Chapter 535: Rockruff's Evolution
Early the next morning, Kakashi woke up, finished breakfast, and invited Rin to train at the same place where they had previously tested Milotic's abilities.
Kakashi felt that both he and Rockruff needed a period of high intensity special training if they were going to grow stronger.
He was currently in an awkward position. He was stronger than Obito and Shisui, yet there was still a clear gap between him and Guy.
Chakra reserves were not something that could be improved in a short time, but technique was different. If he refined his control enough, he could make every bit of chakra more valuable.
As for Rockruff, Kakashi felt that with a little more training, it might be ready to evolve.
After all, Feebas and Charmander, who had hatched later, had already evolved. It was only natural that Rockruff should be next.
"I'm coming too," Obito said immediately after hearing Kakashi's plan.
Kakashi and Rin training alone together? There was no way he could be at ease with that.
What if, while he was absent, Kakashi used the opportunity to show off in front of Rin and win her favor?
"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked. "You have a match tomorrow. Aren't you worried it might affect your condition?"
Obito was not stuck at a bottleneck. He was simply behind in raw strength. One extra day of training, or even a whole week, would not make a decisive difference.
"Or are you just trying to leave yourself an excuse in case you lose?" Kakashi asked, giving him a skeptical look.
"Kakashi, your thoughts are way too dark!" Obito shot back loudly. "The match isn't until tomorrow afternoon. Even if I train all the way until tonight, I'll still have half a day to rest. How could that affect anything?"
"I was only asking," Kakashi replied calmly, wearing the same composed expression that seemed to say, Why are you so worked up?
Obito fumed inwardly, cursing him without restraint, but there was nothing he could do.
After all, if they really fought right now, he would most likely still lose.
"I'm going to see Guy," Shisui said to them after finishing breakfast.
Although Guy's injuries this time were not as severe as when he had forcibly opened the Sixth Gate before, he still needed more than a week of rest to fully recover.
Since they were not in Konoha, the group had decided that one person would take care of him each day. Shisui had drawn the first lot, so today was his turn.
Kakashi and the others waved in response, tidied up, and then headed together toward the outskirts of town.
Once they reached their destination, all three of them used their Nin Beast Summoning Technique and called out their Pokémon.
"Woof!"
The moment Rockruff appeared, it excitedly circled around Kakashi, barking and rubbing its head against him.
"Awoo."
Milotic lowered its head and gently rubbed its face against Rin's cheek, letting out a soft cry.
Charmeleon, who had clearly not woken up yet, was summoned out without warning. It had been about to open its mouth and give Obito a morning blast of fire, but the instant it noticed Milotic nearby, all of that vanished. It immediately ran over to Milotic's side.
"Roar!" Charmeleon greeted Milotic cheerfully.
Obito stared in silence.
"Can't you have a little ambition? Why don't you focus on training first? Look at your build, then look at Milotic's," Obito could not help saying.
He had recently measured Charmeleon's height and remembered it clearly. Charmeleon was only 1.2 meters tall.
Milotic, meanwhile, was at least five or six meters long.
Even while coiled on the ground, Milotic was still much taller than Charmeleon. Obito genuinely could not understand where Charmeleon got the confidence to cozy up to it. There was no way Milotic would be impressed.
He secretly shook his head. Even though he had raised it himself, Charmeleon really did not take after him at all.
Charmeleon instantly exploded in anger.
That was practically the same as calling it a tiny dragon right to its face.
Filled with rage, Charmeleon immediately burst out with chakra and charged straight at Obito.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
Obito understood Charmeleon so well that he could tell whether it was about to spit fire at him just by the way it opened its mouth.
So the moment Charmeleon took its first step, Obito condensed chakra in his leg and unleashed a whirlwind kick, sending the charging Charmeleon sprawling.
"Fire Blast!"
Still furious, Charmeleon quickly got back up, gathered a large amount of chakra in its throat, and fired a stream of flames thicker than its own head.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Obito focused Flame Breathing to its limit, using it to enhance his nature transformation ability. While retreating, he formed hand signs and spat out a vast sea of flames.
The surging fire sea swallowed Charmeleon's flame column and kept rushing toward it.
Just before the flames could consume Charmeleon, Obito cut off his chakra output and used Body Flicker Technique to kick Charmeleon away.
"When it comes to flames, you're still too inexperienced compared to me," Obito said, shaking his head.
"Roar!"
Charmeleon stood back up defiantly, looking as though it were declaring, Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully a young dragon for being weak.
After that, it continued attacking Obito until it exhausted itself and had no choice but to stop and rest.
"This training method isn't bad," Obito suddenly realized.
Whenever Charmeleon got angry enough, it would keep fighting him until it was exhausted. If he deliberately provoked it again after each rest, wouldn't that force it to keep training nonstop?
In essence, it would be the same as Charmeleon pushing itself to exhaustion every day under his guidance.
Obito thought it sounded far more effective than using Genjutsu, although Charmeleon probably would not appreciate his kind intentions.
"Let Charmeleon suffer a little. I'll be the bad guy," Obito decided inwardly.
Even if Charmeleon did not understand him, he would still help it become stronger.
After resting for a while, Charmeleon gradually calmed down.
Although it often had the sudden urge to breathe fire at Obito whenever it got annoyed, it also remembered his kindness, like how attentive he had been and how well he had cared for it right after it hatched.
It was only during later training that he became a little inhuman, using Genjutsu to force it to train more.
Still, Charmeleon could understand Obito to some extent. From what it had observed, Obito was currently the weakest among all the disciples.
If Charmeleon became stronger, then Obito's overall combat ability would also rise with it.
Putting itself in his place, if it ever lost to that translator someday, it would probably feel anxious too.
"Charmeleon, are you incapable or what? You've rested this long and still haven't fully recovered. At this rate, no female Nin Beast is ever going to like you!" Obito opened his mouth again the moment Charmeleon had rested enough.
Charmeleon froze on the spot, looking at him in disbelief.
That was an utterly unforgivable thing to say.
"Rooooar!"
It let out a long roar toward the sky, so furious that white hot steam puffed from its nostrils. To hell with empathy. It was going to make this inherently evil Obito pay.
The enraged Charmeleon attacked Obito again and again until its arms could no longer lift, then collapsed into rest once more.
Not far away, Kakashi, who was already training, twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Those two were truly absurd in every sense.
The three of them and their three beasts trained until dusk before finally preparing to head back.
"What a fulfilling day," Rin said as she stretched, smiling while running her hand over Milotic's cool body.
Obito nodded.
It had indeed been a fulfilling day. He had spent the entire day provoking Charmeleon, to the point that he had nearly exhausted his vocabulary.
He had already decided to make a list of Kakashi's most irritating lines in the future and use those specifically to provoke Charmeleon.
But just as the three were about to leave, an unexpected change occurred.
A wooden cylinder suddenly appeared in front of them.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Holes all around the cylinder fired out a dense volley of iron needles glowing purple. Since it was cylindrical, the needles shot out in nearly every direction.
"Watch out for poison needles!" Kakashi shouted the instant he reacted, immediately covering his whole body with Armament Haki while protecting Rockruff in his arms.
The attack had come too suddenly. There was no time to cast a handsignless Ninjutsu with perfect precision, so his only option was to shield himself with Haki.
Obito also used Armament Haki to cover Charmeleon, blocking the incoming poison needles for it.
Charmeleon looked stunned. It had not expected the inhuman Obito to suddenly act like a person again.
Milotic moved to shield Rin, who had not yet mastered Armament Haki, and spat out a stream of water, knocking away most of the poison needles. Even so, a few still managed to scrape its body.
"So this Ninjutsu can cover the whole body," Sasori thought from the shadows, slightly surprised.
It was not the first time Kakashi and the others had used Armament Haki, but it was the first time Sasori had seen them cover their entire bodies with it.
"This Ninjutsu is especially troublesome for puppeteers."
Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly, and inwardly he felt grateful for his caution.
In truth, he had followed them long before this. He had simply been waiting nearby for the best moment to strike.
Now, with Guy and Shisui absent, Kakashi's group was already in less than ideal condition, and even their Nin Beasts had spent much of their stamina training.
This was the perfect opportunity for revenge.
Kakashi instantly altered his breathing rhythm, pushing Thunder Breathing to the limit and entering the Transparent World.
Through it, he spotted Hiruko hidden behind a tree and also saw Sasori concealed inside Hiruko.
"So it really was him," Kakashi thought, narrowing his eyes.
Although Sasori was no longer in disguise and looked different from the Hashori who had entered the tournament, Kakashi could tell from Sasori's chakra and puppet that the puppet master who had competed earlier was the one who had just ambushed them.
"I got careless because the town felt peaceful. When training outside Konoha, I should always keep at least two thirds of my chakra in reserve."
Sensing that less than half of his chakra remained, Kakashi felt a bad premonition rise in his chest.
He still had no idea why Sasori had come after them, but now that Sasori had already attacked, the reason did not matter. The real issue was how to survive what came next.
"Delicate Illness Extraction Technique!"
Rin immediately used Medical Ninjutsu to remove the poison from Milotic's body.
Even without a prepared antidote, the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique could still reduce the effects of the poisoning.
"Everyone, be careful. This poison is not simple," Rin warned at once.
Having studied under Tsunade, she could tell immediately that the poison coating Sasori's needles was extremely potent.
Bang!
Sasori threw out a scroll, and the Third Kazekage, dressed in a gray robe, appeared on the field.
Ten chakra threads extended from Sasori's fingers, connecting to the puppet as he stepped out from the shadows and began to manipulate it.
Although Sasori was capable of controlling ten puppets at once, the Third Kazekage was not an ordinary human puppet. To fully draw out its strength, Sasori chose not to use any others.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kakashi immediately hurled two kunai infused with Lightning Release chakra at Sasori's body.
"Woof!"
An enraged Rockruff manipulated the stones around its neck and sent them flying at Sasori as well.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Obito, Sharingan already active, spotted Sasori too and quickly formed hand signs, breathing out a massive Great Fireball toward him.
"Fire Blast!"
Charmeleon, equally furious, fired a column of flames at Sasori.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!"
Sasori manipulated the Third Kazekage to create a thick black wall of iron sand in front of himself, easily blocking every attack.
"A puppet can use Magnet Release?"
Kakashi was inwardly shocked, and his expression grew even grimmer.
He had originally believed that even against a puppeteer capable of controlling ten puppets, the three of them and their beasts should be enough.
Now, however, he was no longer certain.
The Sasori they had faced during the tournament had clearly not gone all out. He had kept hidden a terrifying puppet that could use the Bloodline Limit, Magnet Release.
To be honest, that upended Kakashi's understanding of puppetry.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
Sasori's fingers moved again. The Third Kazekage formed hand signs, summoned more iron sand, shaped it into countless fine needles, and launched them at Kakashi and the others.
"Earth Release: Multiple Earth Flow Wall!"
Kakashi quickly formed hand signs and raised two earthen walls in front of the group.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Bang bang bang!
Countless iron sand needles hammered into the Earth Flow Walls, instantly blasting dirt and rock everywhere and raising a dense cloud of dust.
The iron sand barrage seemed endless. It kept firing for several full seconds, and the earthen walls were soon riddled with holes and broken apart.
"So strong."
Kakashi's thoughts moved rapidly while he stayed behind the walls.
The Third Kazekage's iron sand techniques had overwhelming offensive power. Those walls would not hold much longer. He needed to break Sasori's rhythm somehow.
Kakashi glanced at Rockruff, and an idea immediately took shape.
He quickly whispered an order to it, then gave Obito and Rin a meaningful look.
Rumble!
At last, under the endless bombardment of iron sand, the Earth Flow Walls could no longer hold and collapsed.
At that exact instant, Kakashi, already in Lightning Release Chakra Mode, gathered chakra into both hands, and dazzling purple lightning burst forth.
"Lightning Release: Double Lightning Quake!"
Taking advantage of the speed granted by Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Kakashi instantly unleashed Purple Lightning from both hands, weaving a dense electrical net that blocked the incoming iron sand needles.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
At the same moment, Obito entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, clapped his hands, and spat out a blazing fire dragon at the Third Kazekage.
"Water Pulse!"
"Water Gun!"
Milotic healed itself first, then opened its mouth and fired a stream of water toward the Third Kazekage.
"Water Release: Raging Stream Blast!"
Rin formed hand signs, gathered chakra, and shot sharp water spears toward the same target.
Seeing this, Sasori moved all ten fingers again, having the Third Kazekage manipulate its iron sand into a curved wall that blocked all the incoming attacks.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Rockruff, which had used Earth Release to reach Sasori from behind, lunged out without hesitation and knocked him flying, then sent the stones around its neck smashing down toward Sasori's head.
Sasori frowned slightly.
He had clearly seen Rockruff beside Kakashi the moment the wall collapsed. He had not expected that one to be a fake.
Still, he did not panic. Hiruko's defenses were more than enough to handle that level of attack.
The injured Sasori immediately had the Third Kazekage move to his side, sent a wave of iron sand to force Rockruff back, and then extended one of the Third Kazekage's arms toward Kakashi's group.
"Just a little short."
Kakashi inwardly regretted the near miss.
If Sasori had not been hidden inside a puppet, Rockruff's attack just now would never have been something his real body could withstand.
Without chakra reinforcement or some special enhancement, a normal ninja body simply could not endure a Ninjutsu attack like that.
But Kakashi had had no better choice. Only Rockruff could sneak close enough to launch that strike.
He could not use Shadow Clone Technique for it, because maintaining Double Lightning Quake in Lightning Release Chakra Mode already consumed a large amount of chakra.
If he created a combat capable shadow clone, he would no longer have enough chakra left to block the iron sand with Ninjutsu.
Obito's Fire Release was unsuited for stopping iron sand, and Rin's Water Release was not powerful enough on its own. What they had just done had already been the absolute limit of what they could manage.
"Thousand Hands Manipulation!"
The mechanical arm stretched outward, and then more arms began branching from it one after another. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of arms came smashing down toward Kakashi's group.
"Flash!"
Through the Transparent World, Kakashi saw the poisoned kunai hidden inside those arms. He instantly poured chakra into the White Fang Short Blade, causing a blade of lightning to extend from it.
Swish!
A flash of lightning cut across the battlefield, and before Sasori could release the hidden kunai, hundreds of arms were severed at once, their cut ends scorched black.
After unleashing the slash, Kakashi breathed heavily.
Among his Lightning Release blade techniques, Flash did not actually consume that much by itself, but his body and chakra reserves were already so depleted that even that was becoming difficult.
Sasori's expression remained cold as he moved his fingers. The Third Kazekage's ruined left arm fell away, while a giant blade suddenly extended from its right side.
Under Sasori's control, the Third Kazekage raised that giant blade and slashed toward Kakashi.
At the same time, Hiruko, which contained Sasori's real body, opened its huge mouth toward Rin, who was already forming hand signs.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A rain of poisoned needles and barbs shot straight toward her.
Rin was the only medical ninja present. If there was an opportunity to take her out first, Sasori would never let it pass.
Seeing the storm of poisoned needles rushing toward her, Rin immediately maintained her chakra output and pushed Water Breathing to its limit, using her improved chakra shape control to turn the water she expelled into a flowing wall that barely managed to block the barrage.
Obito had originally intended to attack Sasori's real body, but the Third Kazekage's direct assault on Kakashi forced him to turn back and support Kakashi with Fire Release instead.
At that moment, killing the enemy was less important than protecting his teammate.
Clang! Clang!
The giant blade of the Third Kazekage repeatedly collided with the White Fang Short Blade in Kakashi's hand.
Obito seized an opening and slammed a Fire Punch into the Third Kazekage's side, but the attack was blocked by iron sand.
Charmeleon and Rockruff tried to circle around and attack Sasori's real body, but both were forced back by the near miss of poisoned needles.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Tri Cone!"
Sasori knew how attached Kakashi's group was to their beasts, so he deliberately used that against them, manipulating the Third Kazekage to launch a prism shaped mass of iron sand toward Rockruff.
Rockruff dodged sideways, thinking it had escaped, but the tri cone abruptly curved and continued stabbing toward it.
"Flash!"
Seeing this, Kakashi used the last of his remaining chakra without hesitation, turning into a streak of lightning and cutting through the iron sand.
Sasori had been waiting for exactly that moment.
He had already moved close in silence, and the instant Kakashi committed to that slash, Sasori attacked with Hiruko's tail stinger.
At last, the puppet master's detached expression twisted into a savage grin.
After all this time, he was finally going to avenge his dead parents.
He had once believed that the White Fang's suicide had taken away all possibility of revenge. But fate had opened another path.
The White Fang had left behind a son who looked just like him, and Sasori had found him by chance in this very tournament.
Clang!
Kakashi no longer had enough chakra to remain in Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but he still kept the Transparent World active. In that instant, he lifted the White Fang Short Blade and blocked the stab.
Sasori clicked his tongue in regret.
If Hiruko had not already used up all its poisoned projectiles during the earlier fighting, Kakashi would absolutely have died at this distance.
Still, Sasori's movements never slowed. Hiruko's arm swung heavily, smashing into Kakashi's body.
Bang!
Kakashi was hurled backward, smashing through two large trees before Rin rushed forward and caught him.
Enraged, Rockruff created a huge boulder above Sasori's head.
Boom!!
The boulder crashed down, but a crude move like that was too easy to evade unless used together with a teammate or as a sneak attack.
"You're furious, aren't you? But your pain is still nothing compared to mine."
Sasori's eyes grew colder as old warmth turned to killing intent in his heart.
Before, his life had once been full of happiness.
If he showed the slightest hunger, even outside mealtime, his mother would cook for him herself.
At night, he would always fall asleep first, because his parents would tell him bedtime stories until he drifted off.
And later, even after he had begun sleeping alone, his parents would still come in late at night to cover him with a blanket.
Sasori had once thought he simply had good sleeping habits and never kicked his blankets off.
Only after they died did he realize the truth.
The reason he always woke up covered was because his parents had come to tuck him in every night.
Those beautiful memories now transformed into a colder and colder killing intent within him.
Sasori swung Hiruko's gleaming tail stinger at Rockruff.
Rockruff dodged with a flash of lightning and lunged forward to use Lightning Fang, but Sasori saw through the attack. If Rin had not supported it in time, Rockruff would have been grazed by the poisoned stinger.
At the same time, Milotic finished treating Kakashi and shot a Water Gun toward Sasori.
Sasori immediately retreated the moment he saw it.
A puppeteer should never gamble with his real body, unless the real body itself had already become a puppet.
"Let's see how long you can last," Sasori sneered inwardly.
If he had not turned his real body's attention toward Kakashi just now, then with Obito's side receiving less pressure, Obito and Charmeleon would probably have already died to the Third Kazekage.
Now Kakashi had basically lost his ability to fight. Obito and Charmeleon were being driven back by the Third Kazekage's assault, and Milotic had already been poisoned.
The advantage was his.
"Woof!"
Rockruff looked first at the injured Kakashi, then at Sasori, who regarded it with contempt, and its desire for strength reached its peak.
It was dusk.
Only the final remnants of the fierce sun still hung in the sky.
Even in the middle of battle, Rockruff found itself irresistibly drawn to that last touch of twilight.
The setting sun shone down upon Rockruff, and the energy of dusk began gathering around its body.
"Howl!"
Rockruff could not stop itself from releasing a long howl.
Immediately afterward, its whole body began to shine with a dazzling light.
.....
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