Naruto: Lost to Hinata on Purpose, and Now Everything's a Mess Chapter 17 17 : Lightning Style Ninjutsu

Riku looked at Guy with excitent on his face and nodded. "Guy-sensei."

He didn't really want to talk to Guy—he felt the man's energy was a little too much for him.

Guy grinned at him. "Riku, I heard from Kakashi that your talent is exceptional. I want to see it for myself."

Before Riku could respond, Guy's figure flashed—and in an instant, he appeared right in front of him.

A kick shot straight toward Riku's face.

The speed was astonishing—lightning-fast, as expected from a taijutsu master.

Riku's expression tensed. He raised both arms in ti to block the strike.

Bang!

The force behind the kick sent him stumbling back more than ten steps.

His forearms went numb from the impact.

Riku frowned and shook his hands out. "What insane power..."

Kakashi and Guy were both surprised to see Riku still standing over ten ters away.

Especially Guy—he knew how much force he'd used. He had intended to stop short if Riku failed to react in ti, but the boy had blocked the attack cleanly with both arms.

And he wasn't injured.

Seeing this, Guy's interest in Riku deepened.

"Kakashi, you were right. Riku really is strong—he can take my Iron Leg technique head-on."

Kakashi looked at Riku, frowning slightly. "Ease up, Guy. Don't actually hurt him."

Kakashi didn't mind Guy testing Riku's strength—he, too, wanted to see how much the boy had improved over the past several days.

Guy flashed a smile. "Don't worry. I won't hurt him."

And with that, he launched himself toward Riku again.

Boom!

Their fists clashed in mid-air. Although Guy wasn't going all out and Riku was under imnse pressure, he still managed to et every attack head-on.

Kakashi, standing to the side, silently assessed the scene. At least in terms of taijutsu, Riku has reached the level of a high-level Chūnin.

A shinobi's strength manifests in many ways—taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and combat intellect.

In pure taijutsu, Kakashi was thoroughly impressed with Riku's performance.

After ten minutes of sparring, Guy finally landed a solid punch, sending Riku skidding backward several steps.

Riku stared at him, slightly speechless. This guy's taijutsu is ridiculous. If he went all out, I probably wouldn't last a minute—I'd get blown away in a single hit. If he opened the Eight Inner Gates, I might not even survive one strike.

Under normal conditions, Riku could at least hold his own against Guy for about a minute. But if Guy activated the Eight Gates, Riku knew he'd be completely outmatched.

After the match ended, Guy laughed heartily and approached him. "Riku! Your taijutsu potential is incredible. Train with ! My taijutsu is stronger than Kakashi's—co sweat it out with !"

Still recovering from the shock of Guy's strength, Riku quickly shook his head. "No thanks, Guy-sensei. I don't want to focus too much on taijutsu."

Guy looked heartbroken.

He had assud that his power would be enough to sway Riku, but clearly the boy wasn't tempted.

"Why not? You have a natural talent for taijutsu. If you put in the ti, you could surpass one day! I could even teach you my secret techniques."

"You don't know this, but I have a forbidden jutsu that lets you make your body stronger than any ninjutsu!"

"You sure you don't want to reconsider?"

Before Riku could answer, Kakashi stepped in. "That's enough, Guy. Riku already gave you his answer—he's not interested in focusing too heavily on taijutsu, and you know that."

"For Riku, specializing in it won't offer much benefit."

Guy frowned but made one last attempt. "Well, how about this—he can train with you and still work on taijutsu with , right?"

Before Kakashi could respond, Riku shook his head firmly. "No, Kakashi-sensei can teach everything I need. His taijutsu's actually really good."

In terms of base-level taijutsu, Kakashi and Guy were fairly evenly matched.

So Riku had no intention of splitting his training ti or learning the Eight Inner Gates.

Kakashi gave a small smile. "That's right. I can teach him what he needs—no need for him to learn your Eight Gates."

In truth, Kakashi also knew how to open the Eight Inner Gates, but he never specialized in them.

Guy looked frustrated, but seeing Riku's resolute expression, he could only sigh. "What a waste. Riku, your potential in taijutsu is off the charts—even higher than mine. If you chose to walk this path, you'd surpass ."

Kakashi chuckled. "Stop trying to sway him. Riku isn't like other kids."

At that point, Guy could only grumble in resignation. "Fine. But Kakashi, you better train him well. If you don't—"

Before he could finish, Kakashi cut in with a laugh. "And if I don't train him well, you think you can do better?"

Guy froze mid-sentence, speechless.

As much as he hated to admit it, Kakashi was better than him in most areas.

Watching their exchange, Riku spoke calmly. "Kakashi-sensei, what are we studying today?"

Kakashi walked over, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I'll teach you a Lightning Style jutsu today."

Riku nodded.

Guy, realizing there was no hope of luring Riku into the way of the fist, sat down nearby to watch how he learned. He was curious—could the boy really grasp techniques just from hearing them explained once, like Kakashi claid?

Kakashi began lecturing on the fundantals of Lightning Style, explaining chakra nature transformation for a good half-hour.

At first, Guy tried to listen, but within three minutes, his eyelids began to droop.

By ten minutes in, he was sound asleep.

For him, theoretical ninjutsu lectures were worse than genjutsu—pure torture.

Riku, on the other hand, listened intently and absorbed everything.

After the explanation, Kakashi smiled. "Alright, that covers the basics. The jutsu I'm going to teach you is a C-rank Lightning Style technique called Lightning Style: Ground Surge."

Riku nodded.

It was a relatively basic Lightning Release, but when paired with Water Style, it could beco quite powerful.

Kakashi began weaving hand seals—not bothering to slow them down.

Once he finished, lightning crackled around his hands.

Crackle—

Electric arcs erupted outward in all directions, reaching a radius of three to four ters.

Boom—

The nearby ground sizzled and sparked, leaving several scorched potholes.

The destruction wasn't extre, but it was enough to show its utility.

Riku grinned. "Kakashi-sensei, let give it a shot."

Kakashi chuckled. "Already? You've learned it?"

Riku smiled and nodded. "Maybe."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Riku swiftly ford the hand seals.

"Lightning Style: Ground Surge!"

Crackle—

BOOM—