Loss

Estimating that Nalong was already in position, Kakashi took a deep breath, a flash of resolve passing through his eyes. Behind him, not counting Rin and Obito, were ten solemn, experienced Konoha chunin. They were all the elites he could gather here, and the core force for this feint mission.

"Listen to my orders!" Kakashi's voice was calm, without the slightest ripple. "First and second squads, follow me in a frontal assault and make as much noise as possible! Third squad, support from the left and right flanks, protect our sides, and use ninjutsu to disrupt the enemy formation! Obito, stay close to me and use your Fire Release to open a gap! Rin, support from the center and prioritize treating the seriously wounded!"

"Yes!" the ten chunin answered in low voices as one, swiftly splitting into three squads and displaying the solid tactical discipline of Konoha ninja.

"Move out!"

Kakashi took the lead, shooting forward like a bolt of lightning!

"Lightning Cutter!" The piercing cry of a thousand birds rang out again as blue lightning tore through the air and rushed straight toward the bridgehead outpost.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Obito followed close behind, spitting out a scorching fireball. Though it was not as powerful as Kakashi's attack, it still successfully set part of the wooden palisade ablaze and created chaos.

The attack produced results at once. Alarm bells rang wildly in the bridgehead, and the Stone ninja hurriedly organized a defense. The elite jonin stationed to the north—Kakko—reacted with extreme speed.

"Hmph, so they really came! With only this many people? They're courting death!" Kakko was tall and powerfully built, with a violent temper. "First and second companies, follow me to meet the enemy! Everyone else, hold the bridge and prevent them from luring us away!"

Kakko personally led more than fifty Stone ninja surging out of the bridgehead. Facing Konoha's assault, the Hidden Stone displayed the caliber of a great ninja village and quickly formed ranks.

"Earth Release: Earth-Flow Wall!" Several earthen walls rose in an instant, blocking Obito's fireball and part of the attack.

"Earth Release: Earth-Flow Spears!" Sharp stone spikes jutted from the ground, slowing Konoha's charge.

"Scatter! Dodge!" Kakashi shouted, his figure ghosting around the Earth-Flow Spears as his Lightning Cutter stabbed straight into the Earth-Flow Wall!

"Boom!" A hole was blown through the earthen wall.

"Charge in!" Kakashi was the first to break through. His short blade swept past, and a Stone chunin fell to the ground.

Two Konoha chunin followed him in, only to be forced back, one of them wounded.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" A Konoha chunin spat out a jet of water in support.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Another chunin used a fierce wind to blow away the smoke.

Obito tried to break through from the other side, but two Hidden Stone chunin entangled him, kunai clashing.

"Damn it! Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Obito spat out multiple small fireballs, forcing one enemy back, but his arm was grazed. The two-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly as he worked to catch his opponent's movements.

"Obito, be careful!" Rin cried anxiously, throwing senbon to support him.

Kakko sneered and formed hand seals, his target aimed straight at the support squad and Rin in the center of Konoha's formation!

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" The ground beneath the feet of two chunin from the third squad turned into a muddy swamp!

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Dense fireballs shot toward the trapped men and Rin!

"Not a chance!" Kakashi pulled back. "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" A wall of water blocked the fireballs, but the steam burned one chunin.

"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!" A Hidden Stone special jonin slipped underground and dragged an injured chunin into the earth, taking him out of the fight.

"Bastard!" Another Konoha chunin threw an explosive tag to force the enemy back.

The battle entered a brutal meat grinder. Relying on individual strength and teamwork, the Konoha chunin barely withstood the first wave of attacks, but their numerical disadvantage and the suppressive power of the jonin began to show. Chunin kept getting injured and collapsing, while Rin busied herself treating them with Mystical Palm Technique, her chakra draining extremely fast.

"Don't panic! Hold formation!" Kakashi shuttled through the battlefield like a gale. Every time the Lightning Cutter lit up, an enemy died, but his chakra consumption was enormous, his breathing was ragged, and he still had to command the entire situation.

Obito fought with the help of his two-tomoe Sharingan, injuring two Stone chunin, but without a lethal ninjutsu, he could not break the deadlock. When he saw a comrade fall while protecting Rin, his eyes nearly split with rage, and his Sharingan spun faster.

"Konoha brats, this is as far as you go!" Kakko lost his patience and formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation!" The ground shook, and rocks stabbed out, throwing Konoha's formation into disorder!

"Gah!" A Konoha chunin was sent flying by a rock.

"Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!" Kakko's rock-covered fist smashed toward the Konoha ninja, whose formation was already in chaos.

"Look out!" Kakashi met the rock fist with his Lightning Cutter!

Boom! Kakashi was blasted backward, the light of his Lightning Cutter dimming.

"Kakashi!" Obito and Rin cried out in shock.

The Hidden Stone swarmed forward, splitting up and surrounding the remaining Konoha ninja. With casualties heavy, Konoha fell into a desperate situation. The survivors stood back-to-back, shielding Kakashi, Obito, and Rin in the center, but every one of them was wounded, their chakra all but exhausted.

"Hold on!" Kakashi shouted hoarsely, but his heart sank to the bottom.

Kakko grinned viciously, preparing the final blow. "It's over! Fire Style: Searing Migraine: Sandalwood Scatter!" Fire bullets like a deadly meteor shower enveloped everyone!

It's over... Despair flashed through Obito's eyes, and he instinctively stood in front of Rin. Kakashi closed his eyes, powerless to change anything. The surviving chunin showed eyes ready to die.

At that critical instant, a sudden change occurred!

A Hidden Stone special jonin who had previously pretended to lose combat ability suddenly sprang up from the shadows, the kunai in his hand stabbing straight for Rin's back as she focused everything on treating the wounded! The angle of this strike was tricky, and its speed was extreme. Everyone's attention had been drawn by the Fire Release!

"Rin—!!!" Obito's pupils shrank violently. He watched helplessly as the kunai stabbed toward Rin. The distance was too great; there was no time to save her! Kakashi and the others noticed too, but they likewise had no time to react!

In that instant, time seemed to freeze for Obito. All that remained in his eyes was the kunai about to take Rin's life, and Rin's frightened yet resolute profile. Endless fear, anger, regret, and the desire to protect the most important person to him, intense to the extreme, erupted in his chest like a volcano!

"No! I can't let Rin die!!"

The two-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun madly at unprecedented speed, expanding, connecting! A third tomoe emerged fiercely under the impact of those extreme emotions! The Three-Tomoe Sharingan had awakened!

The world instantly slowed and sharpened in his eyes! He could see every inch of the kunai's flight path, could sense the subtle tremors in that Stone ninja's muscles, could "see" the image of the kunai piercing Rin's body in the next moment!

"Ah!!!" Obito let out a beastlike roar, his body bursting with speed and strength far beyond his usual limits! He did not even form hand seals. Relying only on the superhuman dynamic vision and insight brought by his newly born three-tomoe, he instinctively poured chakra into both feet!

"Whoosh!" His figure turned into a blurred black line, moving at a speed nearly like teleportation, and in the instant before the kunai was about to touch Rin, he blocked behind her!

"Pfft!" The kunai stabbed deep into Obito's shoulder blade, and blood sprayed out! But he had succeeded. He had blocked this fatal strike for Rin!

"Obito!!" Rin let out a heart-wrenching cry.

"Hmph! Courting death!" Though Kakko was startled by Obito's sudden burst of speed and those newly born three tomoe, his attack did not pause at all. The sky full of fire rain had already fallen!

At this final moment of despair—

A golden light, like dawn tearing through the night, appeared instantly in the center of the battlefield!

"Flying Thunder God Technique!"

Namikaze Minato's figure appeared out of thin air, and the special kunai in his hand traced a perfect arc, deflecting the densest cluster of fire bullets!

"Rasengan!"

Without the slightest pause, the terrifying chakra sphere pressed into Kakko's chest while he was stiff from casting his jutsu!

"Puh—!" Kakko's sternum shattered completely, and he flew backward, dead on impact!

"Minato-sensei!" The people who had escaped death were filled with shock and joy.

Minato's face was as cold as frost, killing intent surging to the heavens!

"Flying Thunder God: Second Step!"

Golden lightning shuttled among the Stone ninja. Every flash brought down an enemy. In just over ten seconds, the Hidden Stone force was wiped clean!

"It's all right now." Minato returned to everyone's side and quickly treated the wounds of the seriously injured. When he saw the kunai in Obito's shoulder and those bleeding yet incomparably clear three-tomoe eyes, his gaze turned complicated.

"Minato-sensei... Nalong, he..." Kakashi gasped as he looked south.

Minato shook his head in grief and told them of the tragedy to the south. Everyone fell silent, sorrow spreading. Obito clutched his wound, looking at Rin safe and sound, then thought of Nalong's death, a tangle of feelings filling his heart.

"...Was the mission completed?" Minato asked.

Kakashi pointed toward the collapsed Kannabi Bridge in the distance. Minato nodded.

"Clear the battlefield. Bring the bodies of our fallen comrades. We... are going home." Minato's voice was weary and solemn. The Yellow Flash led the battered survivors away, vanishing at the edge of the bloody battlefield. The battle to the north ended in Konoha's bitter victory. Under the will to protect, Obito awakened his third tomoe, but the price paid was carved deep into the bone.