When Rei Kaguya saw the lightning so bright it seemed about to illuminate the sky, his first reaction was that things had gone bad.
Although Kakashi Hatake was not the kind of cheat with many battle records of plot-powered explosions, his actual strength clearly exceeded gatekeeper jonin like Matsuda Takuya and Ringo Mirai by more than one level.
A Chidori of this scale, paired with the Sharingan he could already use proficiently, was absolutely not something those two ordinary guys, Matsuda Takuya and Ringo Mirai, could block.
What was going on?
With Kakashi's chakra reserves, after going through several fierce battles in a short period of time, there was no reason he should still be able to unleash such a powerful Chidori.
Rei Kaguya instinctively felt that something was wrong.
So he increased the speed of his Body Flicker even further and returned to the Kirigakure Anbu unit amid the piercing cry of Chidori's lightning.
Then, he saw a scene that could probably be ranked among the world's famous paintings.
Matsuda Takuya was grabbing Rin Nohara's body with one hand and raising his ninja blade with the other, trying to use the hostage as a shield to disrupt Kakashi Hatake's judgment, then seize the moment of hesitation to kill him.
But Rin Nohara, whom he was grabbing, did not instinctively struggle as he had expected.
Instead, she borrowed the force of being pulled over and suddenly leaned forward, directly crashing into Kakashi Hatake's lightning-wrapped right hand.
Then, under the tremendous impact, she was dragged along and slammed into the unprepared Matsuda Takuya's chest, making his heart also become prey to Chidori.
Matsuda Takuya's eyes widened.
His blade had already cut into Kakashi Hatake's shoulder.
If he had been given just another half-second, he could have cut this damned brat in front of him into two pieces.
But with his heart pierced, he could no longer muster even the slightest strength.
"No!!!"
As Matsuda Takuya spat blood and fell backward, a roar filled with utter grief and fury rang out from the other side of the battlefield.
A young figure wearing a white mask that exposed only one eye and dressed in a tattered black robe roared as he charged toward Kakashi, who had powerlessly dropped to his knees together with Rin Nohara.
The other Kirigakure shinobi did not recognize who that figure, like an injured and maddened beast, was.
Several of Matsuda Takuya's nearby subordinates even tried to rush forward and kill this rabid beast who had intruded onto the battlefield on the spot.
Rei Kaguya did not even have time to warn the people around him.
He had already seen the Kirigakure Anbu who charged forward get killed on the spot by Obito Uchiha's Wood Release: Cutting Technique.
Even the Kirigakure shinobi who tried to retrieve Matsuda Takuya's corpse were torn to pieces by the furious, rampaging Obito.
Blood fell like rain.
"Aaaaahhh! You bastards! Die! Die! Die!!!"
The furious boy guarded his two fallen companions and let out a roar that made even the soul shudder.
After Obito Uchiha killed every Mist shinobi in that direction with the speed of thunder, the surviving Mist shinobi very clearly realized that the opponent's power was not something they could resist.
Just as they were about to fall into panic, they discovered that Rei Kaguya, who had defeated Kakashi Hatake, had just returned to the squad.
In an instant, the Mist shinobi who had lost Matsuda Takuya and Ringo Mirai, their two leaders, once again found a mainstay they could rely on and trust.
On their own, they began gathering around Rei while carrying their companions whose injuries might still be saved.
"Lord Rei… That guy, that guy is a complete monster. Our attacks have no effect on him at all. They all pass through his body and miss…"
"Lord Rei, the heart of the Three-Tails Jinchuriki was destroyed by that white-haired brat. What do we do next?"
"Lord Rei! Yoshida, Yoshida was killed by that one-eyed guy! Kill him… Kill him!"
"Lord Rei! We must make a decision now!"
"Lord Rei!? Lord Rei?!"
Voices filled with terror, confusion, worry, pleading, and expectation echoed around Rei Kaguya.
On the face hidden beneath his mask, a smile slowly formed.
A smile that said everything was going according to plan.
Good.
The Three-Tails Jinchuriki was killed because of Matsuda's stupid choice.
Obito also had not yet had time to kill every Anbu who had participated in this mission.
Next, as long as Rei could repel Obito, then withdraw to the Land of Water with the survivors, absolutely no one would be able to dump responsibility for the mission's failure onto his head.
"Kaguya… Rei…"
Ringo Mirai, whose right chest had been pierced by Kakashi and who now had more air leaving than entering, opened his eyes.
After scanning the scene around him, he struggled to call Rei Kaguya's name.
Hearing this voice, full of the sense of a dying man's final clarity, Rei Kaguya sighed.
He maintained a vigilant posture while retreating two steps to Ringo Mirai's side, glancing at the Kirigakure jonin whose eyes were losing their light.
"I am here, Jonin Ringo."
"The mission… failed?"
"Probably." Rei Kaguya looked at Rin Nohara, whose blood had already formed a pool beneath her body, and answered in a cold voice. "Jonin Matsuda used the Jinchuriki as a shield, and together with him, she was killed by Kakashi Hatake's Lightning Release. At this point, the Three-Tails should already have died along with its Jinchuriki and begun the process of reforming and resurrecting."
"I see… Cough. Konoha brats… really can't be underestimated."
Ringo Mirai coughed out a large mouthful of blood.
His originally pale face took on an abnormal flush.
He suddenly propped himself up, stretched out his bloodstained hand, grabbed Rei Kaguya's collar, and gave instructions through gritted teeth.
"We cannot… let them go. If they live, they will become a huge obstacle to us, to Kirigakure defeating Konoha…"
"Now, in the name of Kirigakure jonin Ringo Mirai, I order that command over all Anbu present be transferred to you, Kaguya… Kill Kakashi Hatake and that monster of unknown origin. Then take the survivors and retreat…"
"None of you are leaving!!!"
The roar swallowed by anger and grief covered Ringo Mirai's final words.
Obito Uchiha, whose body had already grown countless twisted branches, had at some point disappeared from beside the fallen Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara.
He appeared beside the surviving Kirigakure shinobi.
Beneath the pale spiral mask, that black-and-red Mangekyo Sharingan spun rapidly, endlessly throwing a gaze full of savagery and hatred at the people Obito Uchiha had locked onto.
"You dared… You dared to do that to Rin… Every Kirigakure shinobi must die… Not one of you will be left alive!!!"
He swung a fist covered in sharp branches.
Just like when he killed those Kirigakure Anbu earlier, he intended to rely on Wood Release: Cutting Technique, which could activate without warning, and on Kamui, the ocular technique that allowed him to freely switch between tangible and intangible, to kill the new leader the Mist shinobi had found.
Then he would kill every other Kirigakure shinobi who was no match for him.
"Dance of the Larch."
Bones as white as jade and hard as iron pierced through Rei Kaguya's Anbu uniform and thrust out in all directions.
They blocked Obito Uchiha's Cutting Technique.
At the same time, they pierced several wounds into the White Zetsu wrapped around Obito's body, wounds that almost reached Obito himself.
"Half-baked Wood Release cannot defeat me, descendant of the Uchiha…"
Watching Obito Uchiha retreat with a somewhat incredulous gaze, Rei Kaguya casually tore off his tattered clothing.
With bones all over his body, giving him a style somewhat similar to Obito Uchiha, whose half body was currently covered in messy, sharp wood, he raised the bone blade in his hand.
He pointed it at Obito Uchiha's crimson Mangekyo Sharingan and spoke calmly.
"Although I do not know how you obtained that strange Sharingan and this ability that resembles Wood Release… if I can bring your corpse back to the village for research, perhaps it can offset the losses caused to the village by this mission's failure."
"Then come and try it, Kirigakure bastard!!!"
Obito Uchiha roared.
Once again, he charged toward Rei Kaguya with his fist raised.