While Guy was lying in a crater slowly recovering, Kakashi on the other side was growing more and more energized with every passing moment.
[Shadow Clone Technique!]
Two shadow clones appeared beside Kakashi. The three of them simultaneously began forming hand seals at high speed. Wind Release, Fire Release, Lightning Release—three different chakra-nature ninjutsu struck simultaneously.
"What an idiot. You really think you can keep that up with your low chakra reserves?"
Hidden behind a wall created by Earth Release, the leader of Root's interception squad flashed a trace of disdain in his eyes. Kakashi's low chakra reserves were no secret to Konoha Anbu or Root. If Kakashi had fought them as usual—relying on his combat experience to drag out the battle—the squad leader would've found it genuinely troublesome. But now Kakashi had abandoned his own advantage, choosing an attack style that consumed massive amounts of chakra. This made him feel contemptuous. It seemed those legendary stories circulating within the organization about Kakashi must have been false after all.
What he didn't see, however, was how each time Kakashi used several jutsu and depleted his chakra, a faint green glow would radiate from his right wrist. Then Kakashi—who had been growing mentally drained after heavy chakra consumption—would suddenly feel full of energy again.
More than a minute passed, and Kakashi was still bombarding them relentlessly with ninjutsu. Two minutes. Three minutes. Kakashi still hadn't stopped. In fact, his hands moved even faster through the seals now, almost able to release a technique every two or three seconds. The relentless stream of attacks drove the Root ninja to the edge—they were ready to start cussing up a storm. Hadn't they been told Kakashi Hatake had poor chakra reserves? So what exactly was going on here?! Even a Hokage wouldn't be able to sustain such intense chakra expenditure!
"No more worrying about running dry on chakra… This feels *awesome*!"
Kakashi's mood, which had been depressed for years, improved dramatically. Thinking back over the past few years—he'd never had enough chakra ever since receiving Obito's Sharingan. On every mission, even when using chakra just for traveling, he'd always calculated carefully, trying not to waste a single bit. During battles too, he relied mostly on intelligence and taijutsu to find openings before finishing enemies off with either Lightning Cutter or Chidori. Releasing techniques wildly like this today had only ever been something he could dream about in the past.
"Too bad there's still quite some strain on my mental capacity though. Otherwise I could've enjoyed living without worrying about chakra shortages a little longer."
Sighing, Kakashi felt incredibly refreshed by this sensation, but ultimately completing the mission was still most important. He sent two shadow clones to continue the assault above ground while his actual body went underground using Earth Release.
"Cursed! We can't keep wasting time fighting this guy—we must kill the target soon!"
"You won't get that chance."
A flash of determination crossed the interception squad leader's eyes as he prepared to order other Root members to provide cover. His plan was to sneak around and ambush Sakura himself—but then a streak of lightning suddenly flared up beside him.
"Hatake Kakashi? Since when?!"
"His eyes suddenly narrowed," the Squad Leader thought, shocked that he hadn't noticed when Kakashi had hidden himself beside him.
[Lightning Release: Lightning Cutter]! With a crackling right hand, Kakashi pierced through the Squad Leader's heart. Blood splattered everywhere as he died instantly.
Two minutes later, the battlefield where Kakashi stood fell silent. All Root Ninjas had fallen to the ground dead, their fatal wounds almost all being direct punctures through the heart—clearly these were also the work of Kakashi's Lightning Cutter.
"Hah, maybe I got a little carried away," Kakashi sighed, leaning against a large tree and pulling his forehead protector back down to cover his left eye. His head was pounding now—the aftereffects of Time Reversal plus the mental toll of using the Sharingan had left him just like Guy, forced to sit here and recover.
Meanwhile, at Shisui and Sakura's battlefield, sensing both battlegrounds had gone quiet, everyone roughly guessed what must have happened. Several Root Ninjas attacked even more frantically, and for a moment, Shisui felt like he was struggling to keep up.
"Big brother Shisui," Sakura suddenly said, her eyes lighting up, "why are you playing defense? You're an offensive-type ninja! Big brother Shisui, release your Fire Release straight ahead!"
"Right!" Shisui stepped back, rapidly forming hand seals. A massive fireball several meters wide flew from his mouth. [Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu]!
[Space: Transfer]!
Sakura snapped her fingers. Right before the fireball, a spatial passage quickly opened, swallowing it entirely.
"Huh? What just happened?"
Several Root Ninjas looked confused, but before they could think further, scorching heat suddenly surged behind them. Silently, a spatial passage appeared at their backs, and the previously vanished fireball burst out from within it.
"Waah!"
Completely caught off guard, the group was engulfed in flames. When the fire cleared, they lay on the ground charred and smoking—undoubtedly dead.
"So how do I make as a support?" Sakura asked proudly. With the Space Stone controlling space, she had created connected spatial passages—one in front of Shisui's fireball, another directly behind those Root Ninjas. The fireball disappeared into one end and reemerged from the other, enabling a perfect surprise attack.
"Amazing ability!" Shisui praised wholeheartedly. Then he suggested, "Let's go check on Master Kakashi and Master Guy."
When they finally found the two men, both Shisui and Sakura were stunned. Never mind the fact that the pair looked like complete trainwrecks—what mattered more was that the area around where they had fought was now utterly destroyed.
[Daytime Tiger] had blasted out a huge circular crater where Guy was, with Root Ninja corpses scattered everywhere. The scene was grotesquely bloody — it almost made Sakura puke. Kakashi's area wasn't so bad in terms of bodies. The real problem was that the once-pristine ground now looked like it had been torn apart — trees were toppled, rocks shattered, and scorched burns scarred the earth.
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