Four days after the graduation ceremony.
At the training ground.
Mikami Yuu and Kakashi stood facing each other—both white-haired, both carrying short swords on their backs, both rapidly forming hand seals. They looked like mirror images.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!!"
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave Jutsu!!"
Almost at the same time, a huge fireball and a surge of water shot out and collided midair. Even under elemental disadvantage, Mikami Yuu's fireball wasn't snuffed out immediately. It only shrank from four or five meters in diameter down to two or three, and Kakashi had to use another Earth-Style Wall to finally block it.
Milky steam and crimson sparks scattered in every direction, like a rain of blazing fire.
"Your Fire Style…"
How did it get this much bigger?
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked at Mikami Yuu in surprise.
"I've had a few insights recently. A little stronger."
Mikami Yuu smiled.
This was the confidence that 120% ninjutsu power amplification gave him!
Sure, that level of amplification still wasn't enough to let him pull off an Uchiha Madara-style fire jutsu that needed a dozen water jutsu to stop—but it was already enough to make chūnin-level Kakashi feel pressured.
Still… in swordsmanship, he still needed to learn from Kakashi.
"I'm coming."
Before Kakashi even finished speaking, he had already crossed more than ten meters of mist and slashed at Mikami Yuu. Mikami Yuu raised his blade to block at once. The force transmitted through the handle and numbed both his hands.
"Sha!"
Kakashi twisted at the waist, withdrew his blade, and slashed again. The wooden sword drew a curved afterimage in the air, then came down with a gray-edged flash toward the exact point Mikami Yuu had to defend!
—Hatake Swordsmanship!
Clang! Clang! Clang!!
Compared to the first drill, Kakashi was fighting at full condition now, fully displaying the power of Hatake Swordsmanship.
That relentless storm of offense brought with it a nonstop clamor of metal-on-metal impacts, leaving Mikami Yuu almost unable to keep up.
Fortunately, he had already activated "Partial Transformation: Might Guy's Body," and stacked it with the First Gate of the Eight Gates, temporarily raising his physique to a level most chūnin couldn't match. That was the only reason he could barely avoid defeat under the barrage.
He couldn't help it.
If he lost, Kakashi would sheathe his blade and stop, and then the "pretty girl" called Hatake Swordsmanship would drift away from him. To trigger this [Encounter], Mikami Yuu had to hold out longer.
Finally—
[Ding! Detected high-quality potential romance target: "Hatake Swordsmanship"! Time-limited encounter triggered!]
"It's here!"
Mikami Yuu snapped to full focus, continuing to fend off Kakashi's offensive while splitting off a thread of attention to the text box.
[Under the introduction of that servant, you meet the white-haired girl of the Hatake family once again. She kneels beneath an old pine tree, a sheathed short blade laid across her knees. Her whole being is like a drawn sword. A sharp, cold, concentrated "presence" radiates from her, as if it could cut through all things. That pure danger and beauty draws you closer involuntarily.]
A: Woman, you've caught my attention! I'll give you a chance—become my swordsmanship!
B: Wow, so white, so straight. Can I touch your blade?
C: I am Mikami Yuu. Today I ascend Konoha's peak for one purpose alone—to battle Hatake Swordsmanship. Please instruct me!
"So this time it's a wuxia-style 'pretty girl'…"
Even in the middle of the fierce fight, Mikami Yuu thought briefly, then chose C.
[Hatake Swordsmanship: (Without raising her eyes, her aura suddenly sharpens) Instruct you? Heh. Another fool who doesn't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth.]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Still, since you went to such lengths to find me, I'll humor you for a moment.]
The moment the text appeared,
Kakashi's expression shifted. It was as if he'd suddenly entered a powered-up state. His sword pressure became even sharper, and the pressure on Mikami Yuu instantly doubled. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself to the limit to endure it, sweat now running down from his temples.
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Hmph. There are many mediocrities in this ninja world beneath me, and very few above me. Back when the White Fang of Konoha still lived, only he was worth crossing blades with. Now… this little white-haired brat can barely serve to loosen my stiff joints. Again!]
Wave after wave of impact crashed into him.
Mikami Yuu felt like a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean, on the verge of capsizing at any second, holding on only by instinct.
Then, in one instant, Kakashi's eyes turned razor-sharp. His wrist flicked. The blade no longer came in a continuous stream of pressure—instead, it suddenly condensed into a single cold line of light, fast as lightning, stabbing directly through the weakest point in Mikami Yuu's middle guard—the exact moment his old force had just faded and new force hadn't yet formed!
"Damn!"
Mikami Yuu's pupils shrank. He hurriedly brought his blade across to block!
Crack—!!!
A sharp snapping sound rang out. The standard-issue wooden sword from the ninja tool shop couldn't withstand the explosive force of that instant and broke cleanly in two!
At the same time,
within the "galgame" system's field of view, that snow-white, blade-like "Hatake Sword Girl" seemed to raise her gleaming long blade to Mikami Yuu's neck—then stop at the last inch, the edge carrying a chilling cold.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Then—
[Hatake Swordsmanship: When a blade breaks, the weakness may lie in the weapon—or in a heart not yet wholly sincere. Your talent is far beneath that of the White Fang of Konoha, but in the end, you do carry a faint trace of his shadow.]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Very well. I have sat here alone for years, never fully understanding the path of the sword. Perhaps the time was not yet right. Then I shall go with you for a while and see how far this little white-haired brat can walk this road.]
[Ding! "Hatake Swordsmanship" has been added to the romance list! Current affection: 1/100 (Stranger)]
In reality,
Mikami Yuu barely avoided Kakashi's strike by a hair's breadth, then used Substitution to blink several meters away, finally letting out a long breath.
"So that means…"
It worked?
Yeah… judging from the romance list, it worked.
Even though he lost the sword duel to Kakashi, he'd shown enough potential to move this somewhat classically chuuni "pretty girl." From here on, all he had to do was steadily grind affection through [Talk] and [Practice].
Honestly, this "encounter" had been pretty dangerous.
It was training, and both he and Kakashi had been using wooden swords—but from the fact Kakashi split his weapon in half, if that strike had landed on his body, it might have seriously injured muscle and bone. He'd probably need days in bed to recover.
"Whoa!"
Only now—
Obito and Rin, who had been watching from not far away, finally recovered from holding their breath and remembered they could breathe again.
~~~
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