Undercurrent Battle

Uchiha Jie lay motionless on a treetop. His Sharingan offered little more than enhanced night vision, and even after the surprise ninja tool attack, he could only discern the general direction.

The clashing sounds of the ninja tools not only masked his movements but also concealed the enemy's.

However, this didn't mean he was on the defensive.

If he moved away from the carriage, anyone without a Byakugan wouldn't know his exact hiding spot. Even with a Byakugan, he still had Shadow Clones as decoys.

He carefully took out a scroll, then a ceramic bottle from within. He had his methods for forcing enemies out, and this one was fast and simple.

He tossed the bottle far away, then swallowed a small white pill. Watching the pale purple miasma spread and rise between the giant trees, sounds soon echoed through the forest.

"Woof woof!"

These were the pained barks of canine creatures, but there were no wild dogs in the forests of the Land of Fire.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Uchiha Jie formed hand seals and unleashed a Ninjutsu. A blinding red fire dragon burned through the trees, flying towards the direction of the sound.

Anyone with ninja hounds must be an Inuzuka Clan ninja, and Inuzuka Clan ninja always stayed with their ninja hounds.

But reality often defied expectations, sometimes by a wide margin.

The Great Fire Dragon Flame Bullet had only traveled two meters, its fiery tail still close at hand, when he felt the temperature behind him rising sharply. The same Ninjutsu pierced the darkness and attacked from his back.

The opponent's hand seals were incredibly fast, and they were closer than the ninja hounds affected by the poison. This must be a veteran who had fought Sand Shinobi, someone who had taken various antidotes before the battle began, thus remaining unaffected.

Uchiha Jie only had time to twist his body and look in the direction the fire dragon was coming from, then with a bang, he dissolved into a wisp of white smoke.

It was a Shadow Clone, a decoy.

Once he knew who was pursuing him, the fight became easier.

"Haha, so it's the famous Copy Ninja, Sharingan Kakashi..."

Layered voices echoed through the forest, making it impossible to pinpoint the source.

"It seems I have another gain today besides the Byakugan."

After Uchiha Jie's voice fell silent, the forest returned to its quiet state. He had just seen the attacker's face; the Three Tomoe Sharingan, belonging to Uchiha Obito, reflected the flames of the Great Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

This time, he had truly encountered a difficult opponent. Calm, deadly, Hatake Kakashi possessed countless virtues as a ninja.

If they continued this probing in the darkness, neither would catch the other. Once dawn broke, Konoha would surely send reinforcements, and by then, forget about taking Hinata, even escaping would be difficult.

Thinking even more pessimistically, Kakashi found his carriage because he had contracted ninja hounds responsible for tracking. Konoha might have also dispatched others, waiting in the forest to rush in the moment a fight broke out.

Kakashi was also in a difficult spot. He had been recognized, but he hadn't recognized the other person.

The opponent wore a thick black robe and a hood, blending into the darkness. He hadn't seen the face of the person who abducted Hinata at all.

But one thing was certain: the opponent didn't have a Byakugan, otherwise, even at night, he could have easily found Kakashi in the pitch-black forest.

This bandit didn't seem to be a member of the Hyuga Clan.

Could this person have been hired by Hyuga Hiashi? he thought.

"Hey! Kakashi, say something?" The voice echoed through the forest again. "If you don't speak, I will."

"Although it will reveal some information to Konoha, if you obediently give up the mission and let me take Hyuga Hinata, that would be for the best."

"You better listen carefully, because what I'm about to say is directly related to you."

Kakashi, hidden in the darkness, held his breath.

The opponent was using psychological warfare. He wasn't unfamiliar with such tactics. After recognizing his face, enemies had more than once used his father's name to try and provoke him, to make him agitated, to distract him, and to cause him to make mistakes in combat.

However, he could now control his emotions and anger quite well.

Even though his father's death...

"Regarding your good teacher, Namikaze Minato..."

Hatake Kakashi suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. He hadn't heard that name in a long time, so long that he couldn't recall the last time.

The last time he went to the memorial stone, he seemed too preoccupied with giving respects to Rin and Obito...

"Even I have to admit, he was a hero, saving Konohagakure from that Nine-Tailed red monster."

"Do you want to know who killed him?"

Hearing this, Kakashi calmed down again. The Ninjutsu his teacher used to perish with the Nine-Tails, he still remembered it.

"Of course, I'm not talking about the Nine-Tails, nor the Reaper summoned by that strange sealing jutsu, but the origin of it all."

"Hahahaha, the origin of it all is you, Kakashi. You are the one who caused your dear teacher and dear teacher's wife to die..."

Uchiha Jie's laughter echoed through the forest, not diminishing but growing louder.

He kept laughing, from hearty laughter to sarcasm.

"Because of the biggest mistake, the gravest sin you committed in your life, your hand once passed through your teammate's chest without any obstruction..."

Amidst the laughter, Kakashi seemed to see that moment that had caused him immense pain, but what did that have to do with his teacher?

Confusion, pain, under the pervasive influence of the sound-based Genjutsu, he uttered a sound.

"You..."

The moment the sound rang out, he clamped his hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his words. He'd been in the Anbu for so long, how could he still make such a basic mistake? Even though it was a sound-based Genjutsu he'd never encountered before, he should have ignored it.

"Found you!"

This single sound was enough for Uchiha Jie to pinpoint Hatake Kakashi's location. The Fire Dragon Bullet attacked again. This time, the dragon's speed wasn't as fast as before, but the scale of the Ninjutsu was just as large, if not larger.

The fierce flames ultimately struck a Substitution Technique log. However, this time, the enhanced, larger Fire Dragon finally ignited the damp forest. Two large trees, along with the dry branches and fallen leaves on the ground, crackled and burned, steaming the surrounding moisture and condensing it into white smoke.

The forest was finally no longer pitch-black. The two ninjas, facing off against each other, could finally catch glimpses of each other's vague figures thanks to the Sharingan's powerful dynamic visual acuity.