The moment Minato vanished from Itachi's fireball, I hit the ground in a hard slide. My lungs burned, my heart pounded, but my mind remained still, sharp, and focused.
Plan B was done. Now it was time for Plan B Prime.
We didn't speak or nod. Itachi and I split again, not randomly, but like wolves weaving through a kill zone, reading each other without words.
Minato's eyes tracked us both. For the first time, he wasn't keeping up.
I moved first. One-handed signs blurred at my side, clean and efficient. No wasted motion. I activated Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole and vanished into the ground like mist under sunlight.
At the same moment, Itachi flickered left. His chakra surged, then vanished. Body Flicker. Minato followed him, unaware that I had disappeared beneath his feet.
That was his mistake.
Itachi struck next. His fingers danced through one-handed seals. Clone Jutsu. Two perfect shadows burst into being, one rising high, the other skimming low.
Minato didn't flinch. He struck cleanly through the high clone. Smoke burst around him. Just a test.
The low clone dissolved into a rain of kunai, each one wrapped in chakra threads, curving mid-air. Uchiha Shurikenjutsu. They came from the blind angle.
I struck from below. Nano fed me data as I moved. Entry angle, soil density, chakra flow. My timing window was 0.17 seconds.
I burst from the dirt beneath Minato, kunai in hand, wind chakra swirling at my fingertips.
Gale Palm.
The blast of wind hit him at point-blank range, sending him skidding just far enough to break his balance. He staggered into Itachi's trap.
Itachi moved again, this time not in person.
The version of him standing high in the trees dissolved, not into smoke, but into dozens of disguised shuriken. They cut through the air, guided by threads, aimed not to kill, but to overwhelm.
Minato spun mid-air. He deflected most, but not all. One grazed his sleeve. Another sliced his glove.
Contact.
I pressed the attack.
Water Style: Waterfall Basin. A spiral of water erupted beneath his feet, disrupting his center of gravity. His landing angle twisted.
I followed with Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. A wave of compressed air slammed into his chest. He used chakra to stabilize himself.
Exactly what I wanted.
Shadow Imitation Jutsu.
My shadow snaked across wet grass, linking to his. Caught.
2.9 seconds. Not enough control. Just enough to interfere.
Mind-Body Interference Jutsu.
My chakra pulsed. His reflexes slowed, not by much, but enough.
Itachi moved instantly.
Fire Style: Great Fireball.
A massive orb of flame lit the field. Minato tried to teleport, but the interference delayed him a moment too long. The fireball kissed his shoulder. His jacket caught fire at the edge. His hair smoked.
When the fire faded, Minato stood tall. His jacket was scorched, his breath slightly heavier. His eyes had changed.
No more amusement.
He looked at us as though he was finally seeing us for what we were.
He raised a hand.
"Enough."
Itachi and I stood ready, kunai loose, bodies tense. We waited. He didn't strike.
Instead, he smiled, small and proud.
"You two aren't kids anymore."
His eyes settled on me.
"And you, Akira. You're something else entirely."
He turned to Itachi.
"And you… a natural-born killer."
Inside, I didn't feel pride. I felt something colder. Recognition. We weren't prodigies anymore.
We were weapons in progress.
And the forge had just started to burn.
Silence lingered in the field like mist refusing to lift.
Minato broke it with calm finality.
"You're ready for separate training. Not because you're lacking. But because you're becoming too sharp to shape the same way."
We both nodded.
Minato looked at me again.
"Akira. You're fast, clever, and precise. But you don't have a finisher. You've got traps. Pressure. Control. But when it's time to end the fight, you're still improvising."
I nodded.
"I've been thinking about that."
He smiled faintly.
"Good. Let's make it yours."
Then he turned to Itachi.
"You think five moves ahead, but act in straight lines. You need deception. Genjutsu. Illusions. Variants."
Itachi didn't speak. He just listened.
"What's your chakra nature?" Minato asked.
"Fire and lightning," Itachi replied.
Minato nodded.
"Lightning is your blade. But it's unstable. Learn to guide it."
He crouched and drew two lines in the dirt.
"This is friction-based lightning. Chaotic. Explosive. Most shinobi use this."
Then he pointed to the second line.
"This is chakra conduction. Precise. Clean. Every cell in your body holds electrons. Channel your chakra fast enough in one direction, and you align those electrons. That's current. That's lightning."
Itachi's brow furrowed slightly.
"So I don't create lightning. I guide it."
"Exactly," Minato said. "When you master that, you won't cast lightning. You'll become it."
While Itachi absorbed the lesson, I moved a few feet away and crouched, drawing circles in the dirt.
Minato joined me.
"You've been working on something," he said.
I nodded.
"Not a slash. Not a blast. Something cleaner. Internal."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Explain."
I pointed at the spirals.
"Wind Style. But used differently. I want to vibrate the air at high frequency. Microscopic resonance. If I can get it right, I can target organs. Bones. Internal collapse."
He whistled softly.
"Sound-based assassination."
"No wounds. Just a drop. Like Gentle Fist, but at a distance."
He looked at the diagram again.
"Name?"
"Resonant Pulse for now. Eventually, Severance Field."
He smiled.
"We'll make it happen."
Later, after a short break, Minato called us again.
No chakra. Just movement. Breath. Earth beneath our feet.
He stood calmly in front of us.
"Taijutsu doesn't come from memorizing styles. It comes from how you move. From your balance. From recovery."
He turned to me.
"Akira. You're small. Fast. Flexible. Unpredictable. Your taijutsu should match."
I nodded, eyes fixed on his.
He wasn't asking me to copy anyone.
He wanted me to become someone no one else could copy.
In my head, I whispered to Nano.
"Compile everything. Water footwork. Wind feints. Nara counters. Strip it. Rebuild it. Fit it to my body."
Nano responded in its usual calm tone.
"Adaptive style initiated. Flexible base. Built for motion, evasion, and redirection."
Minato turned to Itachi.
"You're the opposite. Minimal motion. Precise execution. You don't need to strike first. You need to strike last. Perfectly."
Itachi didn't respond. But he shifted, just enough.
He understood.
We spent the next hour in silence, learning motion.
No punches.
Just weight. Rhythm. The breath before the strike. The pause before impact.
We didn't walk away with bruises.
We walked away with something far more valuable.
Control.
The sky turned gold, shadows long across the field. Minato stood with arms folded, his face unreadable.
Then we heard the soft crunch of footsteps.
Kakashi arrived with one hand in his pocket, the other flipping through his book.
"Sensei," he said lazily. "I thought I was coming to see kids train."
He looked at Itachi.
"You look like you're one breath away from killing someone."
Then at me.
"And you? You're a trap waiting to go off."
Minato smirked.
"They're yours for the evening. Don't kill them."
Kakashi gave his signature eye-smile behind the mask.
"No promises."
He looked at us again. The air shifted.
"Let's begin."
As Minato walked back toward the house and Kushina, Kakashi cracked his knuckles and stepped into the clearing like he didn't have a care in the world.
He looked at us, me and Itachi, with that lazy half-smile tugging beneath the edge of his mask. His visible eye didn't blink once.
"So," he said. "You want to use me as an experience bag. Good idea."
Then his voice shifted. It dropped into something cooler, flatter, and far more serious.
"But bad execution. Because I don't like being used unless I get to hit back."
He stepped forward. The atmosphere around him changed, like gravity tightening.
"I don't hold back when someone treats me like a training dummy. So brace yourselves."
I smirked. "Fair enough. But I promise, we'll be the last one standing."
The smirk faded from my face. My eyes focused. My breath slowed. My mind went still.
Without lifting a hand, I activated Mind Transmission Jutsu, linking my thoughts to Itachi's.
We go full feral. No more teaming up. We hunt him solo. Sharpen ourselves first. We rebuild our combos after.
He didn't reply. He didn't need to. He just smirked back and vanished into motion.
Itachi struck first. No hesitation. No wasted energy. Just pure, silent precision.
He closed the gap in seconds, hands in a tight guard, striking for Kakashi's ribs.
Kakashi remained calm. He blocked. He countered. He repositioned like it was nothing.
They moved like predators. Calm, calculating, efficient.
I came next, deliberately slower. While they exchanged blows, I wove one-handed signs.
Wind Style: Gale Palm.
A sudden gust burst from Kakashi's side, aimed right into his blind spot.
He didn't flinch.
In one fluid motion, he grabbed Itachi mid-strike and hurled him at me.
I clicked my tongue and canceled the jutsu. I leapt back and used Itachi's shoulder as a launch pad, flipping over both of them.
Mid-air, I formed another set of signs.
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.
A wide burst of wind roared toward Kakashi, just as Itachi recovered and fired a barrage of shuriken to box him in.
Our timing was perfect. Our teamwork is excellent.
But Kakashi wasn't caught.
He vanished in a puff of smoke.
Substitution Jutsu.
He reappeared behind me just as my feet touched the ground.
"You're still a brat," he murmured, then drove his foot into my back.
I flew into a tree. My lungs emptied on impact. Pain pulsed through my ribs.
Itachi responded immediately.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu.
Kakashi didn't move out of the way.
Instead, he dropped into a low stance, placed his palm to the ground.
Earth Style: Earth Wall.
The fire smashed into the barrier. The wall cracked but held firm.
That was when the real attack came.
A hand erupted from the ground and grabbed Itachi's ankle.
Before he could react, Kakashi dragged him down into the dirt, burying him up to the shoulders. Only his head and neck remained above the surface.
Classic move.
I wiped the blood from my lip, climbed the nearest tree, and whispered.
'Nano, calculate ten optimized shuriken trajectories. Variable speeds. All aimed at Kakashi.'
My vision lit up. Curves. Angles. Timing windows.
I launched myself from the branch, spinning in mid-air, and unleashed ten shuriken, each from a different angle, each with staggered timing.
To most, it would look chaotic. To Kakashi, it looked surgical.
He deflected most, dodged the rest, and caught one with a single hand.
By the time I landed, I was at Itachi's side, pulling him free.
We stood shoulder to shoulder, bruised and out of breath, but not beaten.
"Itachi," I said between gasps, "we go taijutsu."
He gave a single nod.
"I'll take the left."
"I've got the right."
We moved.
We weren't students anymore.
We were hunters.
We struck him together. I came low, sweeping for his legs. Itachi struck high, a palm aimed at Kakashi's jaw.
Kakashi blocked the high strike with one arm, stepped over my sweep, and pivoted smoothly into a backward elbow. Itachi ducked. I rose into a knee strike aimed for Kakashi's ribs.
He caught it on his thigh and shoved me back without looking.
I recovered and dashed in with tighter movement. Jab. Feint. Palm strike to the solar plexus.
He leaned just enough to evade, caught my wrist, and twisted sharply.
Before he could break the hold, Itachi came down with a hammer fist.
Kakashi released me, rolled low, and drove a kick into Itachi's side. It wasn't brutal. Just enough to break his rhythm.
Next round.
I lunged in again, using Minato's footwork. Light. Balanced. Responsive.
My jab became a spinning elbow. I aimed for Kakashi's chin.
He caught my elbow mid-spin. His other palm aimed for my ribs.
I twisted away, flipping backward to reset.
Itachi moved in, punching twice. The first was a fake. The second was real.
Kakashi blocked both, pivoted, and kicked at Itachi's shin. Disruption, not damage.
His technique was clean. Everything he did was a lesson.
We increased the pressure.
I attacked with shoulder bumps, rapid knees, and unpredictable angles. Itachi mirrored on the opposite side.
A coordinated onslaught.
Kakashi flowed between us.
He blocked Itachi's punch with one wrist, leaned to avoid my hook, then spun in a clean turn, staying inside our range but completely untouchable.
I dropped into a low stance, spiraled forward, and drove my palm toward his hip. At the last second, I pivoted the motion into a shoulder strike.
He blocked it with ease.
Then came that feeling.
The stillness before he countered.
Itachi blurred behind him.
Kakashi spun, blocked, and countered again.
Itachi ducked, slid underneath, and swept Kakashi's legs out from under him.
He fell.
Only for a moment.
He caught himself on one hand, flipped mid-air, and landed upright.
There was a hint of sweat on his brow.
And a smile.
"You're getting sharper," he said calmly.
"But—"
He vanished again.
No jutsu. Just raw speed and footwork.
He appeared behind me. I turned too slowly.
His palm slammed into my shoulder, sending me stumbling into Itachi.
Itachi stepped forward to engage.
Kakashi was already there.
He parried the strike, twisted Itachi's wrist, and in one smooth motion, grabbed both our arms and spun.
We were thrown apart like rag dolls.
We hit the ground hard.
Kakashi stood over us, breath calm and even.
"You're not there yet," he said. "When your body moves without needing your mind, when instinct is the strategy, that's when you'll stop being students."
He lowered his stance at last.
"Again. And this time, stop holding back."
So we did.
We used everything. Tricks. Counters. Speed. Illusions.
He destroyed all of it.
Not with brute force.
With perfect experience.
We weren't in a spar.
We were in a dismantling.
After two hours of battle, Itachi and I collapsed in the grass. Our clothes were soaked in sweat. Our lungs burned. Our bodies refused to move.
Kakashi stood over us, barely breathing hard.
"Good instincts," he said as he glanced at the sky. "Both of you."
He looked down again.
"But instincts aren't enough. You've got talent. Maybe greatness. Keep at this pace and by eight or nine, you'll be jonin-level."
Then his tone changed.
"But a veteran chunin? An elite one? They'd still crush you."
I stared at the sky, chest rising and falling.
In my head, I whispered.
Nano, replay the Minato fight. How did we push him into using Flying Thunder God? How did we corner him?
Nano responded.
He let you. He reduced his movement speed. Deliberately matched your pace. He used Flying Thunder God only to test your reflexes. Estimated power usage: eighteen percent.
My mouth went dry.
"He let us," I said quietly.
Itachi's voice was flat. "He held back."
Kakashi crouched beside us.
"He played with you. To test you. To build you. If he'd gone full speed, you wouldn't have seen him move."
He looked me in the eyes.
"You'd have blinked. And then you'd be gone."
The weight of it settled in my chest.
Of course. The Yellow Flash. The man who single-handedly turned the tide of war. The fastest shinobi alive.
And I thought I had pushed him.
I whispered again.
'Nano, confirm. Was he that far ahead?'
Yes. The gap is currently unbridgeable at your age.
Kakashi stood and stretched.
"I'm a fresh jonin. And I wrecked you."
He wasn't bragging.
He was just telling the truth.
He turned and took a few steps toward the house.
Then he glanced back over his shoulder.
"And Akira?"
I looked up.
"If word about my book collection gets out…"
He didn't finish.
I shivered.
Message received.
The sky above us darkened. The first stars blinked through the clouds.
I forced myself to sit up, every joint sore, but my mind clearer than ever.
I had gotten arrogant.
Nano. Praise. Progress. All of it.
But today, I felt the gap.
I turned to Itachi. He sat in silence. Focused. Reflective. His eyes were darker than before, but sharper too.
"We need to grow stronger," I said. "Faster. Smarter. No more illusions."
He nodded.
"I know."
We stood together.
I bowed toward Kakashi's retreating figure.
"Thank you. For the lesson."
He didn't turn. Just lifted a hand in casual dismissal.
"Good warm-up."
As we made our way back to Minato's house, I glanced up at the stars.
For revenge.
For survival.
For everything I had sworn to change.
I will grow stronger.
No shortcuts.
No illusions.
Only the climb.
"""
Chapter Length - 2800 words
(A/n)- Sorry for chapter delay but due to my exams in upcoming months i.e for whole may I may not be able to post chapter regularly and this whole week I was busy completing assignments and projects so for next month my uploading will be slow most likely 2 chapter per week or maybe one per week so bear with till then once done I will do a mass upload of at least 10 chapter per week. also I need your opinion on should I save obito or not I have made story for both scenarios but once it is made I cannot change it so I need your opinion on this subject vote for yes or no till chapter 21 release
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