Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
At this moment, Kakashi's mind was overwhelmed by the soul-searching "three questions"!
He had originally been following the Third Hokage's instructions to help Sasuke grow stronger, as much as possible.
Sasuke's talent had already amazed the Third Hokage.
And from his constant observations, Sasuke's performance had been very impressive.
Though it hadn't been confirmed yet whether Sasuke had inherited the Will of Fire, it was clear the Third Hokage had decided to nurture Sasuke properly.
Kakashi's task was to guide Sasuke and help him shine during the Chūnin Exams, while also using it as a chance to intimidate the other villages.
But now, the very Lightning Blade (Raikiri) Kakashi had planned to teach Sasuke had already been developed by Sasuke himself.
And judging by Sasuke's demeanor, his mastery of Chidori seemed to be extraordinary.
Sasuke didn't even need hand signs to use it.
"Six... Eight... Zero." This was a monstrous talent! How could someone's potential be so ridiculously high?
All Sasuke did was watch him use Raikiri once...
"Kakashi... Sensei..."
"Kakashi Sensei!"
Sasuke shook Kakashi's arm, pulling him out of his daze.
It was only then that Kakashi started to come back to his senses. He looked at Sasuke and blinked, confused: "What's wrong?"
What's wrong? This guy was asking him what was wrong? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Sasuke rolled his eyes inwardly.
"Kakashi-sensei, did you bring me here just for this?"
Sasuke raised his hand, showing off his Chidori.
Upon hearing this, Kakashi was stunned but then nodded absentmindedly. "Yes... I was going to teach you Raikiri, but I didn't expect you to... learn it yourself!"
"Well then..."
Kakashi was starting to feel the pressure of Sasuke's talent, and it was too much for him to handle. The kid's innate potential was overwhelming.
Kakashi couldn't help but feel discouraged. His own signature move, the one he was famous for, had been learned by Sasuke with just a single glance.
How would he even survive in the ninja world with this kind of competition?
"Since I'm already here, Sensei, could you teach me some other jutsu?"
Kakashi froze. This sudden request made him feel like Sasuke had just drafted him into some kind of forced labor.
This kid!
The attitude toward learning jutsu "since I'm here, I might as well pick up a few more" was too casual!
Damn it!
Kakashi felt like he wanted to knock some sense into this prodigy!
"Sensei, can I learn the Body Flicker Technique?" Sasuke asked.
Huh?
Body Flicker?
This was a technique that only Jōnin were supposed to learn. It was a jutsu that gave Jōnin a significant advantage over lower-ranked ninja.
It was a technique that defined the hierarchy of strength.
Though the difficulty level wasn't as high as it seemed, the chakra cost was significant, and most lower-ranked ninjas couldn't afford it.
But Sasuke?
He had enough chakra, and his talent would make it easy for him to pick it up.
The problem was, only Jōnin could learn it!
Kakashi was momentarily stumped.
"Body Flicker doesn't work? Well, how about teaching me some forbidden jutsu then?"
Huh?
Forbidden jutsu?
That's not something I know!
Kakashi sighed, resigning himself to the idea of teaching Body Flicker.
For Sasuke, who already had the strength of a Jōnin, it wasn't that outrageous to learn it.
"Alright, let's talk about Body Flicker then."
Kakashi looked at Sasuke with a mix of frustration and amusement.
Sasuke smiled and nodded, indicating that he was ready for anything.
Kakashi immediately began explaining the technique, starting with the hand seals.
The Body Flicker technique required a lot of hand seals, but the stronger the Jōnin, the fewer seals they needed.
For instance, Kakashi could perform the Body Flicker with just the Rat hand seal.
But this method consumed more chakra.
The advantage was that it was fast and could be used easily in emergency situations.
"The Body Flicker requires 32 hand seals in total. However, skilled Jōnin can reduce it to about 15 seals!"
"Elite Jōnin only need 3 to 4 seals!"
Kakashi himself only needed one seal, which meant he was an elite of the elite.
"Alright, now I'll demonstrate!"
As Kakashi raised his hand, ready to show the technique...
Sasuke quickly began performing hand seals with one hand.
For the first time!
Sasuke went through more than 20 seals, and in an instant, his figure disappeared with a whoosh.
Seeing Sasuke try it himself, and succeed on the first try, Kakashi was left in awe. The most surprising part was that Sasuke had already shortened the number of seals considerably in his first attempt!
"Monster..."
However, Sasuke didn't stop there.
Second attempt.
This time, he was clearly much more proficient.
He quickly performed the hand seals and, once again, reduced the number of seals by four.
Sasuke's figure disappeared once more. He also noticed that consecutive uses of the Body Flicker technique seemed to gradually increase the chakra consumption.
Though the increase wasn't exponential, the rate of increase was significant enough that not everyone could sustain it.
Third attempt.
Sasuke reduced the seals even further, needing only five seals to perform the Body Flicker.
Fourth attempt.
Now, just like Kakashi, Sasuke only needed the simple Rat hand seal to successfully use the Body Flicker technique.
Kakashi was completely numb at this point.
Progress!
What Sasuke had achieved wasn't just progress it was beyond that.
It was like a rocket launching at full speed!
Was there truly someone in the world with a talent this terrifying?
A technique that only a Jōnin could master, and yet Sasuke had closed the gap to Kakashi's level in just four or five tries.
Yet Sasuke still looked dissatisfied.
"The speed still feels a bit slow."
"If only it were 5.5, a little faster…"
Sasuke grumbled, while Kakashi was left speechless. The speed still feels slow?
"If I mixed in some Lightning Chakra, I wonder how the Body Flicker would turn out?"
Thinking it, Sasuke immediately began forming hand seals again.
Kakashi suddenly realized something: This kid… could he possibly be trying to develop a new type of Body Flicker?
Wait, a Body Flicker that mixes in Lightning Style? No way… absolutely no way… even a monster like him couldn't…
Crackle… crackle…
In an instant, lightning flashed, and Sasuke transformed into a bolt of lightning, reappearing on the other side.
Kakashi stared at the lingering lightning trail in the air, stunned…
"Did... did he really succeed???"
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