Training ground 3 was slowly becoming a warzone. Sparks were flying as weapons collided in the air. The ground and vegetation were getting destroyed as the two high level ninjas fought each other as if their lives depended on it.
Daichi was running through the forest evading and deflecting the sharp weapons coming at him. As he gripped his dagger and deflected another shuriken he found his enemy. 'There.'
Finding Kakashi's location, Daichi increased his speed and rushed at him before the man could escape. Just as Daichi was on top of Kakashi a Rasengan formed in his hand.
The man saw Daichi coming a mile away. With the Sharingan he saw how Daichi's chakra was beginning to gather in his hand. 'So he's going to use that huh.'
The Jonin went through the seals and the next second Kakashi's arm lit up with lightning chakra. He focused his energy and increased its power. It looked like both of them were about to clash in a Ninjutsu strength contest but something else happened.
Kakashi smirked and instead of directly confronting Daichi's Rasengan he tilted his body to the side at the last possible moment and caught Daichi's wrist in a firm grip. Without wasting a second on useless banter he thrusted his lightning coated arm to Daichi's chest.
His intention wasn't to pierce through Daichi but to incapacitate him. Kakashi swiftly placed his arm on Daichi's chest and before the boy could retaliate, the Jonin sent lightning throughout his student's body electrocuting him.
"Grr…" Daichi gritted his teeth for a few seconds before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The man's eyes narrowed at this revelation.
At that moment he felt several chakra threads connecting to his back and the next moment he had a taste of his own medicine. Daichi was standing a few feet behind Kakashi and was channeling lightning chakra through his chakra strings.
Daichi ran lightning through the man's body for several seconds. But the next moment the Kakashi in front of him turned to lightning and through the chakra strings connected, reached Daichi and struck him.
Feeling electricity course through his body, Daichi couldn't hold on anymore and vanished in a puff of smoke. Silence came as the short fight ended and the two fierce ninjas vanished.
Memories of the two clones came to Daichi who was on the other side of the forest. 'That guy. He tried to fool me into thinking that he thought the one with the Rasengan was the real deal and was trying to knock him out. A feint in the hopes that I would personally show up to attack him from behind. Too bad for you it was a clone that did that.'
Kakashi, who was hidden deep in the earth, realized that his trap failed. He had switched with a lightning clone at the moment Daichi's clone vanished and was waiting for his chance. 'So he didn't take the bait huh… Almost 4 hours have passed since the test began. I can't slow down now. I need to push him and not give an inch.'
The Jonin ninja, using Earth Burrow Jutsu, moved beneath the ground and came up a short distance away. Once on top of solid ground he took several deep breaths and steadied himself. 'I need to get back into shape. I can't believe I let myself slack off so much since I left the Anbu. If a kid like him could force me to this state in just a few hours… Che! This is embarrassing. But no time to think about that now.'
Kakashi took a small whiff and he sensed that the stinky smoke had largely dispersed. 'Time to find the little brat.'
He sent chakra to his nose and ears and expanded his senses. He crouched down and placed his hands on the ground and closed his eyes as he concentrated. Several seconds later he began sensing his enemy.
'One… Two… Three…. Seven… I can sense seven Daichi hidden throughout the forest. But none of them are moving. Strange… They could all be clones or one of them could be the real one. But as soon as I make a move on one of them the others will know and they might hide again. And I can't hit all of them at once… Well. Not without wasting some chakra anyway… A conundrum indeed.'
After thinking about it for a short while he made a decision. 'This isn't ideal but I'll see what he's doing.'
Creating 7 shadow clones, he hid and sent them to Daichi's locations. Each clone soon reached their target and several small skirmishes began in the training ground.
As the fight progressed one of his clones was dispelled. Kakashi went through the memories and information he received. 'He was meditating but as soon as he saw me he engaged in combat. And his chakra. He was generating more chakra during his meditation… Is that what he's been doing? Expanding his chakra coils and increasing his reserves? That would explain some things… But why would he do something like that right now?'
At that moment Kakashi realized something else. 'The chakra of the shadow clones, they return to their caster. If he can generate chakra and then…'
The man's eyes widened in shock as he realized one of Daichi's abilities. 'He can replenish his reserves with his shadow clones in the middle of the battle and thus his stamina! So that's why he was coming at me with such ferocity from the start. He knows he can outlast me… Can't let that happen.'
At that moment he heard the sounds of weapons flying and the clash of steel. The Sharingan ninja rushed to the location just in time to see one of his clones vanish. The memories came and with it an important piece of information. 'Thats the real one.'
Seeing the man coming directly at him, Daichi bolted from the place with the Jonin chasing him.
Daichi glanced at the man catching up to him. 'He's got some extremely sharp senses to find me so quickly. And with his speed… This was bound to happen sooner or later.'
At that moment Daichi was forced to quickly change paths to avoid the shuriken his enemy threw. His eyes took in the devastation the weapons left in their wake.
'Shit. He coated them with lightning chakra. This guy is seriously trying to kill me.'
Kakashi was closing in and he began weaving seals. He stopped and placed his hands on the ground.
Daichi looked behind him and was confused. 'What the heck is he doing?'
The Jonin's chakra surged as he used his technique. 'Earth Style: Mud Wall.'
A large curved wall quickly sprung up in front of Daichi intent on blocking his path.
Despite there being a thick earthen wall in front of him Daichi didn't slow down. He remembered Tsunade's teachings and gathered chakra in his fist. The moment he neared the structure he punched it with all his might and released the chakra upon contact.
"BOOM."
Kakashi's eyes widened. 'He punched right through with that ease… To do something like that… He must have learned that technique from Lady Tsunade.'
Daichi blasted the large wall and sent chunks of broken rocks flying. But the moment he passed through, he heard the sound of something similar to birds chirping. 'Is that what I think it is?'
Daichi saw another Kakashi appearing with Chidori concentrated on his right palm coming for him. Both of them were moving at high speed and would collide in less than a few seconds. Without wasting another moment Daichi created a Rasengan in his hand and got ready.
Up in the tower the Hokage watching the battle tensed as he saw what was happening. 'Kakashi I hope you know what you're doing.'
Chidori and Rasengan clashed the next second and with an explosive bang. The chaotic lightning and the tightly contained ball of chakra battled one another for supremacy. The ground cracked from the force of the jutsu impact. Lightning arched and wind blew all across the place destroying the nearby trees, rocks and anything else in their paths.
Daichi gritted his teeth and held his ground. When he looked at his teacher he saw a grim determination in those eyes that reminded the boy of himself. But even in this moment he kept a vigilance over the real Kakashi dozen meters behind him. He needed to be ready when the man would launch a strike from behind.
Though the worry Daichi had was unnecessary. The moment the real Kakashi took a step forward, he fell to one knee. He clenched his Sharingan eye shut and had to take several deep breaths of air. 'This kid is forcing me to expend more chakra. So he must have already made a guess that the Sharingan costs too much chakra to maintain for long.' At that moment Kakashi's shadow clones dispelled and he got confirmation that all of Daichi's clones were destroyed.
Having made a decision he took a Ration pill from his pouch and ate it. A few seconds later he let out a breath of air feeling the pill quickly doing its work. Kakashi just knelt there resting for as much time as he could, looking at the confrontation taking place ahead.
Daichi received the memories and chakra of clones and grimaced. 'I didn't think he'd take out the clones so quickly. But still… I got some chakra back. So that's a good thing.'
At that moment the Sharingan wielding ninja with the chidori looked at Daichi and spoke. Even through the loud sounds of their battling jutsu, Daichi was able to clearly hear his sensei. "Your talent is undeniable. But to surpass me… It won't be that easy."
"Haa…." Kakashi increased his chakra output and thus the strength of his lightning attack and began pushing Daichi back.
The ground cracked more around Daichi's feet and he began to slide backwards. Daichi increased the chakra throughout his whole body and poured some more to his Rasengan making it bigger. 'NO! I won't be defeated. I will never experience that feeling again.'
With the increase in power Daichi firmly stood his ground and glared at his foe. "I have a goal to conquer. So no matter who it is that gets in my way, no matter how strong my enemies are, I will never let myself… BE DEFEATED!."
Putting everything he had, Daichi pushed forward and because of the large energies from the two techniques, the next moment they violently exploded between the two. A shockwave was created that spread throughout the training ground forest with the ground at the epicenter of the explosion destroyed and charred.
Kakashi's clone was destroyed and Daichi was blown backwards where the real Jonin was waiting for him.
[-366 HP]
[Debuff - Right arm temporarily paralyzed.]
[Negative Status - Bleeding, Several Muscles Torn, Burns.]
Daichi's special black glasses broke and some of his clothes got torn. But the major injuries were on his right arm. It was wounded in the clash and had burn marks, charred skin in several places, bleeding and had a few muscles torn. His regeneration powers were kicking in and slowly healing the wounds but for the moment Daichi was reduced to fighting with one arm.
Daichi used chakra strings to reorient himself and bleed off his body's momentum. He came to a stop a few feet in front of his sensei. Daichi looked at the man but was conscious of his wounds and wanted to fight in a way that wouldn't aggravate them.
'Even with all the damage reduction effects, I still took this many injuries? Unbelievable… Still, I have some contingencies in place if something like this ever happened.'
Kakashi looked at Daichi and even though he inwardly bemoaned the state he put the boy in, he didn't show it on his face. His expression was one of cold indifference. "I warned you to not get overconfident. Now look at you. Down an arm and unable to defend yourself."
Daichi chuckled hearing those words. "Haha… True. I'm down an arm. But by no means am I defenseless."
At that moment Kakashi noticed several green chakra strings coming from the forest. Thinking that it was an attack aimed at him, Kakashi jumped and gained some distance but that was a miscalculation. The man's Sharingan showed that the chakra strings were not made from the 5 Nature elements.
The Jonin took a closer look at those green strings of energy. 'What is that?'
The strings quickly attached to Daichi's wounded arm and they began to do their work. In seconds, small steam started to erupt from the arm and wounds began closing at a visible speed. The charred skin peeled off and was replaced with new ones. Daichi winced as he felt some pain but he knew it would only last a short while.
Kakashi was astonished with this new ability Daichi displayed. 'Healing from a distance. And using clone and chakra strings as a medium. That's actually brilliant.'
He saw the wounds closing on the boy's arm and he focused his attention back on the battle. He quickly took off towards Daichi. Trying to stop him from completely healing himself. 'Damn. I can't let him finish healing... How did a clone escape my senses? I thought I got all of them.'
Kakashi reached Daichi and thrust his chakra coated kunai at the strings. Daichi blocked it with his dagger but he wasn't able to stop the second one due to his condition.
Daichi quickly jumped backwards and gained some distance while the clone that hid appeared and attacked Kakashi. Seeing his sensei distracted, Daichi used his speed skills and got away.
Kakashi evaded the dagger swings and quickly broke through the clone's defense turning him into smoke. The man looked around and sighed. 'Gone. And by the time I find him, I have no doubt he'll be fully healed… But still… I'm curious… How did this clone avoid my detection when others didn't…'