The sight stirred Kakashi's emotions, reminding him of a past he could not bear to revisit.
Everything that had happened on his missions with Obito and Rin back then surfaced in his mind, one memory after another.
Beneath that collapsed bridge, half of Obito's body had been crushed by a boulder. After giving Kakashi a Sharingan and entrusting Rin to him, Obito had fallen underground.
Yet in the end, he had failed to protect Rin Nohara.
A flicker of pain crossed Kakashi's eyes.
Knowing that Kakashi had recalled his sorrowful past, the others consciously or unconsciously quickened their pace, putting that troubled place behind them as soon as possible.
After they entered a dense forest, Uchiha Douyang, who was running at the front, abruptly stopped.
Shisui suddenly asked, "Douyang, why did you stop?"
Douyang knitted his brows. "There are signs that someone has camouflaged the nearby grass."
Hearing this, all three grew alert.
Shisui activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and carefully examined the dense forest around them.
Boom!
At the same time, explosions suddenly erupted in the forest, engulfing the four members of the squad in terrifying flames, smoke, and dust.
Kakashi was, after all, a long-established elite jonin with extensive combat experience. The instant the explosions sounded, he immediately formed hand seals with both hands.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
The Water Formation Wall rose from the ground and crashed into the oncoming flames, instantly producing thick clouds of steam.
In an instant, mist enveloped the entire forest.
Just then, Douyang felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble faintly and immediately warned, "Watch out."
As his words fell, sharp earthen spikes burst out of the ground and shot outward at tremendous speed.
Thanks to Douyang's warning, the other three were already prepared and evaded the surprise attack from the ground spikes in advance.
Kakashi's expression darkened. "Douyang, where's the enemy?"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Before Douyang could answer, a vast barrage of water balls flew out of the forest toward them.
It was the Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
Its destructive power was not great, but there were simply too many water balls.
The four dodged individually and were forced to scatter.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
Another rapid series of explosions rang out.
Thick smoke and dust obscured his vision, and Douyang could no longer see Kakashi or the others.
Earth Release, Water Release, and Explosive Tags had been used to separate the squad's four members.
The enemy had achieved their objective. Next, they would reveal themselves and begin the hunt.
As expected, a burly figure descended from above and landed in front of Uchiha Douyang.
Uchiha Douyang raised his eyebrows slightly. "I didn't expect it to be you!"
The burly figure surprised Douyang somewhat. He was Juzo Biwa, the ninja leading Kirigakure's reinforcements to the Land of Demons.
Douyang had not expected that, after completing the mission, this man would set traps along their route and ambush them instead of returning to Kirigakure.
Juzo Biwa swung the Kubikiribōchō with one hand and sneered. "Heh, didn't see that coming, did you?"
Recalling the earlier ground spike attack, Douyang frowned and asked, "Iwagakure's reinforcement squad joined forces with you?"
"Very clever."
With a light chuckle, Juzo Biwa said coldly, "Uncanny Doctor Uchiha Douyang, Body Flicker Technique Shisui Uchiha, Sharingan Kakashi. Your squad is powerful. Neither the Mist Ninja squad nor the Stone Ninja squad could take you down alone. We both understood that, so we joined forces."
Douyang demanded, "Did you ambush us here for your village?"
Although the war had ended, friction continued among the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Apart from Sunagakure, whose relationship with Konoha was fairly good, the other three shinobi villages did not get along well with Konoha.
For Iwagakure's future, Yan Luoya might have set an ambush.
But Juzo Biwa was different.
In the original timeline, Juzo Biwa had failed to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage and become a rogue ninja.
How could someone like that possibly be loyal to Kirigakure?
Juzo Biwa smiled and said, "Three of the four people in your squad are geniuses. That fellow Yan Luoya worked with me to set this ambush here for Iwagakure's sake, that much is true. But I'm different. I'm only doing it for the money."
Douyang was somewhat surprised. "For the money?"
Juzo Biwa nodded. "Of course it's for the money. Your bounty on the black market has reached an astonishing thirty-five million. Body Flicker Shisui is worth thirty million, and Sharingan Kakashi is worth twenty-seven million. That's nearly a hundred million in bounties. How many dangerous missions would I have to carry out to earn that much?"
Killing for money?
If the other man had been Kakuzu, Uchiha Douyang would certainly not have doubted him in the slightest.
After all, Kakuzu was obsessed with money.
But Juzo Biwa did not give the impression of being money-obsessed.
There was actually one thing Douyang had overlooked.
At this point, Juzo Biwa had already begun considering assassinating the Fourth Mizukage.
The Fourth Mizukage had imposed an even harsher blood mist policy in Kirigakure, leaving the village's ninja seething with complaints.
Juzo Biwa could no longer endure it and had begun thinking of killing him.
If he succeeded, Kirigakure would be transformed.
If he failed, there would no longer be any place for Juzo Biwa in Kirigakure.
Then he could only become a rogue ninja and wander the shinobi world.
Thus, considering the worst possible outcome, Juzo Biwa planned to prepare funds ahead of time so that his life as a rogue ninja would be more comfortable.
Although he was not obsessed with money, he did not mind having more of it.
Boom, boom, boom!!
Just then, deafening explosions came from elsewhere, and from more than one location.
Clearly, Kakashi and the others had already engaged the other enemies.
Seeing that Uchiha Douyang was somewhat worried about his teammates, Juzo Biwa laughed. "Heh, before long, the four of you will meet again in the underworld."
As his words fell, Juzo Biwa rapidly formed hand seals and shouted, "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
With a rushing splash, Juzo Biwa spewed a tremendous volume of water from his mouth, sending it surging toward Douyang like a flood.
The Great Waterfall Technique did not seem particularly destructive, but the essence of this technique lay in altering the terrain.
Fighting a ninja skilled in Water Release while in the water meant being at a terrain disadvantage.
Fortunately, although the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had a formidable reputation, their combat strength was not outstanding.
Juzo Biwa was merely a notch stronger than an ordinary jonin.
Douyang naturally had no fear.
He slowly raised his hand, and a length of black rod emerged from his palm.
Almost simultaneously, the two moved, their feet striking the water's surface as they charged toward each other.
Clang, clang, clang.
The Black Chakra Rods collided with the Kubikiribōchō, and as a series of sparks flew, the clash of metal rang out over the water.
Suddenly, numerous arrows as thick as fingers flew out from beneath the water, whistling through the air at high speed as they shot fiercely toward Uchiha Douyang.
At the same time, Juzo Biwa formed hand seals with one hand and shouted, "Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
With the Water Prison Technique ahead and Water Release arrows behind, Uchiha Douyang drew a light breath and immediately used Sukunahikona.
Douyang's body instantly shrank hundreds to thousands of times smaller, avoiding Juzo Biwa's water prison.
Bang, bang, bang!!
Juzo Biwa swung the Kubikiribōchō in his hand so tightly that nothing could get through, blocking every Water Release arrow flying toward him.
Then he looked at the empty water's surface with some suspicion.
"That ability definitely wasn't the Body Flicker Technique..."
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