Instinct. Kakashi's mind raced, as he widened his senses and thought even harder. His gut told him something was wrong, and even if it would distract him from the fight at hand, he would find what it was.
They're still missing two 2 Chunin, and I know they're still around here somewhere. Based on the positioning of the two right in front of me and their behaviour, the other two are…
A moment of realisation dawned upon Kakashi as his eye widened. He knew that there was no more time to waste. Hastily, he threw a small smoke bomb in front of himself, and over the loud sound he yelled to his teammates.
"They're going to blow up the cave and bury us in it! We need to get out of here!"
Rin and Obito's eyes widened, just as Kakashi's did before, at his sentence, and quickly got to their feet. Obito's arm was still weak, but he had now recovered a large portion of his chakra and stamina thanks to their remaining soldier pills, and was in a much better state than he was before thanks to Rin's Iryo ninjutsu. As they headed towards the cave entrance, the smoke began to dissipate, and Kakashi once again engaged the enemy.
For two low-ranking Chunin, amassing enough chakra and using earth style to direct it to weak points to cause a cave like this to collapse would take less than a few minutes. That means we barely have any time left to get out of here!
As his blade clashed with the enemy Chunin's, he heard a voice not too far away say:
"Ready!"
"Give us some more time, they're still trying to get out of here!" the Kumo Jonin grumbled, frustrated that Kakashi was still fighting back. They had discovered to crush all three of the students of the Yellow Flash in the cave at once. It would have been an easy way to end the fight without suffering more injuries or casualties. The way they had been fighting already showed just how dangerous the trio were, and with their backs against the wall it would have only gotten worse. But with their plan now discovered, the enemy needed to ensure that the young shinobi would remain there. The trio grouped together and rushed towards the exit from out of the smoke. Kakashi led from the front running towards both the Chunin and Jonin who stood like guards.
Kakashi sensed an attack coming, even though his left eye was blinded, and swiftly kicked down the Chunin and met Cloud Jonin's kunai with his own Tanto which gleamed white as it struck the kunai, sending sparks flying. The Jonin growled fiercely, and before he could do anything else, behind Kakashi, from the shadows, emerged Rin and Obito, side by side.
"Get off our teammate!" Obito shouted.
The two simultaneously landed a double kick to Jonin's chest, sending him backwards, groaning. Now the three stood at the edge of the cave entrance.
"NOW!" cried the Iwa Chunin, who jumped back, joining the Jonin as they put distance between themselves and the cave.. A loud boom above the cave could be heard, as a pillar of smoke erupted from it. The cave violently shook and the vibrations and tremors could be felt all around them.
"MOVE!" Rin screamed at her teammates. The cave and its entrance began to crash down in a series of falling rocks and dust. Just as the cave entrance came cascading down on the heads of the trio, they managed to dive out of the way in time, if it weren't for Kakashi's realisation, one of them could have easily been crushed by a big boulder. Dust fanned out across the area. And for a moment the Stone and Cloud shinobi thought their plan had worked.
But from out of the dust, they sped out, and with no time to waste, the three took off as fast as they could, heading straight into the trees ahead, choosing the perfect route by avoiding all the enemies.
"GET THEM!" the enemy Jonin roared in rage.
HOW DID WE LOSE THEM? F*CK!
"I can't believe we got out of there!" Obito exclaimed, somewhat relieved.
"It's all thanks to Kakashi, or else we all would've been killed," Rin said.
Obito looked annoyed, however, turned to Kakashi, "Just because I'm injured, doesn't mean I won't catch up to you, Kakashi!"
"Whatever, Obito. Right now, we have to focus on getting away from here as fast as possible. None of us are in any position to be fighting right now!" Kakashi replied, inwardly happy that his teammates were alive.
As they ran, elsewhere a shrouded figure was receiving the news…
—
"Lord Madara, they failed. The White Fang's son was much stronger than we had expected, even with his injury." The White Zetsu said, relaying what he saw using the Mayfly Technique.
"Those Shinobi are weak, losing to a few children like that. But that boy, yes, Kakashi, he too has great talent. Hmmm, we cannot just outright kidnap him either, we need to keep him on our side. And sending too strong a force will mean that Rin girl may die, she is the key to all this, she cannot die, yet."
He thought for a moment, "No actually, we can. Send some Zetsu to transform into Stone and Cloud shinobi and order more Shinobi to chase after them. It matters not if that boy dies, but we will keep both Obito and Rin alive. Knowing him, in his condition, he will try to make sacrifices himself and ensure his friends live, and once he has been injured to the point where they think he's dead, the disguised Zetsu will secure him and will ensure that the girl doesn't die."
—
The events followed as Madara had planned, the young trio seemed to have escaped and were in high spirits despite everything, but soon more enemies were upon them. It seemed impossible, they knew exactly where they were somehow and they were trapped and surrounded. It was cruel, showing them hope just before taking it all away and plunging them back into despair. It was worse than if they just stayed within, but their will to survive all these hopeless situations wouldn't just disappear.
Behind them were the one Cloud Jonin and 3 Stone Chunin who had chased them all the way, joined by another Kumo Chunin who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. In front, was a full squad of Iwa, luckily it seemed to be just 1 Chunin and 3 Genin, but they were still an obstacle that would slow them down enough significantly to become a problem. They too seemed to be randomly joined by yet another Iwa Chunin as well, making the issue all the more problematic.
Rin, Obito and Kakashi stood back to back while their enemies spread around them on the trees to cover their escape routes.
Things were looking dire. The three were exhausted and overall quite low on Chakra, Obito had the highest proportion left, followed by Kakashi who had conserved as much as he could. Rin on the other hand was spent, her healing Obito's arm had taken almost everything she had left.
But strangely even as the fighting began, with Kakashi signalling to hit to the weaker side at the front, out of the 2 Chunin Kakashi wanted to deal with, only one went for him as well. He was joined by a Genin, and instead the other Chunin who looked older, seemed to order everyone as he went for Rin.
This instantly caused Obito and Kakashi to be worried, but in such a clash where every moment counted towards their escape they needed to trust she could hold on. A Rin did hold on, even as spent as she was, but from a third person perspective, as someone who wasn't directly involved in the battle and could think clearly, you would be able to tell that the Chunin seemed to be holding back. They used a few Jutsu and seemed content with holding Rin in place.
Whatever the reason, Rin was held in place, even as Kakashi and Obito dealt with the 3 Genin and 1 Chunin with their lightning and fire style respectively, they needed to go help Rin.
Kakashi attacked from behind, but to his dismay, the Chunin dodged almost effortlessly, even countering.
As Kakashi realised this wasn't an ordinary Chunin and prepared to make hand signs, the Chunin backed off slightly. Before confusion could come, he realised why. In that short time, the Jonin and 4 Chunin behind them had caught up.
His eyes widened at the huge Fire jutsu that swept towards Obito who lagged slightly behind. Kakashi called out to him, "Obito!"
But there was nothing either of them could do. The scene from just a little while before almost repeated itself exactly. But this time, Obito was far more tired and weary to be able to deal with it.
The fire hit him, sending him flying as he spun.
Rin screamed out in worry, and they both body flickered towards where he landed. They cared not for conserving chakra for the fight at this point as they ignored everything else.
It was only now that they understood true despair.
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