Pupet Master in Konoha

Hideki decided to become a bit more serious to help Asuma, who had great ambitions but was still inexperienced, understand the gap between them and establish his authority as a teacher.

As a result, the duel between the Pocket Puppet Beasts ended quickly with Asuma's disastrous defeat.

In less than ten seconds, Squirtle was surrounded by Charmander, and it was easily disarmed, collapsing to the ground.

After was defeated, Asuma realized that he had overestimated himself and was not mentally prepared for this battle. His master hadn't even used his full strength during this exhibition fight!

However, Asuma was not discouraged. Even though he lost quickly, he had detected some flaws in his master's movements.

Although he hadn't fully identified the flaws in the moment, he was sure that, given another chance, he wouldn't fall for the same trick.

To test his idea, Asuma boldly said, "Master, let's play another round. I wasn't mentally prepared this time..."

"No problem," Hideki nodded with a smile.

Then, predictably, there was another beating.

After Asuma was knocked out and bruised, he felt dejected for a while.

His strategy had been to use the same moves as before to lure the master into using the flawed move, and then use the countermeasures he had thought up to retaliate.

And the plan went as expected—until the final step...

It turned out that his master suddenly used an unpredictable and wild move to break his countermeasure and defeat him.

But it didn't matter because Asuma realized there were opportunities even in the master's tricky moves.

If this happened again, he would definitely be able to defend himself!

So he asked again, "Master, let's play another game. I'm still not quite skilled..."

Hideki said it was fine.

In the following time, Asuma seemed stuck in a time loop, repeating the same actions again and again.

In short: Instantly die, discover flaws, ask for another fight, feel confident, instantly die...

After all, Asuma wasn't stupid. After going through the same routine over and over, he slowly realized that something was wrong.

He gradually figured out that every flaw he discovered had been intentionally left by his master.

At that moment, Asuma wasn't angry at his master's "betrayal."

Because in the process of repeatedly showing him tricks, he realized that his fighting level and battle awareness were improving rapidly.

This wasn't just because he inherited his father, the Third Hokage's, battle instincts, but also because of his master's timely move feeds.

Although Hideki crushed Asuma each time, he also left flaws as a way to solve the problem.

These flaws forced Asuma to improve his techniques and tactics immediately before he could solve them next time.

And this improvement was always within Asuma's talent limits.

Thus, each time Asuma fought, he could deeply feel his progress in deciphering his master's moves.

It wasn't from the approval of others, whose opinions could be false, but from the improvement of his own judgment.

It had been a long time since Asuma had experienced such a feeling of happiness, one that came purely from learning, so he couldn't stop. How could he choose to give up voluntarily?

Even at that moment, when he asked his master for the next round, his tone became much more respectful: "Master Kimura, please play another round with me."

Hideki, who had already anticipated the situation, smiled and nodded, saying, "Happy to oblige."

Clearly, Asuma had fallen for the trap...

What Asuma was experiencing at that moment was a training method designed by Hideki based on his talent and characteristics.

Based on his memories of the original work, the introduction of the Third Hokage, and the test during the earlier exhibition match, Hideki was very confident that this child was a fighting genius.

In simple terms, he wasn't a super genius like Kakashi, who could learn everything quickly, but his innate battle intuition allowed him to always see through his opponent's weaknesses in battle, thus defeating the weak with the strong.

In the original work, his fighting style with dual Feiyan swords, moving through the enemy's swords, maximized this talent.

It's just that steel is extremely easy to break. Once the opponent's strength exceeds what he can break immediately, his fighting method can easily be fatal...

And Hideki was constantly activating Asuma's passive talent by exposing his flaws in battle, forcing him to continuously evolve.

Of course, this may sound easy, but it's not simple to achieve the right balance.

If it's too little, the training won't be effective. If it's too much, Asuma will be crushed or even completely discouraged.

Fortunately, Hideki had the most powerful ninjutsu to teach—spider sensing technique.

The fine chakra threads allowed Hideki to control Asuma's physical condition in real time.

Hideki then judged Asuma's stress level based on fluctuations in his chakra and heartbeat, fine-tuning the lessons he gave him.

This way, Asuma could continue to enjoy this painful yet joyful journey of suffering.

But just as all journeys end, when the bell rang, Hideki also ended his battle with Asuma.

It was obviously just a game of controlling a puppet beast, but by that point, Asuma was drenched in sweat, gasping for air, and even running low on chakra.

At the same time, there was still a sense of loss in his heart.

Had it already ended?

He didn't know when he would experience this feeling again...

What made him most regretful was not being able to win in the end.

Yes, although Asuma had already understood the vast gap between his control and his master's, after the repeated fierce battles, he also realized that if he limited himself to the framework of Pocket Puppet Beast, he might not have a chance of winning.

Although this didn't seem different from his initial thoughts, it was now a conclusion he reached after careful consideration.

Before, it was the reckless illusion of the ignorant; now, it was a calculated conclusion.

Even in the last few rounds, he had been able to perform many tricks on his master, and it seemed that victory was only a matter of probability...

But right now, Asuma was suffering from post-traumatic stress from his master's traps and feared it was yet another trap laid by his teacher.

So he stopped pretending and directly asked, "Master Kimura, if we continue fighting, do I have any chance of winning?"

"That's true."

"Because after all, the operational limit of Pocket Puppet Beast isn't high, and it also has the obvious weakness of the handle line. When both sides' strength reaches a certain level, it will gradually turn into a guessing game."

Hideki's words were music to Asuma's ears, and his efforts finally seemed worth it.

But Asuma also felt regret, thinking he had seen the end of this fun game.

Obito, on the other hand, was confused and envious, unable to understand what they were saying.

But not wanting Asuma to notice, he quickly stiffened his face and nodded as if agreeing with his master's statement.

At that moment, neither of them knew that Hideki's next words would change their expressions:

"Although it's a guessing game, with Asuma's and Obito's current level, you'll need to play hundreds of rounds before you have a chance… to land a hit on me."

Asuma was stunned.

But what surprised him wasn't that it would take hundreds of rounds to defeat his master, but why his master compared him to Obito, a loser.

Obito himself was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out.

—Thankfully, he was wearing protective glasses...

At that moment, Hideki held back his smile and pretended to be confused:

"Didn't you both notice that I had removed the chakra line controlling Obito in the last rounds?"

"So the one who fought with you, Asuma, was actually Obito."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Asuma looked as if he had doubted life.

How could it have been Obito, who defeated him with his exquisite maneuvers in the last rounds?

But as he thought about it, he began to recall that some of Charmander's moves in the last rounds were indeed flawed...

But he thought it was another flaw deliberately exposed by his master, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

Yet, the level of the person he was fighting against had to be extraordinary, or else he wouldn't have been able to win.

How could Obito, whom he had mocked just a moment ago, become stronger than him so quickly?

In fact, not just Asuma, but even Obito had the same thought.

Aren't you just a tool? Why did you suddenly become the rightful owner?

Then, confused, Obito grabbed Hideki's clothes and asked, "Master, when did I defeat Asuma?"

Hideki was speechless and gave Obito a slight headache before explaining:

"Obito, have you forgotten that my power doesn't directly take over your body, but controls it with you?"

"And during the battle between Asuma and me, you personally experienced how to operate each action and handle every battle scene at every moment."

"Unknowingly, you've learned my operational techniques, and your thoughts are gradually reflecting in your fingers."

"When I realized this, I didn't completely suppress your finger movements."

"When you do something well, I leave you alone."

"Of course, when you make a mistake, I still make corrections."

"In this process, your precision naturally keeps improving."

"Since Pocket Puppet Beast only has a few moves, the changes are limited, so in the end, your operation won't be a big issue. I simply removed all the chakra threads."

"So there's no doubt that you won the last rounds."

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