To be honest, even Ren himself hadn't expected tonight's operation to go this smoothly.
When they planned the approach, Ren and the two Mist jōnin had already braced for the possibility that Konoha would detect them the moment they neared the outpost—turning infiltration into a frontal assault.
But whether the Mist had absurd luck tonight, or someone on Konoha's side had a death omen blinking over their head…
The night guard happened to be a recently recovered shinobi, exhausted and half-asleep.
In the brief moment he struggled against drowsiness, the Mist ANBU quietly eliminated him without effort and slipped inside.
And Hatake Kakashi—the outpost's strongest—had, for some reason, wandered off alone to stare at the sky.
Not only did he miss the first chance to detect the attack…
He'd even wasted a chunk of his already limited chakra doing something as ridiculous as "using the Sharingan to admire the scenery."
Still, that didn't mean the Mist could pop champagne early.
Ren knew the reputation Hatake Kakashi would eventually earn: the shinobi who could always fight you to a fifty-fifty.
Against someone that sharp, any carelessness—any arrogance—could become the crack Kakashi needed to pry the entire situation open and flip it.
So Ren, who was tasked with pinning Kakashi down, opened the fight with near-total seriousness. He pressured Kakashi into the exact decision Kakashi least wanted to make—
Spend chakra to solve problems.
"Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets."
Ren didn't even reach for a pouch.
As he and Kakashi crossed blades in a tight exchange, Ren adjusted his posture by a fraction and snapped his left hand out.
A rain of pale, razor-sharp projectiles burst toward Kakashi.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
A slab of earth surged up to shield him. The bone "needles" failed to fully punch through, but the sight of their tips biting into the wall still sent a cold sweat down Kakashi's spine.
"Shikotsumyaku…" Kakashi's mind raced. "That guy's entire body is weapon and armor. Normal taijutsu and kunai won't do much… but if I rely on ninjutsu, I don't have the chakra to keep casting anything that can threaten him…"
"You have time to space out right now?"
Ren didn't give him even a second.
With a sweep of the bone blade, Ren split the earthen wall and surged forward again.
Kakashi lifted his kunai to block, the same way he had during the first ambush—
But this time, the force behind Ren's strike was far beyond what Kakashi expected.
The kunai snapped.
And the bone blade carved across Kakashi's chest, leaving a wound that was anything but shallow.
[Grasp of the Undying]+1.
Ren felt the stack settle like a quiet heartbeat.
Behind the ANBU mask, a flicker of satisfaction touched his eyes.
Then he spun the bone blade once, and with his free hand formed a simple set of seals.
"Water Release: Extraction."
It was a C-rank technique Ren had developed himself—its effect was straightforward: condense moisture from the surrounding air into a water sphere, adjustable in size based on chakra input, to serve as a quick source for other Water Release techniques.
But if a bleeding target was inside its range—
"Ghk—!"
Kakashi's chest wound erupted like a fountain.
He reacted instantly, forcing muscle to clamp the cut shut and leaping out of the technique's range. But the sudden burst had already cost him blood—easily a few hundred milliliters.
His situation, already bad, turned worse.
Until he found a way to deal with that technique, he had effectively lost the right to fight at close range.
…Unless he took the risk.
"Chidori!"
A flare of lightning crackled—
And Kakashi vanished.
The Ren in front of the blood-red water sphere didn't even have time to fully shift—
When Kakashi's figure reappeared from the sphere itself, as if he'd emerged from the very heart of the trap.
His right hand screamed with violently chirping lightning. Lightning chakra stimulated his nerves and muscles, letting him explode into speed that surpassed most taijutsu specialists for a brief instant.
In a flash, offense and defense swapped—
Kakashi drove the Chidori straight through the bone membrane Ren threw up in panic and into Ren's arms, using his forearms as a shield.
Like a heated blade through butter, the thrust pierced through—
—and stabbed into Ren's heart.
It was beautiful.
Clones. Substitution. Transformation.
The most basic Three Body Techniques, strung together with flawless timing, formed the core of Kakashi's reversal.
If Minato Namikaze were here, he might have praised Kakashi's judgment and perhaps even considered letting him try learning Flying Thunder God.
Unfortunately for Kakashi—
The one witnessing it was Ren, ANBU of Kirigakure.
And Rin, trapped in the Water Prison.
Neither side had any reason to admire Kakashi's brilliance.
Ren—supposedly dead, Chidori in his heart—spoke calmly.
"Good idea."
Kakashi's eyes widened.
"But you're only on the second layer."
"What—"
The moment of hesitation killed him.
The "Ren" that should have collapsed suddenly locked Kakashi's arm with brutal strength.
At the same time, the "clone" holding Rin raised its hands without urgency and formed seals.
"Dance of the Clematis: Spine Punishment."
Wet, sickening sounds followed.
Even as Kakashi reflexively swung his lightning-charged hand to cleave the "Ren" holding him apart, the loss of initiative meant everything.
Dozens of bone spikes erupted from Ren's body—fast, dense, merciless.
They pierced Kakashi in an instant.
Large and small holes bloomed across his torso, staining his jōnin vest, splashing red across the unscarred half of his face.
Kakashi staggered back, breath ragged, eyes locked on the masked ANBU.
His voice came out strained and disbelieving.
"A… clone? No—Not a normal clone. Even the Sharingan didn't see through it…"
Ren watched him retreat, then let the decoy collapse completely.
The false body's disguise faded in a puff of smoke—
revealing a crystalline-white bone structure beneath, something like a reshaped, enlarged spine.
"Shikotsumyaku: Bone Clone," Ren thought, naming the technique in silence.
Same principle as Wood Clone—use a special medium and chakra to create a stronger, more stable clone than a standard illusion.
Only, unlike Senju Hashirama—who could casually spawn multiple clones that could fool even Mangekyō—
Ren had to rip out his own spine as core material just to make one clone that could deceive the Sharingan.
Even with Shikotsumyaku and his ridiculous recovery, the number he could create was limited.
And in the Water Prison, Rin's expression was shaking.
She understood the situation too well.
As long as Kakashi had open wounds, that Mist ANBU's technique could rip blood from them during close-range combat.
For Kakashi—who lacked rapid healing—that was a nightmare he couldn't simply "solve."
Worse, their enemy was Kaguya blood.
Shikotsumyaku meant monstrous durability, monstrous offense, and monstrous recovery.
Even with Kakashi's lethal jutsu, it wasn't certain he could break all defenses in one decisive moment and end the fight.
If Kakashi stayed, he might be dragged to death.
So Rin made her decision.
"Кakashi… run!"
Her voice couldn't carry through the dense sphere of water.
So she mouthed the words with all her strength.
"Get away!"
"Report the invasion—don't let their plan succeed!"
The Sharingan—Obito's eye—caught her desperate mouth movements with painful clarity.
Kakashi's jaw clenched until blood seeped between his teeth.
But in the end, he turned—
and ran.
Because as a Konoha jōnin, he knew exactly what would happen if he failed to deliver the warning.
Most of Konoha's strength was still pinned at the Earth and Lightning borders. If Kirigakure struck now, they could force an assault on the village itself.
And once Konoha was wounded…
Iwa and Kumo would not hesitate to keep Konoha's main forces pinned while they fought over the Land of Fire like wolves.
Kakashi couldn't allow that.
Not even a chance.
So he had to live long enough to pass the message.
Then—
Then he could return, with a death wish in his heart, to save Rin.
[Mission Target: Nohara Rin—Captured. Please coordinate with allies to make her a controlled Three-Tails jinchūriki.]
Ren exhaled as the system's prompt appeared.
He released the Water Prison and tossed Rin toward Mikazuki Eri, whose eyes were bright with excitement and admiration.
Ren tilted his head toward the black sky.
"Alright," he thought.
"Basic reward is secured."
"Now I just need to take what I want… and get out alive before Uchiha Obito arrives."
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