Naruto was lazily riding through the dense forest atop a Tailed Beast, a beautiful girl at his side. As always, he was boasting while savoring the peace.
What a blissful moment—so perfect.
Suddenly, Naruto felt a chill and immediately recalled that Hinata was nearby.
Hinata possessed the Byakugan, constantly watching him from afar. Naruto knew better than to do anything reckless under her gaze.
Riding atop the Two-Tailed Matatabi, Hinata had her Byakugan activated, watching Naruto's every move from afar.
Naruto thought to himself: That sneaky Hinata… I should come up with some new tricks to keep her in line—until she's too exhausted to even stand.
Just as he wanted to think further, Naruto came up with a new Ninjutsu idea.
Meanwhile, Nagare had sensed something odd.
His face darkened as he dropped from above, hiding within the thick canopy.
Strange—Kiri's trackers were here faster than usual.
As his expression shifted from seriousness to alarm, Nagare quickly leapt away from his spot, pulling out his Ephemeral Blowpipe.
"Who's there?"
At that moment, Orochimaru and Itachi stepped out from the shadows.
Looking at these two before him, Nagare immediately felt their power was beyond ordinary.
"Hehehe… So this is our target?" Orochimaru eyed the young man curiously.
"Don't underestimate him," Itachi warned calmly. "He's the Six-Tailed Jinchuriki."
Realizing they were targeting him specifically, Nagare was startled.
Unsure of their true strength, Nagare decided to retreat.
He blew countless bubbles into the air using the Ephemeral Blowpipe.
The floating bubbles blocked Orochimaru and Itachi's path.
Itachi examined the bubbles with his Sharingan.
"These bubbles contain strange chakra—it must belong to the Six-Tails."
Stepping forward, Orochimaru reached out and touched one of the bubbles with his finger.
"Only by trying them can I know what threat they pose."
The moment his fingertip made contact, the bubble burst and emitted green smoke.
"It's acid—extremely corrosive," Orochimaru said with a smile. Such an ability hardly impressed him.
Completely unafraid, Orochimaru charged straight through the bubble barrier chasing after Nagare.
Observing this, Itachi couldn't help but feel that Orochimaru had truly changed.
Orochimaru has gone this far for Naruto? It must be the power of Shisui's eyes...
Itachi had already given Naruto the second eye of Shisui, granting him the power of Kotoamatsukami once again—who exactly would become its target remained unknown.
Elsewhere.
Mei Terumi was growing anxious. She needed to find Nagare fast—if she got to him first, she'd beat him up and drag him back to Kiri.
Then dangle offers to win him over and get him fighting for Kiri again.
Right now, Kirigakure was desperately short on strong fighters.
The reason Mei wanted to capture Nagare was because Naruto was lurking nearby, watching everything.
She had a nagging suspicion that Naruto was up to something, but had no proof. If she did have proof, she might even confront him head-on.
"Without Zabuza, I'd have already taken Naruto out. He possesses so many Tailed Beasts, which makes him an enormous threat to the village."
Mei raced through the thick mist.
Suddenly realizing that the five Anbu ninjas from Mist who had been following behind were now missing,
"To silently eliminate the Anbu behind me... Could it be... Naruto?"
Suddenly, Mei Terumi noticed a male figure appearing in front of her.
Startled like a bird that had once been shot at, she instinctively hurled a kunai at the dark figure.
But the kunai seemed to hit nothing, and the shadow still remained.
"Genjutsu!" Mei realized she had fallen into an illusion.
Such powerful genjutsu!
...
Kakashi was also trying to locate Obito.
Right now, Kakashi fully trusted what Naruto said.
After all, it was Naruto who led him to the Hidden Mist Village—and they had indeed found Obito there.
Clearly, Naruto had plenty of intelligence on Obito.
So when Naruto said Obito was close by, Kakashi fully believed him.
While searching for Obito, Kakashi looked everywhere without success. Instead, he came across Mei.
Because Obito wasn't actually there—someone had intentionally placed Mei in that spot.
"Hm? What's that?" Kakashi halted his steps, observing Mei from afar.
"That's the Mizukage, isn't it? What is she doing?"
He saw Mei frozen in place, her expression vacant, looking exactly like someone trapped inside a genjutsu.
"Could it be genjutsu? Who could possibly cast such an illusion upon the Mizukage in this place?"
"Could it really be Obito?"
At this moment, Kakashi's mind revolved solely around Obito—nothing but Obito.
Kakashi strongly suspected Obito was behind Mei's genjutsu, considering Obito possessed a Sharingan.
Deciding to help release the Mizukage from the genjutsu and then ask her where Obito was,
As Kakashi approached the Mizukage,
Suddenly, a trap was triggered.
A net rose from the ground, covering Kakashi inside.
As soon as he was caught, Kakashi's body burst into white smoke and turned into a wooden stake.
It was Kakashi's Substitution Jutsu.
The real Kakashi remained hidden behind a tree.
"That was definitely a trap. This trap was too obvious."
"There must be more traps around the Mizukage too."
Just as Kakashi pondered how to approach the Mizukage, suddenly a swarm of pink insects erupted around him.
"Insects?" Kakashi exclaimed in shock.
Among Leaf shinobi, the Aburame clan was most famous for manipulating bugs.
Yet no one had ever heard of an Aburame using pink insects.
Kakashi had never seen these pink-colored insects before.
The pink swarm attacked Kakashi directly.
Ooh!
Kakashi leapt into action, dodging every attack.
Torune clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"No wonder Kakashi is famed—the speed of his movements surpasses my insect swarms."
At this moment, Itachi stood beside him: "Allow me to lend assistance."
Itachi approached Kakashi with slow, deliberate steps, completely unrushed.
From behind a tree trunk, half of Itachi's handsome face peeked out.
Meanwhile, Kakashi kept dodging and flipping through the air, constantly evading the pink swarm's attacks.
The pink insects wove dense nets, launching coordinated assaults against Kakashi from every angle.
Kakashi swung his kunai defensively, keeping the swarm at bay.
As Kakashi fought, Itachi cast a sidelong glance.
Kakashi also noticed someone secretly watching him from the shadows.
Itachi ducked behind a tree trunk and donned the Akatsuki Organization's robe, putting on the orange mask.
Disguised as Obito, Itachi emerged from behind the tree.
Hearing the noise, Kakashi quickly turned to look.
That figure, that mask—wasn't this the same Obito he had seen in the Hidden Mist Village? At that time, Obito had worn exactly this outfit.
The moment Kakashi hesitated, the pink insect swarm seized their chance. They surged forward all at once, completely encircling Kakashi.
The pink swarm injected a mysterious toxin straight into Kakashi's body.
By the time Kakashi regained his senses, the pink insects had already vanished without a trace.
And so had Obito.
Kakashi's vision began to blur, a sharp throbbing pain in his head.
"Where am I? Where's Obito?"
"Who?" Kakashi called out.
"Who?" Mei Terumi repeated.
In Kakashi's eyes, Mei Terumi appeared as Obito.
From Mei Terumi's perspective, Kakashi looked like Nagare.
Kakashi asked her, "Obito?"
Mei Terumi asked him, "Nagare?"
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