The moment Ren saw that lightning—so bright it seemed to set the night itself ablaze—his first thought was:
This is bad.
Kakashi wasn't some absurd "power-of-friendship" monster who broke the world with sheer will…
But his raw capability was clearly above Matsuda Takuya and Ringo Mirai by more than a single tier.
A Chidori of that scale, paired with a Sharingan already under full control—
was not something two mediocre gatekeeper jōnin could withstand.
What's going on?
With Kakashi's chakra reserves, after multiple fights, he shouldn't be able to force out a Chidori like that.
Ren's instincts screamed that something had gone wrong.
He accelerated again, pushing his Body Flicker to its edge.
And under the shriek of thunder—
he returned to the Mist force.
Then he saw a scene that belonged in a "world-famous painting."
Matsuda had one hand on Rin, dragging her—
and the other raised his blade, trying to use her as a shield to disrupt Kakashi's judgment, then capitalize on hesitation to kill him.
But Rin didn't struggle like he expected.
Instead, she used the pull of Matsuda's own grip to surge forward—
and slammed herself directly into Kakashi's lightning-wreathed right hand.
The impact drove her backward—
straight into Matsuda's chest.
And in that instant, Matsuda's heart became the Chidori's prey as well.
Matsuda's eyes went wide.
His sword had already bitten into Kakashi's shoulder.
Half a second.
Just half a second more, and he would've cut that damned brat in two.
But with his heart pierced…
he could no longer produce even a trace of strength.
"No!!!"
As Matsuda spat blood and toppled backward, a howl—pure grief and fury—erupted from the far side of the battlefield.
A young figure wearing a white mask that exposed only one eye, wrapped in tattered black robes, charged forward like a wounded beast.
Mist shinobi didn't recognize him.
A few of Matsuda's subordinates even moved to intercept, intending to kill this stray intruder.
Ren didn't even have time to warn them—
Before he watched Obito Uchiha tear them apart with Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs Jutsu.
The ANBU died instantly.
Those who tried to retrieve Matsuda's body were shredded too.
Blood fell like rain.
"AAAAAAAH—!"
"You bastards!!!"
"DIE—DIE—DIEEEEE!!!"
The boy protected the collapsed pair like an animal guarding its last remaining warmth.
His roar was so soaked in hatred it made the soul shiver.
After Obito slaughtered everyone in that direction, the remaining Mist shinobi finally understood something:
This monster was not something they could fight.
And then—
they saw Ren.
Ren had returned.
In an instant, the surviving Mist—now leaderless with Matsuda dead and Mirai dying—found their anchor.
They gathered around him instinctively, dragging wounded who might still be saved.
Voices exploded around Ren—terror, confusion, pleading, rage.
"Ren-sama… that guy—he's a monster! Our attacks don't work! They just pass through him!"
"Ren-sama! The Three-Tails jinchūriki—her heart was destroyed by the white-haired brat! What do we do now?!"
"Ren-sama! Yoshida—Yoshida was killed by that one-eyed freak! Kill him… kill him!!!"
"Ren-sama! Decide—now!"
"Ren-sama?! Ren-sama?!"
Inside Ren's mask, the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.
Good.
The jinchūriki died because of Matsuda's stupidity.
And Obito hadn't managed to kill everyone who participated in the mission.
Now all Ren had to do was drive Obito off—
then retreat with the survivors back to the Land of Water.
At that point, no one could possibly shove the blame for mission failure onto him.
"Kaguya… Ren…"
Ringo Mirai—her right chest pierced, barely clinging to life—forced her eyes open.
She scanned the battlefield, then called his name like a dying ember.
Ren sighed, still maintaining a guarded stance, and stepped back to her side. He looked at her with the corner of his eye as the light in her gaze began to scatter.
"I'm here, Jōnin Ringo."
"The mission…" Mirai coughed, blood spilling. "Failed…?"
"Probably," Ren replied coldly, glancing down at Rin, now collapsed in a spreading pool of blood.
"The jinchūriki was used as a shield by Jōnin Matsuda. She died with him under Hatake Kakashi's Lightning Release."
He spoke without softness.
"At this point, the Three-Tails likely died with the host and has entered the reformation process."
"…Is that so…" Mirai's face flushed with unnatural redness—death's last fever. "That Konoha brat… can't be underestimated…"
She suddenly forced herself upright, grabbed Ren by the collar with a blood-soaked hand, and snarled out her last instruction:
"Don't… let them leave…"
"If they live… they'll become a huge obstacle to Kirigakure defeating Konoha…"
"Now…"
"I, Jōnin Ringo Mirai…"
"Transfer… command of all ANBU here… to you…"
"Kaguya…"
"Kill Hatake Kakashi…"
"And that unknown monster…"
"Then take the survivors and ret—"
"You're not going anywhere!!!"
A scream drowned out her dying words.
Obito had vanished from beside Kakashi and Rin.
He appeared among the surviving Mist shinobi like a ghost.
Under the pale spiral mask, that Mangekyō Sharingan spun violently, pouring out hatred like a curse.
"You…"
"You dared… you dared take Rin…"
"Mist shinobi…"
"All of you will die…"
"Not one left alive!!!"
He swung a fist covered in jagged branches—
trying to repeat what he'd done before, using Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs—
and that bizarre ability to slip between intangibility and solidity—
to kill Ren, then butcher the rest.
"Dance of the Larch."
White bone spears tore through Ren's ANBU uniform and erupted outward in every direction.
They blocked the incoming sprigs—
and stabbed through the white Zetsu casing Obito wore, carving wounds deep enough that even Obito himself would've been badly hurt.
Obito staggered back, disbelief flashing through his single exposed eye.
Ren tore off the ruined uniform in one motion, his body now bristling with bone like a living weapon—eerily mirroring Obito's grotesque wooden growths.
"Half-baked Wood Release won't bring me down, Uchiha."
Ren lifted the bone blade and pointed it at Obito's Mangekyō, voice flat.
"I don't know how you got that eye, or how you obtained something that resembles Wood Release…"
"But if I can bring your corpse back to the village…"
"…we might just offset the loss from this mission's failure."
"Then try it, you Mist bastard!!!"
Obito roared and charged again, fist raised.
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