Inuzuka Midori swayed a little, blinking in confusion as she looked around.
She was dazed and disoriented, unsure of what had just happened.
Earlier, when she used Fang Over Fang to attack Hakusei Tōya, all she felt was a massive impact shaking her skull to the point of buzzing, and then everything went dark.
When she came to, she looked to her side and noticed two people lying flat on the ground.
"Huh? Why are you guys on the floor?" she asked, rubbing her still-dizzy head with curiosity.
Shiomizu scowled and muttered,
"The same way you got on the ground... is how we ended up on the ground."
He did not look happy.
Nothing had gone the way he expected.
He thought there was no way Tōya could be that strong.
And yet, Tōya had made it very clear, with nothing but a fist, Oh yes, I am.
So now, Shiomizu was having a bit of a breakdown.
He just couldn't understand it.
How could someone this powerful be so completely unknown?
Just two years ago, all five great villages had gone at each other like rabid dogs, using every last trump card they had.
If someone like Hakusei Tōya had been around, no way would he have stayed in hiding.
But Shiomizu was certain, no one named Hakusei Tōya had ever made an appearance on the battlefield.
Someone with a fighting style this distinct would've instantly become famous. He would've earned a nickname at the very least.
Kakashi, meanwhile, wore a thoughtful look.
That instant movement Tōya used earlier to appear behind him... it looked a lot like the taijutsu move called Shave.
Tōya stepped forward to face the three of them and said casually,
"Good. I've now got a pretty clear understanding of all of you."
Shiomizu was speechless.
What do you mean, "understanding"? You just punched each of us once and we were done!
"And you've probably gained a decent grasp of me too," Tōya continued. "At least a general idea of my strength."
"You're seriously strong, Class Rep," Midori said, still holding her head with both hands. "That was the first time my Fang Over Fang got blown apart like that."
She had a tough body, really tough. But just one hit from Tōya had left her this wrecked. That alone said a lot about his strength.
And honestly, among the three of them, she was physically the strongest. Yet she ended up in the worst shape.
Midori couldn't help but suspect that Tōya had gone extra hard on her on purpose, maybe because of how she acted earlier.
What a petty guy... Best not to tick him off again, she thought with a pout.
Even Shiomizu, who had once thought Tōya was just an arrogant show-off, had to admit now, Tōya was the real deal.
As for Kakashi, there was nothing to say. He'd already seen Tōya's strength before. Honestly, what happened today felt like Tōya was holding back.
Seeing all three of them looking properly humbled, Tōya smiled with satisfaction.
"Wanna learn? I'll teach you," he said.
With that, he activated Armament Haki, coating his entire right hand in jet-black color.
Raising the arm that now looked like a solid chunk of steel, he said with a smirk,
"This is it. Want to learn how to use this?"
"YES! Totally YES! That's so freaking cool!" Midori's eyes sparkled like twin stars as she looked at Tōya with adoration.
She wasn't even faking it. She really thought it was cool.
And if Graymaru could learn it too? A steel-plated version of her dog? That'd be amazing.
Shiomizu, who had just started calming down, looked skeptical again.
"This seems like a secret technique of some kind. Are you sure it's okay to just teach it?" he asked, still cautious.
To be honest, when he first saw it, he thought it might be a kekkei genkai, something like Iron Release or similar.
But after witnessing it firsthand, especially how it tanked Kakashi's high-level Lightning Release without leaving a mark… yeah, this was the real deal.
Tōya chuckled, "If you want to call it a secret technique, I guess it sort of is. But it's my own secret technique. So I can teach it however I like."
"I call it Armament Haki. As you've just seen, it can coat your body and significantly boost your defenses."
Then he suddenly drove his Haki-coated fist down into the training ground.
BOOOOM!!!
The ground erupted with an ear-shattering crash, throwing up a massive cloud of dust.
When the dust cleared, the three of them looked over, and saw that the once-pristine ground now had a crater nearly three meters wide, with countless cracks radiating outward.
"But defense isn't all it boosts," Tōya added lightly.
"It kicks your offensive power up a notch, too."
Kakashi swallowed hard.
His Chidori was already one of the highest-damage jutsu around.
If you added this kind of power on top of that...
Who could possibly withstand it?
Shiomizu's eyes burned with desire.
Sure, the Nara clan's secret arts were powerful, but this Armament Haki looked insanely strong too.
But Tōya wasn't done.
He kept going.
"This? This is just the basic application of Armament Haki, what I call hardening. But it can do more. You can also wrap it, or even project it."
He pulled out a kunai from his ninja pouch and coated it in Armament Haki.
"Yes, it works on weapons too," he said, holding up the now-blackened kunai.
Kakashi's thoughts immediately jumped to his broken White Fang short blade.
If it had been reinforced with Armament Haki… would it still have snapped?
Watching the three of them practically drooling, Tōya couldn't help but chuckle.
You guys haven't seen anything yet.
Tōya closed his eyes.
"There's another type of Haki," he said softly, "and this one is a bit different. I'll let you figure out what it does, try attacking me."
The three exchanged glances, reached an unspoken agreement, and charged in together.
By now, they understood clearly: Tōya's strength was on a completely different level from theirs.
So they didn't hold back.
Each one went all-in, using their best moves.
"Graymaru, bite him!" Midori shouted, charging from the side while directing her ninken from the front.
Woof!
Graymaru let out a low growl and lunged straight at Tōya's torso.
Tōya calmly stepped back with his eyes still closed.
"Jumping straight in like that? That leaves your belly wide open, you know."
He spun just slightly, easily dodging Midori's follow-up attack from the flank.
"Coming from the side was a good idea. Too bad you're too slow."
"Shadow Sewing Jutsu!" Shiomizu called out, seizing the opportunity.
Suddenly, shadows from the ground morphed into razor-sharp tendrils and lunged toward Tōya.
But with a quick stomp, Tōya vanished from his position and reappeared on a nearby boulder, completely avoiding the attack.
"Your timing's always sharp, Shiomizu, but your raw power still needs work."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five or six kunai suddenly flew toward Tōya from different directions.
He twisted his body, dodging them easily, and even caught one midair before hurling it to the ground.
The moment it hit, a puff of smoke, poof!, and the kunai turned into Kakashi.
"You had a clever plan there, Kakashi," Tōya said without turning around.
"Using a shadow clone transformed into a kunai to get close."
"Too bad, doesn't work on me."
Kakashi sat up from the ground, stunned.
He really thought he had a surprise attack.
But instead, Tōya surprised him.
Even with Sharingan, it was hard to see through that move.
And yet Tōya had seen through it, with his eyes closed.
"This is called Observation Haki," Tōya said, finally opening his eyes and smiling at them.
"Observation Haki heightens your senses and allows you to detect the presence of others, even anticipate attacks and evade them."
"No matter where you come from, I'll always see you coming."
Then he asked again, with a calm and confident grin:
"So... still want to learn?"
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