"Kyoichi of the Koeda Clan, you bastard! Do you even realize what you're doing? To betray the village—every last man, woman, and child of your Koeda clan will die without a grave to be buried in!"
Sumashi clutched at the wound in his thigh, standing amidst the forest of jagged stone spears. His eyes, burning with hatred, locked on Kyoichi, who had just stabbed them in the back.
If a glare could kill,
then by now, Kyoichi would have been riddled with holes.
"Sumashi… why are you just like Magari and Enkō? Always the same tired words, over and over. Is that all you can say?" Kyoichi sighed, helplessness written across his face. Then he added, "Though I'm sick of repeating myself too… I'll say it again. Even if I don't betray the village, do you really think Iwagakure would spare the Koeda clan?"
He gave a cold laugh and continued:
"By the rules of Iwagakure, once every shinobi of the Koeda clan falls in battle, the women left in the village will be reduced to breeding stock for other clans. The young boys and the old men will wither away one after another… and before long, the Koeda name will be erased completely from Iwagakure's records. Tell me—am I wrong?"
"So what? That's nothing more than the fate traitors deserve!"
Sumashi's eyes flared with fury as he roared back.
"Heh… You're not wrong. But if we're destined to die anyway, then instead of waiting to be slaughtered—I'll choose betrayal to the bitter end!" Kyoichi's voice turned cold.
Right or wrong—
he no longer cared.
All Kyoichi wanted was to live. He would not throw away this hard-won second chance at life so easily. So… if someone wanted him dead, he would kill them first. That was the creed he now lived by.
"Die without a grave! Your Koeda clan will never—"
Crack!
The sound of ribs breaking was sharp and chilling.
A jet-black fist
burst through Sumashi's chest!
Behind him stood Kyoichi's shadow clone, which had slipped close using the Camouflage Concealment Technique. The moment it struck, the clone dropped its camouflage. Unfortunately, Sumashi's attention had been fixed on Kyoichi's real body in front of him, with what remained of his focus reserved for the two Konoha brats.
He never imagined that the fatal blow would come from the enemy wielding the Camouflage Concealment Technique.
The result of a pierced chest needs no words.
Thus ended the life of a valiant, battle-hardened Iwa shinobi—only twenty-six years old.
The other special jōnin, just as young, froze in terror. He tried desperately to flee, but Kakashi and Obito blocked his path. The two worked together effortlessly, and with little effort, brought down the last member of the Iwa reinforcements sent to back up Enkō's squad.
When the fight was over,
they quickly cleaned the battlefield.
The group moved on once more. After another three kilometers, they reached the great bridge spanning the gorge—the Kannabi Bridge.
"You can start now."
Kyoichi stood at the bridgehead, glancing at the massive structure about to meet its end, then turned to Kakashi and Obito. "Surely you don't expect me to help bring down a bridge that can't fight back, do you?"
"Hmph. Just watch."
Kakashi let out a cold snort, deftly pulling several sealing scrolls from his pouch and unsealing an astonishing number of explosive tags.
What followed was simple.
Kakashi and Obito leapt about the Kannabi Bridge like monkeys, plastering it with tags as if it were covered in gaudy flyers. Then—detonation.
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, black smoke surged skyward.
The mighty Kannabi Bridge collapsed, plunging into the gorge!
The supply line of Iwagakure,
severed in an instant.
At the bridgehead,
Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and the captive Nohara Rin all bore witness to the scene. From this moment on… the future had shifted toward a new course.
---
Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Konoha–Iwa conflict, the once-peaceful plains were gone. Shinobi from both sides clashed savagely across the battlefield. To slaughter the enemy, they unleashed every last technique at their disposal, great ninjutsu shaking the land itself.
The terrain twisted and tore,
while one shinobi after another fell, like ripe wheat cut down at harvest.
"Damn it, we can't hold out!"
"The Iwa shinobi are pressing too hard!"
Behind a mound of earth,
the four surviving Konoha shinobi could barely lift their heads under the rain of stone projectiles.
"Hold on! Minato-sama will come!"
Commander Mimura Yoshikage's expression was grave, but he forced encouragement into his voice, trying to keep his three remaining subordinates from breaking.
"Mimura-sama, in this state—how are we supposed to hold out?"
A young subordinate's face had gone pale, his eyes clouded with despair.
"I—"
Before Mimura could finish, he suddenly sensed a surge of chakra from the rear. He spun around, and the moment he saw who it was, relief burst across his face. "Minato—you've finally come!"
He was right.
The one rushing onto the front lines was none other than the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato.
"Mimura-senpai, what's the situation?"
Minato wasted no time with greetings, cutting straight to the point.
"The enemy numbers around fifty. In contrast, we have only the four of us left." Mimura's face twisted with shame. As commander, he could not shirk responsibility for such losses—though in truth, Konoha had been at a disadvantage from the start.
Mimura was a jōnin,
but not one of those rare geniuses who could overturn a battlefield single-handedly.
That he had held out until Minato's arrival was proof enough of his skill as a commander.
"Mimura-senpai, please help me by throwing these kunai into the enemy ranks. After that… leave everything to me."
Minato unrolled two scrolls, summoning row upon row of triple-pronged kunai. Each one was engraved with the same sealing formula.
"You've got to be kidding. Just you alone—"
"Enough! Do as Minato says!"
Mimura's voice cracked like a whip, his authority as commander brooking no argument. "Keep your eyes wide open! Watch how the Yellow Flash of Konoha fights. Don't blink—this battle will be over in an instant. If you blink, you'll miss it!"
And in only a few seconds—
the battle was over.
All fifty Iwa shinobi on the front lines lay dead.