Bam!
Kakashi didn't dodge. He took Obito Uchiha's punch dead on, stumbling backward as a streak of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Drip. It splattered against his shinobi uniform.
But Kakashi didn't get angry. He just stared in silence at Obito.
That single sentence—The White Fang of the Leaf is a hero—echoed endlessly in his mind.
For years, Kakashi had been drowning in the weight of that incident. His father's death had dragged him into complete darkness. Even after joining Team Minato, which brought some relief, he had never truly stepped out from that shadow.
But now, Obito's pure, unfiltered acknowledgment of Sakumo Hatake struck something deep inside Kakashi.
His legs moved on their own.
Noticing Kakashi following him, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of Obito's mouth.
'Once we save Rin,' Obito thought to himself, 'I'll be her hero. She'll definitely fall for me then!'
---
"We meet again, Minato Namikaze!" Rasa called out, looking down from the sky at the blonde ninja.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider? Joining the Hidden Sand would be a much better choice for you. You've deeply offended that old bastard Danzo Shimura; things won't end well for you if you stay in the Leaf."
The nearby Konoha ninja froze upon hearing this. Their eyes darted back and forth between Rasa and Minato.
On one hand, they couldn't believe Minato would ever harbor thoughts of betraying Konoha. But on the other hand, they knew Rasa wouldn't say something like this out loud without some underlying reason.
"Kazekage, you can stop wasting your breath," Minato replied, his voice firm. "I will never betray Konoha. In life, I am a shinobi of the Leaf, and in death, I remain one. Let's fight."
The next instant, both men vanished, moving like literal lightning.
One was a flash of gold. The other, a flash of red.
Their speeds were so extreme that the surrounding ninja couldn't even track their movements with the naked eye.
---
Seeing the reinforcements arrive, Yagura Karatachi let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Thank god for the Leaf's support. Otherwise, with the collapse of the great lake, the Mist army wouldn't have been able to hold the line."
"Fortunately, Konoha kept its word."
Yagura stared in Rasa's direction, his eyes flickering with calculation.
"Rasa... he's incredibly difficult to deal with. Even more troublesome than Pakura."
"No wonder he managed to defeat her in the battle for the Kazekage seat. And back when Sunagakure was in such a horrific state, he never even considered surrendering."
"He was hiding his true strength this whole time. His power isn't the slightest bit weaker than Minato Namikaze's."
Yagura quickly compared the two in his mind.
Minato had a massive summoning beast; so did Rasa. Minato had the Flying Thunder God Jutsu; Rasa also had an immensely powerful teleportation-style jutsu.
But Rasa possessed things Minato didn't. Namely, the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai to control gold dust. Plus, Rasa could fly.
However, Yagura didn't have the complete picture. For example, he didn't know Minato had mastered Senjutsu from Mount Myoboku. Nor did he know that Rasa possessed the Byakugan, granting him an unparalleled sensory and combat advantage.
"With the Leaf's backing, our Mist army should be able to weather this storm," Yagura deduced.
"Rasa can't stay on the frontlines forever. If he tries, it might actually work in our favor. The Mizukage would definitely dispatch an elite squad to launch a sneak attack on the Sand Village. With most of their ninja—and Rasa himself—deployed here, Sunagakure's home defenses must be completely hollowed out."
But at that exact moment...
A figure sprinted frantically toward Yagura's position.
Simultaneously, a Konoha ninja was rushing at top speed toward Minato. Both messengers looked absolutely panic-stricken.
"What?!"
"What?!"
Yagura's head snapped in a specific direction. The next moment, he bolted forward.
He arrived to a gruesome sight: Biwa Juzo's corpse was hoisted high in the air on a wooden pole. Below it, several Sand ninja were parading Juzo's body around like a sick battle standard.
"Biwa Juzo is dead! Surrender now, Mist Village!"
"Biwa Juzo is dead! Surrender now!"
Seeing this, Yagura froze. Then, raw, unadulterated rage twisted his features. His expression turned incredibly dark.
"Hidden Sand!"
"Pakura!"
"Rasa!"
"I will kill you all!"
"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!"
Yagura hurriedly turned to a nearby Mist ninja. "How did Juzo die?"
"Lord Yagura..." the ninja began, his voice shaking. "The Sand Village has something that can turn completely invisible. It hid in the shadows. Juzo didn't know it was there. It ambushed him, and he was gravely injured."
"Pakura seized the opening and launched a relentless assault."
"Wounded, Juzo couldn't hold off her attacks. The rest of us tried to reinforce him, but we didn't make it in time. We could only watch helplessly as Pakura struck him down."
The Mist ninja's eyes were red and wet. "And now these Sand bastards are humiliating him like this! It's unforgivable! I want to avenge him so badly... but I'm not strong enough. Damn it!"
Yagura was equally enraged, but upon hearing the explanation, his strategic mind took over. He realized they had to find that invisible entity immediately. Otherwise, he might share Juzo's fate.
"Where is this invisible thing right now?"
"We don't know."
A thought flashed through Yagura's mind. "Right... the Byakugan! Hurry, get the Leaf's Hyuga ninja over here! They can use the Byakugan to track it. Go get them, now!"
A Hyuga ninja arrived quickly. Even though he harbored deep resentment toward the Mist Village, he didn't argue given the current crisis. He followed Yagura's request and activated his Byakugan to scan the battlefield.
A massive silhouette immediately appeared within his vision.
"I see it! Over there!" The Hyuga pointed straight at the chameleon's location. "It's enormous. It looks like a summoning beast."
Yagura scowled. "Another summoning beast?"
Without hesitation, Yagura barked his orders. "Mist ninja, hear my command! Aim for those coordinates and bombard it with ninjutsu!"
A massive barrage of jutsu and ninja tools rained down on the chameleon's position.
Across the battlefield, Pakura noticed Yagura giving orders. Gripping the legendary blade Hiramekarei tightly, she charged straight at him.
---
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield...
Minato Namikaze's expression was no better than Yagura's.
"What? Kakashi lost an eye... and transplanted Obito's?"
"Obito is... dead?"
A suffocating wave of guilt washed over Minato's face.
"It's all my fault. If I had just been there, this never would have happened. It's all my fault!"