Bam!
Kakashi didn't dodge. He took Obito Uchiha's punch dead on, stumbling backward as a streak of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Drip. It splattered against his shinobi uniform.
But Kakashi didn't get angry. He just stared in silence at Obito.
That single sentence—The White Fang of the Leaf is a hero—echoed endlessly in his mind.
For years, Kakashi had been drowning in the weight of that incident. His father's death had dragged him into complete darkness. Even after joining Team Minato, which brought so relief, he had never truly stepped out from that shadow.
But now, Obito's pure, unfiltered acknowledgnt of Sakumo Hatake struck sothing deep inside Kakashi.
His legs moved on their own.
Noticing Kakashi following him, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of Obito's mouth.
'Once we save Rin,' Obito thought to himself, 'I'll be her hero. She'll definitely fall for then!'
---
"We et again, Minato Namikaze!" Rasa called out, looking down from the sky at the blonde ninja.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider? Joining the Hidden Sand would be a much better choice for you. You've deeply offended that old bastard Danzo Shimura; things won't end well for you if you stay in the Leaf."
The nearby Konoha ninja froze upon hearing this. Their eyes darted back and forth between Rasa and Minato.
On one hand, they couldn't believe Minato would ever harbor thoughts of betraying Konoha. But on the other hand, they knew Rasa wouldn't say sothing like this out loud without so underlying reason.
"Kazekage, you can stop wasting your breath," Minato replied, his voice firm. "I will never betray Konoha. In life, I am a shinobi of the Leaf, and in death, I remain one. Let's fight."
The next instant, both n vanished, moving like literal lightning.
One was a flash of gold. The other, a flash of red.
Their speeds were so extre that the surrounding ninja couldn't even track their movents with the naked eye.
---
Seeing the reinforcents arrive, Yagura Karatachi let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Thank god for the Leaf's support. Otherwise, with the collapse of the great lake, the Mist army wouldn't have been able to hold the line."
"Fortunately, Konoha kept its word."
Yagura stared in Rasa's direction, his eyes flickering with calculation.
"Rasa... he's incredibly difficult to deal with. Even more troubleso than Pakura."
"No wonder he managed to defeat her in the battle for the Kazekage seat. And back when Sunagakure was in such a horrific state, he never even considered surrendering."
"He was hiding his true strength this whole ti. His power isn't the slightest bit weaker than Minato Namikaze's."
Yagura quickly compared the two in his mind.
Minato had a massive summoning beast; so did Rasa. Minato had the Flying Thunder God Jutsu; Rasa also had an imnsely powerful teleportation-style jutsu.
But Rasa possessed things Minato didn't. Naly, the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai to control gold dust. Plus, Rasa could fly.
However, Yagura didn't have the complete picture. For example, he didn't know Minato had mastered Senjutsu from Mount Myoboku. Nor did he know that Rasa possessed the Byakugan, granting him an unparalleled sensory and combat advantage.
"With the Leaf's backing, our Mist army should be able to weather this storm," Yagura deduced.
"Rasa can't stay on the frontlines forever. If he tries, it might actually work in our favor. The Mizukage would definitely dispatch an elite squad to launch a sneak attack on the Sand Village. With most of their ninja—and Rasa himself—deployed here, Sunagakure's ho defenses must be completely hollowed out."
But at that exact mont...
A figure sprinted frantically toward Yagura's position.
Simultaneously, a Konoha ninja was rushing at top speed toward Minato. Both ssengers looked absolutely panic-stricken.
"What?!"
"What?!"
Yagura's head snapped in a specific direction. The next mont, he bolted forward.
He arrived to a grueso sight: Biwa Juzo's corpse was hoisted high in the air on a wooden pole. Below it, several Sand ninja were parading Juzo's body around like a sick battle standard.
"Biwa Juzo is dead! Surrender now, Mist Village!"
"Biwa Juzo is dead! Surrender now!"
Seeing this, Yagura froze. Then, raw, unadulterated rage twisted his features. His expression turned incredibly dark.
"Hidden Sand!"
"Pakura!"
"Rasa!"
"I will kill you all!"
"Shaless! Absolutely shaless!"
Yagura hurriedly turned to a nearby Mist ninja. "How did Juzo die?"
"Lord Yagura..." the ninja began, his voice shaking. "The Sand Village has sothing that can turn completely invisible. It hid in the shadows. Juzo didn't know it was there. It ambushed him, and he was gravely injured."
"Pakura seized the opening and launched a relentless assault."
"Wounded, Juzo couldn't hold off her attacks. The rest of us tried to reinforce him, but we didn't make it in ti. We could only watch helplessly as Pakura struck him down."
The Mist ninja's eyes were red and wet. "And now these Sand bastards are humiliating him like this! It's unforgivable! I want to avenge him so badly... but I'm not strong enough. Damn it!"
Yagura was equally enraged, but upon hearing the explanation, his strategic mind took over. He realized they had to find that invisible entity imdiately. Otherwise, he might share Juzo's fate.
"Where is this invisible thing right now?"
"We don't know."
A thought flashed through Yagura's mind. "Right... the Byakugan! Hurry, get the Leaf's Hyuga ninja over here! They can use the Byakugan to track it. Go get them, now!"
A Hyuga ninja arrived quickly. Even though he harbored deep resentnt toward the Mist Village, he didn't argue given the current crisis. He followed Yagura's request and activated his Byakugan to scan the battlefield.
A massive silhouette imdiately appeared within his vision.
"I see it! Over there!" The Hyuga pointed straight at the chaleon's location. "It's enormous. It looks like a summoning beast."
Yagura scowled. "Another summoning beast?"
Without hesitation, Yagura barked his orders. "Mist ninja, hear my command! Aim for those coordinates and bombard it with ninjutsu!"
A massive barrage of jutsu and ninja tools rained down on the chaleon's position.
Across the battlefield, Pakura noticed Yagura giving orders. Gripping the legendary blade Hirakarei tightly, she charged straight at him.
---
anwhile, on the other side of the battlefield...
Minato Namikaze's expression was no better than Yagura's.
"What? Kakashi lost an eye... and transplanted Obito's?"
"Obito is... dead?"
A suffocating wave of guilt washed over Minato's face.
"It's all my fault. If I had just been there, this never would have happened. It's all my fault!"
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