Chapter 514: First Pokemon Battle
Kakashi wore a thoughtful look.
How could he not see Obito's little scheme? Obito clearly wanted to rack up wins while Charmeleon still had the advantage of evolution.
"I think it's fine," Kakashi said after a moment.
Obito's intentions were not exactly pure, but this kind of sparring really did help their Nin Beasts grow, so Kakashi saw no reason to stop it.
Rin withdrew Feebas from participating.
Feebas simply could not fight right now. In water, it could at least slam into things with its body, but on land, it had no combat ability at all. Rin would never force Feebas into a meaningless fight just to save face.
The other disciples nodded. That was unavoidable.
"Youth is about fighting a lot!" Guy declared, convinced that combat could be part of training too.
"Zorua has no problem," Shisui said with a nod.
"Then that makes exactly four. We can use the same rules as our usual practice matches," Obito said excitedly, already looking impatient.
No one objected.
The draw results came out quickly.
Charmeleon was number one, Zorua was number two, Rockruff was number three, and Riolu was number four.
Obito felt a hint of regret. He had wanted Charmeleon to thrash Rockruff in the first round.
"Whatever you do, don't lose to Riolu," Obito cheered for Rockruff in his heart.
If Rockruff got knocked out in the first round, Charmeleon would not be able to meet it in the second. And if Charmeleon never beat Rockruff, then even if it became the strongest Nin Beast among them, Obito would still feel unsatisfied because Kakashi would have an excuse ready.
Riolu shot Obito a look that was practically speechless.
"This is our bond!" Guy laughed loudly at Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled helplessly. There were only four Nin Beasts total. Was it really strange that they would end up fighting each other?
"First match, Charmeleon versus Zorua," Kakashi announced, acting as the referee.
At the call, Charmeleon and Zorua walked into the arena.
"Char," Charmeleon sighed softly.
It had a good relationship with Zorua. Zorua translated for it when talking to Obito, and the two of them often chatted on their own. Now it had to fight its best translator, and Charmeleon found it hard to bring itself to strike.
"Let's both go all out," Zorua said calmly. "If we hold back, winning means nothing, and we won't gain much."
Even though Charmeleon had evolved, Zorua was not afraid.
In Zorua's eyes, Charmeleon and Obito were both fairly dull. When those two fought, it was never clear who would win or lose.
"Char." Charmeleon nodded.
"Begin!" Kakashi shouted when both were ready.
The moment Kakashi's voice fell, Zorua condensed chakra and used genjutsu. In everyone's eyes, its appearance changed instantly.
Obito stared at "himself" standing in the arena, a question mark practically rising over his head. What was this? Why turn into him?
Zorua's real figure vanished, leaving only "Obito" facing Charmeleon.
Shisui shook his head. Zorua's strategy was flawed.
Against other pairings, it would be fine, whether it was Kakashi and Rockruff or Guy and Riolu. But Obito and Charmeleon were the worst possible targets. This would not distract Charmeleon at all. If anything, it might make Charmeleon more eager.
"Char!" Charmeleon rushed forward at once.
It had been planning to hold back, but with Zorua turning into Obito, it had no reason to be polite.
Thick, dark smoke burst from Charmeleon's mouth, swallowing both its own figure and Zorua's in the haze.
"Obito, why are you so weak? Charmeleon isn't afraid of you at all!" Zorua's exasperated voice echoed directly into everyone's minds.
Obito: …
For a moment, he did not know whether to laugh or frown.
The disrespectful Zorua was getting beaten up, yet Charmeleon also looked like it genuinely wanted to beat Obito up. That was not exactly comforting.
The smoke faded quickly, revealing Zorua bruised and swollen.
"Darn it, Charmeleon, now I'm getting serious!" Zorua snapped.
It used genjutsu again, returning to its original form, then opened its mouth and spat a wide burst of fire toward Charmeleon.
Charmeleon immediately retreated. But the sea of flame split into several streams, curling around and hemming it in. Charmeleon could not dodge in time. It spewed flames back, trying to resist and reduce the damage.
Then something unexpected happened.
The fire surging at Charmeleon seemed to exist on a different layer. They looked like they should collide, but in reality, Charmeleon's flames passed straight through.
Zorua flashed a sly grin, raised a paw from the side, and swiped Charmeleon's body.
Charmeleon stumbled back three steps.
"Charmeleon, are you even capable?" Obito could not resist provoking it. "You're not going to lose to an unevolved Zorua, are you?"
The flame on Charmeleon's tail flared brighter at once. It could already imagine how unbearable Obito's mouth would be if it actually lost.
Zorua repeated the same trick, spitting fireballs one after another, just like Shisui using Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.
In Charmeleon's eyes, those fireballs burned fiercely. It could even see heat distort the air. They looked completely real.
"Roar!"
Charmeleon forced down the urge to dodge. It opened its mouth, condensed most of its chakra in its throat, converted it into Fire Release, and exhaled in one breath.
A pillar of flame, about as thick as an adult's thigh, blasted straight toward Zorua.
Even with Zorua's fireballs about to hit, Charmeleon did not move an inch.
"Ah, it's hot! Shisui, save me!" Zorua cried out, flames licking over its body.
Just now, it had been betting Charmeleon would dodge. It had been maintaining the genjutsu with chakra, and it had not used chakra to protect itself at all.
"Rin, I'll trouble you for a moment," Shisui said.
Before he finished speaking, Rin was already forming hand seals. She put out the lingering flames on Zorua, then used Mystical Palm Technique to heal it.
"It's a pity Zorua has only just mastered Fire Release chakra nature transformation," Shisui said with a shake of his head. "A mix of real and fake would be better."
Zorua's offensive power was severely lacking right now. Shisui had been teaching it Fire Release, but Zorua had not mastered any Fire Release ninjutsu yet. It had only learned the nature transformation itself.
"Charmeleon wins!" Kakashi announced.
Obito puffed out his chest, walked to Charmeleon, and patted its shoulder. "Very good. Not bad at all. As expected of one trained by my own hands."
"Char!" Charmeleon could not help spitting a burst of flame at Obito.
But Obito knew Charmeleon too well. He dodged with nothing but a tilt of his head, then looked at Charmeleon with a benevolent expression.
"Char." Charmeleon pointed at Zorua, then raised both hands in a French salute.
It was clearly trying to explain itself. Zorua had transformed into Obito during the match, and Charmeleon had not recovered yet, so it had momentarily "misunderstood" and attacked. It definitely was not holding a grudge against Obito.
"You can explain all you want. I'm listening," Obito said, entering Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and condensing flames in his hand.
"Obito, stop hogging the arena," Kakashi cut in, stopping him. "There's still one more match in the first round."
Obito dispersed the flames, exited Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, and walked out with Charmeleon.
He had only been messing with Charmeleon anyway. He would not actually fight it. If he ever did, it would have to be under the excuse of combat training.
Charmeleon looked at Kakashi with gratitude. At that moment, Kakashi was the best referee in its heart.
Shisui carried the healed Zorua to the side and calmly went over its mistakes from the battle.
"Shisui, why didn't you say anything just now?" Zorua complained, lightly bumping its head against him. "If you did, I might have won."
"It was your battle," Shisui replied. "As a spectator, it wasn't good to speak."
"But we'll fight together in the future, won't we?" Zorua widened its eyes. "Will you not remind me during future battles, Shisui?"
"Of course I will," Shisui said, shaking his head.
As he said it, he realized something as well.
Pokemon versus Pokemon battles could not completely follow the rules of their internal sparring. As contractors, they should be allowed to give commands and hints.
But that match had already passed. Shisui held the thought back, planning to discuss it with Kakashi and the others after everything was over.
Rockruff and Riolu stepped into the arena together, staring each other down with fierce fighting spirit.
They both wanted to win, and neither wanted to disappoint their contractor.
"Begin!" Kakashi shouted again.
"Shadow Clone!"
Rockruff activated the chakra in its body and created five clones. Each one looked identical to the original. The six Rockruff ran in crisscrossing patterns, making it impossible to identify the real one with the naked eye.
Riolu took a deep breath, focused, and used the power of Aura to sense.
This was Riolu's innate Aura. It allowed it to sense others' emotions, and to a certain extent, gauge their strength.
Under Aura's influence, Riolu ignored the false images, locked onto the real Rockruff, and condensed chakra through its body. It burst forward at extreme speed.
"Flash!"
Riolu's charging figure slammed into Rockruff's true body, sending it tumbling backward several times.
"Does it have sensory ability?" Kakashi thought, watching Riolu find the real target so quickly.
Rockruff's clones were not physical shadow clones, but their appearance was extremely accurate. Under normal circumstances, they were hard to distinguish.
"Woof!" Rockruff sprang up quickly. That hit had not hurt too much.
Since the clone tactic failed, Rockruff immediately switched strategies. It began running and evading Riolu's pursuit while gathering chakra for Earth Release nature transformation.
When Riolu charged again, Rockruff spun in place and sprayed sand.
Riolu's eyes instantly filled with grit. It shut them in discomfort, then reopened them to a blurry world.
Rockruff did not hesitate. It gathered chakra and slammed Riolu to the ground. Then it condensed a large amount of chakra overhead, forming a rock about one meter tall, and hurled it straight down.
Sensing the boulder falling, Riolu ignored its burning eyes. It gathered chakra and swung its palm upward.
Riolu was only about 0.7 meters tall. Beneath a one meter boulder, it looked almost delicate. Under Rin's slightly worried gaze, Riolu's small blue paw collided with the rock.
Bang!
A loud crash echoed. The boulder cracked in several places and shattered outright.
"Guy's Nin Beast is so strong," Obito could not help gasping.
If Obito punched a rock that big, he could not shatter it so cleanly with a single blow.
"Mere rocks are no match for bodies trained day and night!" Guy laughed, giving Riolu a thumbs up.
Riolu's strength did not intimidate Rockruff. Rockruff knew Riolu's eyes must be miserable right now, and that it could not see clearly.
Rockruff used Flash, darted behind Riolu, and struck its back.
With its vision burning and dust rising from the shattered rock, Riolu took the hit head on and pitched forward.
Zzzzt!
Rockruff seized the opening, opened its jaws wide, and transformed the chakra in its mouth into Lightning Release. Lightning coated its fangs as it bit down hard on Riolu's leg.
Riolu gathered chakra to defend at the last second, but it still got injured. The only saving grace was that Rockruff's Lightning Release was mediocre, so it did not paralyze Riolu. The bitten leg only tingled violently.
"As expected of Kakashi's Nin Beast," Obito muttered. "Just as cunning as he is."
In a real battle, if your leg was injured and you could not move, it was basically over.
"Rockruff can already use ninjutsu from other nature transformations," Shisui said, surprised.
It really was the earliest hatched Nin Beast. It clearly had something special.
"Metal Claw!"
Riolu gritted its teeth, lifted its metallic glowing claw, and struck at Rockruff.
Rockruff had not expected Riolu to counter while being bitten by Lightning Fang. Caught off guard, it was sent flying and slammed hard onto the ground.
Riolu's strike dealt more damage than Kakashi expected. Rockruff's physique was already quite good, yet after one blow, it nearly could not get up.
Kakashi frowned slightly.
Riolu's taijutsu power was beyond his imagination.
Mugetsu, watching from the side, narrowed his eyes in thought.
If Pokemon could use chakra, then the system must have localized them.
However, Pokemon not only had elemental weaknesses, they also had far more types than chakra natures in the Naruto world. Mugetsu's earlier guess had been that types similar to Naruto's fire, water, earth, and lightning would remain, while types that did not exist in Naruto, like steel or dragon, would disappear.
But looking at this battle, the elemental weaknesses were being preserved, in a very special way.
Every ninja had chakra, but everyone's chakra was slightly different. Strong sensor types could identify people through chakra. And beings at Kaguya's level could even judge past lives through chakra.
Some chakra even carried unique effects.
For example, Kushina's chakra could suppress tailed beasts, which was why she had been chosen as a jinchuriki.
After the system's localization, each Pokemon type belonged to a unique kind of chakra. That unique chakra inherited the original elemental weaknesses from the Pokemon world. That was why Riolu's fighting type chakra punch shattered Rockruff's falling rock, and why a single Metal Claw nearly finished Rockruff.
Because fighting and steel were both super effective against rock.
"Only in battles between Pokemon will the original world's elemental weaknesses apply," Mugetsu concluded. "Against native Naruto Nin Beasts and ninja, only the Naruto world's chakra elemental weaknesses will apply."
He did not think it would matter much.
Elemental weaknesses were important in games. In reality, it still came down to training and how you developed your abilities.
Rockruff slowly stepped toward Riolu.
The range for its falling rock technique was not large, so it needed to close distance.
Riolu propped itself up with its hands, barely standing, watching Rockruff warily.
Everyone stared at the two of them. This battle had clearly entered its final stage.
Rockruff did not hesitate. It used chakra to turn the ground into sand again and splashed it toward the barely mobile Riolu.
Compared to the more chakra intensive falling rock, throwing sand was far more cost effective. Interfering with Riolu's state first was the smarter choice.
Riolu had not expected Rockruff to repeat the move. Its eyes were injured again, caught completely off guard.
"Flash!"
Bang!
Rockruff threw its last bit of strength into a full charge, slamming Riolu to the ground.
Just as Obito and Shisui thought the match was over, Riolu, despite its horrible condition, still had a sliver of fighting ability left. It suddenly swung its metallic glowing claw at Rockruff.
But the claw stopped only three centimeters short, then slammed into the ground in front of Rockruff instead.
Rockruff reacted instantly. It formed a small rock and smashed it down onto Riolu's head, completely knocking it out.
Shisui shook his head with regret.
If Riolu's arm were just a little longer, it could have turned the battle around. Losing mobility was simply too fatal.
Rin and Mugetsu each treated one Pokemon, while Kakashi and Guy rushed forward to check their partners' condition.
"What a youthful, passionate battle!" Guy declared, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Riolu.
He did not mind that Riolu lost.
Riolu had nearly turned the tide twice and never collapsed into despair. In Guy's eyes, a Riolu like that would eventually win, just like Guy himself would eventually defeat Kakashi through effort.
Feeling Guy's sincerity, the treated Riolu showed a faint smile.
That was exactly why it tried so hard. As Guy's partner, it was no worse than anyone else's Pokemon.
"You were excellent," Kakashi said with a smile, stroking Rockruff's head. "Even I was a little surprised."
Rockruff had shown impressive intelligence.
Kakashi taught Rockruff not only training methods, but also tactics. That spinning sand splash was Kakashi's idea.
"Woof!" Rockruff barked happily.
At that moment, being praised by Kakashi made Rockruff feel like all the pain from the battle was nothing.
Watching Kakashi and Guy both so harmonious with their Pokemon, Obito looked at Charmeleon and fell into thought.
Why did his side feel like it belonged to a different art style? Whose problem was it?
"Still, Charmeleon should have the advantage," Obito thought, recalling his earlier power tests.
And with that, he felt confident Charmeleon could win.
.....
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