Caught...

Releasing two Tobirama-version Water Release techniques in one breath was a little too much even for Jin. He panted softly as he looked toward Cicada at the center of the lake.

Cicada was just as surprised by Jin's strength, but as a sensory-type ninja, she had already noticed that Jin's chakra was a little chaotic.

As the saying went, strike while your enemy was down. Cicada immediately pressed her advantage. "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave."

Jin planned to conserve some chakra, which meant he could only stake everything on taijutsu. He drew his sword with his right hand, his pair of Sharingan spinning rapidly as he predicted the trajectory of the Vacuum Wave, then closed in on Cicada's position at high speed.

Seeing this, Cicada also canceled her Vacuum Wave ninjutsu and began matching Jin in taijutsu again.

The two fought back and forth on the surface of the lake. Jin gripped his sword one-handed and thrust straight at Cicada. Cicada turned slightly to dodge, then struck Jin's right hand with the back of her sword, knocking his sword loose.

Jin seized the chance to reach out with his left hand and grab Cicada's left hand, forcing her to form the Tiger seal with him. "Lend me your hand!"

In the instant Cicada froze, Jin completed the hand seal and launched a flying kick at her. Cicada could only cross both hands before her chest to block, while Jin had already used the force to spring into the air. "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall."

Beneath the mask, Cicada went from shock to a rising smile. Water Release naturally countered Fire Release, so of course she was not afraid of his attack.

After blocking the fireball, the Water Formation Wall was canceled as well. In the instant before Jin landed, he threw the kunai in his hand.

"That move again?" Cicada immediately sprang into the air to avoid the kunai, but the moment she landed, she suddenly sensed something strange in Jin's chakra. Before she could properly feel it out, a hand suddenly stretched out of the water and grabbed her ankle.

"Not good!" Cicada hurriedly swung the sword in her hand, cutting toward the edge of the blade, but what she struck was only a Water Clone...

At this moment, Jin's real body had already closed in. His right hand pinned Cicada's right arm, and Cicada instinctively looked up.

"Genjutsu: Sharingan."

The moment she heard the name of the ninjutsu being activated, Cicada shut her eyes. But instead of the world-spinning illusion she expected, all that came was a chill at her neck.

At the same time, behind a tree trunk not far away.

"So this is a duel between Anbu?" Kakashi muttered to himself. Obito's mind was filled entirely with that scene of borrowing someone's hand to form a seal. "That hand-borrowing move just now was so cool! I'm definitely going to learn that move someday."

"Kakashi, do you think this person is stronger, or that, uh, that Uchiha guy?" Guy asked in a low voice.

Kakashi pondered and said, "Hard to judge. Their strength should be about the same..."

"Hey, brats. What are you sneaking around watching?"

A cold voice rang out from behind them. Kakashi turned around at once and shielded Rin behind him... Anbu, this organization whose name resounded throughout Konoha Village yet remained mysterious and unpredictable, made fear rise unbidden in everyone's hearts.

The group turned around trembling and found two Anbu standing behind them, one wearing a black tiger mask and the other a hawk mask.

"We were just passing by," Kakashi explained, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Heh, what a childish excuse. Didn't your teacher ever tell you the Fifth Training Ground is a training area exclusive to the Anbu?" the hawk-masked one sneered.

The Anbu wearing the black tiger mask asked the Anbu beside him, "How do we handle this? Take them back and interrogate them properly?"

"Hand them over to the captain first," the hawk-masked one said.

"Brats, come with us quietly."

"Sorry about that, Cicada." Jin reached out and pulled Cicada up. Cicada sighed. "Sigh, as expected of someone from the Uchiha Clan. Just using the Sharingan is enough to scare an opponent into not daring to act."

"It's not quite that serious," Jin said faintly. Though it had looked easy, if this spar had gone on a little longer, the winner would definitely have been her... Thinking of this, Jin could not help thinking of a certain blond.

The blond was sinister, Cicada was troublesome... Just what kind of people had he been running into?

"Huh, why is a group of little brats coming over?" Cicada looked toward the shore not far away, where her teammates were bringing a group of children to the captain.

"Hm? Why are they here?" Jin was a little surprised and said offhand, "Careful, I'm actually a kid too."

Under her mask, Cicada silently rolled her eyes at him. "Heh, let's go take a look."

"Captain, what's going on?" Cicada and Jin came to Gennosuke's side. Gennosuke had taken off his mask and was currently lecturing one of them.

"Hiss... Fangs, don't you think that girl with the long black hair looks really familiar?" Sparrow elbowed the person standing beside him.

Fangs carefully observed her for a moment, then suddenly cried out loudly, "Isn't she that, that one Crow brought that day!"

"..."

Fangs's shout made everyone present focus their gazes on him. And when Kurenai heard "Crow," she suddenly remembered that not long ago, when Brother Jin took her to eat barbecue, hadn't that group of people called him Crow?

Could it be...

With Fangs's reminder, Sparrow and Cicada instantly focused their gazes on Yuhi Kurenai...

"Kurenai, why are you all here?" Seeing his identity exposed by a certain idiot, Jin had no choice but to take off his mask and greet them.

"Whoa! Brother Jin! So you're Anbu!" Obito looked at Jin in delighted surprise, completely ignoring the fact that he and the others were currently being watched by several other Anbu.

Kakashi and Asuma both looked at Jin in shock. The former was surprised by Jin's strength, while the latter was shocked that Jin could actually be in the Anbu too? And on the same team as his cousin?

Only Guy was thinking... Who was this person? He looked so familiar, but why couldn't he remember?

"We... we were passing by..." Kurenai lowered her head like she had done something wrong and stammered.

"Asuma, don't run around next time!" Gennosuke glared at his own cousin, then said to Kakashi and the others, "You are not allowed to tell anyone about what happened today. In particular, you are not allowed to reveal the names of any Anbu members to anyone!"

"Otherwise... we'll have to handle it according to Anbu rules."

In a strict place like the Anbu, this kind of verbal warning was already the utmost mercy... After all, until now, no one had ever seen the true face of an Anbu member while they were carrying out a mission.

Because everyone who had seen it was already dead...

"That's all for today. Crow, you know them, so I'll leave it to you to take them back. I'll take this thing with me for now." Gennosuke pulled Asuma to his side as he spoke.

"Okay." Jin naturally nodded without any objection.

After the squad disbanded, Jin handed his Anbu equipment to Sparrow and asked him to take it back to the lounge for him.

He himself brought the few children and slowly wandered back...

"Brother Jin, Brother Jin, that move where you borrowed a hand to form a seal was so cool! Can you teach me?" Obito pestered Jin the whole way.

Jin could only say helplessly, "Do you know Great Fireball?"

"..."

"Him? He knows how to throw five shuriken in five different directions," Kakashi quipped.

"Kakashi, you!" Having been exposed in front of his idol, Obito instantly went red with embarrassment.

Rin very sensibly pushed Kurenai toward Jin and gave her an encouraging look...

"I'll teach you when I have time," Jin said wearily as he used one hand to steady Kurenai, who had been pushed over, afraid she might fall.

Luckily, he had not agreed to Hiruzen's offer to become a team-leading jonin back then. Otherwise, if he had to be pestered like this every day, he would definitely go insane...