Chapter 554: The Power of Waves

Might Guy looked at Lucario.

Given Might Guy’s personality, he would naturally agree, becoming stronger by familiarizing himself with new powers through battle.

However, they had a contractual relationship, and Might Guy respected Lucario’s choice.

“Luo!” Lucario looked at Rockruff with eyes full of fighting spirit.

Its narrow defeat during its Riolu phase left it unwilling to accept, and now that it had evolved and become stronger, it wanted to avenge itself and bring victory to Might Guy.

Although Kakashi and the others didn’t understand the Pokémon’s language, they understood that Lucario had accepted Kakashi’s battle request.

“Go for it, your body, trained day and night, will respond to you,” Might Guy encouraged Lucario.

Might Guy was extremely satisfied with Lucario; its diligent and unyielding spirit reminded him of his past self.

“Manewra, you haven’t forgotten how to fight an enemy whose information you don’t know, have you?” Kakashi stroked Rockruff’s head, giving a final reminder.

While Nin-Beasts usually fight alongside their contractors, Kakashi had taught Rockruff a lot of combat knowledge, considering potential special circumstances.

“Awoo!” Rockruff let out a confident howl.

It had defeated Riolu before, and this time it could also defeat Lucario.

Having been meticulously taught by Kakashi, it couldn’t possibly lose!

After communicating with their respective contractors for a while, Rockruff and Lucario walked to an open space nearby, awaiting the start of the battle.

“Shisui, who do you think will win?” Obito casually asked Shisui beside him.

“It’s hard to say. Although we know Rockruff’s strength, Guy’s Nin-Beast has just evolved,” Shisui shook his head and replied.

Evolution was a huge unpredictable factor.

Before Milotic appeared, they would never have imagined that Feebas, which had no combat ability, would evolve into Milotic with the strength of an elite Jonin, and a difficult one at that.

So even though Rockruff had defeated Riolu, and Rockruff had evolved earlier, Shisui couldn’t be sure that Lucario would lose to Rockruff.

Heaven knew what kind of improvements and new abilities Lucario had gained from its evolution.

“I think Rockruff will probably lose,” Obito whispered.

“Because it headbutted you before?” Shisui asked.

Obito’s prediction was clearly mixed with a lot of personal emotion.

Obito stared at Shisui with wide eyes. They were of the same clan; shouldn’t they be fighting the evil white-haired faction together? Why was he exposing his shortcomings?

“Shisui, you’ve changed,” Obito glared at Zorua.

It must be this hateful fox’s doing, leading his inarticulate nine-year-old clan brother astray.

Zorua glared back unceremoniously, a mere Obito.

One person and one fox engaged in an intense eye-to-eye confrontation, with no clear victor for a time.

“Judging from past performances, Rockruff indeed has a good chance of losing,” Shisui thought for a moment and said.

Although Rockruff had defeated Riolu during its Rockruff period, it was a very close win. It was clear that Rockruff couldn’t confront Riolu head-on and won by relying on strategy and perseverance.

Now that Lucario’s experience had become richer, if Rockruff still couldn’t fight Lucario head-on, the battle would be very difficult.

“That’s right, it’s also based on past performance,” seeing Shisui analyze, Obito gave up on his eye-to-eye contest with Zorua and agreed.

“Battle start!” Seeing that both sides were almost ready, Kakashi, acting as the referee, shouted.

The other disciples, seeing the battle begin, also focused their attention on the ongoing fight.

As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, Rockruff immediately extended its claws into the ground, activating its Earth Release Chakra Nature Transformation.

‘Sand Attack!’

A large amount of dirt turned into sand, flying towards Lucario in sheets as Rockruff swung its claws.

Although this move had no killing power, it was very effective, as even the strongest body had vulnerable eyes.

Lucario, however, was already prepared, quickly condensing a large amount of Chakra on its fists after Kakashi’s call.

‘Vacuum Wave!’

With Lucario’s swing, a shockwave quickly surged forward, dispersing the sand almost the instant Rockruff threw it, and then charged towards Rockruff with undiminished momentum.

Last time, Lucario had suffered enough from Sand Attack, so this time it was well-prepared.

Rockruff didn’t expect Lucario’s response to be so quick and effective. Caught off guard, it was hit by the incoming Vacuum Wave and flew backward, crashing into a tree.

Rockruff did indeed probe for information, but not in the way it had envisioned.

‘Quick Attack!’

Rockruff endured the pain, used Chakra to strengthen its body, and ran swiftly, dodging the incoming punch.

Bang!

The large tree, struck by Lucario’s punch, instantly shattered and exploded.

“Such powerful Taijutsu ability,” Kakashi marveled at Lucario’s strength.

Kakashi wasn’t too surprised that Rockruff was at a disadvantage.

This was a failed engagement due to a lack of information. If Rockruff had known about Lucario’s Vacuum Wave, it wouldn’t have started with Sand Attack.

‘Rock Throw!’

Rockruff rapidly condensed Chakra, forming three large stones around itself.

If its opponent wasn’t Lucario, Rockruff would have used Shadow Clones to confuse its opponent and find an opening.

But Lucario possessed a sensory ability that Rockruff didn’t know about, so it now had no choice but to compete with Lucario in raw strength.

‘Rock Smash!’

Lucario continued to charge towards Rockruff with an un değişed expression, swiftly throwing punches to shatter the stones whenever one fell from above.

‘Rock Slide!’

After Lucario continuously shattered several stones, Rockruff expended a large amount of Chakra to create a giant rock, larger than all previous rocks combined, and pressed it down towards Lucario.

It hadn’t used the stronger Rock Slide before because it wanted to gradually lower Lucario’s guard with ordinary Rock Throws.

The giant rock was about to descend, but Lucario remained unfazed.

It channeled all its strength into its right arm, then swung its fist upwards fiercely.

Rumble!!

The moment Lucario’s fist connected with the giant rock, cracks appeared on the rock and quickly spread throughout it.

The next moment, the giant rock shattered, and Lucario stood calmly amidst the scattered debris.

“So strong,” Rin Nohara exclaimed in surprise.

Undoubtedly, Lucario’s recent counter-strategy was truly impressive, perfectly showcasing its immense power and its composure, like a mountain remaining unshaken before a collapse.

“How youthful!” Might Guy gave Lucario a thumbs-up.

To the observing disciples, Lucario was cool, but to its opponent, Rockruff, it was not so pleasant.

Pressure, Rockruff felt immense pressure.

“I can’t lose, the opponent just evolved,” Rockruff thought to itself.

Although at a disadvantage, Rockruff didn’t feel it couldn’t win, because during the recent battle it discovered a place where Lucario was inferior to it.

Speed, Lucario’s speed was significantly inferior to its own.

This meant Rockruff had many opportunities, and even if it made a mistake, it could rely on its superior speed to dodge Lucario’s attacks.

‘Rock Throw!’

Rockruff once again condensed power to create stones.

Although Rock Throw’s power wasn’t even in the top five among its many offensive moves, its advantage lay in low consumption and not needing to get too close.

Lucario casually shattered the rocks, then condensed Aura power, and a brilliant blue orb appeared between Lucario’s paws.

Rockruff felt something was amiss and continued to use Rock Throw to interfere with Lucario, but the opponent dodged it.

‘Aura Sphere!’

When the Aura power was fully condensed, Lucario used Aura to lock onto Rockruff and fiercely threw the Aura Sphere.

“Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!”

Rockruff slammed its claws into the ground, creating an earth wall.

Bang!

The earth wall was dented by the Aura Sphere, which continued to smash towards Rockruff.

Rockruff calmly used Chakra to strengthen its body.

‘Quick Attack!’

Rockruff’s speed suddenly increased, and it swiftly flashed onto the Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall.

This was its battle strategy: long-range attrition, combined with Earth Release defense and speed advantage for evasion.

But just as Rockruff was preparing its next attack, it suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

Rockruff looked back and saw that the Aura Sphere, which should have hit the ground, had actually curved and was heading towards it.

Rockruff wanted to dodge, but by the time it noticed, the Aura Sphere was already close, and Lucario was also dashing towards it.

Boom!

The Aura Sphere accurately hit Rockruff.

The immense force directly caused Rockruff to fall unconscious, its eyes turning into swirls.

“Lucario wins!” Seeing Rockruff completely lose its combat ability, Kakashi announced the winner.

Kakashi found this result both surprising and reasonable.

It was surprising because he hadn’t expected Rockruff to lose the battle with such a large disadvantage before the fight began; Rockruff barely managed to inflict any damage on Lucario.

It was reasonable because Kakashi had watched the entire match. The two key points that led to Rockruff’s defeat were Vacuum Wave and Aura Sphere, both due to misjudgments caused by a lack of information, ultimately leading to defeat.

“To be able to achieve such a large change in direction, does that mean it can only be blocked by defensive Ninjutsu or countered by offensive Ninjutsu?” Kakashi fell into thought.

The Aura Sphere Lucario used to finish off Rockruff was not simple; it was both flexible and powerful.

“See, I told you it wouldn’t work,” Obito suppressed his surprise and said, acting as if he had seen through it all along.

In reality, Obito truly hadn’t expected this outcome.

Because Rockruff was the first Pokémon born, and it had once defeated Charmeleon in its unevolved form, Obito actually thought Rockruff was very strong.

However, since he had already spoken, and happened to guess correctly, it would be against all reason not to show off a bit.

“So strong, doesn’t that mean Guy is even harder to defeat?” Obito’s heart grew troubled.

When would it be his turn to sit on the throne of the strongest disciple?

Before their graduation, Shisui was always recognized as the strongest disciple.

Later, Obito and the others’ strength improved by leaps and bounds due to various opponents and crises, and only then did Shisui’s era pass.

During this period, Might Guy was also not as dominant as he is now, and Kakashi also had a brief period as the strongest.

When Might Guy mastered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, he successfully pulled far ahead of the other disciples, monopolizing the strongest disciple’s seat with absolute power.

Might Guy’s Eight Gates combined with Rock Breathing Chakra Mode was truly formidable; even after learning Azure Flame, Obito still felt intimidated.

Because he had Azure Flame, and Might Guy had Golden Skyline.

Upon closer thought, Obito only felt that the strongest disciple was a distant goal, requiring a great deal of effort.

“Luo!” Lucario pointed at Charizard, indicating that it still wanted to continue fighting.

It sensed Obito’s desire to defeat Might Guy.

Since Might Guy was currently injured and unable to fight, it would step in to defeat the opponent’s Nin-Beast.

Anyway, the previous battle hadn’t consumed too much of its energy.

“Awoo?” Charizard scratched its neck and looked at Obito.

It had been suddenly challenged; did Obito have any idea why?

Charizard wasn’t very keen on fighting Lucario, because Lucario’s performance just now was truly fierce.

Charizard didn’t want to lose to a newly evolved Pokémon in front of Milotic; that would make it seem weak.

“Charizard, just agree. Treat the opponent as Obito and beat them up; you’ll definitely win,” Zorua egged it on.

“You are the only one who has evolved twice, what are you afraid of it for?”

At this, Charizard puffed out its chest with a proud expression; its number of evolutions was indeed far ahead.

“Awoo!” Charizard accepted Lucario’s challenge.

It thought Zorua made sense; it had evolved twice, so being afraid of Lucario, a Pokémon that had only evolved once and just recently at that, was too undignified.

As it responded, Charizard turned its head and glanced at Milotic.

Discovering a hint of curiosity in Milotic’s eyes, Charizard’s fighting spirit instantly ignited. If it performed well, Milotic might just look at it with new respect.

Obito:…

His mood was now very complex; he both wanted Lucario to beat up the rebellious Charizard and didn’t want Charizard to actually lose.

After all, Charizard was his Nin-Beast, which he had hatched and raised until now; losing would also be a loss of face for him.

Since Lucario had just fought a battle, Kakashi, for fairness, allowed Lucario to rest for a while.

“I wonder if Charizard can do it. The reason Rockruff lost so badly should also be due to Chakra being countered. Charizard isn’t countered,” Kakashi thought to himself.

Muzuki had once explained the type advantages among their Pokémon.

When the rest period ended, Lucario opened its eyes and calmly walked towards the battle arena.

And Charizard also advanced amidst the encouragement of the other Pokémon.

“Well done,” this was encouragement from the awakened Rockruff.

“Be spirited, don’t lose face,” this was encouragement from Charizard’s best friend, Zorua.

PS: There’s another chapter coming, but it will be a bit late. Recommended to read tomorrow.