CHAPTER 591: CHAPTER 79: WITNESSING

"Shadow Clone?"

Su Xiao landed from mid-air, halting his advance toward Kakashi. In his perception, the three-headed dog was clearly real; however, the moment the blade slashed down, an unusual feeling emerged.

"Roar!"

A roaring sound came from underneath, as a dog head broke through the ground, biting towards Su Xiao’s lower leg.

"Earth Jutsu: Rising Core."

Not far away, Kakashi struck the ground with his hand, and a stone pillar rose from beneath Su Xiao.

The pillar’s force was extremely strong and appeared very suddenly, making it hard for Su Xiao to maintain balance, causing his body to lean sideways.

With a crunching sound, the three-headed dog’s bloody mouth bit into Su Xiao’s lower leg, but its fangs shattered as it bit into the hard energy shield instead of his leg.

The Dragon Slash flipped in Su Xiao’s hand, changing from a forward grip to a reverse grip.

Zap Zap Zap～

The sharp screech of lightning came forth. While Su Xiao tangled with the three-headed dog, Kakashi had already charged forward, lightning surging in his hand, aiming straight for Su Xiao’s chest.

Su Xiao didn’t pay attention to Kakashi, only forming a 150-strength energy shield in front of him, then thrust the reverse grip knife into the ground.

The majority of the blade embedded into the ground, followed by a muffled grunt, signaling it hit the three-headed dog underground.

Su Xiao gripped the knife handle with both hands and twisted. Blue Steel Shadow energy clung to the surface of the Dragon Slash, and two screams echoed from below—Inuzuka Kiba and her ninja dog.

Dozens of energy thorns emerged from the sword tip, silencing the underground.

Drawing the bloodstained long knife, Su Xiao looked toward Kakashi.

At this moment, Kakashi stood about one meter away, his palm against the energy shield in front of Su Xiao. As Su Xiao withdrew the energy shield, he slashed at Kakashi.

As a friend of Kai, Kakashi’s taijutsu wasn’t weak, and he narrowly evaded the slash by leaning back.

The long knife grazed the tip of Kakashi’s nose, and the Blue Steel Shadow energy seared his cheek with a slight sting.

After dodging this close call, Kakashi didn’t look well. He approached Su Xiao to rescue Inuzuka Kiba, but he failed, and now retreating from Su Xiao seemed difficult.

Kakashi wasn’t ruthless enough; if he were, he could have ignored Inuzuka Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba was determined for revenge and thought she could engage Su Xiao in close combat.

However, during the actual fight, Inuzuka Kiba found it wasn’t the case. The enemy’s blade speed was incredibly fast and the swordsmanship was exquisite; retreating after engaging was impossible.

Inuzuka Kiba paid for her recklessness, dying beneath the earth at Su Xiao’s feet; Kakashi paid for her recklessness by getting into close quarters with Su Xiao.

Su Xiao wielded his long knife in continuous slashes, leaving silver streaks in the air.

Kakashi retreated continuously, miraculously dodging four of Su Xiao’s slashes, now holding a kunai with cold sweat on his face.

Clang Clang Clang...

The Dragon Slash clashed with the kunai, sparks flying, leaving obvious notches on the kunai’s edge. Kakashi blocked a dozen of Su Xiao’s slashes, to Su Xiao’s surprise.

"Inch Break."

Su Xiao’s slicing speed suddenly increased, reaching a dizzying level, intensifying the pressure on Kakashi.

With each slash from Su Xiao, a blade aura flew out. In less than a few seconds, Kakashi’s green vest became tattered, showing intersecting knife wounds on his chest.

After exchanging a few more blows with Kakashi, Su Xiao sensed something was wrong. When Kakashi got up close, despite his disheveled state, he wasn’t slain quickly—unlike their previous encounter.

Su Xiao observed Kakashi’s changes meticulously, suddenly noticing the blood vessels on Kakashi’s face bulging, and the rapid flow of chakra within his body, as if unlocking the body’s limits.

"Is this... Eight Gates?"

Su Xiao finally understood why Kakashi could engage in close combat for so long: Kakashi had opened the second gate, Rest Gate, of the Eight Gates—his limit.

Considering Kakashi’s relationship with Kai, it wasn’t surprising that Kakashi could open gates.

Even after opening the second gate, Kakashi’s close combat ability was still not on Su Xiao’s level.

Su Xiao sidestepped, raised his long knife above his head, and after a quick power charge, slashed down.

This diagonal slash was heavy and swift, and Kakashi instinctively used a kunai to block.

With a clink, the kunai broke in response, and the long knife directly slashed into Kakashi.

Slice—the sound of blood splattering accompanied the slash across Kakashi’s side face, with the wound stretching from the chest down to the abdomen.

From Su Xiao’s perspective, he could faintly see Kakashi’s beating heart.

Kakashi’s black mask was cut open, and before blood flowed from the wound on his cheek, Su Xiao glimpsed Kakashi’s face.

Kakashi’s lower face was ordinary, with no big lips or buck teeth.

Blue Steel Shadow energy invaded Kakashi’s body, causing cold sweat from pain and his body began to stiffen.

Su Xiao wouldn’t miss such an opportunity, slashing at Kakashi.

At this moment, a strong sense of crisis emerged.

Boom!

The kunai in Kakashi’s hand suddenly exploded, engulfing Su Xiao in the flames. Despite forming an energy shield at the explosion’s instance, he was still somewhat late.

When the flames subsided, blood seeped from Su Xiao’s arm; a kunai fragment lodged in his arm.

Looking at Kakashi, his arm was blasted off with severe burns on one side of his face.

If Su Xiao had delayed a second in activating the shield, he would have been critically injured, if not killed.

It wasn’t the kunai in Kakashi’s hand that exploded. Instead, he had wrapped an Exploding Talisman around the kunai handle. After being seriously injured by Su Xiao’s slash, knowing it was a certain death situation, he decisively activated the Exploding Talisman.

This Exploding Talisman wasn’t ordinary; it was a special one developed by the Second Hokage, with five times the power of a regular one. Only top Konoha Village ninjas could obtain it in the Ninja World.

"Ha~ So this is the result."

Kakashi spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Let’s go to hell together."

Kakashi looked at Su Xiao not far away, a smile appearing on his blood-stained face.

Su Xiao’s pupils constricted as a crisis emerged from below.

"Lightning Shield..."

Kakashi pressed his arm on the ground, channeling a surge of lightning underground. It was a no-seal ninjutsu under development consuming a huge amount of chakra. Without the Sharingan, using this ninjutsu in actual combat was impossible.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

A desperate shout came from afar. Upon hearing this familiar voice, Kakashi, who was ready to go down together with the enemy, paused because the voice was too familiar—it was his subordinate, Naruto.

Clang!

A blade aura flashed, and Kakashi’s movement froze as the lightning on his hand dissipated.

Su Xiao looked at the ground beneath him. He had already perceived Kakashi’s attack. The ninjutsu wasn’t faster than his blade aura—it was Su Xiao’s victory.

With a thud, Kakashi collapsed to the ground, with his head severed, dying instantly.

There was no notification for receiving the World Source, but a Light Golden Treasure Chest dropped to the ground.

Su Xiao stepped forward, picked up the treasure chest, and stored it away before extracting the kunai fragment from his arm.

The scene of Kakashi being beheaded played out before Naruto’s eyes. Naruto stood dazed, eyes wide open, seemingly unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Kakashi-sensei?"