Chapter 535: The Evolution of Rock Dog (6k)

In the early morning, Kakashi woke up, finished breakfast, and then invited Rin Nohara to train at the place where they had previously tested Milotic’s abilities.

Kakashi felt that both he and Rockruff needed a period of intense special training to improve their strength.

Kakashi was currently in an awkward position; he was stronger than Obito and Shisui, but still a considerable distance behind Might Guy.

Chakra volume was not a problem that could be solved in a short time, but he could improve his techniques to conserve it, making every unit of Chakra spent more valuable.

As for Rockruff, Kakashi felt that with a bit more training, it might evolve.

After all, Feebas and Fire Dragon, who had hatched later, had already evolved, so it should be Rockruff’s turn.

“I’m going too,” Obito immediately said after hearing this.

Kakashi and Rin Nohara training alone together—how could he possibly be at ease with that?

What if Kakashi took advantage of his absence to show off in front of Rin Nohara and win her favor?

“Are you sure? You have a match tomorrow, aren’t you afraid it will affect your performance?” Kakashi reminded him.

Obito wasn’t stuck at a bottleneck; he was simply lagging in strength. Training for one more day, let alone a week, wouldn’t help.

“Are you just thinking of having an excuse for not being in good form if you lose?” Kakashi looked at Obito with a suspicious expression.

“Kakashi, your thoughts are too dark!” Obito loudly retorted, “The match doesn’t start until tomorrow afternoon. Even if I train until tonight, I’ll still have half a day to rest. How could it affect anything?”

“I was just saying,” Kakashi replied indifferently, his composed expression as if saying, ‘Why are you getting so agitated?’

Obito was furious, cursing inwardly but helpless.

After all, if they really fought, he would most likely still lose to Kakashi.

“I’m going to Guy’s,” Shisui said goodbye to them after eating.

Although Might Guy’s injury this time wasn’t as severe as when he forcibly opened the Six Gates last time, he still needed more than a week of rest to recover.

Since this wasn’t Konoha territory, they decided that one person should take care of Might Guy every day. Shisui drew the number one, so he would take care of him on the first day.

Kakashi and the others waved in response, tidied up, and then walked together towards the outskirts of the town.

Upon reaching their destination, all three used their Nin-Beast Summoning Technique to summon their respective Pokémon.

“Woof!”

As soon as Rockruff was summoned, it excitedly circled Kakashi, barking and rubbing its head against his body.

“Aww~”

Milotic lowered its head and gently nuzzled Rin Nohara’s cheek, letting out a soft cry.

Charmeleon, who hadn’t woken up yet, was suddenly summoned. It was about to open its mouth to give Obito a morning Fire Blast, but then it caught sight of Milotic next to it. Its morning grumpiness instantly vanished, and it scurried over to Milotic’s side.

“Roar!” Charmeleon happily greeted Milotic.

Obito:…

“Can’t you have some ambition? Can’t you train properly first? Look at your physique and then look at Milotic’s physique,” Obito couldn’t help but say.

Obito had recently measured Charmeleon’s height and remembered clearly that Charmeleon was only 1.2 meters tall.

As for Milotic, even if Obito didn’t measure it, a rough estimate would be five or six meters.

Milotic, coiled on the ground, was still much taller than Charmeleon. Obito didn’t know where Charmeleon got the courage to try and curry favor with Milotic; there was no way it would be impressed.

Obito secretly shook his head. Although he had raised it himself, Charmeleon really didn’t take after him at all.

Charmeleon was furious. Wasn’t that just openly calling it a small dragon?

The enraged Charmeleon immediately erupted with Chakra and charged straight at Obito.

“Leaf Great Whirlwind!”

Obito understood Charmeleon so well that he could even tell if Charmeleon was about to breathe fire at him just by the different ways it opened its mouth.

So, the moment Charmeleon took its first step, Obito directly condensed Chakra in his leg and unleashed a whirlwind kick, sending the charging Charmeleon sprawling.

‘Fire Blast!’

Still fuming, Charmeleon quickly got up, condensed a large amount of Chakra in its throat, and spewed out a column of fire thicker than its own head.

“Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!”

Obito highly concentrated his Flame Breathing to enhance his Nature Transformation ability, then retreated while forming hand seals, unleashing a vast sheet of flames.

The surging sea of fire canceled out Charmeleon’s fire column, then continuously rushed towards Charmeleon.

Just as the flames were about to burn Charmeleon, Obito canceled his Chakra output and used Body Flicker Technique to kick Charmeleon away.

“Compared to me in flames, you’re still too green,” Obito said, shaking his head.

“Roar!”

Charmeleon defiantly stood up, proclaiming, “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully a young dragon for being poor!” It then continued to attack Obito until it was exhausted and stopped to rest.

“This training method isn’t bad,” Obito discovered a blind spot.

When Charmeleon got angry, it would fight him until exhaustion. So, if he deliberately provoked Charmeleon a bit after it rested, wouldn’t he be able to make Charmeleon train continuously?

In essence, it would be equivalent to Charmeleon training to exhaustion every day under his encouragement.

Obito thought it would be much more effective than Genjutsu, though Charmeleon probably wouldn’t understand his good intentions.

“Let Charmeleon suffer a bit; I’ll take the blame,” Obito resolved in his heart. Even if Charmeleon didn’t understand him, he would help Charmeleon become stronger.

After Charmeleon rested for a while, the anger in its heart gradually subsided.

Although it would inexplicably want to breathe fire at Obito when it was annoyed, Charmeleon also remembered Obito’s kindness, such as how Obito was especially caring and took good care of it when it had just hatched.

It was just that during later training, he was a bit inhumane, hypnotizing it with Genjutsu to make it train more.

However, Charmeleon could also understand its contractor, Obito, a little. From its observations, Obito’s strength was at the bottom among all the disciples.

If it became stronger, Obito’s overall strength would also rise a level.

Putting itself in his shoes, if Charmeleon couldn’t beat the translator someday, it would also be anxious.

“Charmeleon, are you capable? You’ve rested for so long and haven’t fully recovered your stamina. If you’re like this, no female Nin-Beast will like you!” Seeing that Charmeleon had rested enough, Obito started his verbal attack.

Charmeleon froze, looking at Obito in disbelief. This person had said something absolutely unforgivable.

“Rooooar!”

Charmeleon let out a long roar to the sky, so angry that white hot steam puffed from its nostrils. To hell with putting itself in his shoes; it should severely teach this inherently evil Obito a profound lesson.

The enraged Charmeleon frantically attacked Obito until its arms could no longer be lifted, then stopped to rest.

Kakashi, who was training nearby, twitched his mouth. This pair, in every sense, was quite abstract.

The three people and three beasts trained until dusk before preparing to return.

“What a fulfilling day,” Rin Nohara stretched her waist, touching Milotic’s cool body with a smile.

Obito nodded. It was indeed fulfilling. He had spent the entire day trying to provoke Charmeleon, almost exhausting his vocabulary.

Obito planned to compile a list of Kakashi’s ‘bastard quotes’ to use them to provoke Charmeleon.

But just as Rin Nohara and the two others were about to return, an unexpected change occurred.

A wooden cylinder suddenly appeared in front of Kakashi and the others.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

Holes on the wooden cylinder rapidly shot out a volley of iron needles glowing with purple light. Being cylindrical, iron needles shot out in almost every direction.

“Watch out for the poison needles!” Kakashi, who reacted the fastest, immediately shouted, instantly covering his body with Armament Haki and hugging Rockruff.

The attack came too suddenly, and Ninjutsu that could be cast without hand signs couldn’t perfectly block the poison needles; he could only use Armament Haki to protect himself.

Obito also used Armament Haki to shield Charmeleon, blocking the incoming poison needles for it.

Charmeleon looked shocked, not expecting the inhumane Obito to act human again.

Milotic shielded Rin Nohara, who hadn’t mastered Armament Haki, behind it, opening its mouth to spew a water jet that knocked down most of the poison needles, but a few still managed to scratch its body.

“This Ninjutsu can actually cover the entire body,” Sasori, hidden in the shadows, was somewhat surprised.

It wasn’t the first time Kakashi and the others had used Armament Haki, but it was the first time they had used it to cover their entire bodies.

“This Ninjutsu is very effective against puppet masters,” Sasori was somewhat wary, thankful for his caution.

He had actually followed them much earlier but had been waiting nearby for the best opportunity.

Now that Might Guy and Shisui were absent, Kakashi and the other two were not only in poor condition themselves, but even their Nin-Beasts had expended considerable stamina. This was the perfect time for him to take revenge.

Kakashi immediately changed his breathing rhythm, concentrating his Thunder Breathing to the extreme and entering the Transparent World state. He saw Hiruko hidden behind the tree, and he also saw Sasori hidden inside Hiruko.

“This Guy disguised himself during the match,” Kakashi frowned.

Although Sasori was not disguised now and looked different from the Stone Crab who participated in the match, Kakashi could confirm through Sasori’s Chakra and his puppet that the puppet master Stone Crab, who had participated in the match earlier, was the one who had just ambushed them.

“I was lulled by the peaceful scene in town. When training outside Konoha, I should always keep my Chakra above two-thirds,” Kakashi inwardly thought, sensing his Chakra was less than half, feeling a bad premonition.

Although he didn’t know why Sasori was ambushing them, since Sasori had already attacked, the reason no longer mattered. The first thing to consider was how to overcome the current difficulty.

“Delicate Illness Extraction Technique!”

Rin Nohara immediately performed Medical Ninjutsu to remove the poison from Milotic.

Even without an antidote, the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique could alleviate the poisoning to some extent.

“Everyone, be careful. This poison isn’t simple,” Rin Nohara, who had been educated by Tsunade, immediately realized that the poison on Sasori’s needles was extremely potent.

Bang!

Sasori threw a scroll, and the Third Kazekage, wearing a gray robe, appeared on the field.

Connecting ten Chakra threads to the puppet, Sasori emerged from the shadows and manipulated the Third Kazekage to attack the three.

Although Sasori could control ten puppets simultaneously, the Third Kazekage was somewhat different from ordinary human puppets. To perfectly unleash the Third Kazekage’s full power, Sasori did not bring out any other puppets.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

Kakashi immediately threw two Kunai, infused with Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation, at Sasori’s body.

“Woof!”

The enraged Rockruff controlled the stones on its neck, sending them flying to smash Sasori.

“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”

Obito, with his Sharingan activated, also spotted Sasori and quickly formed hand signs, spitting out a massive Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique towards him.

‘Fire Blast!’

Charmeleon angrily blasted a pillar of fire towards Sasori.

At this moment, Sasori had temporarily replaced Obito as Charmeleon’s most disliked person.

“Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!”

Sasori controlled the Third Kazekage to create a thick, black iron sand wall in front of him, firmly blocking all attacks.

“A puppet can use Magnet Release?” Kakashi was surprised internally, his expression growing more solemn.

He had initially thought that even a puppeteer who could control ten puppets, with the three of them plus their respective Nin-Beasts, would be enough to handle, but now it seemed uncertain.

Sasori in the match had not used his full power, hiding a powerful puppet capable of using the Bloodline Limit, Magnet Release.

To be honest, this somewhat overturned Kakashi’s understanding; a puppet could actually use a Bloodline Limit.

“Magnet Release: Iron Sand Shigure!”

Sasori wove his fingers, controlling the Third Kazekage to form hand signs, summoning more iron sand, then transforming the gathered iron sand into needles and shooting them towards Kakashi and the others.

“Earth Release: Multiple Earth Flow Wall!”

Kakashi quickly formed hand signs and used Earth Release to create two earth walls in front of them.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!

Bang bang bang!!

Countless fine needles made of iron sand struck the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall, instantly scattering mud and rocks and raising a large amount of dust.

The iron sand needles seemed endless, firing for several seconds without stopping, and the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall was quickly riddled and broken by them.

“So strong.” Kakashi’s mind raced as he hid behind the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall.

The Third Kazekage’s Iron Sand Ninjutsu had very strong offensive power; the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall certainly wouldn’t hold for long, so he had to find a way to break Sasori’s offensive rhythm.

Kakashi looked at Rockruff, and an idea formed in his mind.

Kakashi quickly whispered a command to Rockruff, then gave Obito and Rin Nohara a look.

Rumble!

Under the continuous bombardment of the iron sand, the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall could no longer support itself and collapsed with a crash.

At this very moment, Kakashi, who had already entered Lightning Release Chakra Mode, gathered Chakra in both hands, and dazzling Purple Lightning erupted!

“Lightning Release: Double Lightning Quake!”

Utilizing the convenience of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Kakashi effortlessly and rapidly unleashed Purple Lightning from both hands, a dense net of purple electricity blocking the incoming iron sand needles.

“Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!”

At the same time, Obito also entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, clapping his hands together and spitting out a high-temperature Fire Dragon towards the Third Kazekage.

‘Water Pulse!’

‘Water Gun!’

Milotic first healed herself, then opened her mouth and shot a stream of water towards the Third Kazekage.

“Water Release: Raging Stream Blast!”

Rin Nohara formed hand signs, gathered Chakra, and released sharp water spears towards the Third Kazekage.

Seeing this, Sasori once again wove his fingers, controlling the Third Kazekage to change his technique, manipulating the iron sand to form an arc-shaped iron wall to block the incoming attacks.

Whoosh whoosh!

Rockruff, who had reached Sasori’s back via Earth Release, unceremoniously knocked Sasori flying, then controlled the rocks around his neck to smash towards Sasori’s head.

Sasori frowned slightly; he had clearly seen Rockruff staying by Kakashi’s side the moment the wall shattered, and he hadn’t expected it to be a fake.

However, Sasori didn’t panic; with Hiruko’s defense, this level of attack couldn’t defeat him.

The injured Sasori immediately controlled the Third Kazekage to come to his side, swung out a wave of iron sand to force Rockruff back, and then continued to control the Third Kazekage to extend his arm towards Kakashi and the others.

“Just a little short.” Kakashi secretly lamented.

If Sasori hadn’t been hidden within the puppet, Rockruff’s attack just now would definitely not have been withstood by Sasori’s physical body.

If a Ninja doesn’t use Chakra to protect himself, and without any special Ninjutsu enhancements, he can’t withstand Ninjutsu attacks.

But Kakashi couldn’t help it; only Rockruff could sneak over and attack just now.

He couldn’t use Shadow Clone Technique to send a Shadow Clone to attack because activating Double Lightning Quake in Lightning Release Chakra Mode required a large amount of Chakra.

If he created a combat-capable Shadow Clone, he wouldn’t have enough Chakra to cast Ninjutsu to block the iron sand.

Obito’s Fire Release was not suitable for blocking iron sand, and Rin Nohara’s Water Release was not strong enough; what they had just done was their absolute limit.

“Thousand Hands Manipulation!”

The mechanical arm continuously extended, and then new arms constantly appeared from the extended arm, with hundreds of arms striking towards Kakashi and the others in the blink of an eye.

“Flash!”

Kakashi’s Transparent World saw the poisoned Kunai inside the arms, so he immediately unleashed Chakra, injecting it into his White Fang Short Blade, causing the White Fang to extend a segment of lightning blade.

Swish!

Lightning flashed, and before Sasori could release the Kunai from within the arms, hundreds of the arms were severed simultaneously, their cut ends scorched.

“Phew.” After unleashing the slash, Kakashi breathed slightly.

Among his many Lightning Release blade techniques now, Flash’s consumption wasn’t actually that great, but he truly didn’t have the stamina or Chakra left to unleash a stronger slash.

Sasori expressionlessly waved his fingers; a large number of severed arms from the Third Kazekage’s left side fell to the ground, while a giant blade suddenly appeared on his right side.

Under Sasori’s control, the Third Kazekage raised the giant blade and swiftly attacked Kakashi.

At the same time, Hiruko, where Sasori’s main body was located, also opened its large mouth towards Rin Nohara, who was forming hand signs.

Whoosh whoosh!!

A large number of poisoned needles and barbs shot towards Rin Nohara.

Rin Nohara was the only Medical Ninja on the field; if there was an opportunity, Sasori wouldn’t mind killing Rin Nohara first.

Seeing a large number of poisoned needles approaching, Rin Nohara quickly maintained her Chakra output, operating Water Breathing to its extreme to enhance control over Chakra’s form, turning the expelled water pillars into a flowing water wall in front of her, barely blocking the incoming poisoned needles.

Obito had originally intended to attack Sasori’s main body, but seeing the Third Kazekage directly target Kakashi, he still used Fire Release to help Kakashi deal with the Third Kazekage.

Whether the enemy died or not wasn’t important; what was important was to protect his teammates.

Clang clang!

The blade on the Third Kazekage’s body continuously collided with the White Fang Short Blade in Kakashi’s hand.

Obito seized the opportunity to use a Fire Punch to strike the Third Kazekage’s side, but it was blocked by the Third Kazekage’s Iron Sand.

Charmeleon and Rockruff tried to advance and attack Sasori’s main body, but were almost hit by poisoned needles.

“Magnet Release: Iron Sand Tri-Cone!”

Sasori knew that Kakashi and his team had deep affection for their Nin-Beasts, so he counter-controlled the Third Kazekage to throw a prismatic iron sand projectile towards Rockruff’s direction.

Rockruff dodged sideways, thinking it had avoided it, but the tri-cone shaped iron sand actually curved and continued to stab towards Rockruff.

“Flash!”

Seeing this, Kakashi unhesitatingly unleashed his remaining Chakra, transforming into lightning and cutting the iron sand.

Sasori had been waiting for this moment.

Sasori, who had approached silently, unhesitatingly stabbed towards Kakashi with Hiruko’s tail stinger.

At this moment, Sasori, who had long maintained a detached expression, let out a wild laugh.

Because he was finally going to avenge his deceased parents.

He had originally thought that with White Fang’s suicide, there was no one to take revenge on, but unexpectedly, a new path opened up: White Fang actually had a child who resembled him, and he happened to meet him by participating in the match.

Clang!

At this point, Kakashi had insufficient Chakra and had exited Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but he still maintained his Transparent World state, instantly raising his White Fang Short Blade to block the stab.

Sasori showed a hint of regret; Hiruko’s poisoned needles had been used up in the previous battle, otherwise, at this distance, Kakashi would have surely died.

While regretting internally, Sasori’s hand movements didn’t slow down in the slightest; he swung one of Hiruko’s puppet arms, heavily striking Kakashi’s body.

Bang!

Kakashi’s body shot backward, breaking two large trees before being caught by Rin Nohara, who rushed over.

An enraged Rockruff created a giant rock above Sasori’s head.

Boom!!

The giant rock crashed to the ground; such a move was too difficult to hit unless aided by a teammate or a sneak attack.

“Heh heh, very angry, aren’t you? But my pain is above yours.” Sasori flashed back, recalling the warmth his parents gave him before their death, his expression turning cold.

His life had been so happy before; if he showed even a hint of hunger, even if it wasn’t mealtime, his mother would personally cook for him.

At night, he would always fall asleep first, because his parents would tell him bedtime stories until he fell asleep.

After he was a bit older and slept alone, his parents would still cover him with a blanket late at night.

Sasori once thought he had good sleeping habits and didn’t kick off his blanket, but after his parents passed away, he realized that he only woke up with a blanket on him because his parents had re-covered him during the night.

The beautiful memories continuously transformed into killing intent in Sasori’s heart.

He swung his gleaming tail stinger at Rockruff; Rockruff dodged with a Flash of lightning, intending to attack Sasori with Lightning Fang, but Sasori saw through it, and fortunately, Rin Nohara’s support was timely, otherwise he would have almost been grazed by the poisoned tail stinger.

At this time, Milotic finished healing Kakashi and shot Water Gun at Sasori.

Sasori immediately retreated upon seeing this; a puppeteer should not risk his main body, unless the puppeteer’s main body was also a puppet.

“Let’s see how long you can last.” Sasori sneered inwardly.

If his main body hadn’t been attacking Kakashi just now, without much mental focus on Obito’s side, Obito and Charmeleon would have died at the Third Kazekage’s hands.

Now Kakashi had basically lost his combat ability, Obito and Charmeleon were retreating under the Third Kazekage’s assault, and Milotic had been poisoned by him.

The advantage was his!

“Woof!”

Rockruff looked at the injured Kakashi, then at Sasori, who was disdainful of him, and his desire for strength reached its peak.

It was dusk, and only the last rays of the fierce sun remained in the sky.

Even though it was in the middle of a battle, Rockruff was inexplicably drawn to that last hint of twilight.

The setting sun shone on Rockruff, and the energy of dusk continuously gathered on Rockruff’s body.

“Howl!”

Rockruff couldn’t help but let out a howl, followed by his entire body emitting a dazzling light.

PS: This chapter is 6k words, there will be another update later, time is not fixed.

I recommend brothers to read it tomorrow, it’s better not to stay up late.