Meanwhile, at the lake beside Training Ground 3...
Splash!
Water erupted in a geyser, droplets flying in all directions.
Sakura stared intently at the churning water, her entire body tense and ready.
Their battle with Kakashi had initially started in the dense forest, but Kakashi had deliberately maneuvered her toward the lake to test her Water Release techniques.
Sakura, with her keen intuition, had quickly noticed his intent.
Naturally, she didn't refuse. For a Water Release ninja, fighting in a watery environment versus dry land was like night and day.
The churning water gradually calmed, but Kakashi had vanished without a trace.
"He's gone?"
Sakura blinked in surprise, about to search for him when she suddenly sensed a sharp whoosh behind her.
Without warning, Kakashi materialized on the surging surface of the water, directly behind Sakura.
He unleashed a fierce punch aimed at the center of her back, striking with such speed that Sakura had no time to block or dodge.
Bang!
Kakashi's fist slammed into Sakura's back, the force sending her flying backward in a long arc.
'That's wrong!'
After striking Sakura, Kakashi's expression didn't relax in the slightest; instead, his eyes sharpened with alertness.
The impact had felt like hitting a resilient body of water, not a person.
'Exactly as I suspected!'
The moment Sakura collapsed on the lake's surface, she dissolved into pure water, merging seamlessly with the lake.
'Water Clone Technique!'
'So the intelligence was accurate after all. Sakura truly excels in Water Release techniques!'
Lost in thought, Kakashi was about to leap away when the water beneath him suddenly surged. In an instant, several water whips materialized, wrapping tightly around his body and immobilizing him completely.
"Water Release: Water Whip—success!" Sakura's figure emerged from the lake, a radiant smile lighting up her face as she saw Kakashi restrained.
'Water Release: Water Whip? I recall this being a technique used by the Hidden Mist Anbu to capture enemies.'
'She knows this technique too? Could Sakura's former teacher have been a spy in the Hidden Mist Village?'
Kakashi glanced at the water whips binding him, his thoughts racing.
"Sakura, your chakra control is truly remarkable."
Though tightly bound, Kakashi couldn't help but remark as he observed the turbulent waters parting smoothly around Sakura's feet, leaving no ripple in her wake.
'This level of precision in chakra manipulation rivals my own.'
"Hmph!" Sakura scoffed, her tone frosty. "If I'm not mistaken, this Teacher Kakashi is just a Shadow Clone, right? The real one must be dealing with Sasuke."
Kakashi smiled faintly. "Why do you say that?"
Sakura met his gaze steadily. "After all, you've always seen Sasuke as the strongest of the three of us. While that might be true, sending only a Shadow Clone to deal with me is downright insulting!"
Hearing this, Kakashi felt a twinge of embarrassment.
He was about to offer an explanation when Sakura continued, "Even though being underestimated stings, it's different when it comes from Sasuke."
'Huh?!'
'What kind of twisted logic is that?!'
Kakashi blinked, rolled his eyes, utterly bewildered by the workings of these young girls' minds.
Still, it saved him the trouble of explaining.
"If you're just a Shadow Clone, then I don't need to hold back. I'll take you down first and then deal with the real one!"
Sakura scoffed again, clasping her hands together to form a hand seal.
Kakashi smiled faintly. A surge of Chakra pulsed through him, shattering the water whips binding him.
He watched as Sakura swiftly completed the Ox-Monkey hand seal.
'Ox-Monkey? As expected, it's Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique! If that's the case...'
Kakashi's gaze sharpened, his hands moving swiftly through the hand seals.
He too knew the Water Dragon Bullet Technique and intended to counter Sakura's attack with the same technique, showing her what a true Water Dragon Bullet looked like!
Kakashi's hand seals moved with astonishing speed and dexterity, his fingers blurring like afterimages, dazzling the eye. In a mere moment, he had completed over a dozen seals.
Meanwhile, Sakura had only finished four seals. Seeing this, Kakashi couldn't resist offering some guidance:
"Sakura, I must say, your intelligence gathering and analysis, your Chakra control, and your Water Release techniques have all been remarkably impressive. But from what I'm seeing now, you still have one fatal flaw: your hand seal speed is...?!"
Before he could finish speaking, Kakashi exclaimed in shock as the pink-haired girl uttered a sharp cry:
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
The lake's waters surged violently as a massive torrent was drawn from behind Sakura, instantly coalescing into a lifelike water dragon.
With a roar like that of a colossal dragon, it lunged toward Kakashi with overwhelming force and ferocity!
"This..."
Kakashi swiftly retreated, his hands flashing through hand seals.
Yet the water dragon pursued him relentlessly, like a leech clinging to bone, its whistling roar echoing across the lake.
Forced to retreat again, Kakashi was now three-quarters of the way through completing his hand seals. Just as he was about to finish, he finally halted.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
An equally massive water dragon erupted from behind Kakashi, colliding head-on with Sakura's dragon.
But the moment Kakashi's dragon made contact, most of its body shattered like tofu dregs.
Stunned, Kakashi immediately channeled more Chakra, barely maintaining the dragon's form.
The two colossal dragons roared and snarled, clashing once more.
With a deafening BOOM, the water churned, the air vibrated, and shockwaves of surging water and tearing wind erupted in all directions.
The force of the impact sent pebbles scattering along the shore with a loud clatter. Anyone caught in such a strike would surely suffer broken bones!
Splash!
The two water dragons transformed into a torrential downpour, cascading from the sky and drenching both figures below.
'Sakura's Water Dragon Bullet seems far more powerful.'
Kakashi was about to voice his astonishment when a sudden numbness gripped his body, sending a jolt of alarm through him.
'These raindrops are absorbing my Chakra!'
Panicked, Kakashi seized the last moments of mobility to escape the downpour's reach using a Body Flicker Technique.
"Simplified hand seals, enhanced impact force, and Chakra absorption—this is the Second Hokage's Water Release technique!"
'But who exactly is her teacher, Maruboshi Kosuke? He not only knows the Third Hokage's Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique but also the Second Hokage's Water Release techniques!'
Feeling the dwindling Chakra reserves in his Shadow Clone, Kakashi mentally noted the situation before turning his gaze toward the violently splashing water.
A figure burst through the surging waves, charging forward with blinding speed.
___
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