The man known as the "Eternal Genin," whose true strength and experience put many Jonin to shame.
"You must be joking, Senior," Shinichi replied, his tone earnest. "I've only just become a shinobi. I need to learn from experienced, battle-tested veterans like you. It's an honor to be assigned to your squad."
"Hahaha, no need for the polite formalities," Kosuke laughed, waving his hand dismissively. A sharp gleam flashed through his narrowed eyes. "I don't know why the village put us together, but from now on, we're comrades entrusting our lives to each other. This old man needs to get a proper read on you. Relying on rumors isn't safe enough. Tell you what."
"Let's have a quick spar. Combat is the clearest way to see what someone is made of."
Truthfully, given Kosuke's usual temperament, he couldn't care less who he was teamed up with, let alone go out of his way to test a new teammate's mettle.
But this time was different. The Third Hokage had personally sought him out, earnestly instructing him that this child was a precious sapling carrying the Will of Fire, and that he, as a senior, absolutely had to guide him properly.
"I've heard you're a kenjutsu genius," Kosuke said. He reached behind his back, toward his signature large iron pot, and surprisingly drew a vintage, unadorned katana. He held it casually, yet his stance felt as immovable as a mountain. "As it happens, I know a little bit about the sword myself. Let's start with kenjutsu."
"Senior, my senses are telling me... your strength is incredible. It far exceeds anything a Genin should be capable of."
Hearing the challenge, Shinichi took a deep breath, slowly adjusting his rhythm and stance.
His right hand settled steadily and firmly onto the hilt at his waist.
"Therefore, for this test, I will be coming at you with everything I have."
"Oh?" A flicker of surprise crossed Kosuke's eyes, but remembering the rumors about the boy's sensory talents, understanding quickly dawned.
His amiable smile remained unchanged, but his gaze deepened. He nodded. "Excellent. Come at me with the intent to kill!"
"Forgive me, Senior!"
Before the words even faded, Shinichi blurred into a dark streak, moving almost too fast for the naked eye to track. The flash of his blade cut through the air like cold lightning, slashing upward at a vicious angle. The air shrieked as it was torn apart. Even before the steel arrived, its absolute, lethal intent crashed forward!
This was a sprinting Iai slash—a fusion of the Body Flicker Technique and the quick-draw art.
It also carried distinct traces of the Strong Fist style.
In a fraction of a second, the highly experienced Kosuke saw entirely through the attack's foundation.
His response was utterly effortless, executed with microscopic precision.
The instant the lethal blade was about to make contact, Kosuke's wrist barely seemed to twitch. Yet, his entire body suddenly blurred. The surrounding light seemed to warp and gently churn from some invisible force.
He melted away like a reflection on rippling water, instantly vanishing from his original spot!
Shinichi's inevitable strike, perfectly fusing the essence of three distinct disciplines, cleaved violently through empty air!
A split second later, a cold, silent edge—carrying almost zero killing intent or wind disturbance—emerged from the absolute blind spot of Shinichi's vision and sensory perception. It stabbed silently and precisely toward his back!
Leaf-Style: Hidden!
But Shinichi's counter demonstrated a rock-solid foundation and split-second judgment that completely defied his age!
Like a violently released bowstring, Shinichi's body snapped backward. Pivoting on his left foot, his waist and hips exploded with massive rotational force, spinning his entire body at high speed!
Riding the momentum of the rapid spin, his katana carved out a full, vicious arc, slashing upward to intercept the cold steel attacking him from behind!
Dou-gaeshi! (Torso Counter)
This was a standard kendo countermeasure for an ambush from the rear, heavily relying on auditory positioning and a rapid, spinning slash.
CLANG!!!
A crisp, deafening clash of steel detonated across the training ground! Sparks erupted wildly between the crossed blades!
The heavy, momentum-fueled spinning slash collided head-on with Kosuke's ghost-like thrust!
However, Kosuke's seemingly unimposing frame didn't budge an inch against Shinichi's full-power counter, an attack capable of splitting solid rock!
His sword arm was steady as a boulder, without a single tremor, effortlessly absorbing and dissolving the massive kinetic impact.
For the first time in his life, Shinichi's monstrous strength—buffed by multiple traits to a level far beyond ordinary people—failed to secure any advantage in a head-on clash.
Internally, Shinichi wasn't surprised at all.
He knew perfectly well that this seemingly amiable, slightly comical "Genin" senior had long since crossed into the realm of Jonin, or perhaps even higher.
In the original timeline, over a decade from now, an aging Kosuke—past sixty and having suffered a crippling leg injury—would still be capable of easily defeating a Hidden Stone Jonin while simultaneously wiping out a platoon of their Genin and Chunin.
This proved that his combat power ranked among the absolute elite, even when compared to Konoha's Jonin.
The current Kosuke might lack the extra decade of experience and refinement...
...but he was only fifty years old right now. He hadn't yet suffered the crippling injury from the impending Third Great Ninja War. His body and stamina were currently at their absolute physical peak.
His raw power was absolutely not inferior to his future self.
On the field, the two figures continuously clashed, separated, and collided again.
The dense, sharp ringing of colliding steel blurred into a continuous drone, shattering the training ground's silence like a torrential downpour.
Although it was a duel of blades, their kenjutsu styles were starkly different.
Shinichi's style was much purer. Whether it was a lightning-fast quick-draw, a heavy, grounded slash, or a microscopic parry and counter, everything was anchored entirely on the blade itself. He pursued the absolute pinnacle of power, speed, angle, and timing.
Kosuke's Leaf-Style, on the other hand, was the perfect fusion of his shinobi identity and his swordsmanship.
Sometimes he turned into a blur of light, his figure instantly dissipating beneath Shinichi's blade, only to materialize on the opposite side. His thrusts were erratic and impossible to track, like clouds drifting across the horizon.
Leaf-Style: Haze!
At other times, the flash of his blade wove together with silently thrown shuriken and kunai, forming a three-dimensional, lethal net of attacks.
The sword was the vanguard, while the hidden weapons sealed off escape routes, forcing Shinichi to divide his attention and defend against multiple angles simultaneously while parrying the blade.
Leaf-Style: Storm!
This multi-layered combination of kenjutsu and shurikenjutsu created an oppressive pressure like a violent hurricane.
Faced with these unpredictable, shinobi-infused sword techniques, Shinichi chose to return to the fundamentals, shattering complexity with sheer blunt force.
He pushed his incomparably solid foundations to their absolute limit!
Against the phantom ambushes of the Haze, he relied on his terrifying sensory acuity and reaction speed, always identifying the true killing intent at the very last second to deflect or counter with the most brutally efficient movement.
Against the multi-angled assault of the Storm, he unleashed his raw physical power and bodily coordination. His blade became a wall of light, sweeping and slashing, dismantling the coordinated strikes of steel and kunai one by one. He even managed to exploit the microscopic gaps between attacks to launch fierce counter-offensives.
The two figures rapidly closed the distance once again. Their blades howled through the air, completely geared for another brutal, head-on collision.
However, in the split second before the steel met, Shinichi's right hand suddenly released its grip on his hilt!
It wasn't a disarm; he actively abandoned the clash of blades!
Using his forward momentum, he violently twisted his waist, launching his body into the air like a leaping panther. The muscles in his right leg bulged, tearing through the air like a heavy battleaxe, sweeping horizontally toward Kosuke's neck and head with crushing force!
Leaf Whirlwind!
Faced with this sudden, vicious taijutsu ambush, a flash of surprise crossed Kosuke's eyes, yet his reaction was astonishingly fast.
He rapidly raised his left arm like a shield, blocking the strike.
THUD!
A heavy, muffled impact echoed as leg met arm. Kosuke rode the kinetic force, drifting backward to dissolve the momentum.
But Shinichi was still airborne. Before his feet even touched the ground, his assault resumed!
Capitalizing on the residual rotation of his kick, he violently whipped his left leg backward, striking the pommel of his released katana that was still falling through the air!
SWISH!
Driven like an arrow fired from a heavy ballista, the katana transformed into a perfectly straight beam of cold light, shooting directly toward the retreating Kosuke at terrifying speed!
And he wasn't done!
The instant Shinichi's boots hit the dirt, his hands blurred in front of his chest, forming hand seals at lightning speed.