said, "Watch carefully..."
His words finished, and his body vanished, reappearing over ten meters away.
"So fast!"
This time Kakashi sensed more directly, then thought and grew shocked. "Could it be... without using chakra?"
Kitagawa returned before Kakashi. "Correct—no chakra used."
"Sensei uses purely physical strength for high-speed movement. The secret is stamping the ground dozens of times in an instant to get stronger reaction force."
Kakashi's eyes widened. "This should require extremely powerful strength, right?"
Kitagawa nodded. "It requires training beyond human limits. However, this Body Flicker isn't suitable for you."
Kakashi looked confused.
Kitagawa continued, "Since pure physicality works, naturally adding chakra works too."
Saying this, he demonstrated again. Accompanied by a sonic boom, his form shattered the sound barrier, vanishing with a thunderous sound.
This speed was far faster than before. Kakashi couldn't even catch his shadow. Looking around, he finally spotted Kitagawa standing on a tree branch.
Kitagawa had one hand on the tree trunk, saying, "This Body Flicker I name Shave. In principle, it differs from ordinary Body Flicker. It's not using chakra to activate the body, but rather bursting from the feet."
"In an instant, chakra explodes multiple times—even dozens of times at the feet."
"Of course, you can also use chakra to activate the body physically, then perform it as I first demonstrated, though burst power is slightly inferior."
Kakashi immediately said, "I want the type sensei mastered."
Kitagawa laughed lightly, then appeared soundlessly before Kakashi again. "No problem."
He pulled out a pre-prepared paper and demonstrated it to Kakashi the same way he'd shown Tsunade.
From a principle standpoint, it was very simple. Kakashi understood at a glance, then asked, "This seems to require considerable chakra control?"
Kitagawa said, "Not particularly demanding."
"Of course, the more times you burst in an instant, the higher the requirement."
Kakashi immediately grew curious. "How many times can sensei burst in an instant currently?"
Kitagawa smiled slightly. "Not much—15 times!"
Kakashi suddenly thought of something. "How many times did sensei burst just now?"