"You..."
Kakashi broke free from the Genjutsu and turned to look at Hatake Satoru beside him.
This kind of Genjutsu was different from the Uchiha's eye techniques. Hatake Satoru wore an eye patch, so he wouldn't be affected by eye-based illusions, but this kind of Genjutsu could still catch him.
But it turned out Kakashi was worried for nothing.
Hatake Satoru leaned against the railing, looking completely fine—he even had the energy to keep track of where the three Kage were.
"Hm?"
Hatake Satoru tilted his head with an innocent look and glanced at Kakashi.
Kakashi swallowed what he was about to say and turned to the only one still awake inside the Genjutsu—Sakura.
"As I thought, you've got some talent for Gen~jutsu."
"Go wake up Naruto. I'm not too confident about leaving Sasuke alone."
Even with the sudden change of events, Kakashi clearly remembered that strange feeling from earlier.
There hadn't been any clear signal, but those people all moved in sync—maybe that strange feeling was some kind of hidden signal.
Did the Sunagakure just betray them?
Leaving Sasuke to handle Gaara alone might be a bit much.
"Don't even think about it."
*Whoosh!* A kunai suddenly flew past Sakura's head. She screamed and crouched down, holding her head.
"Anbu?"
Kakashi frowned and looked up, spotting a masked Anbu standing behind the audience stands.
What's going on with this Anbu?
Something's wrong at the Hokage's side—shouldn't the Anbu rush over to help right away?
Suddenly, several ninjas wearing Otogakure headbands jumped down from the stands and stood right next to that Anbu.
"Don't let them go help the Hokage!"
The masked Anbu quickly gave orders to the people around him.
"They swapped in replacements long ago. You were in Anbu for years, weren't you?"
"You really didn't notice something this obvious~?"
Hatake Satoru smiled, stepping slightly to the side to dodge the incoming kunai. A faint blue gas instantly surrounded the kunai as it passed him.
Then with a flick of his wrist, Satoru sent it flying back—striking the enemy directly, killing them in one hit.
"What…?!"
The masked Anbu and the Otogakure ninjas nearby stared in shock at their fallen comrade.
They didn't even see that eyepatch guy touch the kunai—how did it suddenly fly back like that?!
"Get in close!"
The group glanced at each other, then rushed forward with swords and kunai, heading straight for Hatake Satoru and Kakashi.
Right now, only the two of them were in the area who could fight, and with six or seven attackers, they figured they could at least stall them.
"Well, they're all wearing masks. It's hard to tell who's who just by looking."
This really caught them off guard. Kakashi hadn't even considered that the Anbu might've been swapped.
It's one thing for enemies to blend into a crowd, but swapping out Anbu? That's serious.
Kakashi never even thought about that possibility.
But now wasn't the time to argue about it.
He casually made an excuse for himself, then pulled out two kunai from his pouch and stepped up onto a chair.
*Clang—!*
With a sharp ringing sound, Kakashi used his kunai to block a sword that came swinging down at him.
They really came straight for Sakura and the others.
Kakashi's face darkened a bit—these guys were clearly experienced jonin.
He shifted his weight slightly, yanked his kunai free, and kicked the guy beside him hard, sending him flying.
Sakura and Naruto were crouched under the bench, nervously looking up at Kakashi.
"Don't draw attention. Crawl out from underneath."
Kakashi gave a quick reminder before jumping back into the fight with the Otogakure ninja.
One of the Otogakure ninja, along with a fake Anbu wearing a mask, rushed at Hatake Satoru with a katana and a kunai.
"Two at once, huh?"
"Looks like they really think I'm a big deal."
Hatake Satoru laughed and leaned to the side to dodge the katana swinging down at him. Then he suddenly vanished.
"Where'd he go?!"
The two of them widened their eyes in disbelief. Even if that was a body flicker technique, it was way too fast!
And they didn't even see how he moved.
Almost by instinct, the two spun around and raised their weapons to block.
"Nope, too slow, you idiots."
Hatake Satoru's voice sounded playful as he appeared in the air like it was nothing.
His hands were still in his pockets as he kicked both of them in the face midair, knocking them right over the railing.
"RAAHHH!!"
··············
Just as the two of them fell, down below, Gaara's body had already half-transformed into a Tailed Beast.
His twisted grin combined with the evil yellow raccoon face gave off a terrifying vibe.
Everyone nearby once again felt that strange pressure coming from Gaara.
That overwhelming presence.
Kakashi had only felt something similar once before—when the seal on Naruto's stomach loosened.
Even though Sasuke had put some distance between him and Gaara, the gap between them was obvious—like a human facing a beast in an ancient Roman arena.
"Come over here."
Hatake Satoru stepped back a bit and reached out sharply toward Naruto and Sakura. The two of them shot into the air, blurred for a second, and landed beside him near the railing.
...
"W-What just happened just now?"
Sakura still hadn't fully processed what that teleportation-like move was.
"Let's talk about that later—right now we need to go deal with that panda-eyes guy!"
Naruto shouted with full energy.
Luckily, he'd been trained a few times by Hatake Satoru before, so he wasn't too surprised. He grabbed Sakura and jumped down from the railing.
Aside from when he was under Genjutsu, now that Naruto was fully back to normal, there was no way he was letting Sasuke fight Gaara alone and hog all the attention.
With all three of them, holding off the One-Tail shouldn't be a problem.
Without even turning around, Hatake Satoru raised his hand to block. A sharp clatter rang out.
The shuriken flying in right behind Naruto and Sakura stopped just as they were about to hit Hatake Satoru, then clattered to the ground.
Hatake Satoru turned his head, showing a grin that looked almost demonic.
In the next moment, all the shuriken that had landed on the ground floated up into the air, shooting straight through the bodies of several Otogakure ninja nearby.
Kakashi used his kunai to block a katana, suddenly ducking low. One of the flying shuriken passed just above him, slicing off a bit of his spiky silver hair.
Right after that, it went straight through the forehead of the Otogakure ninja holding the katana.
"Brutal, man. I thought you were gonna stab me instead."
"If you slack off a little more, I might really stab you through~."
Hatake Satoru turned his head toward where the smoke and dust had cleared. The entire rooftop was now completely covered by a glowing purple barrier.
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