Doesn't He Look Like a Dog?

Clang! Bang!

Kakashi took a slash from the Kumogakure ninja head-on. The force behind it was far greater than he had expected. Simply blocking the blade had already taken all his strength, and then the Kumogakure ninja viciously kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying backward.

Ying Shu arrived in time and caught Kakashi. The two of them still staggered back several steps before barely dissipating the force.

"How is he?" Ying Shu asked quickly.

"He's very strong and not slow, but his swordsmanship is mediocre. His ninjutsu might be his specialty, but I'm no match for him head-on... We need to seize an opening."

Kakashi gritted his teeth and rubbed his stomach. That kick had not felt good at all. The enemy before them was rather strong.

"Tch!" The Kumogakure ninja spat. The fact that his slash had been blocked clearly displeased him.

The Kumogakure ninja did not waste words. With a twist of his wrist, he launched another attack!

"Catch your breath first, Kakashi."

Ying Shu calmly formed hand seals at incredible speed. Chakra condensed into a technique in an instant. "Water Release: Water Chain Bullet!"

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Ying Shu currently had three standard combat techniques: Rasengan, Lightning Explosion, and Water Chain Bullet.

It was a rather small number, but he was proficient in all of them. Ying Shu swiftly counterattacked. Without infusing Yang Release into it, he made up for it with sheer volume, unleashing a continuous torrent like a curtain of water.

"Oh?" The Kumogakure ninja did not slow down, though a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. He had thought they were just two Konoha brats playing outside the village, yet not only had they blocked his slash, they could use ninjutsu as well.

Looks like they're children of some major clan... This is a jackpot!

A cruel smile curved across the Kumogakure ninja's lips. Without slowing down, he swung his long blade continuously and actually charged forward through the Water Chain Bullets!

Kakashi immediately took up a stance, his short sword held at his side behind him. He stared fixedly at the figure before him, ready to counterattack at any moment.

Ying Shu, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes and constantly observed and assessed the enemy's strength.

The Kumogakure ninja before them was roughly 172.51 centimeters tall, dark-skinned but healthy-looking, and around twenty years old.

Thinking of the two waves of shuriken from before, which had clearly underestimated them, combined with his reckless way of dealing with things now, as well as Ying Shu's general understanding of Kumogakure and the Jonin standards of the Shinobi World—

Setting aside why this Kumogakure ninja had appeared here—

Ying Shu guessed that the Kumogakure ninja before them was likely a Chunin, and a hurried one at that. Of course, he might also have been a Special Jonin.

He could not be any stronger than that. If he were, the two of them would have no chance at all.

But even if their opponent was only a Chunin, their odds of winning were not very high.

Seeing the Kumogakure ninja draw ever closer, Ying Shu made a snap decision. "Kakashi, use that move!"

That move? Kakashi froze for a moment. What move?

Ying Shu pulled the last smoke bomb, an essential tool for sneaky tricks, from his ninja tool pouch with one hand. He pointed at the ground, then slammed it down!

Kakashi understood instantly. He threw away his short sword and rapidly formed hand seals with both hands!

"Hm?" Seeing the smoke bomb obscure the two brats, the Kumogakure ninja decisively stopped. His gaze was contemptuous, but his body remained in a guarded combat stance.

"I'd like to see what tricks you can pull," the Kumogakure ninja muttered, brimming with confidence.

Shuriken? Or some ninjutsu that needed time to activate?

A cold smile formed on the Kumogakure ninja's lips. Holding his sword in one hand, he drew several shuriken and threw them into the smoke.

"Now!"

A voice rang out from the smoke. Immediately afterward, two figures darted away in opposite directions, evading the shuriken as they fled at top speed!

"Tch! Cunning little brats!" The Kumogakure ninja sneered disdainfully and immediately drew his sword to pursue them, but after taking just one step, he stopped again.

By then, the smoke had thinned somewhat. Its quality looked rather poor. The Kumogakure ninja's gaze settled on one corner of the smoke, where Kakashi's short sword—the one he had thrown aside to form hand seals—lay on the ground.

The Kumogakure ninja smiled silently and glanced in Konoha's direction. Though all was calm there, lingering in battle was not a good choice.

"You two are considered geniuses even in Konoha, aren't you? What a shame. If this were the battlefield, I'd have had a good time playing with two genius little brats like you..."

The Kumogakure ninja mocked them, then his voice turned cold and teasing. "Come out! Your Shadow Clone is too crude. There's an extra sword. Do you take me for an idiot?"

No sound came from within the smoke.

The Kumogakure ninja's eyes gradually became impatient.

He raised his long sword, his gaze turning cold, and simply charged into the smoke that had yet to disperse!

But there were no signs of the two brats within the smoke. The short sword was indeed lying on the ground, but there was no one around it.

"Tch... Transformation Technique!" The Kumogakure ninja's expression changed as he finally vaguely guessed what had happened.

"They transformed into each other, deliberately using the sword on the ground as a flaw to lure me in... Damn brats!"

The Kumogakure ninja sounded somewhat exasperated, but suddenly his eyes turned cold and the corners of his mouth curled upward. He raised his long sword high, its tip aimed downward at the empty ground beneath his feet!

"Just now, that must have been what you wanted to hear most, right? Too green, you little brats!"

The sharp long sword plunged straight into the ground!

Whether because the soil was too soft or the blade too sharp, the sword sank directly into the ground without meeting any resistance, piercing all the way in!

"Tch!" The Kumogakure ninja spat again. The sensation from his sword told him he had missed, but the hollow ground beneath him meant he had been right to gamble.

The Kumogakure ninja secretly breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, he had truly thought he had been fooled.

Then, another series of disturbances sounded from beneath the ground.

The Kumogakure ninja sneered repeatedly, raised his blade again, and began working it like a piston beneath his feet!

"Tsk tsk, how vulgar, Kakashi. Doesn't he look like a dog?"

"Mm... he really is vulgar," Kakashi answered only half the question, because he did not want to prove that he understood the latter half.

At that moment, Ying Shu and Kakashi stood far away atop a tree, watching the Kumogakure ninja repeat that motion over and over, their eyes filled with disdain.

"Let's end this." Ying Shu took out a kunai with an Explosive Tag attached to its end.

His lips were somewhat pale. Having his Shadow Clone complete Hydrogen Release in his place, he did not dare hold anything back.

But Obito was not here, so this was the only method he could use.

Sizzle— The Explosive Tag began to burn.

Whoosh!

The kunai sliced through the air!

The Kumogakure ninja, who was still working like a piston, sensed something. Looking up, his pupils immediately contracted. He abandoned even his sword and fled at once!

His reaction was actually very fast, but it could not withstand the precise calculations of someone skilled in underhanded tricks.

The Explosive Tag failed to catch the Kumogakure ninja. It even exploded before reaching him.

But before the Kumogakure ninja could breathe a sigh of relief, blazing firelight accompanied by a tremendous sound suddenly erupted before him!

BOOM!!!!

The two explosions went off almost one after another. The firelight from the Explosive Tag was instantly swallowed up. The Kumogakure ninja would never have imagined the Explosive Tag possessed such power—until the blast wave sent him flying and he lost consciousness, he believed that explosion had come from a single Explosive Tag.

"Ying Shu! Are you okay?!"

In the distance, Ying Shu nearly fell from the tree when his footing slipped, but Kakashi caught him in time.

Ying Shu waved a hand. "I'm fine, just a little drained... Hm?"

Ying Shu stopped halfway through his sentence. Together with Kakashi, his expression suddenly became strange.

From afar, they heard—

"Ying Shu! Kakashi!!!!!!"

The voice was so grief-stricken and hysterical that it sounded as though its owner had completely broken down!

The two hurriedly looked over. Wasn't that Obito, carrying a huge bundle of small branches?