A Battle of Wits

This was...

A Shadow Clone? Raijin Maki's stiff smile gradually vanished. His widened eyes slowly narrowed, while his teeth unconsciously clenched, grinding with a creak.

Vaguely, a shadow had already begun to settle over his heart. He did not know whether it was an illusion, but he suddenly felt as if a massive dark shadow were slowly enveloping him from behind, gradually taking human form and reaching out its hands, intending to clutch him within its palms.

Yet, as the figures in his vision changed, he suddenly felt that there was no way to escape those pitch-black hands. As the sensation of the shadow behind him grew stronger, the hairs on his back slowly stood on end.

And now, within his black-and-white vision, past the few sparse clumps of gray grass ahead, his gaze settled on the three brats emerging from the mist beside the three who had originally walked out.

Three identical Konoha brats!

At that moment, he could clearly see six boys and girls in his monochrome vision: two Byakugan girls, two Sharingan boys, and two brats who made his head ache just looking at them, possibly Hatake Kakashi or Taki Chiba.

Shadow Clones?

His teeth ground noisily as Raijin Maki stared fixedly at the six of them, seemingly trying to distinguish them. His hands had already clenched into fists, and the sparks of electricity that had barely appeared around him before now began to crackle out frequently again.

At that moment, he had already somewhat guessed what they intended to do.

Were these brats planning to give him a taste of his own medicine?!

"So, you all know what happens next, right?"

Meanwhile, in the grassy field a kilometer away, within the red mist, the two Kushina Squads stood in the triangular formation from before, one