In the depths of the dense forest, several thick branches jutted violently from the ground. Two of them had pierced straight through the bodies of two ninja dressed in ANBU gear, with blood steadily dripping from the wounds.
The sound of blood hitting the ground—drip, drip—was especially loud in the stillness of the woods.
Not far away, Uchiha Wada was sprawled across the ground, two ninja blades lodged in his back. He was clearly beyond saving.
Beside Wada's corpse, Uchiha Setsuna stood silently. The gloating smile on his face was well concealed beneath his mask. He gazed at the miserable corpse of his old friend—someone he had personally plotted against—and felt not a flicker of emotion.
He crouched down, dug out Wada's eyes, and placed them into a container he'd prepared in advance. Then, Setsuna dismissed the White Zetsu that had been following him. He leaned against a branch conjured by Yōwan's Wood Release and quietly waited for his target to arrive.
"Come out, brat. I've already sensed your presence."
It was unclear how long he had waited, but Setsuna suddenly turned his head, his gaze locking onto a spot not far away.
"Not coming out? Or are you waiting for—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden chill rushed up behind him. Setsuna bent low, narrowly dodging a barrage of senbon. In the same motion, he drew his sword and slashed through an ice mirror behind him.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Takeshi's voice rang out through the forest, followed by a dense flurry of shuriken flying toward Setsuna.
"Is that all?"
Activating his Sharingan, Setsuna's eyes locked onto the incoming barrage and quickly identified their flaws.
He threw a few shuriken of his own. The resulting clangs of metal echoed through the air as his projectiles altered the paths of the others, causing them to collide midair and miss him completely.
"Stop struggling. I know everything about you—even that you've mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, created by the twisted Tobirama."
Tilting his head slightly, Setsuna dodged a Flying Thunder God kunai, then, without moving his feet, swung his blade backward—just in time to intercept Takeshi, who had teleported behind him.
Thrown off by the blow, Takeshi didn't dare linger. He let the Flying Thunder God kunai fall to the ground and immediately vanished behind a tree, cursing the man before him under his breath.
So it really was a trap, just as he'd suspected.
The two corpses impaled on the tree branches had to be Yamanaka Akira and Shimura Ikku.
But who was the one lying dead on the ground?
And more importantly, who was this masked man?
Judging by his reflexes, it clearly wasn't Uchiha Madara.
Was he acting on Madara's behalf?
If that was the case, then perhaps Obito was no longer a threat. So why had this man lured him out here?
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
Before Takeshi could think further, a torrent of flames erupted from Setsuna's mouth, forcing him to snap back to reality.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
Seeing the massive scale of the fire jutsu, Takeshi had no choice but to counter it with water. To avoid the steam that would rise and obscure his vision, he infused the water with ice-style chakra.
The first wave of water froze into solid ice, forming a thick wall that successfully blocked the fire.
"A rational decision."
A voice suddenly came from his left, reminding Takeshi that his opponent had moved. Seeing the crimson glow from the voids in the mask, Takeshi confirmed—his enemy was indeed a Uchiha.
Avoid eye contact at all costs!
He ducked to avoid another flurry of shuriken and dove into the ice wall he had created behind him.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!"
Seeing Takeshi vanish into the ice, Setsuna didn't hesitate. He immediately formed hand seals and spat out four dragon-shaped fire blasts that smashed into the frozen wall with raw force.
"Got him."
Sensing that the ice wall was about to shatter, Takeshi burst forth. Setsuna hadn't noticed the Flying Thunder God kunai he'd dropped earlier still lying on the ground—he teleported to that spot and lunged with a senbon.
"The one who got you... is me, brat."
What Takeshi saw wasn't Setsuna's exposed back, but a pair of Sharingan with three tomoe.
In just a single instant of eye contact, Takeshi's gaze turned vacant. The senbon in his hand slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.
"Heh. So much for the 'White Reaper.' In the end, just another ordinary brat from the Shimura clan. Today's shinobi are so much weaker than in my time... and this little punk actually managed to kill so many?"
Setsuna sneered at the paralyzed Takeshi, mocking the weakness of the modern shinobi world while reminiscing about his own battlefield days.
Back then, wasn't he also just a brat in the eyes of stronger shinobi?
Especially Tobirama. Despite being an elite member of the Konoha Military Police Force, he had been taken down in a single move by that old bastard. Luckily, Tobirama had already died at the hands of the Gold and Silver Brothers. If it had been just Madara, old and withered, backing him, Setsuna wouldn't have dared to resurface.
"Next, I'll stuff the Three-Tails into this brat's body, then let him escape back to Konoha. The Mist ninja will trigger the beast's rampage... Hehehe... Shimura Danzō, I'll make you personally kill your own son! Hahahahaha!"
Letting out a crazed laugh, Uchiha Setsuna manipulated Takeshi into following behind him as he headed toward the secret hideout of the Kirigakure shinobi.
As for Wada and the two Root ninja corpses?
Let them rot and stink in this forest.
The woods fell silent once more.
The blood of Yamanaka Akira and Shimura Ikku had long since dried. The dripping sound had faded away.
"You two idiots... I was counting on you to train that brat Kabuto. And now you've gone off to meet the Sage of Six Paths before him."
Two flashes of cold light cleaved through the tree branches that had impaled the corpses, freeing the bodies from their binds.
Using the tip of his blade, Takeshi pried off the masks covering their faces. Familiar features stared back at him. He let out a quiet sigh.
"Good thing I'm smart. I used almost two-thirds of my chakra to create a shadow clone that couldn't be easily destroyed. Otherwise, I really would've fallen for that bastard's scheme."
His voice carried a tinge of sorrow even as he praised his own cunning.
Takeshi's real body had been hiding far away. All the scouting and the entire battle with Setsuna had been conducted by his shadow clone.
Only after the forest grew quiet did he dare to creep back in.
That was why he hadn't witnessed the fight between the clone and Setsuna—and currently had no information about his opponent.
Of course, he could dispel the shadow clone technique now and immediately access all its memories. But doing so would also reveal the enemy's reason for not killing him immediately.
Better to wait for the clone to disappear on its own.
"I don't have time to bury you guys... I've got to follow that bastard and figure out who he really is. But I swear, no matter how many years it takes, I'll cut off that bastard's head and lay it at your graves!"
Without looking back at the bodies again, Takeshi composed himself and chased off in the direction Setsuna had gone.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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