Reinforcements and Crisis

The masked man's hand suddenly reached for Naruto.

His right hand carved an arc through the air. The instant his fingers curled shut, the air seemed to freeze. Naruto's body was seized by an invisible hand of space and lifted from the ground, his feet dangling in midair. The golden Nine-Tails Chakra Mode around him flickered violently, as though resisting the restraint from another dimension, but within a second, more than half its radiance had dimmed.

Just then, a green figure burst out of the darkness.

He was fast beyond measure. A leg wreathed in green chakra vapor, carrying enough force to shatter boulders, shot at the masked man's head from the side—Leaf Great Whirlwind!

The masked man's Sharingan caught the afterimage. He made no move to dodge, nor did he even alter his stance.

That leg passed straight through his head.

Guy spun once through the air and landed steadily beside Naruto. His right leg remained raised from the kick, every muscle taut as green chakra vapor blazed around him like flames. Yet his expression was far from relaxed—he had clearly struck his target, but the sensation in his foot told him he had kicked nothing but air.

"What—" Guy's pupils contracted slightly.

"Guy, watch out!" Another voice came from the darkness.

Kakashi emerged from the shadows behind Guy, a kunai in his left hand while the Lightning Blade in his right was already primed. Blue-white electricity crackled in his palm. His right eye—the Sharingan transplanted from Uchiha Obito—was spinning at high speed, its three tomoe rotating as it locked onto the masked man's body.

He had witnessed the entire exchange from the darkness. At the instant Guy's leg passed through the masked man's head, the other man had neither dodged nor defended himself. There had not even been