“Let’s fight.”
“Hey!
You broom-headed idiot!
What kind of skill is there in picking on a girl?!”
The moment Kakashi issued his challenge, Obito immediately rolled up his sleeves.
“If you’ve got guts, fight me instead!
Earlier I only lost because I wasn’t serious!
If I went all out, you’d be no match for me!”
He shouted while preparing to charge forward.
Before he could move, however, Rin gently grabbed his arm.
“Obito-kun, don’t be impulsive.”
“If something goes wrong, we’ll go get a teacher immediately.”
Although unwilling, Obito reluctantly stopped.
He continued glaring at Kakashi’s back while muttering complaints.
At the same time, he couldn’t help feeling puzzled.
Why did nobody seem worried about Tanya getting hurt?
After everything that had happened earlier, shouldn’t everyone be concerned for her safety?
Kakashi ignored Obito completely.
His hand reached behind his back and drew the short tantō he carried.
The blade reflected the afternoon sunlight.
Seeing that Kakashi intended to fight no matter what, Tanya quietly released a metal baton hidden inside her sleeve.
With a sharp flick of her wrist, the compact weapon instantly extended to full length.
She said nothing.
Instead, she calmly calculated her remaining chakra reserves.
This body was merely a shadow clone.
Most of her attention remained focused on her original body, which was still training elsewhere.
Since she had not expected any significant activity on her first day at the Academy, she had allocated only a limited amount of chakra to this clone.
Therefore, the battle needed to end quickly.
Every movement had to be efficient.
Every expenditure of chakra had to be justified.
Waste was unacceptable.
Without warning, Kakashi moved.
His body shot forward.
The short sword thrust directly toward Tanya’s neck.
There was no hesitation.
No mercy.
Kakashi understood better than anyone that Tanya was dangerous.
If he held back, he would lose.
Facing the incoming strike, Tanya remained perfectly calm.
Clang!
Her baton struck the flat of the blade with precise timing, redirecting the attack away from her throat.
The deflection was clean and economical.
Before Kakashi could recover, Tanya stepped inside his guard.
Her elbow drove toward his chest with explosive force.
Kakashi’s eyes narrowed.
Instinctively, he raised his knee to intercept.
Thud!
The impact echoed across the training ground.
Using the collision to create distance, Kakashi immediately retreated several steps.
His expression became noticeably more serious.
“Now I’m going to get serious.”
Tanya offered no response.
She merely watched him.
In her eyes, battle was never about pride.
It was about efficiency.
Victory achieved with the least possible expenditure of resources.
That philosophy had allowed her to survive countless battlefields during her service to the Empire.
Seeing her silence, Kakashi abandoned all remaining reservations.
He lowered his center of gravity.
The stance he assumed was unmistakably derived from the Hatake Clan’s kenjutsu style, a swordsmanship personally taught to him by the famed White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo.
His eyes never left Tanya.
Something about her movements bothered him.
Her taijutsu lacked the structure commonly taught in Konoha.
Yet every attack targeted vulnerable areas.
Every movement seemed designed to disable or kill an opponent as efficiently as possible.
It felt less like sparring.
More like battlefield combat.
Around them, the Academy students watched with complete concentration.
Most had never witnessed a fight of this level before.
Suddenly—
A cloud of white smoke erupted around Tanya’s feet.
Kakashi’s pupils contracted.
His vision was immediately obscured.
Instinctively, he tightened his grip on his sword and heightened his awareness.
The next moment, five kunai burst from the smoke.
They collided against one another in midair.
The impacts altered their trajectories.
The weapons curved unpredictably, attacking Kakashi’s blind spots from multiple directions.
The angles were exceptionally tricky.
The speed was astonishing.
“What?!”
Obito’s eyes widened.
“That’s the Uchiha Clan’s shurikenjutsu!”
“How is that possible?!”
The famed Uchiha shuriken techniques were among the clan’s signature skills.
Even within the clan itself, mastering advanced trajectory manipulation required tremendous talent.
Yet Tanya’s control surpassed anything Obito had personally witnessed.
The timing.
The calculations.
The precision.
Everything was flawless.
For a brief moment, he almost wondered whether Tanya secretly possessed Sharingan.
“Rin!
Go get a teacher!”
Obito grabbed Rin’s wrist.
“That idiot Kakashi is definitely going to get hurt if this keeps going—”
Before he could finish speaking, Kakashi moved.
His wrist rotated.
The short sword flashed repeatedly.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Five metallic sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
Every kunai was knocked from the air.
Not one reached its target.
Obito froze.
His mouth hung open.
He could barely comprehend what he had just witnessed.
Kakashi’s swordsmanship had completely exceeded his expectations.
But Kakashi himself had no time to celebrate.
The moment he deflected the final kunai, he sensed something wrong.
The gazes of the surrounding students had shifted.
Behind him.
His instincts screamed a warning.
He immediately spun and slashed.
Then his heart sank.
No sound.
No disturbance in the air.
The attack had already arrived.
“Damn it.”
By the time he realized he had been deceived by the smoke screen and projectile assault, it was too late.
A figure burst from the dissipating smoke.
Tanya’s kick landed squarely against his waist.
Boom!
The force launched him through the air.
He crashed heavily onto the ground.
A trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The boys collectively sucked in a breath.
The girls immediately looked worried.
Several wanted to protest.
None dared.
The memory of Tanya effortlessly disciplining Asuma was still fresh in everyone’s minds.
No one wanted to become her next target.
“Kakashi-kun!”
Rin broke free from Obito and hurried toward him.
Concern filled her face.
“Are you alright?”
“Are you hurt?”
Obito followed behind.
Although he still disliked Kakashi’s attitude, seeing him genuinely injured prevented him from mocking him further.
Instead, he simply watched Tanya with a complicated expression.
Kakashi tried to stand.
A sharp pain shot through his side.
He managed to sit up.
Before he could fully recover, Tanya stepped forward.
Her foot pressed lightly against his chest.
The pressure wasn’t enough to injure him.
But it clearly signaled defeat.
Tanya looked down at him.
“Too weak.”
“Come find me at Training Ground Seven every evening after dinner.”
Kakashi’s eyes immediately flashed with anger.
No one had ever humiliated him like this.
No one had ever stepped on his chest and declared him weak.
Yet the emotion lasted only a moment.
Reason quickly reasserted itself.
A defeat was a defeat.
He had challenged her.
He had lost.
Making excuses would accomplish nothing.
Taking a slow breath, he suppressed his frustration.
When he spoke again, his voice was calm.
“Father was right.”
“You’re strong.”
“I’m not your opponent.”
“From now on, I’ll come find you every evening.”
“It won’t take up too much of your time.”
Kakashi Hatake was proud.
But he was not a sore loser.
Tanya studied him for several moments.
Finally, a smile appeared on her face.
To everyone else, however, the expression was terrifying.
The corners of her mouth stretched unnaturally high, making the smile resemble that of a predator who had just found suitable prey.
As a member of the Hatake clan, Kakashi naturally wanted to recruit Orochimaru into her team, given his strength and character.
She needed to build a squad composed entirely of elites, just like the elite soldiers she led during her time in the Empire—disciplined, powerful, and capable of carrying out high-risk missions after graduation.
She also needed to reform the school and the ninja system, so she needed Orochimaru to become the next Hokage.