Team test, part 2

Ryo had a serious look on his face as he dodged a blow from Kakashi, which narrowly missed his face. Meanwhile, Denji quickly leaped, bringing his staff down towards the sensei, who sidestepped and retaliated with a strike before performing a backflip.

Two wind shurikens whizzed past the spot where Kakashi had been, thrown by Ryo's clone, stationed at a safe distance from the main fight. The clone's positioning was far away, since as it was a shadow clone, if hit by anything it would disappear.

"Kakashi has heightened his reactions and strength, but it's still manageable," Ryo thought as he observed Denji's attack being deflected. Following the flow, Ryo hurled three wind shurikens at Kakashi to prevent him from counterattacking Denji.

The battle continued in this manner, with Denji attacking, Kakashi evading, and Ryo launching a strike immediately afterward to prevent the jounin from hitting Denji. However, both were growing weary. Several minutes had passed since Haruka had obtained the first bell and even longer since the test began.

This indicated that Ryo and Denji had little time left to acquire the two bells, so they had to act quickly. Glancing at Denji, Ryo nodded, signaling him to prepare himself. With that, Ryo tossed a smoke bomb to the ground, engulfing the area in white haze, and disappeared in the next instant.

He hadn't used the technique of moving underground much yet, hence the smoke bomb.

Ryo swiftly burrowed beneath the surface and, with agility, reached beneath Kakashi. He thrust his arms upward, grabbing Kakashi's legs, and began pulling him down into the earth. Meanwhile, above ground, Denji seized the moment, advancing toward Kakashi to try and grab one of the bells for himself.

As Kakashi started sinking, he reacted swiftly. However, Denji managed to snatch one of the bells, leaping towards Kakashi with an open hand just before the jounin broke free from Ryo's grasp and retreated a few meters.

"Denji, fall back and join Haruka," Kakashi said in a calm tone, not sounding even slightly fatigued. After all, Kakashi hadn't used many jutsus; he couldn't be tired yet against three freshly graduated genin.

Ryo emerged from the ground, leaping backward. Now it was him against Kakashi Hatake, the ninja who had copied over a thousand jutsus. Not that he had used a thousand jutsus, but Ryo knew Kakashi was formidable. He was breathing heavily; he had expended a considerable amount of chakra to accomplish everything, especially to keep Denji from being hit.

His clone was also nearing its chakra limit and would soon dissipate, but it would return some chakra to Ryo, which could be beneficial. However, it meant Ryo would truly be in a one-on-one fight against Kakashi.

Staring at the lone bell on Kakashi's belt, Ryo made his first move. He had an idea of how he could win, but he wouldn't resort to it unless he was completely out of options. He wanted to test his current level; although he might be stronger than his teammates, facing a ninja of Kakashi's caliber was still daunting.

As Ryo created three more shurikens to launch at Kakashi, the jounin conjured three wind shurikens as well, causing the six projectiles to collide and vanish in mid-air. Seeing this, Ryo thought, "Damn. He's starting to use jutsus." It was a significant disadvantage for Ryo, as they were already at a disadvantage without jutsus.

Taking a deep breath, Ryo lowered his arms, gazing at the clone and then at Kakashi. The clone dissipated into smoke, returning some chakra to Ryo. He slowly reached behind his back, drawing a katana— the one Kentou had given him. He hadn't used it in combat yet, but Kakashi wouldn't go down easily, and Ryo still had to land a hit.

As the katana came into his hands, a faint yellow aura enveloped only the tip of the blade. "Here I go!" Ryo flickered behind Kakashi, wielding the katana toward him, creating a yellow arc of light in its path. Kakashi, with a kunai in hand, deflected the blow, but Ryo followed it with a kick before landing on the ground.

Kakashi also defended against the kick, being pushed back a step by Ryo's force. At this moment, Ryo was giving it his all, although he hadn't used everything he had, such as the golden coins — a last resort that shouldn't be used here and now.

"Two minutes, Ryo," Kakashi said amid sparks flying from the clash of katana and kunai. The sound of metal echoed for a few more seconds, but despite Ryo's precise strikes aimed at key points on Kakashi's body, the jounin read all of Ryo's moves as if he were an open book.

Ryo knew it was due to Kakashi's experience in combat, but he couldn't help feeling slightly frustrated. He wasn't sure how he could defeat Kakashi without the coins. Even with them, victory was uncertain, but the goal was to grab the bell, which was only seconds away from the end of the test.

"Think, Ryo, think!" His strikes continued back and forth as Ryo searched for a way until— "Of course!" He almost let out a smile amid his thoughts. Gripping the sword with both hands, he infused more chakra into it than necessary, quickly covering the entire blade with his chakra.

The style he had learned from Kentou wasn't exactly for this purpose, but it was similar. Thus, covering the entire blade was difficult but not impossible, as it required much more chakra. In the next moment, Ryo simply leaped backward, launching the chakra-infused katana toward Kakashi, aiming directly at the bells.

Time seemed to slow down as Ryo watched the katana, which had been launched at high speed toward the bells, and Kakashi also saw it, immediately beginning to move his body as swiftly as the katana's velocity.

Ryo no longer had time to make any further strikes, and his entire test would be determined by this one swing of his katana. As it approached within a few inches of Kakashi, the jounin skillfully began to twist his body to evade the blow, change the trajectory of the bell that would be hit by the katana.

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