Chapter 158 - Battle with Kakashi 02

An ominous wind passed through the training ground blowing the leaves all around the two combatants. Daichi took that as the metaphorical bell to start the second round of his fight. He flooded his body with chakra and sped towards Kakashi.

With his Sharingan, Kakashi saw how Daichi spread chakra throughout his body and prepared to attack. 'He's coming.'

Both of them were standing several meters apart but Daichi crossed that distance in a second. He sent a powerful punch infused with his chakra directly at Kakashi.

The Jonin quickly raised and crossed his arms to block the fast and powerful attack. The punch landed on Kakashi's forearm and the force of the attack pushed him backwards. He skidded several feet before coming to a stop. He dropped his arms and looked at his student in wonder and renewed vigilance..

'My arm is feeling numb. The power behind that punch. It was magnitudes higher than before. I had no idea he was holding back this much. If I block more attacks like that, then I won't last for long.'

At this time Daichi looked at Kakashi without a trace of emotion on his face. The next instant he vanished from view and the older man instantly ducked. He felt the wind pass and saw a leg sweep above him at high speed. Seeing Daichi miss and still in the air, Kakashi immediately took his chance and fought back. He infused chakra into his arm and sent a precise powerful punch at Daichi's outer thigh intent to reduce the boy's mobility. The punch struck its target but the next second Daichi burst into wooden pieces.

'Substitution.!'

The man immediately jumped from his spot and expanded his senses. He sensed several projectiles coming towards him at high velocity. 'If I use substitution then I'm pretty sure he'll find and attack me again almost immediately.'

Taking two kunais from his pouch, Kakashi expertly deflected all the weapons coming towards his vitals while landing safely. 'There he is.' He sensed Daichi's chakra and body flickered to the boy's location.

'He found me!' Daichi turned around and blocked the knife chop aimed at his head and sent a high kick that Kakashi blocked with his raised leg.

The two began their Taijutsu bout with neither one gaining the advantage over the other. Daichi was using Analyze skill to understand Kakashi's fighting style and attack patterns while Kakashi had the Sharingan predicting the path of Daichi's movements. Those made it easier for him to parry or redirect the attacks.

At that moment Daichi received several notifications that he looked from the corner of his eyes.

[Mental intrusion detected.]

[Gamer's Mind has neutralized the attack.]

'He's trying to cast Genjutsu on me. Too bad…'

Kakashi tried to place one Genjutsu after another on Daichi but each one failed as soon as the chakra entered the boy's system. The man narrowed his eyes as he looked at Daichi's confident face. 'Genjutsu isn't working on him. And he doesn't even have to disturb his chakra flow. It's almost as if he's immune to it.'

Kakashi stopped using that tactic to conserve his chakra.

Daichi was keeping Kakashi at bay with a combination of skills such as Sprint, Body flicker and chakra enhancement. 'This battle has only just begun. I can't keep going at this intensity so early. I need to break away and create a few shadow clones… But how…?'

Daichi tilted his head and evaded the strike to his face as he sent a stomp to the knee that was blocked.

Both opponents were in a sort of stalemate due to them beginning to understand the other's fighting techniques and Taijutsu style.

Daichi decided to switch gears and see just how strong Kakashi's Sharingan is. Daichi blocked and forcefully caught Kakashi's fists and made several seals with his enemy. He began taking a deep breath as he held on to Kakashi's fists. These actions only took less than 3 seconds.

The Jonin's eyes widened as he recognized the seals that were made. 'If he unleashes that jutsu at this close proximity I'll take some serious damage.'

Seeing the coming danger Kakashi immediately lashed out with a fast kick straight to Daichi's chest. Daichi raised his knee and blocked the kick. But It was just a distraction as Kakashi gathered his chakra around his arms and turned it to lightning.

The sudden lightning attack forced Daichi to let go of the man's arms but his jutsu was ready. Kakashi jumped backwards as fast as he could just as Daichi unleashed a giant fire dragon from his mouth.

'Fire Style: Supreme Fire Dragon Jutsu.'

The fire took the shape of a giant dragon head with an open mouth as it moved forward. It was a powerful fast moving attack that reduced everything in front of it to ashes. The jutsu followed Kakashi and sent several small fireballs from its body as Kakashi tried to change directions. The fast small flaming balls forced Kakashi to move in a certain direction. The Jonin increased his speed and thus his distance from Daichi's attack.

The specialty of Daichi's jutsu is that the caster can control the direction of the jutsu and can change its path if need be. It can also send small fireballs from its body according to the caster's desire.

Daichi sensed Kakashi's chakra moving away and he controlled the fire dragon to follow.

Kakashi's Jonin vest was a little burned from fire and aside from a few small light burns on his skin he was ultimately unhurt. He was moving as fast as he could and within a few seconds landed on the lake flowing through the training ground.

'That attack is an A Rank jutsu and one on the higher ends of the scale. Daichi had something like that under his belt? That jutsu costs a great deal of chakra. He wouldn't use something like that this early unless he was certain he could finish me or he thinks he has more chakra and can outlast me.'

Kakashi sensed the heat and saw the fire heading his way. 'There is only one way I can stop that.'

He started going through several seals as fast as he could. The moment he reached the final seal the fire dragon was almost in front of him. Waiting no longer, Kakashi unleashed his jutsu.

'Water style: Water Dragon jutsu.'

The water from the river surged upwards and immediately formed a blue dragon. Both Ninjutsu collided and there was a small explosion. Daichi kept pumping chakra into the attack and Kakashi did the same. But a few seconds later, seeing that he entered another stalemate, Daichi cut the flow of chakra to the jutsu.

Both attacks canceled one other out and a giant steam erupted from the epicenter of the jutsu. The steam spread everywhere covering most parts of the training ground.

Daichi smirked as he looked at the steam. 'Everything is going according to plan.'

He immediately created a few shadow clones and sent them in various directions. Their mission was to hide anywhere within the training ground and meditate.

Daichi then created a water clone and sent it near the river where Kakashi was. The clone suppressed its energy and came near the lake. Once it was close it went through some hand-seals and used a jutsu.

Kakashi was standing atop the lake taking several deep breaths of air. 'I knew he was strong but this is… He was suppressing his chakra volume this whole time… And this is only just the start.' At that moment he sensed a presence. 'Daichi. He's here.'

Just as Kakashi was about to confront him he noticed that the mist around the place was getting thicker. And it wasn't just that. The mist had small amounts of chakra in it. The man's eyes widened as he recognized the jutsu.

'Is this…? Hidden mist jutsu! Where did he learn that?... Damn it. He's trying to reduce my visibility.'

At that moment Kakashi heard several weak explosions. 'What's going on? It's not a paper bomb... What is he trying to do?'

At that moment Kakashi's nose picked up a strong scent. The moment he smelled it he almost gagged and felt slightly dizzy. 'Agh! What the hell is that?' A light bulb immediately went off in his head.

'He's reducing my senses one by one. He's blocked my senses of sight with the Mist and now my sense of smell… Clever brat.'

Kakashi used chakra to block the nasty scents now lingering in the forest. 'This is getting a little bit harder than I thought.'

Somewhere in the forest the real Daichi smiled as he heard the sound of the small explosions going off throughout the place. 'I knew he would find a way to escape my jutsu. I specifically used that technique to force Kakashi to go near the lake. I was counting on his pride to confront my jutsu with his. And I was right. His pride didn't allow him to run away from a Genin's jutsu. And with a large water source nearby the best thing to do is attack with a water jutsu of similar strength. And the resulting mist gave me the chance to make my moves. Increasing the thickness of the mist with the Mist Jutsu and dropping special smoke bombs that can disrupt the sense of smell for hours. That provided a cover for my clones to hide and gather chakra…'

Daichi smirked as things went according to his plan. 'Move your enemy. Do not be moved by them… Isn't that what you taught me old man.' Seeing that everything worked out he suppressed his chakra and disappeared into the forest.

Kakashi looked around and all he could see was the mist. 'You won't escape that easily Daichi.'

Kakashi still had ways of finding his enemy. Due to his Sharingan he knew exactly where he was in the training ground and the entire layout of the terrain. He slowly walked forward and soon stepped on solid ground. He placed his hands on the ground, closed his eyes and concentrated. A few moments later he found what he was looking for. He sensed a chakra signature near him.

'He's close. East.'

The Jonin quietly made his way through the forest and soon found his target. He noticed that the thickness of the mist was a little bit less than the other places. Kakashi got close enough just to see Daichi standing near the lake with a hand-seal.

'He's keeping up the jutsu. But to do it so openly. An obvious trap if there ever was one…'

The man took a closer look around the place and then at the clone. With his Sharingan he realized something about the Daichi standing near the Lake. 'Water clone.'

He made a few seals and created an earth clone. 'Well… No point in wasting time.'

The clone made a seal and went underground. The real one threw several shuriken at water clone Daichi and waited. His ears then picked up sounds of shuriken coming from another direction and the man smiled. 'There you are.'

The real Daichi was hidden in the trees and was waiting for Kakashi to make his move. When he saw the weapons flying at his water clone he had found the location of his enemy. Daichi sent a few shurikens to deflect the weapons and it succeeded.

'I can't let you take out the clone Kakashi. Reducing visibility is to my advantage after all. And unlike shadow clones, when these ones disappear I don't get the chakra back... Based on my Mana scout, he's still there and hasn't moved. He definitely knows my location. So why is he not coming after me? Is he waiting for something?'

Just as Daichi's shuriken deflected the weapons thrown by Kakashi, several new weapons were launched from a different area aimed at Daichi's position. They had a few paper tags attached to them as well.

Daichi heard the sound of wind and turned around. He heard the whistle of sharp weapons coming and immediately used substitution. A second later the spot where he stood was riddled with shuriken, kunais and the paper bomb that blew up the place dispersing some of the mist.

At that moment when Daichi was distracted, Kakashi successfully struck the clone and reduced it to a puddle of water.

Kakashi turned and looked up at the boy standing on a tall branch looking down at him. 'Yesterday I rigged the whole field with weapons and traps. Traps that I could activate from almost anywhere in the forest. This test isn't just about brute strength. It's about tactics, intelligence and evasion skills.' The next second Kakashi disappeared from his view.

Daichi came to a realization as he looked at the spot where his sensei stood. 'Hit and run tactics. He can come for me directly but he's trying to wear me down mentally. Survival Exam. That's what he said this test is. I need to evade the traps he rigged here and avoid capture. Escaping from his attacks is the priority… So this is going to be guerrilla warfare huh. So be it.'

The next second Daichi vanished from his spot as well.