Zoro has learned to fight bare handed for years although not as much as learning swordsmanship. He was anticipating situations where he can't use his swords for unknown reasons, so he learned barehand fight skills to avoid being put in a helpless situation.
His barehand battle skills are obviously much worse than his swordsmanship skills. But his battle sense and other power doesn't change, so he won't be that helpless and still can fight even strong shinobi without his swords.
Zoro proves it through this fight against Team 7. He opens his palms to make them look like swords and mainly fight their attacks with his hardened palms.
His style of using his palms to fight is like when he uses his swords. But now his hands are his swords. The only difference for him is the range. He obviously doesn't have as much range as when he uses his swords which have almost a meter length each.
Because of the shorter range, there are moves he can't do with his hands alone. That's why he also uses his legs sometimes to defend and attack when he can't use his hands.
He has fought some people like this to polish his skills, including the 4th Raikage. When they fought, the 4th Raikage was surprised by Zoro's barehanded battle style that looks very similar with his father, the 3rd Raikage.
It's mainly because both of them use their hands like swords. The 3rd Raikage has a jutsu that basically turns his hands into swords while Zoro uses his swordsmanship skills on his barehand battle skills, that's why they look similar even though they are different.
But there is a similarity, both of them are really strong. Zoro might have discarded his swords, but he still can handle Kakashi's team easily. Even Kakashi still can't touch him with Raikiri's incredible speed, not to mention the 3 genins.
Zoro fights Kakashi's super fast Raikiri with his right hand while his left hand is fighting the 3 genins. That is already an insult to them, but he mocks them even further by closing his eyes and only relying on his Observation Haki.
The 3 genins still haven't learned many attack skills and jutsu. So they can only fight closely using their kunais and taijutsu. But all of their attacks are stopped easily by Zoro.
Sasuke can use a long range fire jutsu, but he already found out that it's useless, so he doesn't use it again. Besides, using the Great Fireball jutsu now is impossible with his teammates around Zoro.
"Tch! Everyone, get back!" Kakashi gives his order and all of them move back.
But as he moves back, Kakashi makes some hand seals.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang!"
Kakashi creates a lightning beast that charges toward Zoro who just grins and looks at it calmly before swinging his left hand down at it when the lightning beast reaches him.
His hand hits the lightning beast and just like what happened to Sasuke's fireball, the lightning beast gets destroyed. Zoro smirks and wants to taunt them to attack him again, but then he hears Hiyori calls him from the spectator place quite far from the field.
"Uncle! It's time for lunch."
"Hmm, I guess it's time for me to attack then." Zoro smirks and the ninjas are getting ready to face his attacks.
But contrary to what they thought, Zoro doesn't run toward them. He only stands in his spot and looks at them. He even removes his Armament Haki which makes them wonder when he will start his attack.
Then suddenly, the 4 of them feel a very strong intimidating pressure coming from Zoro. It's different from bloodlust or killing intent. It's a pure pressure to their spirit which really scares them, even Kakashi.
The 3 genins fall on their knees, their expressions are full of fear. They feel like they are facing an undefeatable monster that can take their lives anytime. The pressure keeps increasing until the 3 genins finally faint with their eyes rolled back.
Kakashi still holds on, but even he has started having difficulties to breathe. He almost falls on his knees too, but then the pressure disappears. Zoro stops his Conqueror Haki and walks away to pick up his discarded wooden swords.
The spectators who watch from afar are shocked by what has just happened. They can't feel anything, after all, so they just see the 3 genins fall and faint so suddenly.
"Let's stop it here, Kakashi. It should be enough of a lesson for them. Or do you still want to fight me? I won't refuse if you want to do it." Zoro smirks while putting the wooden swords in his belt.
"Sigh, it's alright, I don't want to be beaten up. We already lost anyway."
"I see, too bad then. You should teach them more skills. Maybe you can prospect them to be like the 3 Sannin. They are the best role model team for you Konoha ninjas, so don't waste it while you have access to learn from them. Just make sure the smart one doesn't turn to be twisted like that snake and the idiot one doesn't become a pervert like that frog. These guys have potential. They just need correct guidance."
"Are you asking for a sparring match to find out about them?"
"Well, I just want to see your team because we've known each other for years. Also, I want to see if the 4th Hokage has taught his son well. It seems like he taught his son quite well, but not well enough."
Zoro feels that Naruto has shown better fighting skills than he was at this time of the story. His taijutsu doesn't feel like that of an idiot who always ranked last in his class. His techniques are actually on par with Sasuke.
In the story, Naruto only depends on his massive amount of chakra to use Shadow Clones and overwhelms his opponents with numbers around this time of the story.
His taijutsu skills are not that good, but he is very persistent and durable. Skill wise, Sasuke is obviously better than Naruto during the academy time and after it.
But now, Naruto's battle skills are not crude, showing that he has trained properly, just like Sasuke. Both of them must have taught well by their families, but only in basic skills. Probably because they are still young.
"The 2 boys have good taijutsu and bukijutsu for their age. But the girl is quite lacking even though she is smart. I guess she is just from an ordinary family, unlike the son of the 4th Hokage and the son of Uchiha Clan Head. You better teach her well, Kakashi, or she will be a burden to the team even if she tries her best. They have different backgrounds and resources. Compared to the 2 boys, she only has you. So if she can't be strong, then it's your fault as their teacher and Captain."
"That's....." Kakashi can't really refute that.
Naruto and Sasuke have their great family to nurture them. One is the son of the 4th Hokage which is also his teacher while one is the son of the Uchiha Clan Head.
Meanwhile, Sakura is from an ordinary family and her parents are just ordinary shinobi too without great achievements except for surviving the deadly world war 2 and 3.
So Sakura can only learn from the academy before and now she can only learn from him as her teacher. If he can't guide her correctly, then she will be left behind too far by Naruto and Sasuke, which surely isn't good for their team.
"Don't think too hard about it though. In the end, they are the only ones who can decide their own paths. Your job is to help them find their paths and provide supports for them, that's what we adults need to do for the children." Zoro says it while lifting Hiyori onto his shoulders.
"Just remember my words. I have a feeling they can surpass those 3 Sannin that Konoha are very proud of. Well, it's just a gut feeling, but it's alright to think high, right?"
After saying that, Zoro walks away and leaves the sparring match location to have lunch with Hiyori in Granny Suzu's house. The sparring match seemed short, but they actually have fought for almost an hour. It's just that none of the shinobi's attacks work and they don't have many varieties of attacks, so it was monotone.
Kakashi then sits on a tree stump to rest and waits for the genins to wake up. Now he is thinking about what Zoro says and realizes that he actually doesn't think much about Sakura. He only focuses on Naruto and Sasuke all this time because one is his teacher's son and one is an important family's heir.
"Sigh, I still have much to learn."
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Chapter 133. Killing Inside
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