50. Fushigi no Mizu

Yukio, after deflecting all the projectiles, weaved some hand seals and released a number of water senbons at Kakashi.

However, the latter had landed on the ground, put his palms forward, and released explosions continuously until all of them were deflected.

Both of them, however, knew that Yukio had used that as a distraction, just as Kakashi had used a similar tactic while in the air and had stopped once he got to the ground a moment ago.

Kakashi saw another water dragon heading toward him.

He knew he would be chased again if he changed his position, so he didn't bother moving.

He placed both of his hands outstretched in front of him, with his palms facing the water dragon.

In the next instant, a Rasengan formed in front of him.

However, it didn't stop there as the Rasengan began transforming into a crossbow shape, with the chakra now imbued with a fire nature.

Kakashi released the crossbow-shaped chakra construct in front of him.

This all happened in a second.

Yukio only saw Kakashi stretching his arm forward and releasing something red toward him.

The fire-shaped projectile clashed with the water dragon—no, more like tore through it almost instantly.

Yukio didn't bother putting more chakra into the water dragon, knowing Kakashi would have dealt with it anyway, and since it was meant as a distraction, it was only a normal dragon.

Tentacles near him moved in front of him and began rotating quickly while being compressed.

Yukio instinctively put his hand forward, initiating a Suikiri on his palms in case the attack tore through the tentacles.

Fire clashed with water, and Yukio found himself facing the steam created by the fire interacting with the water.

However, after just a moment of clash, Yukio was thrown backward like a ragdoll.

The fire jutsu's momentum was too much for him.

Fortunately, it hadn't broken through his tentacles yet.

Yukio heard some explosions and focused his attention, realizing Kakashi was on the move while he was being hurled toward the barrier's wall.

"Right, I would get electrified if I touch the barrier," Yukio remembered, noting this barrier was created by none other than his sadistic girlfriend.

Yukio stopped the tentacles from pushing against the fire jutsu, letting it get pushed back. Yukio's hands, coated with Suikiri, clashed with the fire jutsu while two of the three tentacles quickly thrust into the ground to slow his momentum.

Water clashed with fire.

The third tentacle intercepted a lightning python that Kakashi had released from another direction.

Unfortunately, as Yukio was still mid-air, he had to endure the electricity.

For a second, his eyes rolled back, but in the next instant, two of his tentacles thrust into the ground, stopping the electricity from flowing through his body.

Three of his tentacles originated from a water node on his back.

However, that momentary loss of focus caused the fire jutsu to evaporate most of the water covering his palms.

Burn marks had already begun appearing on Yukio's hands despite the water coating.

The water was too hot.

Yukio instantly increased the chakra output of Suikiri, and in the next second, the steam formed from the fire heating the water began converting back into water, becoming part of Suikiri.

Finally, Yukio stopped just a few meters before the barrier, avoiding electrocution.

The fire crossbow-shaped projectile finally dissipated.

Another explosion occurred, and Kakashi appeared above Yukio, delivering an axe kick downward.

Yukio performed a cross kick to meet it.

Kakashi grinned.

Yukio realized a second later why when he found himself trapped in a genjutsu.

Yukio then noticed veins bulging out of Kakashi's forehead, which hadn't been visible previously, and understood the reason for the genjutsu.

Kick met kick, and a crunching sound echoed.

"Fuck, I forgot he could use Eight Gates," Yukio thought, quickly moving the tentacles toward him.

Kakashi closed the gates, returning his chakra to normal, creating an explosion beneath his foot, and launching himself away from the location.

Yukio created a shadow clone intending to heal his leg, but Kakashi didn't give him any breathing room as he created a shadow clone himself, both throwing fast projectiles laced with lightning chakra at him.

The number of projectiles was fewer than before, but their speed was so great that Yukio and his clone had to use their hands as well.

Yukio's clone also created three tentacles, leading to ten limbs/appendages colliding with the projectiles.

"Didn't know you'd complete the fire variant of the jutsu. Its name should be Hokiri," one of the Yukios said.

"Hehe, did you forget what name you told Itachi? Fushigi no Mizu," Kakashi grinned while increasing the number of projectiles.

"Oh, right, I told that to Itachi. It seems he didn't get a chance to create this jutsu," Yukio said, both he and his clone merging the tentacles to form a dense umbrella.

The umbrella rotated at high speed, deflecting the kunai and shurikens coming their way.

Some kunai not in the umbrella's path were deflected by Yukio's hands.

"Should we end this? I'm running out of chakra, and you seem to be as well," Kakashi stated, dispelling his clone and summoning two swords.

Even if they were of low quality, they should withstand a few full-power strikes, which was enough in this scenario.

"I guess it's time to end this," Yukio said, dispelling his shadow clone and one tentacle.

In the next instant, water covered his broken leg.

He placed his leg on the ground as if it were normal.

Two of the water tentacles began rotating like drills, and Yukio bent his body.

Kakashi did the same with his swords, blue lightning dangerously flowing through them.

A leaf hovered in the air, landing between them.

As soon as it touched the ground, both dashed toward each other.

Sword met drill.

Water met lightning.

Raikiri met Suikiri.

A loud explosion came from behind Kakashi.

He used explosions to increase his momentum and push back Yukio.

It worked!

In the next instant, the water drills/tentacles were cut in two, with Yukio already crouching to dodge them.

He lost his balance on the side where his leg was broken.

"If your leg hadn't been broken, you might have won this," Kakashi said, delivering a vertical slash downward with both swords at Yukio.

"Nah, I think it wouldn't have made any difference," Yukio said from behind, causing Kakashi to feel a sense of imbalance.

He noticed a change in surroundings and realized he had been teleported out.

His sword made contact with the ground, and Miyuki, who was sitting nearby, jumped out of her couch as a tremor caused the earth to sink.

Luckily, she had sealed her couch in her storage seal, keeping it safe from the clear act of terrorism.

Kakashi sealed his swords and covered his Sharingan with his forehead protector.

He mentally replayed the battle, trying to figure out when Yukio had created a shadow clone.

**

"Fuck," Kakashi cursed, realizing something.

"What is it?" Itachi asked.

"I forgot to take my sword from that bastard."

"Oh... Don't worry. Nii-chan won't sell it... probably," Itachi tried to comfort him but realized the situation wasn't ideal.

"I'll kill him if he does that."

Itachi hummed, his gaze wandering to his brother, who was currently arguing with Naruto.

"Those two really have a tendency to fight whenever they meet," Itachi shook his head helplessly.

"Well, some people are just like that," Kakashi said absentmindedly, recalling his genin days under Minato.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, but I created Fushigi no Mizu," Kakashi's words caused Itachi to blink.

"Wait, what? How? When? Why?" Itachi asked, recalling the jutsu.

Yukio had jokingly made that name for the fire variant of Suikiri or Raikiri, a pseudo-nature transformation of Rasengan.

"Hehe, too many questions. Let me show you," Kakashi said, outstretching his hand and smiling mischievously behind his mask.

He aimed his hand at Hiruzen, who was giving a speech on the podium.

***

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