Come Out, My Stand!

He was someone who valued fairness.

Since the enemy's invisibility was difficult to deal with, he would drag the enemy down to his own level.

Then he would use his abundant experience to defeat the enemy!

Kiyohara closed his eyes, and the spirit of Renegade Kiyohara appeared behind him.

Come out, my Stand!

If Kiyohara had not closed his eyes, the lime scattered through the air would have stung them as well.

But Renegade Kiyohara could serve as his second pair of eyes!

"He's on your left. He's about to form hand seals and use ninjutsu to conceal himself again."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

Everything on this side was shrouded in haze, yet a human outline could clearly be made out.

"Alright."

Kiyohara nodded at those words.

He pulled out shuriken from his ninja tool pouch.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Kiyohara threw two shuriken. They spun endlessly through the air before shooting into the gray mist stirred up by the lime.

Taiseki heard the shuriken cutting through the air and had no choice but to stop forming hand seals and dodge first.

But every time he dodged, Kiyohara interrupted him whenever he tried to form hand seals again.

"Is this guy completely unaffected?"

Taiseki clenched his fists.

He had his eyes tightly shut, tears streaming down his face.

If he did not deal with it quickly, he even risked going blind.

Yet Kiyohara was not only unaffected—Taiseki could also hear several poofs as Kiyohara clearly added even more lime powder.

"Can you really be considered a ninja?"

"I'm sorry, but ninjas are supposed to be assassins. You're just playing at being a warrior."

Kiyohara shook his head.

The tasks ninjas carried out often involved poisoning, espionage, assassination, and infiltration.

Yet in battle, they suddenly put on an act of righteousness?

Go tell that to my shuriken.

Kiyohara gripped a shuriken and infused it with Wind Release chakra.

Streams of wind coiled around it, enhancing the shuriken's sharpness.

Caught off guard, Taiseki was struck by the shuriken. Blood continuously flowed from his wound.

"Kakkō!"

Taiseki could no longer endure it and called out to his other teammate.

But what answered him was not a reassuring reply from his teammate, but a scream.

"Don't tell me Kakkō really lost to those brats."

Taiseki's heart gradually sank to the bottom.

Unfortunately, he and Kiyohara were at the cave entrance while Kakkō and the others were deep within the cave, so he had no idea what was happening there.

He could only hear the occasional sounds of fighting, followed by screams.

"What happened?"

Kiyohara hurriedly asked Renegade Kiyohara what had happened.

Renegade Kiyohara looked over and discovered that Kakashi had been slashed across his left eye while trying to save Obito.

Overcome by grief and fury, Obito leaped from having ordinary eyes straight to awakening the Two Tomoe Sharingan.

"Obito awakened the Two Tomoe Sharingan, and an Iwagakure ninja had his arm cut."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

"Is that so?"

Kiyohara nodded slightly.

So it had still happened just like in the original story. Kakashi lost his left eye, and Obito awakened the Sharingan in rage. What a coincidence.

No, was it really a coincidence?

Kiyohara suddenly thought of something. In the Ninja World, there was such a thing as "fate."

Naruto was the Child of Prophecy destined by fate. Jiraiya had spent his entire life traveling throughout the Ninja World and running everywhere because of that vague prophecy.

When the Sage of Six Paths emerged from Naruto's mind, accompanied by the appearance of the chakra of the Nine Tailed Beasts, the first words he spoke were:

"The promised time has come. The Child of Prophecy has arrived to change the world."

The Nine Tailed Beasts all wore expressions of understanding as well.

That meant the Sage of Six Paths had told them about this matter a thousand years ago.

"I have the Last Words Book. The butterfly effect in the future will only grow greater. It's just that I'm too weak right now, and the wind stirred by my wings is still too small to change what is happening."

Kiyohara suddenly shook his head again.

The Last Words Book contained countless possible futures branching out from him. It itself embodied the greatest possible "variable."

"Hmph."

Taiseki grunted as he pulled out the shuriken.

If anything happened to Kakkō, he would not be able to escape alone.

"I'll finish you off quickly."

Taiseki's left hand was already wrapped in heavy rock, forming a massive fist.

He charged forward, his stone fist smashing toward Kiyohara's position with the sound of splitting air.

Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!

"He's using the Rock Fist Technique."

Renegade Kiyohara's voice rang directly in Kiyohara's mind, carrying a trace of disdain.

"Looks like he put all his training into invisibility. His other techniques aren't much."

"Half a step left. Lower your head."

Kiyohara followed his instructions. The stone fist swept past the tips of his hair, kicking up a fierce gust.

"Now, Lightning Release: Ground Flash."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

Kiyohara rapidly formed hand seals, and a large field of electric arcs spread across the ground.

Crackle!

The electric arcs surged, shattering most of the stone fist gathered around Taiseki's left hand.

"This brat can use ninjutsu too?"

Taiseki frowned.

Kiyohara was clearly just a civilian without a clan crest, so why did he have so much chakra?

"I can't keep going. Your turn."

Kiyohara felt a wave of weakness wash over him.

He had just used several ninjutsu in a row.

And he had not had any chance to rest during the journey here. If he had not taken forbidden medicine beforehand, his chakra would have run dry long ago.

Taiseki steadied himself, and the stone fist formed again. This time, he was even more cautious, trying to determine Kiyohara's position through sound.

"Too slow."

Renegade Kiyohara said softly.

Under his guidance, Kiyohara moved swiftly through the gray mist, every step landing precisely in Taiseki's blind spot.

"Right hand. Kunai. Three inches up."

Kiyohara struck as instructed, driving the kunai precisely into the joint of Taiseki's right elbow.

Taiseki cried out in pain. The Rock Fist Technique instantly collapsed, and the rocks shattered and fell from his hand.

"How is this possible...?"

Taiseki stared at Kiyohara in disbelief.

"You're clearly just a genin..."

Kiyohara did not answer.

The moment he spoke, he would reveal his position.

Rumble!

At that moment, an earth-shaking roar came from the ground, and the cave trembled.

"The other Iwagakure jonin has already used Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction."

Renegade Kiyohara warned him.

Kiyohara nodded slightly.

This technique was generally used inside caves. It caused rocks to fall from the ceiling and trigger a collapse.

That meant Kakkō had begun using his killing move.

At that very moment, Kiyohara tightened his grip on the kunai. As Taiseki's expression drastically changed and he realized he could not escape, Kiyohara instantly used shuriken to disrupt him.

"Everyone, run for the exit!"

Kakashi shouted.

Seeing this, Kiyohara used his remaining chakra to cast Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, blowing away all the lime powder blanketing the cave entrance.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Kiyohara ran out first and stood at the entrance, waiting for the others inside.

Kurenai Yuhi and Genma Shiranui were both very fast and rushed out at once.

Kakashi was much slower. His injured left eye had left him with a blind spot in his vision.

Bang!

In the end, Kakashi was struck from his left-side blind spot by a falling rock.

When a huge boulder was about to fall and roll down behind them, Obito shoved Kakashi away. With a boom, he was crushed beneath the boulder, leaving only half his body exposed.

Kiyohara vaguely heard the sorrow of shattered hopes.