Cave Collapse

Deep within the cave.

"Rin! We came to save you! Are you okay?!"

Obito joyfully untied the ropes binding Rin and asked anxiously.

Nohara Rin was dazed.

The enemy had just used Fire Release and genjutsu to force information out of her. She had only held on through sheer willpower. Now that the genjutsu had been lifted, she could no longer tell reality from illusion.

She remembered the six of them being surrounded by three Iwagakure jonin. She had been captured and brought into this cave to be interrogated about the mission's objective. When she came to again, these two were standing before her.

"Obito? Kakashi?"

She murmured softly.

Kakashi nodded and slowly let out a breath. From the looks of it, Rin was unharmed.

Obito hurriedly helped Rin to her feet. "We need to get out of here quickly. We still have to find Shinji! He lured away that ninja who can use Explosion Release by himself!"

"Shinji?" Nohara Rin's voice suddenly rose. She instinctively looked around, but only saw Firelight collapsed in the distance.

Kakashi was also stunned.

He clearly remembered that Shinji had come with Obito.

No wonder something had felt off. Shinji had gone off alone to lure away an enemy in order to save someone.

After separating from the others, Kakashi had originally intended to head alone to Kannabi Bridge and complete the mission. Yet Obito's and Shinji's words had continued to echo in his mind.

Obito had said that his father, Konoha's White Fang, was the true hero of Konoha. For the first time, someone had acknowledged his father with such unwavering conviction.

Shinji, meanwhile, had told him not to do anything he would regret.

And so Kakashi had come to his senses. Afraid that he would be left with regrets in the future, he had rushed over to save Rin, arriving just in time to rescue Obito from Oishi's sneak attack.

Obito had also awakened the Sharingan because of this. Together, the two had defeated Oishi and Firelight in succession.

A searing pain shot through his left eye, and Kakashi could not help raising a hand to touch it. "Are you saying Shinji is fighting a jonin by himself right now?"

Obito lowered his head, his voice full of guilt. "It's all because I wasn't strong enough. In order to save Rin, Shinji took the initiative to lure away that Explosion Release ninja."

Nohara Rin's heart clenched, and she blurted out, "Then... then we have to hurry and meet up with Shinji!"

She believed Shinji would be fine. During this mission, his strength had already made everyone see him in a new light. But no matter how strong he was, facing a jonin alone could put him in danger at any moment.

"So that's what happened? No wonder I haven't seen Pakura!"

Firelight, who had been lying on the ground barely breathing, suddenly pushed himself up and slowly stood.

Kakashi instantly became alert. In a flash, he stood in front of Obito and Rin, saying coldly, "You're still alive?"

A vicious sneer curled across Firelight's lips. "At the end of the day, you're just a bunch of little brats!"

Even though the two of them had defeated him together, these brats had actually forgotten to finish him off.

This was his chance to survive—and their death sentence.

"Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction!"

The deep shout fell, and a thunderous boom erupted at once!

The entire cave shook violently. The rock walls overhead continuously cracked, and fragments of every size came crashing down as dust instantly filled the space.

Firelight wore a cruel grin. With a shift of his feet, he took half a step back and leaped out of the cave entrance, leaving behind only a cold taunt. "You can all be buried here!"

"Not good! Obito, Rin, get out of here now!"

Kakashi shouted sharply. Obito and Rin did not dare delay, and the three charged toward the cave entrance together.

A millstone-sized chunk of rock silently broke loose from the wall above Kakashi, landing precisely in his blind spot.

His left eye had already been injured in the previous battle, leaving him no time to notice it.

Bang!

The falling rock slammed heavily into Kakashi's rear shoulder. He groaned, staggered, and crashed hard to the ground.

"Kakashi!"

Rin cried out.

Without the slightest hesitation, Obito burst forward almost on instinct, reaching Kakashi's side in an instant.

There was no time for words. He bent down, grabbed Kakashi's arm, and used all his strength to hurl him fiercely toward Rin. "Take Kakashi and go!"

Just as Obito turned to follow, an eerie tingling suddenly crawled across the back of his head—the scent of death.

He abruptly looked up, and his pupils were instantly filled with shadow.

A massive boulder several people tall came crashing down. Obito's mind went blank.

"Damn it!"

Without slowing, Shinji rushed toward the previous cave at a speed like the Body Flicker Technique. Suddenly, the ground shook violently.

His steps suddenly halted as a faint rumbling reached his ears from the distance.

"Was I too late?" Shinji murmured, barely able to hide the anxiety in his voice. "I wonder if Obito managed to save Rin. And Kakashi—he should have made it here by now, right?"

He gritted his teeth, kicked off the ground, and accelerated once more, racing toward the cave—the source of the sound from earlier.

Shinji finally broke through the woods and arrived at the cave entrance.

At that moment, Firelight was sitting atop a massive boulder before the entrance. He looked somewhat disheveled, holding a waterskin as he replenished his fluids.

The sudden appearance of Shinji also startled him.

"Hm? You're that ninja who can use the Body Flicker. Since you're here, where's Pakura?"

Firelight's tone carried both wariness and confusion. He absolutely did not believe Pakura could have been defeated by the man before him. Pakura was an elite of their Iwagakure Demolition Corps.

"I killed her."

Shinji's voice was icy as his gaze swept over the collapsed cave behind Firelight, causing his heart to sink.

A sense of foreboding surged within him. He fixed Firelight with a hard stare and asked, word by word:

"Where are my companions?"

Shinji abruptly activated his Sharingan. His scarlet eyes were eerily bewitching, and a terrifying force radiated from his gaze as an icy aura bore down on Firelight.

Firelight's heart jolted, every hair on his body standing on end. He instinctively avoided Shinji's eyes, yet he still refused to believe his words.

"Don't joke around. How could Pakura possibly have been defeated by you?!"

"As for your companions," Firelight said with a cruel grin, "those three brats have probably already gone to the Pure Land to meet your Konoha martyrs!"

With a flick of his arm, the short sword at his wrist snapped out, and he moved to attack Shinji.

"I'll kill you first, then go meet up with Pakura!"

Shinji narrowed his eyes slightly. Three? So Kakashi made it here too.

His gaze shifted to the collapsed cave. Under the insight of his Sharingan, a familiar and powerful Chakra suddenly burst forth from beneath the fallen rocks.

The pressure around Shinji instantly receded, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief before sneering at Firelight.

"Your opponent now isn't me."

Before Firelight could react, a violent explosion erupted behind him, accompanied by the piercing shriek of electricity tearing through the air.

A breach was blasted through the collapsed rubble, and Kakashi leaped out.

His eyes were bloodshot, tears frantically welling in them. The bandage that had covered his left eye had long since been torn away, revealing a scarlet Sharingan filled with fury and grief.

The instant he steadied himself, he spotted Firelight.

Kakashi let out a furious roar, leaped down from midair, drew the short sword from his back with a backhand motion, and slashed down fiercely.

Firelight was horrified. He hurriedly crossed his arms and forcibly blocked Kakashi's short sword.

Clang!

The weapons collided, their crisp ring echoing through the air. The next instant, the short sword in Kakashi's hand shattered.