"Did you do something to him?" Sasuke asked, noticing how easily Kakashi seemed to manipulate Orochimaru, suspecting genjutsu.
"I didn't need genjutsu," Kakashi replied.
While it would've been simple to hit Orochimaru with Kotoamatsukami, it wasn't needed. Kakashi knew the man's motivations well and knew exactly what made him tick.
Shifting the topic to their immediate training plans now that they were back home, Kakashi stepped out to the center of the yard. With a smooth, continuous motion, he unsheathed his sword. The steel caught the light with a sharp gleam as he squared his stance, locking his focus onto his two students.
"Watch closely; I have some sword forms to show you both. Naruto, I expect you to learn at least two forms. Just because your style doesn't involve using a sword doesn't mean I expect you to be incompetent with one. My standards are higher for my students; you'll be better than the so-called swordsman of this era."
Kakashi's left foot slid back, his left hand gripping the mouth of the sheath tightly while his right hand came to rest flat against the hilt of his sword. He tilted his head down, drawing a sharp breath into his lungs and letting it out softly through the sides of his mouth. As the air left his lips, a sudden crackle of lightning flashed violently across his eyes.
'Thunderclap and Flash.'
In an instant, Kakashi vanished. There was no smoke, no lingering chakra trail, and no sound, just a sudden, localized burst of pure physical speed. He reappeared several meters ahead in a low, perfectly stable quick-draw stance. Behind him, one of the many heavy wooden training stumps in his yard sat completely unchanged, save for the very top. A perfect, clean slice had skimmed exactly two inches off the top of the wood, the newly exposed surface remaining so flawlessly smooth it looked completely polished.
"That was Thunder Breathing, first form, Thunder clap and flash. Now I'll go about showing the first form of the others; watch closely."
Kakashi stepped back, shifting seamlessly into a basic kendo stance with his left foot braced firmly in front of his right. He quickly raised his blade, bringing it back parallel to his shoulder. As he did, a sudden ring of pressurized, churning water wrapped fluidly around the steel, twisting like a torrent around the edge. With absolute fluid grace, he brought the sword across in a sharp horizontal slash.
The movement was so deceptively smooth that the blade seemed to pass right in front of the training stump instead of actually striking it.
For a moment, absolutely nothing happened. The stump remained standing exactly as it was, showing no signs of impact or damage. A second later, a tiny, thin line of moisture began to bleed out around the exact center of the heavy bark, marking a microscopic seam where the blade had passed completely through without disturbing a single splinter of the wood.
"Water Breathing, first form, Water Surface Slash. The next one I'm about to show you is the oldest, and the ones after it have drawn inspiration from it."
Kakashi briefly lifted the sliced upper half to show the smoothness of the slash before setting it back down.
Kakashi shifted his stance once more, his right hand gripping the handle of his blade as he drew in a deep, burning breath. The atmosphere in the yard grew heavy, the air around him shimmering with a sudden, intense heat wave that dried and curled the grass at his feet.
With an explosion of physical power, Kakashi stepped forward, his blade igniting with brilliant, searing flames that twisted like solar flares along the steel. He brought the sword down in a swift, violent vertical slash right through the same training stump.
The heat was so localized and intense that the wood didn't even catch fire; instead, the cut was instantly cauterized. Because his previous Water Breathing form had already delivered a perfect horizontal slice, this single vertical strike completely split the wood.
With a soft thud, the stump finally lost its structural balance. The severed sections slid apart, cleanly dividing into four perfectly cut, charred quadrants that rolled onto the grass, revealing smooth, blackened surfaces where the heat had scorched the wood.
"Sun Breathing, Dance."
"I have more forms, but I'll only show you two more forms because these are the ones I think fit you the best. The next one I'll show will be Wind Breathing, and then Moon Breathing."
Sasuke and Naruto nodded, thoroughly impressed with the basic strikes; they were fast, lethal, and efficient.
Kakashi stepped toward a fresh training stump, adjusting his grip on the hilt of his sword. He drew in a deep, sharp breath, his lungs expanding as he focused the circulation of his blood and chakra. The air around him suddenly began to stir, a low, menacing hum rising from the dirt at his feet.
With a sudden, explosive burst of momentum, Kakashi tore forward like a localized hurricane. He unleashed a devastating whirlwind of slashes as he dashed straight past the stump. The movements were incredibly aggressive and violent, a stark contrast to the fluid grace of the water style. A chaotic vortex of sharp, pressurized wind paths erupted around the blade, slicing up the grass and tearing into the air.
When Kakashi came to a halt several meters away, the entire training stump had been completely shredded. It wasn't a clean cut this time; the wood had been brutally ripped apart into a massive pile of splinters and torn bark, leaving nothing but a ragged, obliterated base in the ground.
"Wind Breathing: First Form, Dust Whirlwind Cutter."
Kakashi looked back, seeing that the boys both didn't find the style suitable from their faces alone.
"I had a feeling neither of you would like this one. It's a bit wild, but out of the rest, it was the closest I could get; the rest that I'm not bothering to show really don't suit you at all. Now we move on to the last one I'll show you. Moon Breathing."
He stepped toward the final intact training stump in the yard. His posture completely changed, shifting from the grounded, aggressive stance of the wind style into something deeply elegant, imposing, and unsettlingly cold. He drew in a slow, deep breath, his lungs expanding perfectly as his chakra began to circulate in a highly complex, erratic pattern.
With a blindingly fast draw, Kakashi unleashed a single, sweeping horizontal slash. But it wasn't just a normal sword strike. The moment his blade cut through the air, a massive, crescent-shaped wave of dark chakra erupted from the steel. Surrounding that central wave was a chaotic swarm of dozens of smaller, erratic crescent blades that flew out in all directions, spinning and shifting wildly like a miniature solar system made of pure, sharp energy.
The central crescent blade tore right through the training stump with silent, effortless power. The surrounding tiny moon blades shredded the grass and left deep, crescent-shaped gouges across the yard, covering a wide area.
Kakashi smoothly sheathed his sword with a quiet, satisfying click.
"Last but not least, that was Moon Breathing, First Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace."
"That one, I like that one."
Sasuke said immediately. While Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū was very effective and could be used in both single combat and group battles, Moon Breathing, with the first move alone, seems like it excels at dealing with many enemies at once, so he could rely on Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū for 1-on-1 combat.
"I'll go with Water and Sun."
Naruto spoke up, feeling that the Sun Breathing style suited him in particular.
Kakashi nodded in approval.
"Sun Breathing will give you unmatched offensive power, and Water Breathing will keep you flexible. Both styles work well in 1-on-1 combat, but in terms of survivability and fluidity, Water Breathing ranks higher. As for Sun Breathing, it is by far the most physically demanding and, unlike Water Breathing, Sun Breathing requires maximum output on every single strike. Every movement is a high-speed, high-power commitment. It's a style that pulls no punches and isn't to be used on anyone but someone you need to kill."
Kakashi tapped his foot firmly on the ground, causing two deep, square holes to sink cleanly into the earth. With a single hand sign, water rushed upward to fill both pits to the brim. A split second later, a shadow clone poofed into existence to his right and immediately vanished out of the yard. It reappeared just a minute later, dropping two heavy bundles of rope alongside sets of weighted vests, armbands, and legbands for both of them.
"You might remember that Sakura did this training for her Seven Heavenly Breaths; well, you two will be doing the same for your Breathing style training. You already far surpass the required strength and stamina; now you need to learn how to breathe."
Sasuke and Naruto nodded, picking up the weights and securing them into place before tying the ropes around themselves and tossing the ends to Kakashi.
"Good, Sakura must have explained her training to you both then; saves me from having to explain."
"Small impact movements, expanding of the lung walls."
Sasuke replied with the main focus of the training.
Kakashi created two clones to hold the ropes and let them mentally count the time they were under as he thought about his other student.
"Sakura should be ready to learn Total Concentration Breathing: Constant. With the lung capacity she has trained, she should be nearing the last necklace gourd around her neck or already there."
While he was thinking about what else he could be doing, Kakashi went ahead and claimed his reward for reviving Orochimaru.
Reward: Kisuke Urahara's Knowledge of Souls
'Holy shit.'
Kakashi had to stand still for a moment as an almost overwhelming amount of knowledge was locked into place in his mind at once, almost like receiving generational wealth all at once when you were previously broke. Kakashi liked to think he had at least an intermediate understanding of souls, given his Rinnegan, but he now knew he knew next to nothing. While a portion of the knowledge concerned the souls of Hollows, Soul Reapers, and Quincy, and while Quincies have a human baseline, their soul signatures couldn't be any more different, sort of like the X-Men in Marvel, but they're more of a biological difference, whereas Quincy are the soul difference.
- Chapter End -