To be honest, even Rei Kaguya himself had not expected today's operation to proceed this smoothly.
When formulating the plan, Rei Kaguya and the two Kirigakure jonin had already prepared for the possibility that they would be discovered by Konoha's side once they approached the outpost, forcing the infiltration operation to shift into a frontal assault.
But perhaps someone on Kirigakure's side was blessed by good fortune today.
Or perhaps someone on Konoha's side had a death star shining overhead.
The shinobi on night watch today just so happened to be someone who had recently recovered from injuries and lacked energy.
While he was fighting against sleep, Kirigakure's Anbu dealt with him effortlessly and advanced into the outpost.
And Kakashi Hatake, the strongest person in this outpost, had, for some unknown reason, gone outside alone to stare at the sky.
Not only did he miss the chance to discover the surprise attack immediately, he had also wasted quite a bit of his limited chakra doing something as laughable as looking at the scenery with the Sharingan.
But that did not mean Kirigakure's side could open the champagne early and celebrate the operation's success.
Rei Kaguya was very clear about Kakashi Hatake's future title as the Fifty-Fifty Shinobi of the shinobi world.
Against someone with such a sharp mind, any rashness or carelessness could allow him to seize an opportunity and pull the situation back into balance.
So as the one responsible for holding Kakashi Hatake back, Rei Kaguya displayed ten out of ten, or at least nine out of ten, seriousness from the very beginning.
He continuously forced Kakashi Hatake into making the choices he least wanted to make.
Using chakra to break ninjutsu.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
There was no extra movement of reaching for ninja tools at his waist.
As Rei Kaguya passed Kakashi Hatake in a blade clash, he only slightly adjusted his posture, raised his left hand, and fired a rain of sharp hidden weapons toward Kakashi Hatake, who had been forced away from Rin Nohara.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
An earth wall rolled up and stood before Kakashi Hatake.
Although the pale finger bones did not completely pierce through the defense of the Earth-Style Wall, Kakashi Hatake still broke out in cold sweat when he saw the "hidden weapons" protruding halfway through the wall.
"Dead Bone Pulse… That guy's entire body is both weapon and armor. Ordinary taijutsu and kunai attacks basically won't work against him. But with ninjutsu, my current chakra doesn't support repeatedly using techniques that can threaten him…"
"Do you still have time to space out!?"
Schlick.
Rei Kaguya did not leave Kakashi much time to think.
He swung the sharp bone blade in his hand and cut through the wall formed by Earth-Style Wall, attacking Kakashi, who was thinking at high speed, once again.
Kakashi raised the kunai in his hand, intending to block the opponent's bone blade just like he had blocked Rei Kaguya's first surprise attack earlier.
But this time, the tremendous force transmitted from the bone blade far exceeded his expectations.
It not only easily split the kunai in his hand, but also followed through and left a wound on his chest that definitely could not be considered shallow.
[Grasp of the Undying] +1.
Looking at the somewhat stunned eyes of Kakashi as he retreated, Rei Kaguya's face beneath the mask could not help revealing a faintly pleased smile.
He casually flourished his blade, formed several simple hand seals with one hand, then shouted in a low voice.
"Water Release: Extracting Current."
This was a C-rank ninjutsu developed by Rei Kaguya himself.
Its effect was not complicated. It merely extracted and gathered moisture from the surrounding environment, forming a water sphere of varying size according to the amount of chakra injected by the caster, to be used for other Water Release techniques.
However, if a wounded and bleeding target appeared within the range of this technique…
"Gah—"
A crimson fountain instantly burst from the wound on Kakashi's chest.
Although Kakashi Hatake promptly controlled his muscles to temporarily close the wound and quickly withdrew from the technique's range, he still lost nearly three hundred milliliters of blood from this sudden strike.
That made his already unfavorable situation even worse.
Before finding a way to deal with this technique, he would even lose the right to approach Rei Kaguya again.
"Chidori!"
The retreating Kakashi scattered into a burst of lightning.
Inside the blood-colored water sphere gathering before Rei Kaguya, Kakashi Hatake's figure suddenly appeared.
Intense, chirping lightning wrapped around his right hand.
Lightning Release chakra activated his cells and nerves, allowing him to burst out with speed surpassing that of a taijutsu-type shinobi for a short time.
In a flash of lightning, offense and defense reversed.
Schlick.
Kakashi's right hand easily pierced through the bone membrane Rei Kaguya hastily created, then through the arms blocking his chest.
Like a hot knife cutting through butter, it stabbed effortlessly into his heart.
Clone Technique.
Substitution Technique.
Transformation Technique.
The three most basic techniques had formed the core of Kakashi Hatake's reversal of the battle.
If Minato Namikaze, known as the Yellow Flash, had been present, he would probably have praised Kakashi's exquisite and accurate battlefield judgment, and even developed the idea of letting Kakashi try learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Unfortunately, the people witnessing this scene were Rei Kaguya, an Anbu of Kirigakure, and Rin Nohara, who was trapped inside his Water Prison.
No matter which side it was, neither would sincerely praise Kakashi's smooth counterattack that had completely missed its true target.
"Not a bad idea. Unfortunately, you were only on the second layer."
"Wha—"
Kakashi Hatake had never expected that the enemy could still speak as if nothing had happened after having his heart pierced through.
His reaction slowed for an instant.
Then, "Rei Kaguya," who should have lost all strength, forcefully locked down his right arm.
At the same time, the "clone" holding Rin Nohara in the Water Prison leisurely raised his hand, formed hand seals unhurriedly, and shouted:
"Dance of the Larch: Thorn Execution."
Pffft.
Although Kakashi swung his right hand, which could cut through steel like mud, the instant he was grabbed, slicing open "Rei Kaguya's" body and trying to break free from the enemy's control, the consequence of losing the initiative was that his body was pierced through by dozens of sharp bones that suddenly erupted from "Rei Kaguya."
In only an instant, more than a dozen bloody holes of various sizes were left across Kakashi's body.
They dyed his jonin vest red.
They also dyed his eye that was not black and red.
"A… clone? No, not an ordinary Clone Technique. Even the Sharingan didn't notice immediately…"
Kakashi Hatake once again retreated in a sorry state dozens of meters away from Rei Kaguya.
Panting heavily, he stared down the Kirigakure Anbu who had set a trap early and successfully inflicted serious injuries on him.
After completing all of its duties, "Rei Kaguya's" body also shed all its disguise, collapsed to the ground, and revealed its original appearance.
A gleaming white bone.
It looked somewhat like a transformed and enlarged spine.
"Dead Bone Pulse: Bone Clone."
Rei Kaguya silently recited the true name of this clone technique, which had deceived Kakashi's Sharingan.
Similar to the principle behind Wood Release: Wood Clone, it used a special medium and chakra to create a clone stronger and more stable than an ordinary Clone Technique, allowing it to confuse the enemy's judgment in battle and bait out attacks that could threaten the user.
However, compared to the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who could casually create multiple Wood Clones capable of deceiving the Mangekyo Sharingan, the current Rei Kaguya still needed to pull out his own spine as the core material if he wanted to create a Bone Clone that could fool the Sharingan.
Even with the considerable recovery brought by the Dead Bone Pulse and Grasp of the Undying, the number of Bone Clones he could create was quite limited.
Seeing Kakashi's injuries, Rin Nohara inside the Water Prison could not help revealing a deeply anxious and panicked expression.
Judging by the technique used by the Kirigakure Anbu who had captured her, as long as Kakashi still had unhealed wounds on his body, this enemy could forcibly extract Kakashi's blood from those wounds during close-range combat.
For a shinobi like Kakashi, who lacked recovery ability, this was a huge problem that was nearly impossible to avoid or solve.
Worse still, the Kirigakure Anbu who had captured her was a descendant of the Kaguya clan.
He possessed the Dead Bone Pulse, a Kekkei Genkai famous for its powerful physical offense, defense, and recovery.
Even for a jonin like Kakashi, who possessed powerful offensive ninjutsu, it was hard to say whether he would have any opportunity to shatter all of the enemy's defenses in an instant and end the battle between them.
Since Kakashi might very likely be dragged to death by this person before him, there was only one thing left for her to do.
"Kakashi, run! Hurry and run!"
"Report Kirigakure's invasion to the village! We can't let their plan succeed!"
Although they were separated by a thick water sphere, and although there were dozens of meters between them, the Sharingan that came from Obito Uchiha still reflected the words Rin Nohara struggled to mouth clearly into Kakashi Hatake's mind.
"Rin!?"
"Run! Do you want everyone in the village to become victims of Kirigakure's invasion!?"
Kakashi Hatake clenched his teeth so tightly that he seemed completely unaware of the fact that he had bitten them hard enough to draw blood.
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Again!
It was happening again!
Obito already entrusted his eye to me…
So why am I still this powerless!?
Why still can't I protect Rin!?
But in the end, Kakashi still chose to obey Rin's plea.
He turned and fled.
Because as someone who had already become a Konoha jonin, he knew very clearly what severe consequences would follow if he failed to bring back intelligence about Kirigakure starting an undeclared war against the village.
With most of Konoha's combat strength still facing Iwagakure and Kumogakure on the borders of the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning, Kirigakure's shinobi army could even directly assault Konoha's main village.
And once that happened, Iwagakure and Kumogakure, who had originally intended to enter peace negotiations with Konoha, would absolutely not mind tying down Konoha's main forces, then competing with Kirigakure for territory in the Land of Fire after Kirigakure dealt Konoha a heavy blow.
Kakashi could not allow that to happen.
Even if there was only the slightest possibility, he had to strangle it in the cradle.
So now, he had to leave alive and deliver this intelligence to the other Konoha shinobi inside the Land of Fire.
Only then could he return with the resolve to die and rescue Rin Nohara.
[Mission target: Rin Nohara has been captured. Please cooperate with your teammates as soon as possible and turn her into a controlled Three-Tails Jinchuriki.]
Listening to the system prompt, Rei Kaguya took a deep breath and released the Water Prison Technique binding Rin Nohara.
He casually threw her to his subordinate, Mikazuki Eri, who was watching him from the side with an excited and worshipful expression.
Then he looked up at the dark night sky and silently thought:
"All right. The guaranteed reward should be in hand now. Next, I need to consider how to take what I need and retreat safely from Obito Uchiha…"