"Songren should be here soon. You'd better disappear," Fugaku said.
"Should I take Sanada with me? Will leaving him here get in the way?" Takigawa asked.
"Yes. The blood at the scene is enough," Fugaku said.
Takigawa nodded, picked up Sanada, and vanished.
Black Mist enveloped Fugaku once more. He leaped silently into a nearby tree and waited.
Barely two minutes later, faint footsteps approached at speed.
A dark figure flashed past, and Uchiha Songren appeared where Sanada had been.
Much of the blood on the ground had seeped into the soil, but it had not fully dried.
Songren did not panic at the sight. He scanned the area with his Sharingan, hoping to find a useful clue.
Footsteps sounded off to his side. Then a figure shrouded in Black Mist slowly emerged from the Forest.
Songren had kept watch on his surroundings out of the corner of his eye, yet he had not seen how the figure appeared.
It was as though the figure had materialized in front of him without warning or trace.
"Who are you? Do you have Sanada?"
"Not bad. You're smarter than Uchiha Sanada."
The dark figure vanished as soon as he finished speaking. Pain shot through Songren's chest, and a wound opened there. Then his attacker appeared beside him.
How? Shock crossed Songren's face. He had not seen his attacker move at all. Even with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan active, he had caught none of his movements.
Songren threw a Smoke Bomb to the ground. Purple smoke billowed outward, and he darted toward the Forest.
He leaped forward, but the instant he burst out of the purple smoke, a dark figure flashed past and kicked him back in.
It was Takigawa, who had been waiting beyond the battlefield all along.
As he kicked Songren back