Chapter 36: Sparring Session (Part 1)

Hikaru really was a little too eager.

But to his credit, he recovered quickly.

At the end of the day, he had an adult's mindset, and he had patience. Two days wasn't much—blink, and it would be gone.

Looks like I need to spend these two days thinking carefully about how to face the Fourth Hokage… Hikaru thought.

He still hadn't chosen a side—because he didn't even know what the "right" choice should look like.

The Fourth Hokage's brilliance had burned out frighteningly fast, but there was no denying it: Minato's personal charisma was terrifying.

Unfortunately, in the real world, charisma—no matter how valuable—was still secondary.

What mattered most was power, and interests.

Hikaru genuinely believed that if Minato had been given enough time, he would have crushed the influence of the Third Hokage's entrenched interest groups and become the "true" Hokage in every sense.

To put it bluntly… if nothing unexpected happened, Minato could've simply outlived them.

But reality didn't work that way.

Kakashi, having delivered the message, was planning to leave. Staying here was awkward.

He didn't know who the girl beside Hikaru was, but he recognized the clan immediately—Uchiha. That fan crest wasn't something you could mistake.

Kakashi had a natural sense of guilt toward the Uchiha. Even with Hikaru's guidance, even though he'd stabilized a bit—time was still short. He needed more time to truly adjust.

Today, he'd already embarrassed Hikaru with one sentence.

And now he'd bumped into an Uchiha right afterward.

He was done.

But before he could excuse himself, Hikaru spoke first.

"I understand," Hikaru said. "Thanks, Kakashi."

"No need." Kakashi tried to smile—it came out stiff. "If there's nothing else, then I'll—"

"You're already here," Hikaru cut in with a gentle shake of his head. "Why rush off? We've known each other this long. We even had the 'honor' of me being your temporary captain on the battlefield once. And we've never properly sparred, have we?"

"Spar…?"

Kakashi blinked.

He really hadn't expected that.

But Hikaru wasn't suggesting this on a whim.

He wanted to measure something.

He wanted to test himself against a genuine prodigy like Kakashi—not in a life-or-death battle, but in a controlled spar.

In sparring, Hikaru wouldn't touch Sage Mode. He wouldn't even use many of his Water Style techniques.

Because the truth was: even though Hikaru didn't particularly like Tobirama as a person, he couldn't deny how absurd Tobirama's Water Style innovations were.

Most people's Water Style was "flood and crush," terrain control, drowning pressure.

Tobirama's version was a leap from quantity to quality—

high-pressure water, like a cutter, like a blade.

That wasn't "sparring material."

That was "kill material."

So if he discarded those techniques, the spar would become a more honest contest of fundamentals: movement, timing, reading, control.

And there was another reason too.

Hikaru hadn't forgotten he'd been "pit-trapped" earlier by Kakashi calling him captain in front of Saya.

He needed to patch that damage—subtly.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought the situation back under control the way he had.

Kakashi reacted fast. He understood what Hikaru was doing, and he was… tempted.

He'd seen Hikaru go all-out before. He'd watched Hikaru's speed reduce an enemy like Yashamaru to struggling just to keep up.

But sparring meant restraint.

And Kakashi was curious what Hikaru looked like when he wasn't using lethal finishing tools.

"If you want it, Captain," Kakashi said, glancing briefly toward Uchiha Saya, then nodding cleanly, "I'm willing."

He wondered, briefly, if she was close to Hikaru—or…

Was she an old classmate too?

He didn't ask.

His focus snapped back to Hikaru, and his chakra began to rise.

Hikaru kept smiling, but his posture lowered slightly. His hand drifted to his waist.

There—on the outer edge of his tool pouch—a kunai caught the light with a cold glint.

Clink!

In the next instant, both figures vanished almost at the same time—

and reappeared with a sharp metallic impact, already crossed and locked.

Fast.

Fast to the point of being hard to believe.

Saya stepped back silently. This was not a level she could interfere with.

But she didn't leave.

She was too curious.

Too curious about what her two former classmates had become.

Kakashi being a genius was something she'd always known. It had been carved into everyone's memory. The youngest jōnin—war-time promotion or not, she'd never believed Kakashi lacked the skill to deserve it.

But Hikaru…

Hikaru was a shock.

Her quiet, civilian-born seatmate—someone she'd been thinking about helping—

had apparently been Kakashi's battlefield captain?

And now he was moving like this?

Her thoughts were turning into knots.

Especially because now that the fight had started… she realized she could barely even see them.

If only I'd awakened the Sharingan… Saya thought bitterly. Then I wouldn't be reduced to watching shadows…

Neither Hikaru nor Kakashi cared what Saya was thinking.

That first brief clash told them everything they needed:

This spar was going to be serious.

They separated in a single beat.

Then, nearly in perfect sync, both threw kunai.

At this level, stealing tempo was mandatory. Neither of them was strong enough to casually allow the other to move first—

Unless they had a Sharingan advantage.

Clang!

The kunai collided mid-air.

And in the same breath, both of them surged forward again, catching the rebounding blades as they returned.

This time, Hikaru accelerated even harder.

He understood the Sharingan's nature.

But he also knew Kakashi's control of it—right now—wasn't complete.

So he decided to do what his body did best:

pressure with speed.

Even without Sage Mode, his speed among jōnin was exceptional.

Let's see… Hikaru thought, eyes narrowing behind his calm.

Can you really copy my movement?

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