"Enemy attack!!"
The sudden change caught Konoha off guard. The barrier squad quickly stopped their sealing steps, while Kakashi and three Chunin spread out, watching their surroundings closely, trying to find the enemy.
But after taking the barrier ninja, the enemy vanished as if into thin air.
Kakashi looked at the Hyuga ninja in the team. He shook his head. "I spread my senses for miles, but I can't find a trace.
The enemy must be using some kind of space-time ninjutsu."
Kakashi thought the same. Adjusting his forehead protector, his Sharingan spun as he scanned the control room for any clue.
Even the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God left signs behind—Kakashi didn't believe anyone's space-time ninjutsu could be stronger than Minato-sensei's.
Yet even with the Sharingan, he saw nothing.
So Kakashi coldly ordered the barrier squad, "Keep activating the fortress barrier."
He intended to force the enemy to act again.
It was true Kakashi valued his comrades, but he wasn't against using harsh methods. Right now, using the barrier squad as bait was the best move. If he worried about this and that, he might as well stop being a ninja.
The barrier squad had no objections, but their movements slowed a bit, keeping some focus on watching their surroundings, their eyes full of caution.
As they worked, the enemy struck again. In Kakashi's vision, the air twisted into a spiral, and a hand reached out.
"Behind you!"
Kakashi shouted, biting down hard as he inhaled sharply, swelling his chest before yelling, "Silver Fang Flash!"
Gripping his short blade, he shot forward like an arrow, straight at the enemy.
But as his blade cut across the arm, it hit nothing. A strike as fast and certain as Chidori had somehow missed.
"What?!"
Kakashi's eyes widened. His blade had clearly connected, yet he felt nothing, as if he had swung through air.
The enemy brushed past Kakashi, snatching up a barrier squad Chunin who couldn't dodge in time, then disappeared into the air.
Before anyone could even get angry at being tricked again, fire suddenly lit up in the air.
Kakashi instantly saw it was a stack of explosive tags and shouted, "Fall back!!"
At the same time, his hands flew through seals. "Earth Release: Multiple Earth Walls!"
In an instant, four tall, thick walls of earth rose up in the control room, trapping the explosive tags inside.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The blasts went off one after another. The explosive tags were clearly special-made, far stronger than normal.
Kakashi's hastily raised walls barely held, while smoke and dust spread through the control room, blocking everyone's sight.
"Careful, he's coming again."
The Hyuga ninja gave a warning, but it was already too late.
The barrier unit ninja were Chunin as well, but unlike normal shinobi, most of their energy went into studying jutsu. They usually stayed in safe zones and weren't skilled in direct combat, so when sudden danger came, they couldn't react fast enough.
In just moments, another barrier unit ninja vanished into thin air, and the enemy had already locked onto the last survivor.
"Damn it!!"
At the last second, Kakashi shouted coldly, the tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly as his short blade burst into lightning.
The floating dust in the air became the perfect medium. Blue sparks wrapped around the last barrier unit ninja's body.
The enemy's arm twitched, clearly stunned by the lightning, and he was forced to retreat back into the void, giving up the strike.
When the lightning faded, silence returned to the control room, but the Konoha shinobi looked grim.
They hadn't even seen the enemy's face, yet three barrier unit ninja were already gone—no, four.
Kakashi's quick lightning strike had not only hit the enemy, it also shocked the last barrier unit member, nearly burning him to a crisp.
It was a move that hurt the enemy but also harmed his own comrade.
And in his condition now, that ninja clearly couldn't continue with the fortress defense startup.
"We're leaving. Right now."
Kakashi hesitated for only a moment before declaring the mission a failure, ordering his squad to regroup with the main force.
A Hyuga ninja froze. "But there's still a chance to finish the mission."
To give up on a mission was taboo for shinobi, especially one that was this crucial in the war between the two villages.
"No. We've already failed."
Kakashi shook his head. The barrier unit needed time to recover, and time was their biggest enemy here. And after what just happened, did they really think that strange enemy would give them another chance?
Kakashi wasn't confident he could protect an injured comrade from such a foe.
He understood what his teammates were thinking. A shinobi should fight to the end of a mission. But right now, pushing forward would only mean another teammate's death—for nothing.
No, not for nothing.
If the last barrier unit member died, the mission would be doomed without question, and no one back in the village could blame them.
Kakashi only wanted to stay true to his conscience.
The Hyuga ninja opened his mouth to argue, but the thought of Kakashi's identity—and the reputation of the "White Fang of Konoha"—made his heart tremble. He closed his mouth.
With the injured in tow, the squad left the control room without delay.
At that moment, a figure stepped out of a distorted vortex. He glanced in the direction Kakashi had gone and gave a cold laugh.
…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A crimson barrier shook under the strike of giant cat claws, ringing with heavy thuds.
Shisui gritted his teeth to hold on, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
This kind of head-on clash was not the style of battle he was used to.
He was still young, far from his peak, and couldn't handle such draining combat.
Luckily, the enemy wasn't in perfect shape either, as if already injured before the fight began. That was the only reason he could still endure.
Suddenly, a barrier unit ninja rushed out of the fortress to report. "Captain, Kakashi's squad sent word—they met an unknown enemy. The mission has failed."
"What?" Shisui's heart sank, but there was no time to dwell on it. He immediately ordered, "Prepare to retreat."
The Uchiha jonin nodded. With the mission failed, there was no reason to keep fighting. When Yugito took her next rest, they would use the chance to pull out of the battlefield.
Just then, a squad of Kumogakure jonin rushed over. The leader shouted toward the Two-Tails, "Lady Yugito! Raikage-sama orders you to retreat at once!"
"What?"
The cat's eyes burned with unwillingness, but she didn't dare disobey Raikage's order. She gathered several blazing fireballs and hurled them at the Uchiha flame barrier in frustration.
The barrier, already on the verge of collapse, shattered instantly.
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