Kakashi Hatake stared blankly at Zoro standing before him, unconsciously rubbing his eyes as though doubting what he had just heard.
The Three-Sword Death God.
The terrifying figure feared by every hidden village during his ti in ANBU.
Shouldn't soone like that place the mission above absolutely everything else?
Then why…
was the decision Zoro made now completely opposite to Kakashi's own?
"Kakashi."
Zoro's calm voice echoed steadily through the forest.
"Rin is different. She's soone who genuinely cares about us."
His tone remained indifferent, but every word struck Kakashi heavily.
"People like that can be called true comrades."
"If you can ignore soone who sincerely treats you well…"
Zoro's gaze swept toward him coldly.
"Then you're really no different from an animal."
Those blunt words instantly made Obito's eyes light up.
The anger he had felt toward Kakashi monts earlier vanished completely, replaced by excitent.
"Zoro!"
Obito imdiately shouted impatiently.
"Then let's hurry and save Rin!"
Kakashi opened his mouth slightly, clearly wanting to argue sothing.
But in the end, the words beca stuck in his throat and refused to co out.
A comrade who genuinely cared about him…
For so reason, those words lingered endlessly within Kakashi's mind.
Seeing Kakashi fall into silence and deep thought, Zoro no longer wasted ti and imdiately left with Obito.
Zoro distinguished clearly between kindness and hostility.
Naturally, he understood who truly treated him sincerely.
And after awakening Observation Haki, his sensitivity toward the emotions of others had grown far sharper than before.
Because of that, for the people who genuinely cared about him, Zoro would do everything within his power to ensure they could continue living well within this cruel shinobi world.
Using Observation Haki to guide his direction, Zoro rapidly led Obito toward the familiar cave hidden deep within the forest.
According to the original course of events, this was the place where Obito was supposed to "die" and entrust his Sharingan to Kakashi.
After surviving, Obito would later witness Rin's death, awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in despair and rage, and ultimately set countless tragedies into motion.
However—
Because of Zoro's appearance, the developnt of events here had clearly begun deviating from the original path.
Outside the cave stood more than ten Iwagakure ninja arranged in an unusually strange formation.
And every single one of them possessed the aura of an elite shinobi.
Zoro's brows furrowed slightly.
Those Iwa ninja felt strangely familiar sohow, as though he had seen them sowhere before.
At the sa ti, his right eyelid had been twitching uncontrollably throughout the entire day, giving him the constant feeling that sothing major was about to happen.
That was also the reason his mood had beco unusually irritable today.
"Zoro… why are there suddenly so many people here?"
Obito stared at the dense group of Iwa ninja surrounding the cave entrance.
"I clearly rember there were only two jōnin before."
"I'll draw their attention away first."
Zoro's gaze remained fixed on the cave.
"You quietly sneak inside and check whether anything's happened to Rin."
Looking at the situation before him and the butterfly effect caused by his own existence, an increasingly unpleasant feeling rose within Zoro's heart.
If his guess was correct—
Then the old monster Uchiha Madara was probably nearby.
And beneath this cave lay the underground tunnel personally excavated by the aged Madara himself.
Zoro's gaze gradually turned colder.
He only hoped that Black Zetsu—that so-called "filial son"—wasn't secretly pulling tricks again.
Otherwise…
Zoro would make him pay the price.
"Who's there?!"
The mont Zoro deliberately revealed himself from the bushes, he imdiately attracted the attention of the elite Iwa ninja patrolling outside the cave.
"Looking to die!"
"Earth Release: Earth Stone Spears!!"
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar!!"
Logically speaking, the instant these shinobi saw the three iconic swords hanging from Zoro's waist, fear should have appeared on their faces imdiately.
But strangely—
Not only did these Iwa ninja show no fear whatsoever, they attacked without hesitation the mont they discovered him.
Sharp stone spikes erupted from the earth like bamboo shoots after rain, while enormous rock pillars surged violently upward toward Zoro.
Clang!!
Zoro instantly drew the two swords at his waist.
[Two-Sword Style: Seventy-Two Pound Phoenix!!]
His arms swung rapidly, leaving behind countless afterimages.
Chaotic slashes poured forward like torrential rain.
Every incoming stone spike was instantly shredded into dust before it could even approach him.
Yet despite witnessing such overwhelming force—
The Iwa ninja still did not retreat.
Instead, they rushed toward Zoro fearlessly with kunai and shuriken in hand.
Zoro narrowed his eyes slightly and lowered his stance.
These people…
weren't afraid of death?
Or perhaps—
they were being controlled by soone?
The more he thought about it, the stronger the unease in his heart beca.
Could it be…
that Rin had already been killed?
Zoro's Observation Haki imdiately swept carefully across the surroundings of the cave.
At this mont, Obito had already quietly slipped inside during the chaos.
If Rin had truly died already, then with Obito's personality, there was no way the cave would remain silent.
The mont he saw Rin's corpse, Obito would definitely explode in rage and charge out imdiately.
The nickna "Raging Brat" was not sothing people gave him for nothing.
Realizing this, Zoro slowly pushed his swords back into their sheaths slightly.
At the very least—
Rin was still alive.
Things had not yet reached the point of no return.
But if Rin was alive…
then why were so many elite Iwa shinobi guarding this cave?
With this level of defensive force, ordinary ninja would never be able to break through.
Even Kakashi could not do it alone.
And the only person truly capable of forcing their way through—
was him.
The Three-Sword Death God feared throughout the shinobi world.
The reason Zoro sheathed his swords again was not because he intended to stop fighting.
On the contrary—
He was preparing to wipe them all out in a single strike.
"Kakashi."
Zoro suddenly spoke calmly.
"Buy a little ti."
The instant those words fell—
Kakashi's figure appeared beside him.
Kakashi showed no surprise whatsoever that Zoro had noticed him secretly following behind.
Instead, the familiar atmosphere gave him the strange feeling that he had returned to the days when they carried out missions together in ANBU.
"Leave it to ."
Kakashi replied without hesitation.
Buying ti was sothing he could definitely manage.
"Chidori!!"
Blue arcs of lightning chakra instantly erupted across Kakashi's arm.
The violent crackling sounded like the shrill cries of a thousand birds screaming together.
Without hesitation, Kakashi slamd his lightning-covered hand directly into the ground.
An electric field imdiately spread outward around him.
This was one of the techniques Kakashi had personally developed from Chidori.
For the creator of Chidori himself, creating extensions and variations of the technique was naturally effortless.
The surrounding Iwa ninja charged forward mindlessly, only to beco trapped within the electric field.
Their movents slowed instantly.
At the sa mont—
Zoro slowly opened his eyes.
Both hands tightly gripped the two coldly gleaming blades.
And at so unknown point, another sword had already appeared clenched between his teeth.
That blade was Wado Ichimonji.
Three-Sword Style Secret Technique: Azure Dragon Stamp — Flowing Water!!
The air trembled softly.
A strange sound echoed faintly through the battlefield, resembling the cry of a dragon.
Under Kakashi's shocked gaze, a gigantic azure dragon phantom slowly erged behind Zoro.
Making space distorted and the earth to trembled violently.
Was it truly the roar of a dragon—or rely the sound of swords tearing through the air?
Even Kakashi himself could no longer tell.
He only understood one thing clearly.
Those dozen-plus Iwagakure ninja…
were absolutely going to die here.
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