Chapter 128: Nohara Rin of the Kido Path
"…Rin? What are you doing?"
"I already said I do not like you two fighting," Rin puffed her cheeks slightly. "So why are you still trying to fight? Would it not be better if we could all just have a good day together?"
"No, that is not what I mean, Rin, your ranking…" Obito scratched his head. "You literally told me earlier today you got killed by some guy smurfing on a low level account…"
"Ah, that." Rin waved a hand. "That was Kazekage Rasa. He uses his Magnet Release enhancement to bully low rank players every day. I have no idea what he is so proud of. I wanted to relax before the exam, and he would not even show mercy to girls."
"…But you are also technically someone who bullies low level accounts…"
"How is that the same?" Rin instantly became defensive. "He is a dignified Kazekage, and he goes down to stomp newbies. I am just trying to study and spar with everyone. That is completely different."
"…"
An eleven year old Kido prodigy, Minato's supposed flunky, huh… that really does not fit.
Watching Rin fuss about her image and argue with Obito, cheeks faintly red, Kakashi suddenly understood just how frightening her talent actually was.
Aizen had once said that gaining power in the ninja world was simple in a very twisted way. As long as a ninja experienced intense emotional upheaval, or had their feelings engraved deeply enough, they could draw out overwhelming strength in a short time.
Take Zanpakuto for example. With normal training alone, even someone extremely gifted might need centuries to reach Bankai. But on the endless battlefields of the shinobi world, where everyone lived with death pressing on their backs and pushed their emotions to the brink, a true genius could master Bankai in three years without even relying on Aizen's simulated Bankai method.
Kido was different.
Kido required soul strength and absolute precision. Compared to awakening a Zanpakuto, mastering Kido was far more intricate. It did not only ask for emotion, it demanded the kind of fine control over spiritual shaping that rivaled a medical ninja's control over chakra and tenketsu. Every syllable, every pattern, every spiritual thread had to be handled with care, refined again and again before one could call themselves a true Kido practitioner.
Which was why those who excelled at Kido were usually meticulous, with terrifying control, and a soul that held clear advantage over ordinary people.
Rin was indeed a competent medical ninja, but her talent on that path was only average.
It was in the domain of the soul that she truly shone, just like her father.
And unlike her father, whose passion lay in honing his Zanpakuto and refining its techniques, Rin had thrown herself entirely into Kido.
Because it was the field that belonged to the man she admired, and the man she liked. For a girl in love, there was nothing more powerful than that kind of motivation.
Faced with that bright, hopeful expression, it felt even more impossible to answer her with cold rejection. Kakashi could only stand there quietly and wait for what she wanted to show him.
"Actually," Rin said softly, "besides stopping you two, I wanted to give you a little surprise, Kakashi."
"…What kind of surprise?"
"The highest level of Kido I have mastered is not just Thunder Roar Cannon or Twin Lotus Azure Fire Dragon, you know." A faint smile tugged at her lips. "It is this one."
Rin lifted her hand, a little embarrassed, then extended a finger to the sky.
At once, Kakashi's pupils shrank.
He watched irregular black lines coil around Rin's fingertip, winding and crossing until a cluster of dark light began to form.
That opening motion…!
In his mind, a scene from three years ago replayed with painful clarity.
A towering black coffin descending, signaling the fall of the Raikage, once praised as the strongest spear and shield among shinobi. The caster's hand, wrapped in chaotic black lines, had started with this same simple gesture.
Over the years, Kakashi had come to understand what that meant.
The starting stance, and the Kido it represented.
Of course, the one casting it now could not produce the exact same overwhelming power. Aizen's Black Coffin could even nullify the One Hit Sharingan, a blow trained to pierce space itself, whereas Kakashi's own Black Coffin could only block the aftershocks of Kagami's Bankai.
Even so, the very fact that Rin could cast Kido Number Ninety at all meant she had already stepped into the true ranks of Kido.
What level of genius was this? The gap between them existed, but in terms of understanding and manipulating the soul, she was probably not that far behind him.
"Haha, this is the first time I have seen you so surprised, Kakashi," Rin teased lightly. "You recognize this starting stance, right?"
"…Hado Number Ninety, Black Coffin."
Kakashi's voice grew serious as he watched Rin, breathing a little hard yet still smiling.
"Being able to cast it directly means you have stepped into the advanced ranks of Kido. You are a fully qualified Kido practitioner now."
"Yes," Rin nodded, "but unfortunately, no one has ever let me use my full power in a real battle. And Obito was never interested in Kido at all, so it always felt pointless. But you understand, right, Kakashi? This is everything I have worked for."
"I know," he replied quietly. "You have worked very hard, Rin."
"Thank you. Then…" she drew in a breath, eyes shining, "here I come."
This is my respect for you. And also… my answer.
Rin saw that Kakashi had relaxed slightly and, for a brief moment, sadness flashed in her eyes. Then she began to chant, childish voice weaving into a pressure that you could almost touch.
"A faint, shadowy mark, an arrogant talent that refuses to bow…"
Kakashi did not move. He simply stood there and waited for Rin's Kido.
Obito, on the other hand, was driven to his knees by the spiritual pressure rippling outward. Teeth gritted, he could only watch as Rin slowly lifted that ball of black threads, as if hauling up some heavy sphere of darkness.
Is the gap between us… really that wide?
Compared to the two in front of him, Obito realized in despair that he could not move at all. They had not even targeted him, yet he was already pinned by the pressure.
The spiritual pressure of those who had walked down the Bleach path crushed all those who lacked the strength to stand. If you were weak, you were not even qualified to step into the ring.
At that moment, neither Kakashi nor Rin spared him a glance.
"Tides that surge and break, denial, paralysis, a single instant that chains eternal sleep. Crawling iron princess, clay doll that mutilates itself without end…"
Rin's chant stumbled at first. The black lines in her hand stretched wildly, tearing open the ground in jagged cracks.
Gravity wavered.
Pebbles floated, rose, then dropped again as the pull of the earth twisted and warped. It was the clear sign of a technique not yet completely under control.
Rin did not care.
She was the same age as Kakashi. At that age, few people cared about precision more than they cared about feelings. The black lines spread in all directions, forming a lattice that slowly closed around Kakashi's position.
"Bind, and rebound, extend to the earth, let them know their own powerlessness…"
Her voice rang out, clear and bright.
"Hado Number Ninety, Black Coffin."
A deep sound, less a boom and more a muffled closing, rolled through the arena.
The black lines locked together, and a coffin of pure darkness, the size of a small building, sealed Kakashi inside.
Casting it had drained Rin. She swayed where she stood, then steadied herself and stared hopefully at the coffin.
A few seconds later, the black structure quietly dissolved into the air.
Kakashi stood there, unharmed. He brushed dust from his white coat and looked at Rin with calm, honest eyes.
"You are incredible," he said simply. "To fully cast Black Coffin at your age, Rin, that is truly impressive."
"That Las Noches place…"
"If Las Noches were not purely a research institution," Kakashi continued, "you would absolutely be honored as a guest there."
He spoke the same standard line that had defined Las Noches for years.
Las Noches did not advertise itself as a combat organization. It did not go around boasting about recruiting powerful Kido or ninjutsu masters. It only accepted one kind of person, those who doubted the world as it was and tried to push past its limits.
Ordinary rebels were no longer enough to earn that name. The so called heretics of Las Noches were not detached because they had no interest in the world, they simply had their eyes fixed on a horizon far beyond it. In that place, a pure hearted genius on the path of Kido like Rin, who had not yet turned her gaze to that far horizon, would not be admitted.
"But unfortunately," Kakashi finished, "Las Noches is focused solely on research. More than Kido skill or raw strength, we value vision and courage for the future. You still have some distance to go, Rin."
"…I understand."
Rin lowered her head for a moment, then looked back up with a radiant smile.
"Then I will work even harder, Kakashi. Even if Kido theory is difficult, I will keep going. I am still young, after all."
"…"
At some point, both she and Kakashi had completely forgotten about the boy who had started all this.
Neither of them said anything to Obito.
Yet it was that silence, and the way they analyzed each other's power so casually, that truly revealed the gulf between them.
Only now did Obito see how massive the gap really was.
And as despair began to swallow him, a voice abruptly echoed from deep within his heart.
[Hey, kid. Do you want to stand beside them?]
"…Huh?"
Obito froze.
Right in front of his eyes, the digital space of the network warped and twisted. From that distortion, an old man slowly stepped out.
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