Phi-Fic Chapter 495 The battle begins
Chapter 495 The battle begins
As Kizaru's disciple, Itachi possesses more of the youthful spirit expected of someone his age compared to his counterpart in the original timeline.
This is something that Kizaru desperately wanted to see in Itachi.
This genius no longer needs to bear the burdens of war, the conflicts between his family and village—things that shouldn't belong to someone his age. Thanks to Kizaru's interference, these burdens have been completely removed from his life.
Youthful spirit and vigorous demeanor—this is the kind of temperament that Itachi, and the younger generation of the Land of Light, should possess.
Under peace, in the Land of Light that is gradually moving towards a golden age, the younger generation does not need to worry about war or conspiracies. Kizaru, Tobirama, Hashirama and many other powerful figures have created a stage for these young people. They only need to unleash their talents on this stage of the future.
When Kizaru heard Itachi say "I'm always ready" to Yamato, his smile deepened.
Yamato, however, didn't pay much attention to Itachi's words, which she considered to be those of a child.
In her opinion, Itachi might be the genius Kizaru mentioned, but no matter how talented he was, his strength was limited at his age.
Not to mention, Yamato is no ordinary person either; she has her own pride.
"Your name is Uchiha Itachi, right? I'll have a match with you. If I win, you have to do everything you can to help me graduate from this school as soon as possible," Yamato said very seriously.
Itachi didn't look at Kizaru for advice. Facing Yamato's challenge, he confidently said, "If I win, you must follow my instructions for the rest of your studies."
"No problem!" In order to return to Wano Country as soon as possible, Yamato no longer cared about his behavior of bullying the child.
"Clap clap clap!" Seeing that the two had reached a bet, Kizaru smiled and applauded for them, then said, "How about I be the witness!"
Yamato looked at Kizaru with a hint of suspicion in his eyes, as if questioning whether Kizaru would resort to underhanded tactics during the match.
Kizaru ignored Yamato's distrust and spoke with his most confident tone, "I'm not like Kaido. You're not as important as you think. Your father paid a heavy price as tuition to be able to come to the Land of Light."
"I don't want that guy's arrangements!" Yamato said, her voice filled with annoyance at the mention of Kaido.
"When Kaido was ten years old, he became the strongest soldier in his kingdom, and then his king sold him to the Navy as part of a deal. Unwilling to be treated as an object, he chose to escape, fleeing to the sea and becoming a pirate. To him, you are his daughter, and also his creation. If you want to get rid of him, words alone won't work. Only by defeating him can you gain your freedom." Kizaru calmly recounted Kaido's past. Under Yamato's probing gaze and Itachi's thoughtful expression, he gave Yamato one last warning, "If you want to defeat Kaido, this is the only place that can help you grow quickly. If you can't maintain a calm mindset, you will miss the most precious two years and also miss your only chance to defeat Kaido."
After Kizaru finished speaking, he stopped paying attention to Yamato's reaction, snapped his fingers, resumed his nonchalant and lazy smile, walked between Yamato and Itachi, and led the way towards the academy gate.
"Don't stand there, come in with me!"
Yamato was somewhat moved by Kizaru's words. She stood there, still holding onto some of the stubbornness she had inherited, but Kizaru's last words kept echoing in her mind.
Is this place really that good? Is there really any hope here that can help me defeat Kaido? Is this country truly the hope of the sea?
As Yamato fell into deep thought, Itachi's voice rang out from the side, "We should go, Yamato."
Having just heard more about Yamato and her father's background from Kizaru's words, Itachi's opinion of this seemingly unruly woman who was unreasonable towards her teacher changed somewhat.
He felt that Yamato resembled his younger self in some ways. Back then, he hadn't formally become Kizaru's apprentice. He was in his clan, at home, and the things he heard most often were, "Itachi, you must work hard!", "Itachi, you are the clan's hope!", "Itachi, the clan even chose to reconcile with the village and the Shimura clan for your sake!", "Itachi, you cannot let the clan down!"
These seemingly encouraging words constantly exert pressure, as if Itachi had become the embodiment of the ambition of the entire Uchiha clan to compete for the Hokage position accumulated over decades. He was no longer himself, or even an individual, but a work of art shaped by the entire clan.
Because of his past experiences, Itachi felt more sympathy for Yamato. He was grateful to have met Kizaru-sensei, who helped him find himself and his lost childhood. He wanted to become the next Kizaru-sensei and use his own strength to help others.
If he could, he would like to become Yamato's "Kizaru-sensei"!
Coming to her senses, Yamato sensed goodwill from Itachi's tone and eyes. Yamato always reciprocated kindness tenfold, so she gave Itachi a bright smile and said, "Sorry, I was just spacing out."
"Let's go! Kizaru-sensei is already far away," Itachi reminded him again.
"Okay!" Yamato replied and followed behind Itachi, chasing after Kizaru.
Yamato followed behind Itachi, looking at Itachi's somewhat short figure, and recalled his betting match just now, feeling a sense of shame rising in his heart.
In order to return to Wano Country and because of Kizaru's influence, he bullied the younger Itachi by proposing a bet. Wasn't that going a bit too far?
As she followed along, Yamato pondered whether she should cancel the betting match later, but her attachment to Wano Country made her unwilling to give up any opportunity to leave.
After much deliberation, as Yamato followed Itachi to a corner of the academy's sports field, he finally spoke up: "Um... Itachi!"
Hearing Yamato's call, Itachi stopped and turned to look at Yamato.
Yamato scratched his head, then said with concern and apology, "I don't mean to bully the younger ones in the match later, but Wano Country is waiting for me to return. So, I'll try to hold back and not let you embarrass yourself in front of the teacher."
Yamato's words came from the bottom of her heart, and she genuinely cared about Itachi, but the only problem she overlooked was that Itachi was a genius who had already surpassed the limitations of age.
Faced with Yamato's concern, Itachi was not angry because of the content of Yamato's words. The precocious Itachi had long passed the age of getting angry because of a few uninformed words of disdain from others.
Itachi looked at Yamato and earnestly reminded him, "Don't underestimate me because of my age."
Yamato was slightly taken aback by Itachi's answer, but did not reply. He simply thought to himself that it was the child's pride.
Ahead of the two, Kizaru stood under the shade of a tree in the corner of the playground. In front of him was a small arena marked with white lines, one of the venues used for internal competitions at the school.
"Gentlemen, let's have our duel right here! I'll set up a barrier to ensure no one disturbs your match, and your battle won't affect the outside world, so feel free to fight!" Kizaru smiled at the two, looking forward to the upcoming battle.
At Kizaru's call, Itachi and Yamato entered the arena and stood facing each other on either side of the white line in the center of the arena.
The two men, gazing at each other, remained completely silent, patiently awaiting the start of the competition.
"Three, two, one, start!"
As Kizaru finished speaking, the barrier rose, and the competition officially began.
As Kaido's daughter and a pirate in the One Piece world, Yamato inherited her father's fighting style. She doesn't employ many tactics or strategies; she simply raises her spiked club and kindly reminds him, "My strength is terrifying! Itachi!"
“Strength alone is not enough,” Itachi replied calmly.
After the two finished speaking, Yamato saw Itachi standing still without making a move. Having lost all patience, Yamato chose to take the initiative and launched an attack. She picked up her spiked club, rushed in front of Itachi, and then smashed the club down on him.
The spiked club whistled through the air as it hurtled toward Itachi's somewhat short frame. Yamato watched helplessly as the club drew ever closer to Itachi, but Itachi remained standing still with an expressionless face, which surprised her.
"Aren't you going to dodge?" Yamato shouted a warning. At the same time, she held back her strength and changed the trajectory of the spiked club just as it was about to hit Itachi, causing the club to pass by Itachi.
"Hey!" Yamato was just about to question Itachi about what was going on when she saw Itachi in front of her suddenly twist and turn into a flock of crows that rushed towards her.
Caught off guard, Yamato waved his spiked club to scare away the crows while observing his surroundings. He noticed that the scattered crows had gathered and reassembled into a weasel's body a few meters to his right.
"What kind of ability is this? Itachi, did you also eat a Devil Fruit?" Yamato looked at the reappearing Itachi with some curiosity.
“This is ninjutsu, the power of the Land of Light,” Itachi replied simply.
"Ninjutsu?" Yamato had heard of and seen those so-called ninjas and ninjutsu in Wano Country, but compared to what Itachi had shown, the ninjas of Wano Country were simply no match. "An interesting ability!"
With a word of praise, Yamato has learned her lesson. She raised her spiked club, covering it with Armament Haki while simultaneously using Observation Haki to pinpoint Itachi's location.
"This time, I won't make a mistake!" Yamato shouted, leaping into the air and raising his spiked club high, smashing it down at Itachi.
Facing Yamato descending from the sky, Itachi quickly formed hand seals and used Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. He opened his mouth and spewed a huge fireball at Yamato, enough to completely engulf it.
Yamato, caught off guard by Itachi's counterattack, quickly transformed in mid-air into a werewolf, and exhaled a breath of freezing air as flames approached and heat waves swept over her.
The collision of fire and ice generated a burst of steam that enveloped the two, but ultimately Yamato's freezing air prevailed, freezing the fireball. (End of Chapter)