Chapter 06: Battle Between Geniuses, Anbu Investigation
Notes:
Dojutsu, literally eye techniques, refer to visual jutsu or ninja abilities that utilize the eyes.
From within the crowd, a languid-looking Kakashi slightly raised his eyebrows and stepped forward reluctantly. In Kakashi’s opinion, even though Uchiha Tonan awakened the one-tomoe Sharingan, it was just one more dojutsu.
Judging from the past combat classes, Tonan basically had zero combat experience. He couldn’t be Kakashi’s opponent in any aspect. Everyone present on the scene, including Umino Naoto, thought so.
“Did you think it through? You have just awakened the Sharingan,” Naoto asked.
In fact, in Naoto’s view, the most suitable person to practice with Tonan was Uchiha Obito. Tonan’s physical constitution was always weak. He also didn’t know any ninjutsu. The one-tomoe Sharingan, at best, would give him an extra dynamic vision.
At least, Obito’s physical constitution was not bad, and they two should match evenly in a fight. Naturally, with Tonan’s potential, he might have some chance to catch up with Kakashi in the future, but that definitely was not now.
Naoto was a little worried that Tonan, who had just pulled himself together, would be abused by Kakashi and would end up losing his confidence again.
“Teacher, you can rest assured. Teno-san taught me often. In the past, I was unable to perform well, but now, I can.”
Tonan cast all doubts that anyone may feel to the dead Teno in advance.
In the Hokage office, Sarutobi Hiruzen was dealing with official documents while blowing out smoke rings. He seemed to suddenly think of something and took out the Ninja Academy report cards from his drawer again.
“Awakened Sharingan.”
Hiruzen squinted his eyes and recalled that this afternoon’s class for the first-year student was combat training. He put the report cards back in the drawer and looked at a crystal ball in front of him. Hiruzen injected his chakra into it, and instantly a visual of the training ground appeared.
At this moment, Kakashi and Tonan walked out from the crowd and made a hand sign to each other.
The next second.
Swish~
Kakashi raised his fist and rushed towards Tonan at shocking speed. He planned to knock his challenger down in one punch and quickly end this meaningless fight.
However, just before Kakashi’s fist could make contact, Tonan tilted his head slightly, and at the same time, lifted his leg to kick Kakashi’s abdomen.
Bang.
Kakashi’s overlapped palms blocked Tonan’s kick, and he retreated, opening up a distance between them.
It was just one move but it was enough to change Kakashi’s thoughts about Tonan. The contempt in his eyes was gone.
“Wow~”
“They are so fast that I couldn’t even clearly see what happened.”
“How did Tonan block it?”
“Is Sharingan so powerful?”
Standing in combat readiness, Kakashi took out several shurikens from the ninja tool bag and threw them at Tonan.
Ding, ding, ding…
The shurikens collided with each other, continuously changing their path, making it difficult for Tonan to gauge the attack. Despite this, he held a kunai and rushed towards Kakashi, moving deftly along the way, dodging all shurikens one after another.
Kakashi’s expression remained unchanged. He held a kunai with his right hand and slightly squatted down. Just when Tonan arrived in front of him and slashed down at him with his kunai, Kakashi made an unexpected move.
He ignored Tonan in front of him, turned around, and thrust the kunai up from the bottom.
Clang!
The two kunai locked onto each other.
“What!” Several sounds of disbelief erupted from the crowd.
Tonan had appeared behind Kakashi at some point and wanted to attack him but Kakashi managed to block it.
The kunai in Tonan’s hand, which was about to strike Kakashi from the front, turned into white smoke as soon as it touched him, leaving behind a piece of wood on the ground.
Seeing this, Naoto’s eyes were filled with surprise, and he exclaimed, “Clone Technique, combined with Substitution Technique to switch position. And using Transformation Technique at the same time to make the substitute-wood appear like a kunai!”
“This is already comparable to the top-level graduate students.”
After Tonan’s attack failed, he distanced himself from Kakashi, and his hands immediately turned into afterimages as he began to make hand signs.
Kakashi naturally wouldn’t give Tonan a chance to release ninjutsu. He threw several shurikens, and then, he too began to make hand signs.
Tonan’s expression remained the same, and he continued making hand seals. His Sharingan could clearly see the shurikens’ trajectory. His legs remained steady, and his body and head swayed continuously, perfectly dodging all attacks.
“Fire Style, Great Fireball Technique.”
He released a scorching hot fireball towards Kakashi.
At this moment, Kakashi also finished making the seals and slammed his hands on the ground.
“Earth Style, Mud Wall Technique.”
The fireball hit the mud wall, but it was unable to breach it.
Tonan’s body swayed as he pretended to have depleted his chakra. He just barely managed to jump up, dodging a hand that came out from the ground.
Seeing his sneak attack fail, Kakashi also came out from the ground.
“Genius! I didn’t expect Tonan to be a genius as well. It’s truly a pleasant surprise.”
Hiruzen looked at the scene being played in the crystal ball, and there was a hint of joy in his eyes. He then solemnly called out, “Anbu.”
“Lord Hokage.”
“Go and investigate Uchiha Tonan. Be careful to not let anyone notice you.”
“Yes.”
On the training ground, Kakashi stood in the same place leisurely. He didn’t initiate an attack again and lightly remarked, “Tonan, do you want to continue? Sharingan is indeed very powerful, but you seem to have exhausted your chakra.”
Tonan gasped for breath as if he was drained out of energy and gave a wry smile.
He put away his kunai, placed his hands on the knees, and bowed to Kakashi, “I never thought that you were so strong, Kakashi. It seems I have to redouble my efforts if I want to catch up to you.”
Kakashi also put away his kunai, and the usual sleepy look reappeared on his face as he walked into the crowd.
Although Tonan still had surplus energy, he had shown his potential value today. His goal was achieved.
If he truly won against Kakashi, that would not show potential, but his strength. And it would be too doubtful if a recently awakened Sharingan’s prowess was too intense.
Losing miserably after exchanging a few moves with Kakashi was the best approach.
“Kakashi won, but Tonan also performed very well. Kakashi gets A+, Tonan gets A. You two, go to the tree shade and recuperate for a bit.”
Naoto had a smile on his face. He was visibly satisfied with these two students’ performance.
Kakashi was a publicly known genius in the village. There was no need to repeat anything about his potential. But as a teacher, Naoto always had a favorable impression of the courteous and studious Tonan.
Now that Tonan had shown outstanding ninja talent, the more Naoto looked at him, the more he liked this student.
Half an hour later, in the Hokage office.
An Anbu’s figure appeared in front of Hiruzen.
“Lord Hokage, I have finished investigating Uchiha Tonan. I even went to his house to complete the investigation.”
“Was there anything unusual?”
“There’s nothing unusual about his life. He’s a pureblooded Uchiha. His parents are Uchiha Kotoura and Uchiha Nanako. Both of them belonged to the Konoha Police Force, but not long ago, they volunteered to go to the frontline.”
“In Uchiha Tonan’s house, I found many ninja books purchased from the bookstore. There were also books on previous Hokages’ achievements by his bedside, and there was a book of ‘Will of Fire’ signed by Lord Hokage on the living room table.”
“I also found Uchiha Tonan’s diary.”
After the report, the Anbu handed over Tonan’s diary to Hiruzen.
