So… so amazing!
Rin's eyes went wide.
Gazing at the backs of Kakashi and Obito, her heart pounded uncontrollably.
Especially Obito—
The boy she remembered, the one who always seemed to get hurt, had broken free from his cocoon, emerging like a butterfly to reveal a decisiveness and courage she had never seen before. For no reason, her mind recalled the words he had once spoken about protecting her… and suddenly, her cheeks burned crimson, her heart pounding even harder.
Slap! Slap!
Rin smacked her cheeks firmly with both hands.
She reminded herself: Now is not the time for silly thoughts.
What she needed to do now was help Kakashi and Obito deal with the enemy they'd encountered. Even if she couldn't contribute much, she at least couldn't become a burden to them. Yesterday, they had Minato-sensei to pull them out of danger in the end, but today… there was no Minato-sensei to fall back on.
They had to take responsibility for themselves!
"Only two enemies?" Rin murmured to herself.
She reached into her tool pouch, pulled out a kunai, and scanned her surroundings, looking for any chance to assist Kakashi and Obito.
And then—
"Relax. It's just Enkō and Dani—only two of them!"
A voice, faintly familiar, came from behind her.
"You—"
Before Rin could react,
an arm as solid as forged iron snaked around her from behind, clamping tightly around her neck. Though she couldn't see anything with her eyes, the moment she felt the touch, she knew exactly who it was—the Iwa shinobi who had captured her yesterday and then slipped away from Minato-sensei's grasp.
Rin's heart plummeted.
What—again?!
She had been keeping her eyes on the water's surface beneath her feet and staying alert to her surroundings. Logically, even if someone approached without her noticing, she should have at least sensed something. Unless… they were invisible?
Her hands grasped at the arm choking her neck—
But in her vision, all she could see were her own hands.
He really was invisible?
Then, all of a sudden—
For some reason, the arm around her neck loosened slightly. The voice trapped in her throat burst out: "Obito! Kakashi! Watch ou—"
Unfortunately, she only managed to call their names before the iron grip clamped down again, cutting off the rest of her warning.
Still, the noise was enough to draw everyone's attention. Kakashi and Obito, as well as their opponents, Enkō and Dani, all shifted into a more cautious stance, diverting part of their focus toward Nohara Rin.
They saw her in the grasp of an invisible enemy.
"Rin!"
Obito's voice was sharp with anger and worry.
Through his double-tomoe Sharingan, he could clearly see the high-intensity chakra clustered behind her.
Frustration roiled in his chest.
He hadn't expected the Iwa shinobi to have a third comrade—one who had mastered a technique that could turn the body invisible. Hateful… truly hateful!
"Rin?"
Kakashi's brow furrowed.
This situation was far more dangerous than they had anticipated. These Iwa shinobi had come with overwhelming force.
Meanwhile—
Enkō and Dani were completely bewildered.
What the hell was going on?
Was that… the Hiding with Camouflage Technique? As far as they knew, only two people in the entire village could use that jutsu—Dani himself, and one member of the Anbu. Could it be that the Tsuchikage had sent an Anbu operative to assist them?
But then—
Before either side could make sense of what was happening—
Crack!
The sharp snap of breaking bone echoed through the bamboo grove.
Dani's eyes went wide as he looked down to see a black, coal-like fist—slick with blood, flesh, and shattered bone—thrusting out through his chest.
Earth Release: Earth Spear?
That high-level earth-hardening jutsu, famed for making the body as hard as diamond? The thought barely flickered in his mind before there was no time left for anger or hatred—his consciousness dissolved into nothingness.
"Koeda Kyoichi?!"
Enkō's voice broke into a wounded, wolf-like howl.
At the same time as Dani's death, he too was struck from behind. His reflexes and wariness were sharper than Dani's, and anticipating Kakashi's high-speed assault, he had prepared an Earth Substitution Technique to counter.
But—
That preparation had been burned away by this sudden ambush instead of being used against Kakashi.
Still, that preparation saved his life. He didn't end up like Dani, and he even got a clear look at the attacker who had smashed through his earth clone—
Black hair. Black eyes. Striking features. A worn black combat suit under a deep-purple flak jacket. At his waist, a vivid yellow gemstone.
It was unmistakably Koeda Kyoichi—whom Enkō had already written off as dead.
"You bastard—do you even know what you're doing?! Killing your own comrades… you, you—"
Enkō was too shocked to form coherent words.
There were too many questions clawing at his mind.
If Kyoichi wasn't dead, what had happened to the demon leech? Why was he attacking both him and Dani? And above all—how had he learned the Hiding with Camouflage Technique?
Just moments ago, Kyoichi had taken advantage of their focus on Nohara Rin, used that very technique to slip in behind them, and then unleashed Earth Release: Earth Spear, a deadly offense-defense fusion technique.
Without that camouflage technique, it would have been impossible for him to approach undetected.
But that technique belonged to the Tsuchikage.
By the Tsuchikage's own rules, every shinobi taught the jutsu was recorded. Kyoichi's name was not on that list—if it had been, it would have been noted in the intelligence dossier the Anbu had provided on the Koeda clan.
If the Tsuchikage hadn't taught him… where had he learned it?
Had someone passed it to him in secret? But only two people in Iwagakure knew it—Dani, who obviously hadn't taught Kyoichi, and that Anbu operative… Could it be that the Anbu had betrayed them?
That thought alone was enough to shake Enkō.
"Konoha shinobi—if you don't want your comrade to die, help my shadow clone take down that spiky-haired freak!"
Kyoichi ignored Enkō's questions entirely. Dispelling his camouflage, he tightened his arm around Nohara Rin and used her as leverage against Kakashi and Obito. "Move it! If that spiky-haired freak gets away, your comrade is as good as dead!"
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