Watching the blood drip from his opponent's hand offered no peace to Kakashi's mind; the masked man before him was still a chunin, after all. Kakashi wasn't scared, but he was careful. Before attacking, he had already calculated how he would end this. The absence of Mikoto made one thing clear—either she was being held somewhere, or this ambush was part of some twisted test. In either case, Kakashi knew he'd have to give it his all.
So far, his opponent had only used low-level jutsu, which were imperfect at best. The sloppy execution hinted at inexperience, but it was still too early to underestimate him. His fighting style revealed some background clues: swordplay combined with thunder jutsu often pointed to Kumogakure, though Kakashi was wary. This could easily be a ploy, a way to sow conflict between the villages.
Without a moment's hesitation, Kakashi darted forward, his sword poised to strike. The blade caught a sliver of light as it arced through the air, but the masked chunin was ready, raising his weapon just in time to counter. Steel clashed against steel with a high-pitched ring that cut through the forest's silence. The chunin moved quickly, twisting to deliver a brutal kick in the same motion. Kakashi saw the kick coming, and instead of countering, he backed off, aware of his slight disadvantage in raw physical strength.
But the chunin wasn't finished. With a quick series of hand signs, he murmured an incantation under his breath. "Thunder Bullet!" A pulse of lightning chakra surged toward Kakashi, crackling through the air in a blinding sphere.
Smoke exploded around him as the jutsu connected, clouding the forest floor in a thick, suffocating mist. The masked chunin advanced cautiously, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the smoke, searching for any sign of movement. But Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, the ground beneath him trembled—barely noticeable, but enough to alert him to an impending threat. He attempted to leap back, but his reaction was just a fraction too slow. A hand shot up from the earth, seizing his ankle in a death grip, preventing his escape.
The chunin's breath quickened as another hand emerged from the ground, this one clutching a kunai that gleamed with a deadly edge. Kakashi's expression was devoid of mercy. With practiced precision, he plunged the kunai into the chunin's abdomen, twisting it to ensure the wound was fatal.
The masked man's eyes widened, shock and pain flashing across his face. His body jerked as the kunai sank deeper, the cold steel cutting through flesh and muscle until it protruded from his back. Blood seeped from the wound, dripping softly onto the forest floor in a morbid rhythm. Kakashi released his grip, allowing the man to stagger back, clutching at his stomach in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.
Kakashi stood silently, watching as his opponent's breaths grew weaker, fading until they stopped altogether. He glanced at his kunai, now wet with blood, and looked down at the fallen shinobi without emotion. Deep inside, though, he felt a haunting ache—a reminder of how easily life could be taken away, how even the strong could fall in a moment.
"That's it," he murmured under his breath, his voice barely a whisper. "How fragile life is."
As he turned away, the cold air washed over him, numbing the edges of his emotions. He wiped the blade clean, though each encounter left a deeper stain within him. Every time he faced death, he felt himself slipping further into its shadows, becoming more accustomed to the necessity of violence and survival. This was his reality now—a dark world where lives flickered and faded like fragile candles in the wind.
Turning around, he caught sight of Yasu's shocked expression; Kazuki was already unconscious.
Kakashi understood Yasu's reaction well—if he were in Yasu's place, his heart might have stopped, too. A genin defeating a chunin was unheard of. But Kakashi had been lucky. The battle with those bandits had provided him enough experience to reach early chunin level—not elite, but enough to give him a fighting chance. That was why Kakashi had taken the gamble; otherwise, he would have run without a second thought.
Hearing a noise, he immediately turned around, kunai at the ready to counter any threat. Yasu also took his stance. Just as they braced themselves for another enemy, a woman appeared. She was disheveled, blood staining her clothes, her hair chaotic, and her eyes sharp with pattern.
Seeing mikoto appearing like this Kakashi understood it was not the test.
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Author's pov
Some suggestions for next arc.