Chapter 518: The Terrifying Strength of Nagato
After Nagato's battle ended, Kakashi returned to the First Section arena to wait for the second round and observe the competitors there.
Because he came back late, the first round was already halfway finished. He only managed to watch a handful of matches before the second round was about to begin.
Kakashi stayed calm.
From what he had seen while moving between multiple arenas, the overall level of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament participants was roughly chunin tier.
Let alone the others, even Rin could comfortably make it into the elimination rounds as long as her luck was not terrible and she did not run into someone like Nagato.
It was easier than I imagined, Kakashi thought.
In his original expectation, a tournament this hyped should have been brutal, packed with young geniuses from the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Reality did not match that picture at all.
Among the more than two hundred participants, shinobi from the Five Great Ninja Villages were actually a minority.
Kakashi knew Konoha's numbers best. They had eighteen total participants.
From the Hidden Mist, he had only seen Mei's team, six Mist shinobi in total.
He had only seen one squad from Sunagakure, just four Sand shinobi.
Iwagakure had the most. Kakashi roughly counted about twenty one, making them the largest village presence in the tournament.
Kumogakure had the fewest. Among the competitors, he had only spotted three Cloud shinobi, and he had not seen many other Cloud shinobi in Six Paths City either.
Kakashi believed there were two main reasons for this.
First, the shinobi world was still in a tense wartime period. The Great Villages could not send too many young talents out to participate.
Second, the prizes did not attract every village equally.
Fire Dragon Dance might hold the title of the strongest Fire Release, but it was still Fire Release.
Take the Hidden Mist, for example. Very few shinobi there used Fire Release, and even that small group might not be capable of learning Fire Dragon Dance. In that situation, the Hidden Mist would not be overly enthusiastic about the tournament.
Kakashi guessed they came with a simple mindset.
If we cannot use it, we cannot let others take it either.
That's good, Kakashi thought, nodding slightly. If someone like Killer Bee showed up, Guy would probably have a hard time dealing with him.
Killer Bee had become famous at a young age. Back when Kakashi was still a chunin, Killer Bee was already well known across the shinobi world alongside the Fourth Raikage, A.
Kakashi had encountered the new A B combo twice during missions, so he had a rough sense of Killer Bee's strength.
"Second round, first match. Competitor Number One, Kakashi Hatake, versus Competitor Number Three, Yuji Komiyama!"
Hearing the referee call his name, Kakashi suppressed his thoughts and stepped onto the field.
Yuji let out a long sigh and walked up as if accepting his fate.
The fight had not even started, but after seeing Kakashi's performance in the previous round, Yuji's chance of winning was already zero.
"Begin!"
"Flash!"
Swish!
The instant the referee spoke, Kakashi focused his breathing, drew the White Fang short blade, and surged forward like lightning.
Yuji only saw a blinding flash sweep across his vision. He had barely pulled out his kunai before the White Fang short blade was already pressed against his throat.
Another fight ended in an instant.
This time there was no suspense at all.
In the previous match, some people had not recognized Kakashi, but now everyone did.
The competitors holding the remaining low numbers in the bracket stared at their slips and could only sigh in despair.
How were they supposed to fight? It was already a predetermined loss.
When the match ended, Kakashi did not hesitate. He immediately rushed to the Sixth Section arena.
He had finished so quickly for one reason.
He was worried that if he arrived late, he would miss Hashori's match.
Hashori was Number Three, which meant he would be in the first fight of the second round.
Fortunately, the Sixth Section's tempo was slower. When Kakashi arrived, the second round had not started yet. The final match of the first round was still ongoing.
Kakashi stood quietly at the edge of the arena, waiting.
Nagato's number was later, so he was not in a hurry to head to the Seventh Section yet.
"Number One, Shuzo, versus Number Three, Hashori!"
Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
Shuzo wore a Land of Grass forehead protector.
Kakashi felt a flicker of disappointment.
It was not that small villages had no capable fighters, but they were rare. He suspected he still would not see much of Hashori's real techniques.
As expected, Hashori relied purely on taijutsu.
He defeated Shuzo cleanly without using chakra threads at all.
"Second round, second match. Number Five, Zabuza Momochi, versus…"
Hearing that name, Kakashi looked up.
If it's that Mist shinobi, he should be able to force out more, Kakashi thought, recalling his previous clash with Zabuza.
With the strength Zabuza had shown back then, as long as he had not grown lazy over the last two years, he should not be flattened by Hashori using nothing but taijutsu the way the Grass shinobi was.
Sensing Kakashi's gaze, Zabuza turned and looked directly at him.
"Are you here just to watch me fight?" Zabuza said, voice low. "My blade is sharper than it was before."
The power Kakashi had unleashed two years ago during the chunin exams, when he fought to protect his bonds, had left a deep impression on Zabuza.
Zabuza still had not found someone worth risking his life to protect with his blade, but he had trained relentlessly these past two years.
Even if he could not defeat Kakashi, Zabuza believed he could at least make Kakashi feel a little of the thrill of battle.
Because there was still time before Nagato's match, Kakashi left and headed for the Fourth Section arena to check on Rin.
Before he even arrived, he heard Obito shouting encouragement at the top of his lungs.
Kakashi watched for a while.
Rin's opponent was at the level of an ordinary chunin. Rin handled them with straightforward taijutsu and won without giving them any room to counter.
Kakashi was not surprised.
Even if Rin focused mainly on medical ninjutsu, her overall ability was still that of a true Konoha jonin. Compared to Kakashi and the others she might look gentler, but her strength was nothing to underestimate.
After greeting Rin and Obito, Kakashi moved quickly again, heading to the Fifth Section arena where Shisui was.
Shisui had just finished his match and was stepping off the field when he spotted Kakashi approaching.
Kakashi returned the greeting, then asked, "Shisui, did you find anyone in your section we need to pay attention to?"
Kakashi assumed Shisui would be tracking the standouts.
"There's an Iwagakure shinobi named Iwagaki," Shisui replied. "He's not weak. He has an Explosion Release kekkei genkai."
"But his number is very late, so I will not face him in the preliminaries."
Shisui then voiced his suspicion.
"I do not think the numbering is completely random. It feels like they are trying to prevent strong shinobi from meeting before the elimination rounds."
"I checked several nearby arenas," Shisui continued, "and I did not see any evenly matched fights. It was either a total stomp, or both sides were similarly weak."
"Your guess is probably right," Kakashi said, nodding.
Then he told Shisui everything he had gathered.
"It seems the Shinobi Sect has a strong intelligence network," Kakashi concluded.
Knowing the strength of talented shinobi from nearby villages was one thing.
But knowing the overall strength of all young participants required real intelligence work.
After all, geniuses did not always have public battle records. Before Kakashi and the others went to the battlefield, their reputation had not even spread widely inside Konoha, much less across the Land of Fire or the wider shinobi world.
And even with battle records, unless someone reached Mugetsu's level, they would not become famous across the entire shinobi world. At best, they would be known among the people who fought them, and the rumor might spread to surrounding countries.
Kakashi did not dwell on the battle order for long.
If the tournament truly was avoiding early clashes between powerhouses, that only benefited them.
Feeling it might be close to Nagato's match, Kakashi headed to the Seventh Section arena.
"Second round, fifth match. Number Seventeen, Raido Namiashi, versus Number Nineteen, Nagato!"
Kakashi mourned for Raido for a tenth of a second.
Raido was not going to win. The only question was whether he could last long enough to give Kakashi more information.
"He's a strong opponent," Raido muttered, taking a deep breath as he stepped onto the field with a serious expression.
"Raido, good luck," Kakashi called out, genuinely hoping Raido could hold on for a few moves.
Raido looked surprised to hear Kakashi's voice.
"Since you came to cheer for me, Kakashi," Raido said, "I can't embarrass myself too badly."
The match began.
Raido retreated immediately, formed hand seals, and created two shadow clones.
The clones rushed in from the left and right in perfect coordination, trying to force an opening for the main body to strike.
At the same time, Nagato formed a shadow clone as well.
Both Nagato and his clone raised their hands, expressionless, and formed hand seals at high speed.
"Fire Release: Head Hardship!"
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
Nagato's main body spat a compressed fireball into the center of the arena. The moment it landed, the pressure collapsed and the flame inside detonated outward, blooming into a sea of fire.
Right after that, the shadow clone released a high pressure wind sphere.
When it struck the sea of flames, it erupted into a violent storm.
Wind fed fire.
The blaze instantly surged into something terrifying, swallowing Raido's two shadow clones in an instant.
Raido's eyes went wide.
The hand gripping his sword trembled so hard he nearly dropped it.
What kind of matchup is this? Raido thought, staring at the inferno. They matched me against someone like this?
"Referee," Raido said without hesitation, raising his hand. "I forfeit."
If he could get close, his taijutsu might give him a chance.
But his speed was clearly not fast enough to reach Nagato before the jutsu erupted.
"Nagato wins!" the referee announced.
Kakashi silently recorded the new information.
He uses Fire Release just as well as Wind Release, and he can combine them.
Nagato's threat level climbed again in Kakashi's mind.
Kakashi stayed in the Seventh Section until the second round was nearly finished, then returned to his own section.
He continued to end his matches quickly, then immediately headed back to the Sixth Section to watch Hashori again.
Now Kakashi had at least some information on Nagato.
But Hashori was still buried in mystery.
Outside of the chakra threads from the first round, all he had shown was solid taijutsu.
Zabuza noticed Kakashi arriving again to watch, and without realizing it, he puffed out his chest as he stepped onto the field.
"Begin!"
"Hidden Mist Technique!"
The instant the match started, Zabuza released chakra and exhaled thick mist that spread across the arena, erasing visibility.
He had watched Hashori's earlier matches. He knew this opponent was dangerous, so he went all out from the first second.
Kakashi frowned.
Hidden Mist was a secret technique of the Hidden Mist, and its upper limit was frightening. Not only could Obito's Sharingan fail against it, even Kakashi's Transparent World could not see through it.
In that moment, Kakashi could not see what was happening inside the mist at all.
He could only rely on sound to judge the flow of battle.
Does he have no way to deal with the mist, Kakashi wondered, or is the mist irrelevant to him?
After a full minute, the mist still had not dispersed. Kakashi could not tell which possibility was true.
Another minute passed.
Suddenly, sharp clashes erupted, rapid and intense.
Then the mist began to thin.
When it finally cleared, Zabuza was on the ground.
Hashori stood untouched.
Kakashi felt helpless.
Gathering information was genuinely difficult.
He had watched three matches and still gained nothing concrete. The only thing he could confirm was that Hashori was not weak.
Kakashi remained to watch a bit longer, believing he might finally get usable information in the fourth match.
The fourth round was the final round of preliminaries.
Anyone who reached it would not be weak.
And based on the numbering, Hashori's last opponent should be an Iwagakure shinobi, someone who would not start by flooding the arena with mist.
Nagato's third round opponent was also only average.
Nagato still ended it instantly with his Wind and Fire combination, and Kakashi gained no new information.
When the third round ended, the final fourth round did not begin right away.
Instead, there was a three hour intermission.
After that, the last round of preliminaries would begin.
Kakashi and the others used the break to eat together and exchange what they had learned.
Kakashi shared everything he had gathered first, then waited for the others.
"So other Akatsuki members are participating too," Obito said after hearing Kakashi talk about Nagato. "I saw their leader, Yahiko, in my section."
"He seems good with Water Release," Obito added honestly. "I've only watched one of his fights, so I'm not completely sure."
Kakashi felt a flicker of surprise.
He had assumed Obito would spend all his time in Rin's section, but Obito had still gathered some information, even if it was limited.
After Obito, Rin and Shisui also reported what they had seen in their own sections.
"I feel like there aren't any opponents worth noting in my section," Guy said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Guy truly believed no one in the Eighth Section could withstand his Golden Skyline.
If Obito said that, Kakashi would assume he was showing off.
When Guy said it, it was simply hard to argue.
After all, when Guy unleashed his full strength by stacking the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing chakra mode, he could reach power beyond that of the Four Ninja Swordsmen.
When the fourth round began, Kakashi made a decision to avoid missing anything crucial.
Because Hashori was also in the first match of that round, Kakashi created a shadow clone to gather information in the Sixth Section.
Meanwhile, his real body returned to the First Section to fight his own match.
.....
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