Uchiha Jie lay motionless in the treetops. The Sharingan's vision in the dark was only slightly better than ordinary eyes, so even though he'd just been ambushed by ninja tools, he could only tell roughly where they'd come from.
The sounds of the ninja tools clashing had concealed both his movements as he hid and those of his opponent.
But that didn't mean he was at a disadvantage.
Once he'd moved away from the carriage, his opponent wouldn't know where he was hiding unless they had the Byakugan. And even if they did, he still had a Shadow Clone he could use as bait.
He carefully took out a scroll and removed a ceramic bottle from it. He had plenty of ways to force his enemy out, and this one was quick and simple.
He tossed the bottle far away, then swallowed a small white pill. As he watched the pale purple miasma spread and billow among the giant trees, a sound soon came from the depths of the forest.
"Woof! Woof!"
It was the pained cry of a dog, but there were no stray dogs in the forests of the Land of Fire.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"
Uchiha Jie formed hand seals and unleashed the Ninjutsu. A dazzling red dragon of fire burned through the trees and flew toward the sound.
Anyone traveling with Ninja Dogs had to be from the Inuzuka Clan, and Inuzuka Clan shinobi were bound to stay close to their dogs.
But the truth was often unexpected—sometimes even the opposite of what one might expect.
The Fire Dragon Bullet had barely flown two meters, its fiery tail still close by, when he felt the temperature behind him rise sharply. An identical Ninjutsu pierced the darkness and came at him from behind.
His opponent had formed the hand seals quickly and was closer than the Ninja Dog that had been poisoned. He had to be a seasoned veteran who'd fought the Sand shinobi and had taken various antidotes well before the battle began, keeping the poison from affecting him.
Uchiha Jie had time only to twist around and look toward the oncoming fire dragon. Then, with a bang, he vanished in a wisp of white smoke.
It was a Shadow Clone, a decoy.
And once he knew who was pursuing him, the battle became much easier.
"Haha, so it's the famous Copy Ninja, Sharingan Kakashi..."
His layered voice echoed through the forest, making it impossible to tell where it came from.
"Looks like I've found something besides the Byakugan today."
After Uchiha Jie's voice fell silent, the forest grew quiet again. He'd just seen the newcomer's face, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan from Uchiha Obito reflected the light of the Fire Dragon Bullet.
This time, he'd truly run into a difficult opponent. Hatake Kakashi was calm, deadly, and possessed countless other qualities befitting a shinobi.
If they kept probing each other in the dark, neither would find the other. Once dawn came, Konoha would surely send reinforcements. Then, forget taking Hinata away—escaping himself would be a challenge.
Worse still, Kakashi might have found his carriage because he'd contracted Ninja Dogs capable of tracking. Konoha might also have sent others to wait in the forest, ready to rush over the moment a fight broke out.
Kakashi was in no better position. His opponent had recognized him, but he hadn't recognized them.
The other man wore a thick black robe and a hood, blending into the darkness. From beginning to end, Kakashi hadn't seen the face of the person who'd abducted Hinata.
But one thing was certain: his opponent didn't have the Byakugan. Otherwise, even at night, he could have easily found Kakashi in the pitch-black forest.
This kidnapper didn't seem to belong to the Hyuga Clan.
"Could this person have been hired by Hyuga Hiashi?" he wondered.
"Hey! Kakashi, say something!" The voice echoed through the forest again. "If you don't, I'll start talking."
"It might give Konoha some information, but it would be best if you gave up on the mission and let me take Hyuga Hinata."
"Listen carefully. What I'm about to tell you concerns you personally."
Kakashi held his breath in the darkness.
His opponent was using psychological tactics. Kakashi had encountered this sort of thing before. After recognizing his face, enemies had tried more than once to provoke him by bringing up his father—to make him lose his temper, distract him, and cause him to make a mistake in battle.
But he'd learned to control his emotions, to keep his anger in check.
Even though his father's death...
"About your beloved teacher, Namikaze Minato..."
Hatake Kakashi suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. He hadn't heard that name in a long time—such a long time that he couldn't even remember the last time.
The last time he'd gone to the Memorial Stone, he seemed to have spent the whole time thinking about Lin and Obito...
"Even I have to admit he was a hero. He saved Konoha from that red monster with nine tails."
"Do you want to know who killed him?"
Hearing that, Kakashi immediately calmed down again. His teacher had died alongside the Nine-Tails, using that Ninjutsu. Kakashi still remembered it to this day.
"Of course, I don't mean the Nine-Tails, or the Death God summoned by that strange Sealing Technique. I mean the source of it all."
"Hahahaha! You're the source of it all, Kakashi. You're the one who got your beloved teacher and your beloved teacher's wife killed..."
Uchiha Jie's laughter echoed through the forest. It didn't fade; instead, it grew louder and louder.
He kept laughing, his mirth turning into scorn.
"You committed the greatest mistake and the gravest sin of your life. Your hand once passed straight through your teammate's chest without the slightest resistance..."
Amid the laughter, Kakashi seemed to see the moment that had once brought him unbearable pain. But what did that have to do with his teacher?
Confusion and anguish crept in. Under the relentless prompting of the sound-based Genjutsu, he spoke.
"You..."
The instant the sound escaped him, he clapped a hand over his mouth and stifled the rest. He'd been in Anbu for so long—how could he still make such a basic mistake? Even though he'd never encountered this kind of sound-based Genjutsu before, he should have ignored it.
"Found you!"
That brief sound was enough for Uchiha Jie to pinpoint Hatake Kakashi's position. The Fire Dragon Bullet came at him again. This time, the dragon wasn't as fast as before, but the Ninjutsu was even larger.
The fierce flames finally struck a Substitution Technique log. But this time, the oversized dragon, fueled with extra chakra, set the damp forest ablaze. Two trees caught fire along with the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, crackling as they burned. The heat steamed the moisture in the air, which condensed into white smoke.
At last, the forest was no longer too dark to see through. The two opposing shinobi could finally make out each other's faint silhouettes with the Sharingan's powerful kinetic vision.