Kakashi put on a thoughtful expression.
How could he not know Obito's little scheme, clearly trying to win more battles while Charmeleon had the evolution advantage.
"I think it's fine," Kakashi said after some thought.
Though Obito's intentions weren't pure, this was indeed beneficial for nurturing the ninja beasts, so Kakashi had no objections.
"Feebas won't participate." Nohara Rin withdrew Feebas.
The current Feebas really couldn't fight. In water, it might be able to bump into others, but on land, it had no combat power at all.
Nohara Rin wouldn't force Feebas into a meaningless fight for the sake of face.
The other students nodded; it was indeed an understandable situation.
"Youth is all about more battles!" Might Guy believed that battles could also be a form of training.
"No issues with Zorua here." Shisui also nodded.
"That makes exactly four, so we can use the rules we usually practice with," Obito said excitedly, already a bit impatient.
The other students had no objections.
The drawing results came out quickly: Charmeleon was number one, Zorua number two, Rockruff number three, and Riolu number four.
Obito felt a bit regretful; he was hoping Charmeleon would crush Rockruff in the first round.
"Don't lose to Riolu," Obito silently cheered for Rockruff.
If they lost in the first round, Charmeleon wouldn't be able to face Rockruff in the second round.
Without beating Rockruff, even if Charmeleon became the strongest ninja beast among the students, Obito would feel regretful because then Kakashi would have an excuse.
Riolu gave Obito a rather speechless look.
"This is our bond!" Might Guy laughed at Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled helplessly; with only four ninja beasts, wasn't it normal for them to meet?
"First match, Charmeleon vs. Zorua." Kakashi took on the role of the battle referee.
Upon hearing the announcement, both Charmeleon and Zorua promptly went to the battle arena.
"Char," Charmeleon sighed slightly.
Charmeleon and Zorua had a good relationship. Not only did Zorua translate for it to Obito, but the two beasts also often chatted.
Now, having to battle its best translator friend, Charmeleon was a bit reluctant to act.
"Let's both go all out; holding back even if we win wouldn't mean anything or yield much," Zorua was quite open-minded.
Even though Charmeleon had evolved once, Zorua was not afraid of it.
Because in Zorua's eyes, both Charmeleon and Obito were quite clueless, so who would win was uncertain.
"Char," Charmeleon nodded.
"Begin!" Seeing both beasts ready, Kakashi shouted.
As soon as Kakashi spoke, Zorua immediately gathered Chakra to use Genjutsu, its appearance instantly changing in the eyes of others.
Seeing "himself" appear on the battlefield, Obito couldn't help but raise a question mark in his mind; what was this, transforming into him for what?
Zorua's figure disappeared, leaving only "Obito" and Charmeleon on the scene.
Shisui shook his head, thinking Zorua's strategy was flawed.
If used with other combinations, such a strategy might work, whether with Kakashi and Rockruff or Might Guy and Riolu.
But with Obito and Charmeleon, it just wouldn't do because not only would this fail to distract Charmeleon, it might even make it more excited.
"Char!" Charmeleon immediately charged forward.
Originally, it intended to hold back a bit, but since Zorua transformed into Obito, it wasn't going to be gentle.
Thick black smoke spewed from Charmeleon, enveloping its and Zorua's forms.
"Obito, how can you be so weak, Charmeleon isn't afraid of you at all!" Zorua's exasperated voice echoed in everyone's mind.
Obito: ...
For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or worry.
The disrespectful Zorua got beaten by Charmeleon, but it seemed Charmeleon genuinely wanted to beat him up too.
The smoke quickly cleared, revealing a battered Zorua inside.
"Darn Charmeleon, now I'm going all out!" Zorua once again used Genjutsu, reverting to its original form, then opened its mouth to spew large flames at Charmeleon.
Seeing the fierce blaze, Charmeleon immediately retreated, soon to be surrounded by divided fires, unable to dodge, it spewed flames to try and counter some of them.
But what surprised Charmeleon was that the incoming flames seemed to be on a different layer altogether. Theoretically, they should have collided, but in reality, Charmeleon's flames passed through them.
Zorua smirked slyly, raised its paw from the side to strike Charmeleon's body, causing it to stagger back three steps.
"Charmeleon, can you do this or not, you won't lose to a non-evolved Zorua, will you?" Seeing Charmeleon pushed back by Zorua, Obito couldn't help but urge.
The flame on Charmeleon's tail flared up more intensely; it couldn't bear to imagine how awful Obito's words would be if it really lost.
Zorua used the same trick again, spewing fireballs at Charmeleon just like Shisui using the Impatiens Fire Jutsu.
In Charmeleon's eyes, those fireballs blazed quite fiercely, and it could even see the air distort with heat. Those fireballs couldn't be more real.
"Roar!"
Charmeleon suppressed its urge to dodge, opened its mouth, gathering a significant portion of Chakra at its throat, then converted it to Fire Attribute Chakra and spewed it all out.
A fire pillar about the thickness of an adult's thigh burst from Charmeleon's mouth, heading straight for Zorua, even as Zorua's fireballs were about to hit Charmeleon. Charmeleon didn't budge an inch.