Haruto raised his leg to block, but his body was bumped back half a step.
Kakashi immediately pursued, his short blade pressing down from above.
Haruto gritted his teeth and raised his Kunai.
Clang!
This time, he blocked it.
However, a small nick was cut into the edge of the Kunai by the short blade.
Haruto’s arm shook, and pain also came from the web of his thumb.
“A blade has the advantage over a Kunai.”
Haruto let out a breath.
Kakashi did not relax.
“You can change your weapon.”
“Didn’t bring one.”
Lightning flashed under Haruto’s feet, and he rushed up again.
The two fought a dozen more moves.
The more Haruto fought, the clearer he became.
Kakashi was too steady.
He relied on Lightning Mode to increase his speed and burst, capable of pressing out an advantage in a short time.
However, Kakashi’s Kenjutsu, reactions, and combat judgment were all stronger than his.
If he continued to just fight in close quarters, sooner or later Kakashi would find a flaw in him.
As expected.
Kakashi slanted his short blade, suddenly avoiding the front of the Kunai, and the back of the blade smashed toward Haruto’s wrist.
Haruto was forced to withdraw his hand.
The next instant, Kakashi’s footsteps closed in, and his short blade stabbed straight at Haruto’s chest.
Haruto immediately formed hand seals.
Bang!
White smoke burst open.
Two clones rushed out from his left and right.
Kakashi’s gaze remained unchanged, and his short blade swept across.
The clone on the left was slashed to pieces.
The clone on the right was also kicked apart by him.
Yet in just that instant, Haruto had already distanced himself, and the Kunai in his hand stabbed forward again with lightning.
Kakashi sidestepped to avoid it, his short blade countering with a slash.
“Finally using the Three Techniques?”
Haruto’s voice was very steady.
“If I don’t use it anymore, I’m going to be crushed to death by you.”
Kakashi did not speak.
He exerted sudden force under his feet, and the speed of the short blade increased once more.
Haruto used the Clone Technique to disrupt vision, and also used the Transformation Technique to briefly alter the judgment of his position.
However, Kakashi’s experience was far too superior to his peers.
Fake is fake, and clones have no weight.
The Transformation Technique changed appearance, but it couldn’t change the rhythm of footsteps.
In just a short moment, most of Haruto’s auxiliary methods were seen through by him.
“It’s over.”
Kakashi spoke in a low voice, his short blade bypassing Haruto’s Kunai, the back of the blade horizontally slashing at his ribs.
This strike came too accurately; Haruto could not avoid it.
Bang!
The moment the back of the blade hit, Haruto turned into a piece of substitution wood.
Kakashi’s expression changed.
Substitution Technique!
“Behind you.”
He immediately turned around. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Haruto had already appeared three meters behind him.
His hands quickly formed hand seals.
Lightning Release Chakra condensed in his palms, and the blue-white lightning instantly compressed into a sphere.
Crackling!
Harsh electrical noise burst out.
Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere!
At such a close distance, all the hairs on Kakashi’s body stood on end.
This wasn’t the Kunai collision in an ordinary spar.
If this Lightning Sphere hit head-on, even if he didn’t die, he would be heavily injured.
Haruto did not hesitate, flicking his wrist.
The Lightning Sphere roared forth.
Kakashi didn’t have time to rush away; he could only form hand seals as well.
Bang!
White smoke burst up.
His body instantly disappeared, leaving only a piece of substitution wood in place.
Boom!
The Lightning Sphere fiercely collided with the substitution wood.
The wood block was blown to pieces on the spot, charred debris flew randomly in all directions, and the grass by the riverbank was swept by electric arcs, leaving a patch of black marks.
Haruto landed, his breathing obviously heavier by a few degrees.
Kakashi appeared not far away, his chest also rising and falling.
He glanced at the shattered substitution wood, then looked at Haruto.
“You’re ruthless enough with this move.”
Haruto shook his numb hand.
“Your knife just now wasn’t very polite either.”
Kakashi fell silent for a moment.
That was indeed true.
If Haruto hadn’t used the Substitution Technique just now, although he had used the back of the blade, his ribs definitely wouldn’t have felt good.
The two looked at each other across a dozen meters, neither of them rushing up immediately.
From the first sound of combat until now, it had already been eight or nine minutes.
During these eight or nine minutes, the speed of the two had hardly dropped.
High-intensity close-quarters combat consumed far more than ordinary training.
The hand Kakashi used to hold the short blade was slightly trembling.
Small cracks were shaken into the web of his thumb, his palms were numb, and his fingers still retained the stinging pain of the electric current up to now.
Haruto didn’t have it easy either.
Lightning Mode had been maintained all along, and his physical stamina was consumed very quickly.
He had also used the Three Techniques and the Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere one after another just now, and his Chakra had also dropped by a notch.
The electric arcs on the surface of his body were no longer as stable as they were at the beginning.
If they continued fighting, it wouldn’t be a spar anymore.
Kakashi slowly lowered his short blade.
“Stop.”
Haruto did not stop immediately.
Kakashi panted, his tone calm.
“Let’s call it a draw.”
Haruto looked at him for a few seconds and also let out a breath.
“I’m also almost at my limit.”
He deactivated Lightning Mode.
The blue-white electric arcs on the surface of his body gradually dissipated, and an obvious sense of fatigue immediately came from his body.
Haruto lowered his head to look at the Kunai in his hand.
There were already several nicks on the edge of the Kunai.
If they continued to clash hard, this Kunai would most likely be ruined.
Kakashi also sheathed his short blade.
For Haruto, this battle was very worthwhile.
Those three punks in the alley simply couldn’t test his upper limit.
But Kakashi was different.
Short blade, taijutsu, combat judgment, Substitution Technique timing—every single aspect gave him immense pressure.
And it was precisely this pressure that allowed Haruto to truly string together Lightning Mode, swordsmanship, the Three Techniques, and the Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere for the first time.
Before, he only practiced them separately.
Lightning Mode was Lightning Mode.
Kenjutsu was Kenjutsu.
Lightning Sphere was Lightning Sphere.
The Three Techniques were the Three Techniques.
Yet just now, he had to decide what to use in a split second.
When to rely on Lightning Mode to rush forward.
When to use Kenjutsu to seize position.
When to use the Clone Technique to obscure vision.
When to use the Substitution Technique to escape a fatal attack.
When to use the Lightning Sphere to force Kakashi to use substitution.
This spar was more useful than practicing by himself for ten days.
Haruto also had a clearer positioning in his heart.
Against ordinary students, he could already crush them.
Against a genius like Kakashi, he could fight to a draw, but it relied on Lightning Mode and Ninjutsu bursts.
If they only vied in pure Kenjutsu and taijutsu, he would still fall behind.
His foundations still needs to be made up.
Kakashi walked over, his expression somewhat complicated.
“Why do you hide your strength at school?”
Haruto looked at him.
“I didn’t deliberately hide it.”
Kakashi obviously didn’t believe it.
“Lightning Mode, the Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere, and the swordsmanship just now. Do you call this not hiding?”
Haruto shook his head.
“Lightning Mode was only researched recently.”
“The Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere was also mastered not long ago.”
“In the past, I really wasn’t this strong.”
Kakashi stared at him for a while.
“Recently?”
“Yeah.”
Haruto answered very calmly.
“The war is coming, and I don’t want to die too quickly after graduation, so I’ve been training quite fiercely lately.”
Kakashi did not continue asking.
This explanation sounded reasonable.
But it was also somewhat excessively reasonable.
An ordinary student started working hard due to the pressure of war, then researched Lightning Mode in a short time, mastered Lightning Release Ninjutsu, and even practiced Kenjutsu to the introductory level.
If someone else said this, Kakashi would probably not believe a single word.
Yet Haruto’s combat state just now didn’t look like that of a veteran.
Many details indeed carried the crudeness of a beginner.
Kakashi still had doubts in his heart.
But Ninjas all had secrets.
He himself wasn’t someone who would pull out all his trump cards.
Since Haruto didn’t want to say much more, there was no need for him to press on to the end.