"Rin—don't you dare touch her!"
The boy's roar tore across the field.
Sogetsu raised a brow, mildly impressed at the wavering silhouette forcing itself upright. "Still standing? I underestimated you, Obito."
He was a mess, couldn't even steady his legs—until the girl he loved took a hit. Then strength found him.
"Ahhhh—!" Obito scrubbed blood from his mouth, pushed off the ground, and tottered to his feet. Both eyes burned. "I don't care who you are—you will not hurt Rin!"
Tch. The mutt bares his teeth. Sogetsu's expression didn't flicker. "With what right do you say that—like this?"
He hadn't hit him hard enough. Not nearly.
Sogetsu didn't give Obito a chance to form a seal. He stepped in—and vanished.
"Too—fast—!"
Obito's hands twitched for a sign and met a fist.
Thud.
"Too slow."
Sogetsu cracked his knuckles across Obito's cheek, fisted his hair, and bounced his face off the ground.
Wham.
Earth and bone boomed together. The buzzing in Obito's skull made him wonder if he'd end today an idiot.
Time for the downpour.
Sogetsu drew a long breath. His fists fell like rain—short, savage, precise—over and over, with special attention paid to the face.
"Gah—"
"I— I was wrong—"
"Stop—please—"
"Mercy, Sogetsu— I— I was wro—"
Obito lost count. Eventually even screaming took too much. Foam flecked his lips; the only word that kept escaping was Rin.
"Stubborn, aren't you." Sogetsu exhaled and straightened. "After all that, you still think of someone else?"
Now.
Kakashi's breath vanished. He'd waited and waited, strangling his presence while Obito and Rin suffered. If he blew the timing, rushing out would just feed the meat grinder.
The opening came.
Three kunai streaked out in a staggered V.
Sogetsu moved a hair late, dropping under the line at the last instant.
Kakashi shot from the opposite side, boots whisper-silent, short blade clearing his back in a single fluid draw. He wedded breath to chakra, let White Fang memory guide his wrist, and carved a moon-white arc at a wicked angle.
"Finally." Sogetsu's mouth ticked up. "I've been waiting, Kakashi."
Trap.
There was no pulling the strike. Then I'll commit.
Kakashi poured spirit into the cut—body, breath, and blade as one. In that instant, he understood something of his father's sword.
Dragon-bright steel. Moon-cold intent.
—And two long fingers pinched the edge.
Kakashi's eyes blew wide. No matter how he wrenched the hilt, the blade didn't budge, clamped like iron tongs.
"Three… two… one." Sogetsu smiled. "Clench your teeth."
Crack.
The punch erased his cheekbone and tumble-dried him across the ground. He bounced twice, rolled ten more, and finally went still. His left cheek went numb. A front tooth wiggled.
"One more lesson," Sogetsu said, raising his heel and planting it.
Crunch.
Obito's skull sank a spider-web into the dirt. Sogetsu lifted his right hand. Chakra pooled—then changed.
The air screamed. Wind skirled into his palm, dust whirling in hungry loops until a translucent ring, too fast for the eye, spun and shivered in his grasp.
"Wind nature—then shape, as well," Kakashi rasped, eyes narrowing. "And… like sensei—no hand seals."
Different forms, same family—no-seal ninjutsu.
"Wind nature and shape…" A spark jumped in Kakashi's mind, even through the pain. Then could I… condense lightning in the hand and change its nature and form—?
"—it becomes this."
The ring left Sogetsu's fingers on a level line—straight at the pinned, helpless Rin.
"Wind: Eight-Part Light Wheel."
The gear-bright halo chewed the air, cutting a tunnel in its wake. Ultra-compressed wind chakra, spun to a screaming edge, planed a deep groove through turf as it went.
He really threw it?
Kakashi had assumed Sogetsu was bluffing. You didn't use something like that on allies.
Reality answered with red.
Shrrrip—
Rin split down the middle.
Blood geysered. Half her face still held its startled tenderness; the other half lay askew, eyes wide with disbelief.
Two mangled halves hit the ground. The remaining eye—turned toward Obito—seemed to ask: Why didn't you save me?
"AAAAAAAA—!"
Obito's mind went blank, then boiled. Hate—raw, total—ignited behind scarlet veins. The world slowed in his gaze.
"NO—!"
He went feral, eyes shot with red, throat ripping on Sogetsu's name. "Uchiha Sogetsu! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Don't look at me like that, Obito." Sogetsu nudged his glasses. His voice was a devil's whisper. "Rin died because of you. You're too weak. I don't even feel like killing you. Your hatred… isn't nearly strong enough."
"UCHIHA Sogetsu—!"
Pinned under his heel, one of Obito's eyes—bloody and wild—glared up with a curse born in hell. "I swear it! I'll kill you!"
(End of chapter)
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