Chapter 59: 59. Zoro vs Kakashi
Kakashi changes his tactic to close combat after knowing Zoro can find the real him and even shoot a strong energy blade. Hiding will be useless, so it's better to confront Zoro directly now.
Kakashi opens the mask that covers his left eye, showing his sharingan before making some hand seals that make his right hand covered with lightning.
Zoro grins seeing Kakashi's Chidori. It hasn't gained the name Raikiri at this time it seems because Kakashi still calls it Chidori when performing this jutsu.
Kakashi then moves to attack Zoro. The lightning only covers his right hand, but it still makes Kakashi able to move at a very high speed which is also the reason why Chidori is only safe to be used with sharingan.
With his speed, Kakashi can reach Zoro in a split second and aim his Chidori at Zoro's stomach. Among the spectators, only Fugaku can see Kakashi's movement with his sharingan.
Mikoto will be able to see it with her sharingan, but she is more focused on taking care of baby Sasuke now, so she doesn't even watch the fight properly.
But even without activating her sharingan, she still can somehow see Kakashi because of her experience as a ninja. Tsunade and Kushina also can barely trace Kakashi's high speed movement with their experienced eyes.
Still, even they aren't sure they can react to that speed if they face Kakashi themselves. That's why they are very surprised when they see Zoro grab Kakashi's wrist with his free right hand before Kakashi's Chidori hits him.
Kakashi himself is the most surprised, but he recovers quickly and swings a kunai with his left hand at Zoro's hand, making Zoro release his wrist.
Then Kakashi starts swinging his Chidori at Zoro as if his straightened hand is a knife. Zoro grins as he blocks all of Kakashi's high speed swings using just Sandai Kitetsu in his left hand.
Kakashi might be fast, but Zoro has fought someone much faster before. Compared to Raikage, Kakashi is still slow enough. Raikage's speed is so fast that even most Uchihas' sharingan can't keep up with it.
For Zoro whose Observation Haki has grown a lot since the battle with Raikage, Kakashi's speed is something he can sense easily. In a few years, he's sure Kakashi can be much faster, but by then, he will also be much stronger, so it won't change much.
Kakashi can't believe all of his attacks are blocked by Zoro's sword. Zoro even makes sure to use the flat side of his blade to avoid cutting Kakashi's hand even if the lightning chakra will protect it.
It's just that Sandai Kitetsu is a bloodthirsty sword and Zoro might get too excited that he might forget to stop his sword from cutting his opponent. Also, it's a good move to taunt Kakashi without saying anything.
Zoro just keeps blocking Kakashi's attacks until the Chidori disappears. Kakashi doesn't have any choice but to retreat to avoid Zoro's counterattack and prepare his next attacks.
"Hmm, this won't do. I want a fiercer battle, but it seems you alone isn't enough. How about letting the other brats join the fight, Ms. Tsunade?"
"Brats? You are also still a brat like them and some of them are older than you. Well, what do you think, kids? As you can see, he's strong. Do you want to fight him together with Kakashi?"
Tsunade asks the other kids who are surprised by how struggling Kakashi is against someone his age. All of them acknowledge Kakashi as a genius and a strong ninja among their peers. Yet he can't even land an attack on Zoro who looks to be the same age as them.
So when Zoro asks them to team up with Kakashi and fight him, they don't think of it as arrogance. They know they really need to fight him together to even have a chance of winning.
Guy, Genma, Ebisu, Asuma, and Kurenai move to Kakashi's sides and get ready to fight. Kakashi, Guy, and Asuma in the front. Ebisu and Genma behind them. Kurenai stands in the back.
"Well then, don't disappoint me, Konoha young ninjas." Zoro grins before biting Wado Ichimonji then holds Enma and Sandai Kitetsu in his hands.
"What kind of swordsmanship is that?" Ebisu frowns while looking at Zoro who bites a sword.
"I was wondering why he has 3 swords and thought that one of them is just a spare sword just in case he lost one mid battle. Turns out he uses all 3 at once." Genma also comments on it.
"If this is really his main style, then that means he was still holding back a lot when fighting Kakashi. We need to be very careful." Kurenai warns them from the back.
The young ninjas don't even discuss strategy and quickly move to attack Zoro. They have known each other well enough to fight immediately without any discussion.
Kurenai makes the first move. She uses her specialty, Genjutsu on Zoro while the boys are charging forward.
The boys finally can get very close to Zoro who still doesn't move an inch. They think that Zoro must have fallen into Kurenai's Genjutsu and is unable to move now.
Guy is sending a kick from Zoro's left, Asuma swings his Chakra Knuckle Blade from Zoro's right, Kakashi stabs a chakra-coated kunai from Zoro's front. Ebisu and Genma are behind them, ready to send the next attacks.
The boys seem happy seeing their attacks almost hit Zoro who doesn't move at all even though their attacks have gotten very close. They are sure he has fallen into Kurenai's Genjutsu.
Their attacks really land on Zoro, but something is strange. Instead of the feeling of hitting a human, they feel like hitting an iron wall. The sound of Asuma's blade and Kakashi's kunai when hitting Zoro is also the sound of metal clashing instead of a stab on flesh.
When they look at where they hit, they see that Zoro's skin on those spots have been covered by a black metallic layer. Then they look at Zoro's face that has a small grin plastered on it.
"Ugh! My Genjutsu failed." Kurenai feels a slight headache as a backlash of her failed Genjutsu.
Normally, there shouldn't be any backlash even if her Genjutsu fails to affect her opponent. But one of Zoro's abilities caused the backlash when it clashed with Kurenai's Genjutsu.
That ability is Conqueror Haki, which surprisingly makes him immune to Genjutsu or other mind control abilities. Though he doesn't know if he is also immune to powerful Genjutsu like Kotoamatsukami or Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Still, it's great enough if he can be immune against most Genjutsu. He can think of how to handle powerful Genjutsu like those 2 when he needs to fight them, so it's not urgent now.
The reason Conqueror Haki can protect him from Genjutsu is because it is the power of will, the power of his spirit. It is always active in his body and protects his mind from others.
That's why Conqueror Haki users won't get affected by other users and it's almost impossible to control or manipulate Conqueror Haki users because of their very strong will.
After all, Conqueror Haki is said to be a proof of potential to be the King. No one can control the King.
However, Zoro knows it isn't invincible. Not only is his Conqueror Haki still not very strong, there is at least a Genjutsu that can affect him now, the Genjutsu that Torao uses for his training with Instructor Moss Head.
Though Torao once said that this Genjutsu was made specifically for him. That's why it obviously can affect him and he can't dispel it like other Genjutsu.
Of course, it just makes him more worried because it means that if someone can create a special Genjutsu just for him, then he won't be able to do anything about it.
This also means that the likes of Infinite Tsukuyomi will still be able to affect him because he isn't fully immune to Genjutsu.
The only way to defend that Zoro can think of is by strengthening his Conqueror Haki. He needs to at least be able to affect physical things just by releasing his Conqueror Haki like Shanks and obviously it's better to get even stronger than that.
Back to the fight, Zoro doesn't even make another move, but the young ninjas are retreating. They can't act rashly after seeing Zoro defend their attacks easily.
"Well then, let's get serious."
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Chapter 79. Hiding in Desert
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