Chapter 518: The Terrifying Strength of Nagato (asking for monthly ticket)

After Nagato’s battle ended, Kakashi returned to the first arena to await the second round, and also to observe the Ninja in the first arena.

Since Kakashi returned late, the first round was already half over, and Kakashi had only watched a few matches before the second round was about to begin.

Kakashi was very calm. Based on his observations while moving through several arenas, the average strength of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament Ninja was actually that of a Chunin.

Let alone them, even Rin Nohara, as long as her luck wasn’t too bad and she didn’t encounter a Ninja like Nagato, could easily enter the elimination rounds.

“It’s a bit easier than I imagined,” Kakashi thought.

In Kakashi’s original conception, the highly anticipated Martial Arts Tournament competition should have been very intense, with many young geniuses from the Five Great Ninja Villages participating.

However, the reality was not so. Among the more than two hundred participating Ninja, Ninja from the Five Great Ninja Villages were actually a minority.

Kakashi was most clear about Konoha, with a total of eighteen participants.

Kakashi had only seen Mei Terumī’s team from Hidden Mist, a total of six Mist Ninja.

Kakashi had also only seen one team from Sunagakure, with only four Sunagakure.

As for Iwagakure, the number was relatively large. Kakashi roughly calculated that there were about twenty-one of them, making them the largest Ninja Village with the most participating Ninja.

Kumogakure had the fewest people. Among the contestants, Kakashi had only seen three Cloud Ninja, and he hadn’t seen many other Cloud Ninja in Six Paths City either.

Kakashi believed there were two main reasons for this situation.

The first was that it was currently a tense war period, and the Great Shinobi Villages could not send too many young geniuses to participate in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

The second was the attractiveness of the rewards to different Ninja Villages. Although Fire Dragon Dance currently held the title of the strongest Fire Release, the strongest Fire Release was still Fire Release.

For example, in Hidden Mist Village, there were very few who used Fire Release, and that extremely small group of Fire Release Ninja might not even be able to learn Fire Dragon Dance. In this situation, Hidden Mist would not have too much interest in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

Kakashi estimated that Hidden Mist sent Ninja with the mentality that if they couldn’t use it, they couldn’t let others take it either.

“That’s good. If a Ninja like Killer Bee came, Guy would probably have a hard time dealing with him,” Kakashi nodded to himself.

Killer Bee truly became famous at a young age. When Kakashi was still a Chunin, Killer Bee had already become famous in the Ninja World along with Fourth Raikage Ay.

Kakashi had encountered the New AB Combo twice on missions, so he knew a little about Killer Bee’s strength.

“Second round, first match, Number One Kakashi Hatake versus Number Three Yuji Komiyama!”

Hearing the referee’s call, Kakashi suppressed his thoughts and walked onto the battle arena.

Yuji Komiyama sighed and walked up as if resigned to his fate.

Although the battle hadn’t started yet, given Kakashi’s performance in the previous match, his chances of winning were zero.

“Start!”

“Flash!”

Swish!

As soon as the referee’s voice fell, Kakashi immediately focused his breathing, then drew his White Fang Short Blade and charged like lightning.

Yuji Komiyama only felt a dazzling Flash of light pass before his eyes. He had just pulled out his Kunai when the White Fang Short Blade was already at his neck.

The battle ended incredibly quickly once again.

Unlike the previous match, Kakashi’s instant win this time was without suspense, whereas in the previous match, some people still didn’t recognize Kakashi.

The contestants within the top eight numbers couldn’t help but sigh in despair as they looked at their numbers. How could they fight? It was already a predetermined defeat.

After the battle ended, Kakashi didn’t hesitate and immediately rushed to the sixth arena.

He eliminated his opponent so quickly because he was worried that if he arrived late, he wouldn’t see Sand Crab’s battle.

Sand Crab was Number Three, which meant he would be in the first battle of the second round.

Fortunately, the battle rhythm in the sixth arena was a bit slower. When Kakashi arrived at the sixth arena, the second round hadn’t started yet; the last battle of the first round was still ongoing.

Kakashi stood quietly in the sixth arena, waiting for the second round of battles to begin.

Nagato’s number was later, so he wasn’t in a hurry to go to the seventh arena.

“Number One Shuzo versus Number Three Sand Crab!”

Seeing the Grass Ninja forehead protector on Shuzo, Sand Crab’s opponent, Kakashi was a bit disappointed.

Although it wasn’t that small Ninja Villages had no capable fighters, there were too few. Kakashi estimated that he might still not see more of Sand Crab’s techniques this time.

As Kakashi expected, Sand Crab only used Taijutsu to defeat Shuzo, not even using his Chakra Thread technique.

“Second round, second match, Number Five Zabuza Momochi versus…”

Hearing the referee’s call, Kakashi looked up at the battle arena.

“If it’s that Mist Ninja, he should be able to force out a bit of Sand Crab’s true abilities,” Kakashi recalled his battle with Zabuza.

Given the strength Zabuza displayed at that time, as long as he hadn’t been too lazy in the past two years, he shouldn’t be slaughtered by Sand Crab using only Taijutsu like the Grass Ninja.

Feeling Kakashi’s gaze, Zabuza turned to look at Kakashi.

“Are you here specifically to watch my battle? My blade is sharper now than it was before.”

The power Kakashi unleashed to protect his friendship during the Chunin Exams two years ago was unforgettable for Zabuza.

Zabuza had not yet found someone worth risking his life to protect with his blade, but he had trained very hard in the past two years.

Without saying defeat Kakashi, Zabuza felt he should be able to make Kakashi feel a bit of the fun of battle.

Because there was still a lot of time before Nagato’s battle, Kakashi went to the fourth arena where Rin Nohara was to take a look.

Before he even reached the fourth arena, Kakashi heard Obito cheering for Rin Nohara.

Kakashi watched for a while. Rin Nohara’s opponent was at the level of a regular Chunin, and Rin Nohara easily defeated the opponent with ordinary Taijutsu, leaving them no room to retaliate.

Kakashi was not surprised by this. Although Rin Nohara mainly focused on Medical Ninjutsu, her overall ability was that of a true Konoha Jonin. As long as she wasn’t compared to Kakashi and the others, her strength was still considerable.

After greeting the two, Kakashi quickly headed to the fifth arena where Shisui was.

At this time, Shisui had just finished his battle and was walking off the arena. Seeing Kakashi approaching, he greeted him.

Kakashi responded, then asked, “Shisui, have you found any Ninja in the fifth arena that we need to pay attention to?”

Kakashi thought Shisui would probably record information on those outstanding Ninja.

“There’s an Iwagakure Ninja named Iwagaki whose strength is not weak; he has an Explosion Release Bloodline Limit,” Shisui replied.

“But his number is very late, so I won’t encounter him in the preliminaries.”

“I suspect the numbering for this Martial Arts Tournament might not be entirely random; they might be trying to avoid strong Ninja from meeting before the elimination rounds,” Shisui stated his speculation.

“I investigated several surrounding arenas, and there were no battles where the strengths were evenly matched. It was either a complete Rolling or they were similarly weak.”

“Your guess should be correct,” Kakashi nodded, then told Shisui all the information he had gathered.

“It seems this Shinobi Sect has quite an intelligence network.”

Knowing the strength of the geniuses from Ninja Villages in surrounding countries was normal. But knowing the strength of all participating young Ninja would require intelligence capabilities.

Because geniuses don’t necessarily have battle records. For example, before Kakashi and the others went to the battlefield, even within Konoha Village, their reputation wasn’t very widespread, let alone in the Land of Fire or even the Ninja World.

Even if they had battle records, unless they were on Muzuki’s level, they couldn’t become famous throughout the Ninja World. At most, the combatants would become famous, and then it would spread to some extent in the surrounding countries.

Kakashi didn’t talk too long with Shisui about the battle order, as it was generally more beneficial for them.

Feeling that it might be close to Nagato’s battle time, Kakashi went to the seventh arena to watch Nagato’s battle.

“Second round, fifth match, Number Seventeen Raido Namiashi versus Number Nineteen Nagato.”

Kakashi silently mourned for Raido Namiashi for 0.1 seconds. Raido Namiashi definitely couldn’t win, so it was just a matter of whether he could last a few more moves to give Kakashi more information on Nagato.

“He’s a strong opponent,” Raido Namiashi took a deep breath and walked onto the battle arena with a serious expression.

“Raido, good luck!” Kakashi encouraged, hoping Raido Namiashi could last a bit longer.

“Since you, Kakashi, have come to cheer for me, I can’t disappoint you too much,” Raido Namiashi was a bit surprised to hear Kakashi’s voice.

After the battle began, Raido Namiashi immediately retreated, formed hand signs, and created two Shadow Clones. The Shadow Clones, one on the left and one on the right, rushed towards Nagato in perfect sync, trying to create an opening for their main body to attack.

At this moment, Nagato also created a Shadow Clone. Both his main body and Shadow Clone quickly formed hand signs with expressionless faces.

“Fire Release: Head Hardship!”

“Wind Release: Pressure Damage!”

Nagato’s main body spat out a compressed fireball in the center of the battle arena. As soon as the fireball landed, the compressed flames within it instantly erupted, creating a sea of fire.

Immediately after, the Shadow Clone spat out a high-pressure wind ball. When the wind ball hit the sea of fire, it transformed into a large-scale storm. The wind fueled the fire, and the intensity of the sea of fire immediately became terrifying, engulfing Raido Namiashi’s two Shadow Clones.

Raido Namiashi’s eyes widened, and the hand holding his long sword almost lost its grip, nearly dropping the sword to the ground.

What an excellent matching mechanism, making him fight an opponent of this caliber.

“Referee, I forfeit,” Raido Namiashi decisively raised his hand to surrender before the sea of fire spread over him.

If he could get close to Nagato, then he, being skilled in Taijutsu, might have a chance to fight. But Raido Namiashi’s speed was clearly not fast enough to rush to Nagato’s front and deliver a blow before Nagato released his Ninjutsu.

“Nagato wins!” the referee announced the battle result.

“He uses Fire Release no worse than Wind Release, and he knows Combination Ninjutsu,” Kakashi silently noted the new information, further raising Nagato’s danger level.

Next, Kakashi stayed in the seventh arena until the second round was almost over before returning to his first arena.

Kakashi continued to quickly dispatch his opponents and then swiftly head to the sixth arena where Sand Crab was.

Now Kakashi had some information on Nagato, but Sand Crab was truly hidden deep. Other than his Chakra Thread technique, it was just ordinary Taijutsu.

Zabuza noticed Kakashi coming to watch again and unconsciously puffed out his chest as he walked towards the battle arena.

“Battle start!”

“Hidden Mist Technique!”

As soon as the battle began, Zabuza immediately unleashed his Chakra and exhaled thick mist, obscuring vision.

He had also watched Sand Crab’s battles and knew that the opponent was difficult to deal with, so Zabuza went all out from the start.

Kakashi frowned slightly. The Hidden Mist Technique, as a secret technique of Hidden Mist Village, had a very high upper limit. Not only could Obito’s Sharingan not see through it, but his Transparent World couldn’t either.

At this moment, Kakashi couldn’t see the battle scene within the thick mist. He could only judge the general situation of their battle based on the sounds.

“Does he have no means to deal with the thick mist, or is it not a problem even without dealing with it?” Seeing that the thick mist hadn’t dissipated even after a minute, Kakashi couldn’t determine which possibility it was.

Another minute passed, and a series of intense fighting sounds rang out. The thick mist gradually dissipated, revealing a fallen Zabuza and an unharmed Sand Crab.

Kakashi felt helpless. Collecting information was truly difficult. He had watched three matches and still hadn’t gotten anything useful. The only thing he could confirm was that Sand Crab’s strength was not weak.

Kakashi watched for a while longer, feeling that he might truly gather useful information in the fourth match.

The fourth round was the last round of the preliminaries. Ninja who reached the fourth round would not be too weak, and according to the numbering, Sand Crab’s last battle opponent would be an Iwagakure Ninja, who wouldn’t start by creating a mist to obscure vision.

Nagato’s third-round opponent was also of average strength. Nagato still instantly defeated his opponent with his Wind and Fire Combination Ninjutsu, and Kakashi didn’t get any new information.

After the third round ended, the final fourth round of battles did not immediately begin. Instead, there was a three-hour intermission, after which the final round of battles would take place.

Kakashi and the others used this intermission to eat together and exchange information.

Kakashi first shared all the information he had gathered, then waited for the other disciples to speak.

“So there are other Akatsuki Organization members who also participated in the Martial Arts Tournament. I saw the Akatsuki Organization leader, Yahiko, in my arena,” Obito said after hearing Kakashi talk about Nagato’s information.

“He seems to be skilled in Water Release Ninjutsu. I’ve only seen one of his battles, so I’m not particularly clear,” Obito said honestly.

Kakashi was a bit surprised. He had thought Obito would spend all his time in the arena where Rin Nohara was, but he didn’t expect Obito to still be collecting information, albeit not much.

After Obito finished speaking, Rin Nohara and Shisui also described the situation in their respective arenas.

“I feel like there aren’t any opponents worth noting in my arena,” Might Guy said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Might Guy felt that no one in the eighth arena could withstand his Golden Skyline.

If Obito had said that, Kakashi would have thought Obito was really showing off, but if Might Guy said it, there was truly nothing wrong with it.

After all, Might Guy, when unleashing his full power by stacking the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, had strength exceeding that of the Four Ninja Swordsmen.

After the fourth round began, since Sand Crab was also in the first match, Kakashi directly created a Shadow Clone to gather information in the sixth arena, while his main body returned to the first arena to participate in his match, to avoid missing crucial information.

PS: Please give double monthly votes. Another 4k chapter will be released around 1 AM.

Today I checked and found a small error in yesterday’s content, which has been corrected.

Kakashi had actually met Nagato, just hadn’t interacted with him. Yahiko and Obito had also met, but only Shisui had met Konan.