Watch Out, Rin! (Please Follow)

"Finally, we're going to meet. Finally, we're going to meet!"

In the forest, Obito was encased within the body of the Spiral Face White Zetsu, wearing a black robe as he sped toward the site of the battle.

He had waited through so many long days and nights, and he had finally reached this day; he was truly exceptionally excited right now.

Throughout these days, he had been thinking of Kakashi and Rin constantly, and he felt that they must surely be thinking of him as well, right?

"But that old man is such a pain, insisting I look like this ghost of a thing."

Obito muttered to himself while moving forward at high speed.

"Doesn't he know that when you meet someone again, you need to look a bit more handsome? Honestly."

"And you, you lied to me too. You could have brought me out directly, so why did you say it required that old man to 'open the gate'?"

Spiral Face was left speechless for a moment upon hearing Obito's words; although he was indeed a bit slow, Obito seemed to be even slower than him.

"If I weren't covering your body, do you think you could have obtained this current power?"

Spiral Face, though somewhat helpless, still spoke up to explain.

"How long have you been recovering? How much power could you possibly control? You need to borrow my body to complete this rescue mission."

"Besides, if Madara hadn't agreed, I couldn't have brought you out either, so I didn't lie to you."

This time, Obito didn't use the power of the Ten-Tails to open the gate; instead, Spiral Face had simply brought him out by burrowing through the earth.

After all, he had a wager with Madara, and Madara wouldn't make things difficult for him in this regard.

Of course, there was one thing the Spiral Face White Zetsu didn't tell Obito: he still needed to check the extent of Obito's fusion.

The reason Obito was able to recover so quickly was actually because White Zetsu cells had been injected into his body, and as of now, everything was going smoothly.

But how much effect these cells could actually have, and how much power they could allow this guy Obito to unleash, remained to be observed.

"Fine, I suppose you're right."

Obito felt he couldn't win an argument against this Spiral Face, so he simply changed the subject.

"By the way, what's the situation over there now? How are Kakashi and Rin doing?"

"To be honest, not great."

Spiral Face's voice rang out from his body immediately.

"They met the people from Kirigakure according to the plan, and then they were pursued; that was our plan."

"But they were unlucky. I didn't expect them to run into people from Iwagakure halfway through."

"Iwagakure and Kirigakure are natural enemies, and they both wanted to deal with the people from Konoha, so now they've all started fighting each other."

"That chaotic scene is truly quite interesting."

"Iwagakure."

Obito's expression changed instantly upon hearing the White Zetsu's words.

"How could this happen? What exactly went wrong? Didn't you guarantee that there wouldn't be any problems?"

"I don't know either. It's that guy named Haori who was unlucky; the commotion he caused during the fight was too big and attracted the Iwagakure ninja."

Spiral Face spoke dismissively, but this sentence immediately made Obito clench his teeth.

Why is it this guy again? Why is he here, and why does this guy always haunt him like a ghost?

"But don't worry, even though their situation isn't great, that guy named Haori is actually quite formidable."

Spiral Face saw that Obito wasn't speaking, so he continued.

"Although they aren't in a good spot, they can still hold on with that guy around."

"Shut up! Don't talk about that guy anymore!"

Obito was in a bad mood, and his expression turned cold.

"What about the people from Konoha? Why haven't they arrived yet when things have turned out like this? And what is Minato-sensei doing?"

"The people from Konoha are on their way, but they are a bit too far away, so there's no helping it."

Spiral Face didn't mind Obito's attitude and said everything he could.

"As for your teacher, he is busy right now. He should be negotiating with the Iwagakure ninja; after all, with Konoha having won, there are many things he needs to handle."

"It's like this again. Why is it like this every single time?"

Obito's heart became somewhat conflicted at this moment, but he quickly stopped dwelling on it.

"Forget it, it was like this last time too anyway, but perhaps this is for the best."

This time, I will be the hero!

Kakashi, Rin, wait for me.

Thinking this to himself, Obito increased his speed, and he could faintly hear the sounds of battle ahead—

"This is truly troublesome."

In the forest, Haori, Kakashi, and Rin stood back-to-back, constantly fending off attacks from all sides.

The situation was truly chaotic; the Iwagakure Ninja and Kirigakure Ninja were fighting each other, yet they hadn't ignored Haori and his team for a single moment.

For a time, the pressure on Haori, Kakashi, and Rin became exceptionally intense.

Fortunately, these enemies were not united, and from time to time, they would even accidentally save Haori and the others; otherwise, while Haori and Kakashi might have been fine, Rin definitely wouldn't have been able to hold on.

This situation made Rin feel incredibly distressed, but she still steeled herself to deal with everything in front of her.

"We must find a way to break through."

Haori quickly scanned the enemies surrounding them. The Kirigakure Ninja were Anbu members, meaning their strength was superior, and the Iwagakure side was already struggling to keep them suppressed.

Facing this situation, he thought for a moment before lowering his voice to speak.

"As long as we can break out, the pressure on us will decrease.

They are already at odds with each other, so that will work in our favor.

By the way, have you summoned Namikaze Minato?"

Every squad sent out had been given a Kunai by Namikaze Minato, with the intention that it could be used to summon him in a critical moment.

And this Kunai was currently in Kakashi's hands.

"I've already tried, but there hasn't been any response."

Kakashi said, panting slightly, his gaze still fixed firmly on their surroundings.

"Is that so? It seems we have to rely on ourselves."

Haori couldn't help but sigh upon hearing this; Namikaze Minato dropping the ball at a critical moment seemed to be the norm.

The fastest person in the ninja world was also the easiest to arrive late, and even if it wasn't truly his fault sometimes, it was still genuinely headache-inducing.

"I'll lead a frontal assault; you cover Rin."

Since Namikaze Minato couldn't arrive in time, Haori had to find a way himself.

Although he wasn't quite sure why Madara's script had turned into this mess, and looking at Rin, nothing seemed amiss.

At least under his Sharingan, Haori hadn't detected any abnormalities in Rin, so he couldn't be bothered to worry about it anymore!

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Haori instantly completed the hand seals, and a massive fireball surged toward an Iwagakure Ninja in front of him.

Facing Haori's fire jutsu, the Iwagakure Ninja reacted quickly; he leaped backward while simultaneously forming hand seals.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

An earth wall rose rapidly, solidly blocking Haori's fireball, but the intense explosion forced everyone nearby to scramble for cover.

"Go!"

Haori seized the opportunity, immediately grabbing Rin and throwing her forward, allowing her to narrowly dodge a sneak attack from a Kirigakure Ninja, while he quickly followed behind.

"They want to break through, stop them!"

These Iwagakure and Kirigakure ninjas weren't stupid; although they were fighting fiercely, their eyes had remained on Haori and his team the entire time.

The moment they sensed Haori's movement, both sides tacitly stopped fighting each other and charged toward the three of them!

"I'll hold them off, you two go."

Haori was extremely calm; despite the number of enemies, he wasn't that afraid.

He let out a low shout and immediately swung his ninja blade at the ninja pursuing them from the side.

"I can't keep going like this."

Seeing Haori holding off the enemies and watching Kakashi fighting hard as well, Rin gripped her Kunai, gritted her teeth, and thought to herself.

Along the way, she didn't even know how many times she had been protected.

This wasn't what she wanted; she was a capable ninja too!

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Rin saw an Iwagakure Ninja stealthily approaching Haori's back while Haori was focused on dealing with the enemies in front of him.

Seeing this, Rin's gaze became resolute; she would never allow herself to be a burden to everyone!

In an instant, instead of retreating, Rin moved forward toward Haori's back.

The moment that Iwagakure Ninja made his move, the Kunai in her hand had already stabbed out fiercely!

Puchi—

The sound of metal piercing flesh rang out instantly, and bright red blood splattered.

The Iwagakure Ninja looked at Rin in disbelief; he hadn't expected that the person who had always been their weak point would be so brave at this moment.

"I did it."

Looking at the Iwagakure Ninja slowly collapsing before her, a hint of joy appeared in Rin's heart, but at that very moment.

"Look out, Rin!"

Kakashi's voice suddenly came from the side. The moment the Iwagakure Ninja fell, a figure wearing a white spiral mask had quietly appeared.

The Kunai in his hand was already thrusting straight toward Rin's chest.

Newbie here, begging for your continued support. The current follow count determines everything for a book; it's easy for a book to die if you just "stockpile" chapters.

Thank you, everyone. Onz