"Enemy!!"
The sudden turn of events caught the Konoha side off guard. The Barrier Team members hurriedly halted the steps to activate the Fūinjutsu, while Kakashi led the three Chunin apart, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings as they searched for the enemy's whereabouts.
However, after taking the Barrier Team shinobi, the enemy seemed to vanish into thin air.
Kakashi looked at the Hyuga shinobi on his team. The other man shook his head. "I've spread my perception over several miles, but I can't find any trace of the enemy.
"The enemy must be able to use some kind of Space-Time Ninjutsu."
Kakashi had reached the same conclusion. He straightened his Forehead Protector, the Tomoe in his eyes turning as he swept his gaze back and forth across the control room, searching for some sign of the enemy.
Even the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique had left traces. Kakashi couldn't believe anyone in the Shinobi World had Space-Time Ninjutsu more powerful than Minato-sensei's.
However, even the Sharingan's keen powers of observation couldn't reveal anything.
So Kakashi ordered the Barrier Team coldly, "You, continue activating the fortress's defensive barrier."
He intended to force the enemy to strike again.
It was true that Kakashi valued his comrades, but he didn't reject every underhanded tactic. At that moment, using the Barrier Team as bait was the best option. If he let himself be held back by one concern after another, he might as well give up being a shinobi.
The Barrier Team members didn't object. They simply slowed their movements a little as they continued the activation process, sparing some attention to watch their surroundings, their eyes full of wariness.
And as they continued, the enemy struck again. In Kakashi's field of vision, the air twisted into a vortex, and a hand reached out from within it.
"Watch out behind you!"
Kakashi shouted a warning. White Fang clenched his teeth and drew in a tremendous breath, his chest swelling as he roared, "Silver Fang Flash!"
With his short sword in hand, he shot toward the enemy like an arrow released from its bowstring.
But as the blade swept through the enemy's arm, the sure-hit strike, as swift as Chidori, missed.
"What?!"
Kakashi was stunned. His blade had clearly struck, yet he'd felt nothing at all, as if he'd slashed through empty air.
The enemy's figure crossed paths with Kakashi's. He grabbed a Barrier Team Chunin who hadn't managed to dodge in time, then vanished into thin air.
The enemy had tricked them again. Before the Konoha shinobi could even feel anger, flames suddenly flared in the air.
Kakashi immediately realized it was a bundle of Explosive Tags and shouted, "Fall back!!"
As he gave the order, his hands formed seals at lightning speed. "Earth Release: Multiple Earth-Style Wall!!"
In an instant, four sturdy, towering earthen walls rose inside the control room, surrounding the Explosive Tags.
Boom, boom, boom...
Explosions rang out one after another. The Explosive Tags the enemy had thrown were clearly specially made, more powerful than ordinary ones.
Kakashi's hastily raised earthen walls barely held back the explosions. Dust and smoke spread through the control room, obscuring everyone's vision.
"Careful, he's coming again."
The Hyuga shinobi cried out a warning, but it was already too late.
Though the Barrier Team shinobi were Chunin, unlike ordinary shinobi, they devoted much of their energy to studying techniques. They usually stayed in safe positions and weren't skilled at fighting, so they couldn't react in time to a sudden attack.
In just a moment, another Barrier Team shinobi vanished into thin air, and the enemy had already set his sights on the last survivor.
"Damn it!!"
At the last possible moment, Kakashi snapped out a warning. The Tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly, and the short sword in his hand suddenly blazed with lightning.
The dust in the air made the perfect medium. Blue arcs of electricity enveloped the last Barrier Team shinobi.
The enemy's arm jerked, apparently numbed by the lightning. He had no choice but to withdraw it into the void and abandon his attack.
As the lightning faded, silence fell over the control room once more. The Konoha shinobi all wore grim expressions.
They hadn't even seen the enemy's face, yet they'd lost three Barrier Team shinobi. No—they should say four.
The move Kakashi had improvised in a flash hadn't just hit the enemy. The last Barrier Team shinobi had also been caught in the lightning and had nearly been charred to a crisp.
He'd wounded the enemy by eight hundred, but injured his own side by more than a thousand.
In his current condition, he clearly wouldn't be able to continue activating the fortress's defenses anytime soon.
"Let's go. We're leaving at once."
Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then declared the mission a failure and prepared to lead his team back to the main force.
One of the Hyuga shinobi stared at him. "But there's still a chance to complete the mission."
Abandoning a mission was a great taboo for shinobi, especially when it was a critical mission in the war between the two villages.
"No. We've already failed."
Kakashi shook his head. The Barrier Team shinobi needed time to recover, and time had been the mission's greatest enemy from the start.
Besides, would the enemy who'd attacked them just now give them that chance?
Kakashi wasn't confident he could protect an injured teammate from an enemy with such bizarre abilities.
He understood what his teammates were thinking. As shinobi, they should keep fighting until the very end. But given their current situation, pressing on would be meaningless apart from getting another comrade killed.
No, perhaps it did have a purpose.
The death of the last Barrier Team member would make the mission's failure absolute, leaving no room for anyone else in the village to criticize them.
But Kakashi only wanted to be able to face himself without regret.
The Hyuga shinobi opened his mouth as if to say something, but at the thought of Kakashi's status and the rumors about the "White Fang of Konoha," he flinched and fell silent.
The group carried their injured comrade and left the control room without hesitation.
At that moment, a figure stepped out of a twisting vortex. He glanced in the direction Kakashi had disappeared, then let out a cold laugh.
Boom, boom, boom...
The crimson barrier boomed as the cat's claws pounded against it.
Shisui gritted his teeth and held on, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
This kind of head-on fighting wasn't the way he was used to battling.
Because of his age, he was still far from reaching his peak and couldn't endure such a drain for long.
Fortunately, the other side wasn't in perfect condition either. They seemed to have been injured before the battle, which was the only reason he could hold on.
Suddenly, a Barrier Team shinobi hurried out of the fortress and reported, "Captain, Team Kakashi sent word that they encountered an unknown enemy and failed their mission."
"What?" Shisui was startled, but the situation left him no time to think. He immediately ordered, "We're preparing to retreat."
The Uchiha Jonin nodded in agreement. With the mission failed, they had no reason to keep fighting. They would seize their chance to leave the battlefield the next time Yugito Nii took a break.
Just then, a squad of Kumogakure Jonin rushed over from a distance. The leader shouted to the Two-Tails, "Lady Yugito, Lord Raikage has ordered you to withdraw immediately."
"How could this be?"
Deep unwillingness flashed in the cat's eyes, but she didn't dare disobey the Raikage's order. She gathered several Scorch Release fireballs and hurled them furiously at the Uchiha Flame Formation.
The barrier, already on the verge of collapse, shattered at once.
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