"Next, you need more combat to better understand the Breathing Technique."
"Combat, huh. Damn, does that mean I have to find that guy Kakashi?" Recalling Mokgetsu's words, he couldn't help but sigh.
Although Might Guy has similar strength to him, and Shisui can easily suppress him, both have recently been busy with Breathing Technique cultivation and have no time to spar with someone progressing the fastest like him.
Obito could only think of Kakashi. It's not like he could go find Asuma. With his current strength, unless he doesn't use the Breathing Technique, fighting Asuma is way too easy. But if he doesn't use the Breathing Technique, how can he improve it? That's a problem.
In the end, Obito realized it had to be Kakashi.
Kakashi's strength was decent enough to be worth using the Breathing Technique against, and he didn't seem to be that busy.
The main thing was that Obito felt he could finally challenge Kakashi. After all, he could now achieve Full Concentration Breathing.
If he didn't feel a bit unsteady, he would have invited Nohara Rin to watch him defeat Kakashi in all his glory, showing who the real genius of Konoha was.
Thinking about it, Obito couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Why are you standing at my door with such a creepy smile?" Kakashi asked when he saw Obito laughing foolishly in front of his house.
"What's creepy about it? It's a joyous laugh to celebrate my impending victory!" Obito just realized he had unconsciously arrived at Kakashi's doorstep.
"So you're here to challenge me?" Kakashi asked.
"That's right." Obito nodded, saying, "Kakashi, prepare yourself for defeat. I just got first place in the Ninja Academy a few days ago!"
"Is the Academy's ranking really worth boasting about? I got tired of those three years ago," Kakashi said indifferently.
"By the way, Obito, how many times have you been first? Only once? I remember I was always top of my class before I graduated."
"Uh, the number of times doesn't matter. Anyway, I was first just like you." Obito gave up on competing with Kakashi over grades.
"With all that confidence, I almost thought you'd graduated and become a ninja. After all, despite being the same age as you, I've been a Chunin for years now," Kakashi continued.
Obito: ...
It's just graduating at five and becoming a Chunin at six, what's there to brag about? Graduating earlier doesn't mean anything. If he'd graduated early, he wouldn't have met Teacher Mokgetsu. Obito used a mental victory method.
"Kakashi, enough with the talk, let's start the fight," Obito interrupted, afraid Kakashi's talk would affect his performance later.
"Alright then, it won't take long to deal with you anyway." Kakashi led Obito to their usual training spot.
"Damn it, underestimate me and you'll pay the price for it." Obito was instantly filled with rage, determined to teach Kakashi a lesson.
It had only been just over three months, but he was no longer the Uchiha Obito who'd get instantly KO'd by an Instant Body Jutsu with one kick.
Now, he'd mastered Soru, learned Breath of Flame, and also mastered the Impatiens Claw Red and Fireball, making his strength incomparable to before.
"Let's start." Kakashi said calmly.
He really didn't take Obito's challenge seriously. If it had been Guy, he might muster some interest since their previous encounter showed him that Might Guy's strength had greatly improved.
As for Obito, Kakashi's impression was still stuck in those few months ago when Obito came to him for dodge training.
Obito immediately activated the Breathing Technique, drawing a large amount of oxygen into his body for enhancement.
Swoosh!
Obito's body disappeared from its original spot, throwing a fierce punch at Kakashi's abdomen.
Kakashi's pupils shrank sharply. He hadn't expected Obito's speed to be so fast. In a rush, he couldn't dodge and had to quickly block with his arm, causing him to retreat over two meters.
"Such power and speed." Kakashi looked at Obito differently.
If not for his rich combat experience, Obito might have succeeded.
Kakashi no longer underestimated Obito. He quickly pulled a shuriken from his ninja pouch and shot it at Obito.
Obito directly used Soru to dodge the shuriken and charged towards Kakashi again.
This time, Kakashi was already prepared. The instant Obito approached, he almost got a punch to the face from Kakashi.
Kakashi's excellent attack rhythm flipped the situation, forcing Obito to retreat, dust clinging to him.
"Damn, is Kakashi's Taijutsu even stronger than Guy's?" Obito felt extremely frustrated by the beating.
Previously, he could go toe-to-toe with Might Guy using the Breathing Technique, never expecting to be suppressed by Kakashi and feeling unable to exert his strength.
Bam!
Obito was knocked to the ground by Kakashi's opportune punch and kick.
Obito quickly pulled back, stopped exchanging Taijutsu with Kakashi, and performed seals to use Fire Release Ninjutsu.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Obito unleashed his chakra, shooting a massive four-meter-high fireball towards Kakashi.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!" Kakashi calmly performed a seal, summoning a huge earth wall in front of him.
Rumble!
The fireball slammed into the thick earth wall but couldn't completely destroy it. Seeing the broken dog head on the wall, Obito felt quite unsatisfied.
He initially wanted to force Kakashi to dodge and seize a chance for a Full Concentration Breath assault but Kakashi directly used Defensive Ninjutsu to block him.
"Breath of Flame, Full Concentration Breath!" Obito decided to show Kakashi the full impact of the Breathing Technique, letting him know the previous speed and strength wasn't his limit yet.
Obito leaped onto the earth wall and found Kakashi standing right by it. Using the enhancements from the Breathing Technique, Obito simultaneously performed Nature Transformation and charged at Kakashi, flames bursting from his palm.
Seeing Obito coming aggressively, Kakashi quickly dodged, creating a small gap and letting Obito's flames miss.
Noticing Kakashi still acting cautiously, a flash of inspiration hit Obito's mind. He decided to attempt a single-hand seal to release the Ninjutsu, yet to be successful.
"Fire Release: Impatiens Claw Red!"
Obito quickly pulled out three kunai, stealthily performed a seal behind his back with his left hand, and then promptly threw the three kunai at Kakashi. Though only two were engulfed in flames, it was still a success.
As Obito threw his kunai, Kakashi also shot two kunai at him.
Tilting his body to dodge Kakashi's kunai, Obito laughed heartily. His kunai wasn't ordinary, it would explode, he wondered how Kakashi would dodge this.
Rumble!
Being too close, Kakashi successfully dodged the kunai, but they exploded right beside him.
"I won!" Obito thought excitedly.
Although not powerful enough to severely injure Kakashi, the next fight would definitely be tough for him.