"Found you."
Beneath his mask, Kakashi's lips curled slightly. Short blade in hand, he followed the ninja hound Pakkun as they plunged into the forest.
Pakkun wasn't much in a fight, but his stamina and sense of smell were exceptional. His tracking ability was terrifyingly good - one of the best partners a ninja could ask for.
They had only just entered the woods, before Kakashi could even continue searching for Uchiha Mai's trail, when a wave of heat surged toward him. He looked up - and his pupils shrank.
A massive Great Fireball, over a meter in diameter.
This Uchiha Mai… wasn't weak.
From that single fireball alone, Kakashi was able to roughly gauge Mai's level.
The Uchiha clan excelled at Fire Release, but even among them, an eight-year-old capable of spewing out a Great Fireball of this size was exceedingly rare.
Still - only not weak.
A ninja who relied solely on rigid, textbook ninjutsu could never be called a true powerhouse.
Kakashi braked sharply with one foot, then leapt aside, agile as a tabby cat, effortlessly evading the ambush.
Even Pakkun, who had charged in first, rolled on the ground and dodged the fireball.
The merciful flames swept past Kakashi and slammed into the earth, igniting dry grass and fallen leaves, filling the air with the sharp stench of sulfur.
Set fire to a mountain, rot in prison.
Following the trajectory of the fireball, Kakashi looked up.
There - Uchiha Mai stood atop a towering tree, gazing down at him with cold disdain.
"You're too impatient."
Kakashi's eyes held a trace of contempt as he mocked,
"Among all C-rank ninjutsu, the Great Fireball does rank near the top in power.
"But its weaknesses are fatal. Its flight speed is slow - easy to dodge. It poses no real threat to a true expert.
"Worse, its fixed trajectory exposes the user's position.
"If it were me, I'd never use a chakra-hungry technique like this unless I was certain the enemy was already badly wounded and had lost most of their mobility."
You white-haired bastard who chats for two episodes holding a Chidori and insists on carving a dog's head every time you use Earth Wall - don't lecture me.
Setting that aside, the Uchiha did indeed possess more chakra than ordinary ninja. Chakra was the fusion of spiritual and physical energy, and the Uchiha's spiritual power was especially strong.
Hatake… fundamentally had no advantage in chakra reserves compared to the average ninja.
Uchiha Mai smiled faintly. Unlike before, he didn't turn and flee. Looking down arrogantly, he said:
"So what?
"The distance between us is about twenty meters. A chasm you cannot cross, no matter how desperately you struggle.
"Kakashi - can you really break through the Uchiha clan's peerless Fire Release, combined with a web of ninja tool barrages, and reach me?"
Outside the forest, Namikaze Minato, observing the situation, wore a strange expression.
Uchiha Fire Release and ninja tool throwing were formidable… but when had this kid ever used those?
He'd been fooled.
Uchiha Mai was exploiting the public's ingrained perception of the Uchiha clan, lulling Kakashi into ignoring the threat of his taijutsu - setting him up for a sudden, lethal strike.
How devious.
Sure enough, Kakashi took the bait. Short blade in hand, he stepped forward and said disdainfully:
"Easily."
Across the entire ninja world, no true master had ever made a name relying on ninja tools. They were only good for bullying freshly graduated academy brats.
Mai flipped his wrist, pulling out four shuriken. With a strange, fluid motion, he sent them flying, carving unpredictable arcs through the air toward Kakashi.
Kakashi's gaze was cold. He ignored them completely and charged straight at Mai.
Only when the four shuriken reached him did he calmly raise his hand, casually batting them aside with his blade - like strolling through a garden.
In the end, people go to heaven.
And shuriken go toward the enemy.
Kakashi had trained in the Hatake blade style for years and was also proficient in Lightning Release. By stimulating his cells with lightning chakra, he could achieve strike speeds far beyond ordinary ninja.
Simple ninja tool throwing?
Not even worth mentioning.
No matter how fancy the trajectory, all you had to do was knock them aside right before impact. Wasn't that something anyone with hands could do?
Mai remained calm. He bent his knees and leapt to another tree behind him, pulling out more shuriken and kunai, flinging them at Kakashi in a flashy, exaggerated manner - playing the part of a stereotypical Uchiha.
Don't ask where all those tools came from. The answer was simple: hidden under the cloak, in pockets. After all, a man could pull out an electric scooter from his pants pocket and no one would bat an eye.
"You've got nothing but petty tricks," Kakashi said.
He continued advancing, blade ringing as he knocked every incoming tool away. The few he couldn't deflect, he dodged with subtle twists of his body, avoiding vital points.
Mai fled. Kakashi pursued.
They danced this chase for several minutes, the distance between them slowly shrinking.
As he ran, Mai carefully calculated his throwing frequency - each round fewer than the last, creating the illusion that he was running out of options, running out of resources.
And in truth, that wasn't entirely false.
Both of this body's parents had been jōnin. What they left behind - besides property, ninjutsu scrolls, and some wealth - was a vast stockpile of high-quality ninja tools.
Good tools could save your life at critical moments, and ninja were notoriously extravagant in this regard. Much like fishing rods - no matter how many times you get skunked, once you have money, you always want better gear.
Clang.
Kakashi knocked away the final shuriken, stepped forward in a single stride, and slashed toward Mai's neck.
"You have nowhere left to run," he said.
The same neck strike - but earlier, Kakashi hadn't attacked Guy. Now, he showed no hesitation.
The difference lay in whether the opponent still had the ability to act.
At this moment, Uchiha Mai clearly did. Kakashi judged that Mai would dodge; at worst, this strike would severely wound him.
If Mai froze in fear and didn't evade, and Kakashi killed him outright, he still wouldn't be punished.
But Guy had already lost the ability to resist. Killing him then would have earned Kakashi severe punishment from the village.
The brilliant flash of the blade cut through the air.
In that instant, Mai even caught his own blood-red eyes reflected along the blade's edge.
"That's not necessarily true."
Sore wa dō kana.
At the critical moment, Uchiha Mai's single-tomoe Sharingan activated, capturing the weakest point in Kakashi's strike.
His left hand tightened around a kunai, slashing upward to meet the falling blade.
Clang!
Metal collided. Sparks burst forth as the kunai scraped along the short blade. The recoil traveled through Kakashi's arm, numbing his wrist.
Kakashi's heart jolted.
His strike speed… isn't much slower than mine?!
I've trained the Hatake blade style for years - and since Icha Icha Paradise first came out over a year ago, I've been a loyal fan.
That's how I honed hand speed unrivaled among my peers.
(End of Chapter)