It was as if some shackle inside Kakashi had been cut.
Father… you were right.
If you can't protect your comrades, that's what makes you worse than trash.
Kakashi leapt back a step and formed hand seals.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
That sharp, tearing sound shrieked through the air, like the cries of thousands of birds crushed together.
From the rear, Kiyohara watched closely, observing how Kakashi built up Chidori.
"Chidori, huh… If I learned that, I could use it all the way to the final arc," he thought, eyes locked on the pale blue lightning flaring in Kakashi's hand.
If he had a Sharingan, he could copy it.
Too bad he didn't.
"I'm going to avenge Obito," Kakashi said to himself.
His left eye opened, revealing two slowly spinning tomoe.
With the dynamic vision of the Sharingan, he could clearly track Kakkō's sword swings—and see the speed of his own Chidori.
From that moment, the jutsu's greatest flaw was patched.
In a way, Chidori had been made for the Uchiha from the start.
"This brat's speed…" Kakkō's brows drew together.
He decided to strike first.
If he brought his blade down on Kakashi's neck before Kakashi hit him, the gathered chakra would scatter and the threat would dissolve.
Just then, Kiyohara threw a shuriken wrapped in Wind Release.
It ripped the air, flying much faster than a normal shuriken thanks to the wind flow pushing it.
"Kiyohara…"
Kakashi didn't look back, but the only person who infused shuriken with Wind chakra was Kiyohara. He was the only one in the group who had that trick.
Warmth stirred in his chest.
He hadn't thought much of that guy at first—but Kiyohara had helped him again and again.
"Damn it!" Kakkō realized someone was feinting for Kakashi.
But Kakashi was too fast; there was no escape. The best he could do was kill Kakashi and accept getting hit himself.
That meant letting the shuriken land.
In the end, he twisted his body so the shuriken would hit his arm instead of a vital spot, and put everything he had into the downward slash.
Schk!
He underestimated Chidori's speed.
Kakashi's blade of lightning shattered his sword, then punched through his chest.
At the same time, Kiyohara's shuriken sank into his forehead.
With both hits landing, Kakkō died on the spot.
"Haa… haa…"
Kakashi panted, chest heaving. That attack had nearly drained all his chakra.
He doubted he could use Chidori again—if he forced it, he'd probably pass out on the spot.
Even so…
He pushed himself upright and walked back to Rin's side, looking down at Obito, pinned beneath the boulder.
Kiyohara, meanwhile, was looting.
Rogue Kiyohara had already said more and more Iwa ninja were gathering outside. If he didn't loot now, there might not be anything left to loot later.
"Whoa, is this chakra metal?"
Kiyohara stared at the broken blade fragment in surprise.
Chakra metal was a rare material.
In theory, chakra could be infused into anything—even a pencil—but the quality of the infusion varied wildly.
Chakra metal helped channel chakra more smoothly, letting you draw out stronger effects.
He collected the shattered piece on the ground, plus the bit still strapped to Kakkō's wrist, and the intact blade on the other arm.
"Think we can forge this into new gear?" he asked Rogue Kiyohara.
Chakra metal this fancy, he'd only ever seen on Sarutobi Asuma—the local spoiled rich kid with those odd knuckle-blade hybrid weapons.
Kiyohara himself had never owned, or even touched, anything this expensive before.
That "prince" was easily the richest of their generation. Back in the Academy, he'd written an essay titled My Father the Hokage that supposedly alarmed the school principal.
Kiyohara couldn't help thinking how Konoha—or the whole ninja world—was basically one big web of connections.
"It should be enough. If you smelt it down, you ought to get a full-length blade out of it," Rogue Kiyohara said with a nod.
Kakkō's weapons had no hilts, just bare blades wrapped to his wrists like wrist-mounted knives. Kiyohara could melt them into a single longer blade and add a normal handle.
"But hiring a smith to melt and reforge it will cost money," Rogue Kiyohara added.
Being a ninja bled you dry from every angle.
For a civilian shinobi, the limits weren't just in their "hardware"—their body and chakra—but also their resources.
No clan pipeline for learning jutsu, no cash to buy good tools.
With proper tools, a ninja's power rose sharply.
Some sword specialists lost half their strength if you took their weapon away.
"Good thing I have a habit of looting," Kiyohara thought, speeding up.
He really needed a better sealing scroll, or he'd be bottlenecking his earning rate.
In wartime, your biggest "side job" as a ninja was enemy loot. Relying solely on mission pay… he'd be waiting until the Year of the Monkey to pay off his loans.
"Kiyohara, something's moving outside," Kurenai said suddenly.
Even she could feel people closing in.
"I know," Kiyohara replied, tucking everything into the sealing scroll.
"If you've got anything to say, say it now—we're pulling out," he told Kakashi.
Unless someone here was a skilled Earth Release user, or could open the Eight Gates, there was basically no way to move that boulder without killing Obito.
"Kakashi, take Rin and get out of here. The enemy… reinforcements are coming," Obito said.
His pain receptors had fully kicked in; his brain now understood just how much of his body was missing and was ringing every alarm.
Especially from the waist down—the pain nearly broke his composure.
"Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!"
An Iwa squad rushed in, hands flying through seals as they cast a Doton.
Rumble!
The ground split, dust exploding upward.
Kakashi had no choice. He gave Obito one last look, then retreated with the others.
"Kakashi… I leave Rin to you," Obito said.
As his last words fell, rocks crashed down to bury him, and his body slid into the rift carved by the Earth Release.
Everything was swallowed.
…
On the front line, Minato's expression shifted.
He could sense disturbances at every Flying Thunder God–marked kunai he'd placed.
Something was happening over there.
He had to go.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!
Also, get 50% off your first month on every membership tier this December! Take advantage of this offer and join. Thank you!