"Wow! Captain is so strong!"
"Hahaha... that Uchiha kid got completely wrecked again!"
Unlike his usual self, Kakashi felt a bit uncomfortable during this match since he was fighting his own student.
Although he was using the weakest lineup in the game...
But…
Kakashi controlled [Academy Naruto], dodging Sasuke's Zabuza's Water Dragon Bullet with precise movement, then countering with a sand throw that took another chunk of Zabuza's health.
This was the fifth time Sasuke had been hit by the sand throw in this round.
And this round was the final one. With his most skilled Ninja.
After losing the previous match, Sasuke had moved Zabuza to the third slot as a safety net.
Then, Sasuke, furious and about to use a substitution, realized he was out of Chakra.
Then, he was promptly finished off by [Academy Naruto]'s ultimate jutsu...
The ultimate picture for Academy Student Naruto popped up as expected.
[Hehehe~]
Seeing Naruto's face in the image, which was extremely mocking to Sasuke, along with that ridiculous voice, for a moment, Sasuke felt a surge of rage boiling in his head.
---
Another sweep.
Kakashi, using [Academy Naruto] to sweep Sasuke's highest-tier lineup, earned the admiration of the Anbu's members.
Kakashi scratched his head, still feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Alright, everyone, stop making a fuss. I just beat my student... it's not that big of a deal."
This statement, while seemingly harmless, was instantly misinterpreted by the group.
Although the words themselves weren't problematic, it sounded like Kakashi was saying Sasuke wasn't even his match in the game... which, to be fair, was true.
Even Asuma patted Kakashi on the back with approval. "Not bad, Kakashi! I wonder what Sasuke would think if he heard that."
"Hahahahahahahaha, he'd probably be furious. Those Uchiha guys have such bad tempers ~"
Someone immediately chimed in.
"Yeah, back then we had to deal with the Uchiha from the Military Police Force... even though we never got along, I kind of miss it now."
"Speaking of which, that guy Itachi is really something… He always seemed so gentle and refined, who would've thought he'd..."
"Tsk, a traitor to Konoha, a complete scumbag! I wish I could take him out myself!"
Realizing the conversation was heading in a dangerous direction, Kakashi quickly interrupted, "Cough, everyone, let's not get sidetracked. Hokage-sama's mission is the most important!"
It was rare to see the usually cold and emotionless Anbu's members laughing so freely together.
Kakashi felt a sense of joy, as if he had regained the carefree feeling of playing with friends in his childhood.
"I feel a bit guilty toward Sasuke. After all, he's technically the last Uchiha."
Kakashi muttered to himself, but someone, probably Elephant, given his distinctive voice, spoke up.
"Quick, send an emote! The first one in the second row, the 'comfort' emote!"
"Comfort?"
Kakashi was a little surprised. He wasn't unfamiliar with where the emotes were located.
But this was the first time he had heard that this particular emote meant 'comfort.'
Kakashi quickly thought about it.
The emote showed a hand patting someone's head, which did look like an older person comforting a younger one.
'It's a great emote!'
Kakashi suddenly felt enlightened and, in the final moments of the match, with his lightning-fast reflexes, Kakashi quickly sent the 'head pat' emote.
'Yeah, that should do it.'
After doing this, Kakashi felt much more at ease and handed the phone back with a clear conscience.
---
Then…
"Uh, Senpai, that opponent... they challenged again."
This Anbu's member, whose voice sounded quite young, clearly hadn't been part of the Anbu during Kakashi's tenure.
So instead of calling Kakashi by his name or 'Captain,' he used the more respectful term 'Senpai.'
Kakashi was visibly surprised.
"Oh? Really? Let me see..."
Kakashi didn't care much whether this younger Anbu's member in front of him was someone he knew.
Compared to that, he cared more about his student.
Kakashi looked at Sasuke's rematch request and felt a sense of pride.
'Sasuke... even after being utterly crushed, you still have the will to fight again? I acknowledge you!'
Kakashi also decided not to hold back this time and led with [Academy Sakura].
This Ninja's strength was decent, and she was also the most impressive of the three starter C-Rank Ninjas.
As for the other two, one's basic attack is unstable, and one's skill is unstable.
But after relentless experimentation, Kakashi had discovered a hidden technique!
[Academy Sakura] could dodge any attack during the moment she rolled!
The first time Kakashi witnessed this incredible technique, he spent a long time using it to dodge AI's attacks.
For example, [Academy Naruto]'s sand throw was Kakashi's go-to skill for practicing [Academy Sakura]'s dodge.
If Yuto had been there, he would have immediately recognized this technique as…
Invincibility frames!
These were the coveted invincibility frames! For a brief moment after using the skill, the character model disappears and becomes untargetable, effectively invincible!
In reality, Yuto hadn't designed [Academy Sakura] to be weak. In fact, she was quite strong in the current version!
This wasn't because Yuto had tweaked her stats.
Instead, Yuto had directly modified the conditions for [Academy Sakura]'s first skill.
In his previous life, Yuto didn't know which designer had come up with [Academy Sakura]'s first skill.
Perhaps it was because this Ninja was designed too early, and the mechanics weren't fully developed.
Pressing forward or backward made her roll, while pressing up or down made her turn, and both actions had invincibility frames.
Most importantly... the skill's cooldown was only 3 seconds!
On top of that, hitting with her second skill instantly refreshed the first skill's cooldown, and the second skill's cooldown was only 6 seconds!
This skill set was undeniably top-tier!
Unfortunately, this ninja was notoriously difficult to use on mobile because even the slightest tilt of the joystick could change how the first skill was executed.
For example, a player might intend to have [Academy Sakura] roll away, but if the joystick tilted slightly upward, the roll would turn into a spin, making her perform a 'side-to-side dance' right in front of the opponent.
As a result, this Ninja was heavily criticized in Yuto's previous life.
Despite her strength, few played her, but if someone did pick her, it was assumed they were using a PC emulator.
On an emulator, misinputs were rare, let alone misinputs for [Academy Sakura]'s skills.
Therefore, [Academy Sakura] can basically be regarded as Ninja exclusive to emulator users.
However, fixing this was simple. As a relatively late addition to the development team, Yuto found that the game's mechanics were already quite refined, making it hard to introduce groundbreaking innovations.
To modify [Academy Sakura]'s skill execution, Yuto could think of several methods.
First, long and short presses. A long press could control the joystick for rolling, while a short press could control it for turning.
Second, optimize the execution. It didn't need to be perfectly accurate, but it should at least be as precise as, say, [Gekko Hayate]'s first skill.
Third, modify the mechanics entirely. Remove the turning effect and make the entire skill a quick dash, similar to [Shizuka] or [Nine-Tails Chakra Mode Naruto].
However, Yuto chose the first method.
The 3-second invincibility and dash skill in a C-Rank Ninja's arsenal made it incredibly hard for opponents to deal with.
Against a skilled player using this Ninja, you might not land a single skill the entire match.
So, to balance it, Yuto adjusted [Academy Sakura]'s first skill cooldown to 5 seconds, while still allowing the second skill to refresh it on hit.
And during this time, Kakashi had gradually mastered the art of using [Academy Sakura].