"Lord Haseo, even if we must fight the enemy, melee is truly the worst choice. From just one of his attacks and counterattacks, this ninja clearly has extensive battle experience. Lord Haseo, recklessness isn't bravery. Now that you've tested his strength, we should retreat immediately," Katsuyu whispered beside Haseo's ear, offering practical advice.
Though her tone remained gentle, there was a clear undertone of scolding in her voice.
Katsuyu wasn't an ordinary summoned beast. Despite always addressing Haseo as "Lord," if they were really going to consider their respective statuses, it was actually Haseo who should be more humble toward her.
Haseo could understand why Katsuyu was acting this way—his previous fighting method had indeed been incorrect. There was no point charging at him head-on like that—it was just a bad call in battle. Yet... he would do exactly the same thing again.
"Katsuyu, I'm not charging recklessly because I overestimate my own speed. My reasoning is very simple. If you can answer one question, everything will become clear: Can a ninja possibly lack proficiency in Taijutsu?"
"..."
This question didn't even need an answer. A ninja without Taijutsu skills was practically useless. Even later on, the crippled guy with whirlpool eyes—who had to create six life-sized hand puppets and constantly required protection—why was that? Despite possessing extraordinary dojutsu powers, without those preparations, he'd essentially be helpless.
Any ninja needs at least some level of Taijutsu skill, but right now, Haseo's Taijutsu was practically non-existent.
"Therefore, such an opportunity is truly rare. As long as I survive this confrontation, I can at least call myself a battlefield-experienced ninja with fifty combats under my belt," Haseo continued explaining.
"Battle-hardened" is just a description, while "fifty battles" is like cutting that image in half.
A caster has no place on the battlefield of ninja warfare, yet currently, Haseo's Taijutsu skill was nearly zero. He had only recently become a ninja, never studying Taijutsu systematically at the Ninja Academy, and had little actual combat experience relying on it. Therefore, calling him a battlefield veteran was impossible; he couldn't even be considered academy-trained (formally educated in the Ninja Academy).
If one day he faced a Taijutsu-specialist ninja with no chance to escape, how could he guarantee his survival?
Answer: He couldn't.
"Your attack pattern is completely linear, straightforward—despite apparent high-quality physical attributes, you're failing to utilize bodily coordination, even mistiming your jutsu releases... I'll take back what I said earlier. You're clearly not a next-generation ninja carefully cultivated by Konoha. Instead, you're merely a fledgling ninja who recently awakened chakra. You throw every jutsu you know and charge blindly using whatever speed you've got. Your actual combat capability is terrible," Nagare spoke up, realizing Haseo's true nature.
But because of that, instead of thinking less of Haseo, he actually respected him more. After all, experience can be gained, but talent is incredibly rare... If the inexperienced Haseo was already a significant threat on the battlefield, how could he possibly let him keep growing?
"Your basics are terrible. It may look like grand towers have risen, but in truth, they're just castles in the air with little real foundation."
This Konoha ninja must be eliminated.
Nagare made up his mind at this moment.
If one sets aside Haseo's unique way of performing Ninjutsu, his surprisingly strong chakra reserves and capacity for a novice ninja, as well as the number of elemental chakra affinities he possesses, while also ignoring the advantages provided by his high speed attribute, then Haseo's most fundamental situation would be directly exposed—he really isn't much stronger than students from the Ninja Academy.
In other words, exactly what the enemy described as "being built on sand."
There's no doubt his fighting style was creative—possibly even revolutionary—thanks to some natural instincts. However, precisely because of this, combining high-speed Lightning Release Taijutsu with random, chaotic usage of Ninjutsu perfectly concealed his flaws.
His [Lightning Release Water Release: Mikage Dazong Lu] served as an excellent basis for physical combat, potentially laying the foundation for him becoming an outstanding taijutsu ninja. The problem, though, was that thus far he had utilized this technique in a very basic and inefficient manner. In fact, compared to a proper Taijutsu form, Haseo had practically been using it only as a high-speed movement technique: rushing forward, throwing skills, then retreating. Those were his three go-to moves. In a sense, even the efficiency of his Lightning Release taijutsu during close-range combat was worse than the simplest Shifting Body Technique—in other words, what the enemy pointed out was true; his movements were too predictable and linear.
Of course, such weaknesses were visible not only to enemies but were equally clear to Haseo himself. On advanced ninja battlefields, his old tricks wouldn't cut it anymore. As the opponents he faced kept escalating, eventually there would come a day when his three go-to moves would become completely ineffective.
Therefore, Haseo wanted to overcome his own weaknesses.
Making full use of one's strengths while avoiding personal shortcomings, versus learning from others' strengths to cover one's own gaps—these two approaches are equally valid, neither inherently better nor worse. The reason Haseo chose the latter path was simply due to his own greediness.
When the possibility of becoming an all-around ninja exists, how could he accept merely becoming a specialist ninja? This desire wasn't something newly formed in his heart; rather, it was something evident even before—for instance, he valued Jonin over Tokubetsu Jonin precisely because he pursued comprehensive abilities rather than focusing on specialized characteristics. Moreover, take another example: he had even begun researching Genjutsu.
All of Haseo's actions weren't merely, as he claimed, purely about surviving.
As for this current Ame ninja facing him, regardless of how skilled he may be in Ninjutsu, at the very least, his sensory ability and taijutsu truly were formidable. Therefore, Haseo decided to engage him directly.
"But whatever the case may be, you're right about one thing, Katsuyu. For now, we need to fall back temporarily."
"That last attack from him—I think at least one rib is broken. Just...I hope he follows me closely," Haseo said to Katsuyu.
At that moment, Katsuyu didn't know how to respond to Haseo's actions and decisions. If she thought him reckless, she also had to respect his resolve born from anger and his courage in facing a powerful foe. Yet if she admired his bravery, his actions were still undeniably rash.
One must understand that taijutsu leaves no room for flashy moves. No matter how strong a ninja's physical condition or how rigorous their training, true mastery of taijutsu can only come through extensive combat experience. No taijutsu practitioner's skill can surpass their actual battle experience.
Haseo learned quickly, but did he truly realize this? Learning taijutsu was different from learning ninjutsu—Katsuyu couldn't help but doubt.
The intense [Lightning Release] chakra radiating from Haseo slowly receded. He glanced at his opponent before turning and retreating...
It wasn't really fleeing—it was more like tactical evasion.
He wasn't going at full speed.
Nor did he plan to leave the Land of Rain.
In fact, he hoped his enemy would keep pursuing...
He simply wanted to find a place to temporarily treat his wounds before continuing the fight. [Tactical withdrawal] was Haseo's specialty, though this time was completely different from before.
[Kiting]—a standard tactic when fighting a boss. Although Haseo's method involved retreating briefly to regain his composure before charging back in for a direct confrontation.
The battle was grueling, but he was determined not to let such an opponent escape. Finding an opponent like Nagare wasn't something that happened often. In Haseo's eyes, the enemy wasn't just a powerful foe but essentially a walking experience orb.
Facing such a prize, he simply couldn't walk away.
"He's coming."
Sure enough, Haseo noticed his opponent tailing behind him. His hesitant, messy retreat was clearly baiting his enemy into chasing further—and the enemy indeed had no reason to abandon such a pursuit.
But should he really be happy about his enemy giving chase?
By now, it was impossible to tell who might end up devouring whom.
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