Chapter 514: First Pokemon Battle
Chapter 514: First Pokemon Battle
Kakashi furrowed his brows in thought. He was well aware of Obito's scheming. It was obvious that he wanted to take advantage of Charmeleon's evolutionary advantage to win a few more times.
"I think that's fine," Kakashi said after a moment's consideration.
Although Obito's intentions were not pure, this could indeed be beneficial for the nurturing of their ninja beasts, so Kakashi saw no problem with it.
"Bellelba won't be participating," Yukari Lin spoke up on Goldeen's behalf.
In its current state, Goldeen was simply incapable of battling. It could ram its opponents in the water, but on land, it was utterly helpless.
Yukari wouldn't force Goldeen into a meaningless battle just to save face.
The other disciples nodded in agreement. There was no helping this situation.
"Youth is all about fighting!" Might Guy exclaimed, believing that battles could be a form of training as well.
"No issues with Sorua here," Itachi also nodded.
"Then we have four, perfect for our usual practice battle rules," Obito said excitedly, his eagerness palpable.
The rest of the disciples had no objections.
The draw results were quickly determined: Charmeleon was number one, Sorua was number two, Geodude was number three, and Leon was number four.
Obito felt a twinge of disappointment. He had been hoping for Charmeleon to crush Geodude in the first round.
"You mustn't lose to Leon," Obito silently cheered for Geodude in his heart.
If Geodude lost in the first round, Charmeleon wouldn't get a chance to face it in the second round.
Even if Charmeleon became the strongest ninja beast among the disciples, Obito would still feel regret if it didn't defeat Geodude. That would give Kakashi an excuse.
Leon gave Obito a perplexed look.
"That's what bonds are all about!" Might Guy laughed heartily at Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled wryly. With only four ninja beasts, it was inevitable that they would face each other at some point.
"First match, Charmeleon versus Sorua," Kakashi volunteered as the battle referee.
Upon hearing Kakashi's voice, both Charmeleon and Sorua promptly made their way to the battle arena.
"Char," Charmeleon sighed.
Charmeleon and Sorua had a good relationship. Not only did Sorua translate for Obito, but the two beasts also often chatted together.
Now, facing his closest translator in battle, Charmeleon felt conflicted about fighting.
"Let's give it our all. Holding back won't make a victory meaningful, and we won't gain much from it," Sorua said with an open mind.
Although Charmeleon had evolved once, Sorua wasn't intimidated.
In Sorua's eyes, both Charmeleon and Obito were a bit slow, and it was hard to predict who would win in a fight between them.
"Char," Charmeleon nodded.
"Begin!" Kakashi shouted as he saw that the two beasts were ready.
As soon as Kakashi's voice fell, Sorua immediately gathered chakra and cast an illusion, causing its appearance to change instantly in the eyes of the others.
Obito watched as a duplicate of himself appeared in the battle arena, a puzzled look on his face. What was this trickery, and why had Sorua transformed into him?
Sorua's figure disappeared, leaving only "Obito" and Charmeleon in the arena.
Itachi shook his head, believing that Sorua's tactic was flawed.
If used on any other combination, such as Kakashi and Geodude or Might Guy and Leon, this strategy would have been effective.
But it simply didn't work on Obito and Charmeleon. Not only did it fail to distract Charmeleon, but it might even excite it further.
"Charmeleon!" Charmeleon charged forward without hesitation.
Initially, it had intended to hold back a little, but since Sorua had transformed into Obito, it showed no mercy.
Charmeleon spewed out a cloud of pitch-black smoke, engulfing both itself and Sorua.
"Obito, how useless are you? Charmeleon isn't afraid of you at all!" Sorua's exasperated voice rang out in everyone's minds.
Obito: ...
He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at that moment.
Sorua, who had been disrespectful to him, was now being thrashed by Charmeleon, but it seemed like Charmeleon genuinely wanted to beat him up as well.
The smoke dissipated quickly, revealing a bruised and battered Sorua.
"Damn you, Charmeleon! I'm getting serious now!" Sorua cast its illusion again, reverting to its original form. It then opened its mouth and spewed a massive wave of flames toward Charmeleon.
Faced with the fierce blaze, Charmeleon immediately retreated. However, the wall of fire split into several streams, surrounding it. Charmeleon couldn't dodge in time and had no choice but to spew its own flames to try and counter the attack.
But something unexpected happened. The flames rushing toward Charmeleon seemed to be on a different layer, as if they weren't in the same plane of existence. Theoretically, they should have collided, but Charmeleon's flames passed right through them.
Sorua smiled cunningly and raised its claw, swiping at Charmeleon's body from the side and sending it stumbling backward three steps.
"Come on, Charmeleon! Don't tell me you're going to lose to a Sorua that hasn't even evolved yet?" Obito couldn't help but cheer for Charmeleon when he saw it being pushed back.
The flames on Charmeleon's tail blazed more intensely as it thought about how unbearable Obito's taunts would be if it actually lost.
Sorua repeated its tactic, spitting out fireballs at Charmeleon, just like Itachi's Phoenix Fire jutsu.
In Charmeleon's eyes, those fireballs burned fiercely, and it could even see the air distorting from the heat. These fireballs were as real as could be.
"Roar!"
Suppressing its urge to dodge, Charmeleon opened its mouth wide and gathered most of its chakra in its throat, converting it into fire-attribute chakra before exhaling forcefully.
A fire pillar as thick as an adult's thigh shot out from Charmeleon's mouth, racing toward Sorua. Even as Sorua's fireballs were about to hit Charmeleon, it stood its ground without moving an inch.
"Ahh, it's so hot! Itachi, help me!" Sorua cried out to Itachi as the flames singed it.
It had been betting that Charmeleon would dodge, so it had been using chakra to maintain the illusion and hadn't protected its body.
"It's a pity that Sorua has just mastered the Fire-style chakra nature transformation. It would have been better if it could mix reality with illusions," Itachi shook his head.
At the moment, Sorua lacked offensive capabilities, and although Itachi had been teaching it fire-style jutsu, it had not yet mastered any fire-style ninjutsu and had only learned the basics of fire-style chakra nature transformation.
"Charmeleon wins!" Kakashi announced the end of the battle.
Obito straightened his chest and walked over to Charmeleon, patting its shoulder. "Well done. You performed excellently, as expected of one I trained with my own hands."
"Roar!" Charmeleon couldn't help but spew a burst of flames at Obito.
But Obito was all too familiar with Charmeleon's antics. He dodged the flames with a quick tilt of his head and then gave Charmeleon a kind look.
"Fire Dragon~" Charmeleon pointed at Sorua and then raised both hands in a French military salute.
It felt it could explain itself—the reason it had breathed fire at Obito was that Sorua had transformed into him during the battle, and it hadn't fully recovered from the fight, leading to this misunderstanding. It definitely didn't hold any grudges against Obito.
"Go on, I'm listening," Obito said, entering his Blaze Release Chakra Mode and gathering flames in his hand.
"Obito, don't hog the arena. There's still one more battle in the first round," Kakashi interrupted, reminding him.
Obito dispersed the flames and exited his Blaze Release Chakra Mode, leading Charmeleon away from the arena.
He was just playing around with Charmeleon; he wouldn't actually fight it. If he wanted to spar, he'd have to wait for another opportunity under the pretext of training.
Charmeleon shot a grateful glance at Kakashi. At that moment, Kakashi was the best referee in its eyes.
Itachi carried the now-healed Sorua to the side and began pointing out its mistakes during the battle.
"Itachi, why didn't you say something earlier? I might have won if you had," Sorua nudged Itachi lightly with its head.
"Well, it was a battle between the two of you, and it's not good for spectators to interfere," Itachi replied.
"But we'll be fighting together in the future. Are you saying you won't give me any pointers during battles then?" Sorua asked, its eyes widening.
"Of course not," Itachi shook his head.
Upon further reflection, Itachi realized the truth in Sorua's words. Battles between summoned beasts shouldn't be approached in the same way as human shinobi battles. As their contractors, they should be able to provide direction and suggestions.
However, since the first round of battles was already over, Itachi decided not to bring this up immediately and instead planned to discuss it with Kakashi and the others after the matches concluded.
G Geodude and Leon entered the arena together, their eyes gleaming with fighting spirit as they sized each other up.
Both beasts were eager to win and didn't want to let their contractors down.
"Begin!" Kakashi shouted.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Geodude channeled its chakra, creating five illusionary clones that were identical to its actual body. The six Geodudes ran in a crisscrossing pattern, making it impossible for Leon to distinguish the real one with his eyes alone.
Leon took a deep breath, focusing his mind and tapping into his Wave Guiding power to sense his opponent's location.
This ability was innate to him, allowing him to perceive others' emotions and, to some extent, gauge their strength.
With his Wave Guiding power, Leon ignored the illusions and locked onto the real Geodude, channeling chakra into his body and surging forward with incredible speed.
"Lightning Flash!"
Leon's charging figure collided with the running Geodude, sending it tumbling backward several times.
"It has perception-type abilities?" Kakashi wondered as he watched Leon strike Geodude directly.
Although Geodude's clones weren't physical entities like a Shadow Clone, their appearances were very similar to the original, making it challenging to distinguish them in most cases.
"Rock!" Geodude quickly climbed to its feet. The previous attack hadn't caused it much damage.
After its clone tactic failed, Geodude swiftly changed strategies. As it continued running to dodge Leon's assaults, it started gathering chakra and converting it into Earth-style chakra nature.
Just as Leon rushed forward again, Geodude spun in a circle, performing the Sand Shower jutsu. Leon's eyes were filled with sand and dust, causing him to shut them momentarily. When he opened them again, his vision was blurry.
Geodude showed no mercy as it channeled chakra and rammed into Leon, then gathered a massive amount of chakra to create a one-meter-tall boulder above Leon, which it dropped onto him.
Sensing the rapidly falling boulder, Leon disregarded his stinging eyes and channeled chakra into his palm, swinging it upward.
At only seventy centimeters tall, Leon appeared delicate and fragile beneath the one-meter boulder, especially with Yukari Lin's worried gaze upon him. Yet, Leon's tiny blue claws collided with the giant rock.
Boom!
Accompanied by a loud crash, the one-meter-tall boulder shattered into several thick cracks.
"Guy-sensei's ninja beast is so strong," Obito breathed, impressed.
Such a large rock—even Obito wasn't sure he could pulverize it with a single punch as cleanly as Leon had.
"How can mere rocks compare to our rigorously trained bodies?" Might Guy laughed heartily and gave Leon a thumbs-up.
Leon's impressive display of strength didn't faze Geodude. It knew that Leon's eyes were irritated, impairing his vision.
Geodude used Lightning Flash to dart behind Leon and ram into his back.
Already struggling with the sand and dust in his eyes, Leon took the full brunt of Geodude's attack and tumbled forward.
Sizzle!
Geodude seized the opportunity, opening its mouth wide. Chakra gathered in its mouth and transformed into Lightning Release chakra, electrifying its fangs as it bit down on Leon's leg.
In a real battle, if one's leg is injured and unable to move, it's basically as good as being crippled.
"I can't believe Geodude is already capable of using other nature transformations," Itachi said, a hint of astonishment in his voice as he thought to himself that it was impressive for the earliest-hatched ninja beast to have such abilities.
"Metal Claw!"
Gritting his teeth, Leon swiftly raised his claw, which was glowing with a metallic sheen, and swung it at Geodude.
Geodude didn't expect Leon, who was bitten by its Lightning Fang, to still be able to gather chakra and counter-attack. Caught off guard, it was directly hit and sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground.
The damage inflicted by Leon's attack was even greater than he had imagined, and Geodude barely managed to scramble to its feet, mustering all its strength.
Kakashi noticed this and furrowed his brows slightly.
The power of Leon's Taijutsu seemed to exceed his expectations. Geodude already had a robust physique, yet it struggled to get back up after being struck by Leon's claw, nearly falling to the ground.
Mu Yue, who was observing the battle, wore an expression that suggested she had figured something out.
Since the Pokemon could use chakra, it was evident that they had been localized by the system.
However, not only did Pokemon have type advantages and disadvantages, but they also had many more attributes than the chakra attributes in the Naruto world, leading Mu Yue to speculate that the system might have retained attributes similar to fire and earth while eliminating those unique to the Pokemon world, like steel and dragon.
But, as the battle unfolded, it became clear that the type advantages and disadvantages were preserved in an extremely unique way.
All ninjas possessed chakra, but each person's chakra was slightly different. Strong sensory ninjas could identify people through their chakra, and exceptionally skilled ones like Kaguya could even discern past lives through it.
Additionally, some people's chakra had unique properties, such as Kushina Uzumaki's, which could suppress the tailed beasts, leading to her being chosen as a jinchuriki.
After the system localized the Pokemon, they all possessed a unique type of chakra that inherited the type advantages and disadvantages from the Pokemon world. This was why Leon's Fighting-type chakra shattered Geodude's rock, and his Metal Claw nearly took Geodude out of the fight—both Fighting and Steel types were strong against Rock-type Pokemon.
"Only battles between Pokemon will have the original world's type advantages and disadvantages," Mu Yue concluded. "When fighting against localized ninja beasts from the Naruto world, only the Naruto world's chakra type advantages and disadvantages apply."
Mu Yue didn't think this would have much of an impact. Type advantages and disadvantages were usually more important in games, but in reality, it was more about training and developing one's abilities.
Geodude slowly approached Leon, who was struggling to stand. It needed to get closer to use its rock-based techniques effectively.
Leon, with his hands supporting his body, forced himself to stand up shakily, his eyes filled with wariness as he watched Geodude approach.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the two beasts, and without a doubt, the battle had entered its final stage.
Without hesitation, Geodude used its chakra to turn the soil into sand and flung it at Leon, aiming to disrupt his vision again.
Compared to the rock-dropping technique that consumed more chakra, the sand attack was more cost-effective, and it was a good way to create openings.
Leon hadn't expected Geodude to use this move again, and once more, his eyes were affected.
"Agility!"
Bang!
Geodude used the last of its strength to charge at Leon, knocking him to the ground.
Just when Obito, Itachi, and the others thought the battle was over, Leon, despite his poor condition, managed to swing his claw, which emanated a metallic gleam, at Geodude.
However, that claw stopped just three centimeters away from Geodude, and then it fell to the ground in front of it.
Reacting quickly, Geodude created a small stone and threw it at Leon's head, rendering him unable to continue fighting.
Itachi shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face. If only Leon's arm had been a little longer, he might have turned the tables and won. Losing mobility was just too detrimental.
Yukari Lin and Mu Yue each tended to one of the Pokemon, providing treatment, while Kakashi and Might Guy swiftly approached to assess their conditions.
"What a youthful and passionate battle!" Might Guy exclaimed, tears of emotion in his eyes for Leon's valiant effort.
He didn't mind that Leon had lost the fight.
Leon had come close to turning the tables twice, and his unwavering determination, even in dire straits, reminded Might Guy of his own efforts to defeat Kakashi. He believed that Leon would eventually emerge victorious, just as he had.
Sensing Might Guy's sincere emotion, Leon, who had received treatment, offered a slight smile. Indeed, it was this determination that drove him to strive to defeat Geodude, and as Might Guy's contracted Pokemon, he refused to be outdone by any other beast.
"You performed perfectly, even beyond my expectations," Kakashi said, patting Geodude's head and smiling.
Geodude had displayed remarkable intelligence, and Kakashi had not only trained it in cultivation but also in tactics—the spinning sand attack was his idea.
"Graw!" Geodude let out a happy growl.
In that moment, as Kakashi praised it, Geodude felt that all the hardships of the battle were worth it.
Watching Kakashi and Might Guy share such harmonious moments with their Pokemon, Obito turned to look at Charmeleon, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Something about the dynamic between them felt off, and he wondered if it was his fault.
"Regardless, Charmeleon still has a good chance of winning," Obito said, recalling the results of his tests of Charmeleon's strength. He believed it could emerge victorious.
PS: I originally wanted to finish this in one go, but it's too late now.
(End of Chapter)
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