"Enemy attack! Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Genma cried out, nearly biting through the senbon in his mouth.
"How is that possible? Where did they come from?" Hyuga Ginka's face went white. Her Byakugan had seen nothing.
Kakashi reacted instantly.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
He slapped both hands to the ground. A thick wall of earth surged upward, barely intercepting the charging water dragons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The dragons smashed into the wall in a spray of mud and water. Cracks spread across the surface, but it held.
Even in the middle of that chaos, Kiyohara noticed the carved dog heads decorating Kakashi's earth wall. He had to admire the dedication. Only Kakashi would remember to make an earth-style defense look like dog art while everyone was trying not to die.
Then Kiyohara shouted, "Everyone, be careful! There's probably a barrier or bloodline limit interfering with the Byakugan—Red Eye!"
There were many possible explanations for how Kirigakure had taken a Byakugan in the original history. A betrayal, a wipeout, an ambush. But the fact that Ginka had searched the area herself and found nothing made one possibility rise sharply above the others.
There were very few methods in the shinobi world that could truly interfere with the Byakugan. Red Eye was one of them.
"Red Eye?" Kakashi echoed, hearing the term for the first time.
"I've never heard of it either," Rin admitted.
In the distance, Ao saw at once that Kiyohara had guessed the core of their formation, and his expression changed.
How did some young Konoha chunin know a secret bloodline of the Land of Water?
Meanwhile, Mei Terumi stared at Kiyohara's reflection in the water technique the Mist were using to observe the battlefield. Her emerald eyes gleamed with interest. "What a waste," she murmured. "With a face like that, it almost hurts to attack him."
Ao ignored her. "No mercy. Continue with the plan. Divide and encircle. Prioritize the medical ninja and the Hyuga."
The Mist shifted at once, every movement becoming more organized.
Hyuga Nobuhiko exploded in anger. "How dare they belittle the great Hyuga clan!"
He dashed forward, trying to force the matter with Gentle Fist. But before he could even settle into stance, the surrounding mist thickened again until he could barely see his own fingers. Without the Byakugan, even a main-branch Hyuga might as well have been fighting blind.
The taunt came an instant later.
"Hyuga trash—what do you have left without those white eyes?"
A tall Kirigakure jonin with a scarred face burst out of the mist and drove a kunai toward Nobuhiko's chest. Nobuhiko managed to defend himself, but without his usual field of vision he was immediately pushed into a losing exchange.
At the same time, other Hidden Mist ninja cut in from all directions. Their target was obvious.
Rin.
In battle, the easiest way to break the enemy was often to cut out the healer first.
"Protect Rin!" Kakashi shouted.
Lightning crackled around his hand as he intercepted two chunin at once. Genma and Kurenai were also forced into their own fights. In the span of seconds, the battlefield split into fragments.
Three Kirigakure ninja broke through and rushed straight at Rin.
"Rin, get back!"
Kiyohara moved.
With a clean metallic note, he drew his newly forged ninja sword and stepped in front of her.
At that exact moment, the young Kiyohara's voice sounded in his mind, carrying unmistakable killing intent. "Ao is nearby. I can feel his chakra. That direction."
The hatred was so sharp it was almost tangible. The dead never forgot the man who killed them.
"Understood," Kiyohara replied inwardly. "We handle the immediate problem first."
No matter what, Ao was still dangerous. Before anything else, they had to survive the present exchange.
The first Mist ninja swung a sword. Kiyohara slipped to the side and cut across the man's wrist in the same motion. Blood sprayed, and the weapon dropped from useless fingers.
The second opponent thrust a kunai toward his ribs. Kiyohara retreated half a step like a willow leaf drifting on the wind, avoiding the blow, then reversed his grip and drove his sword toward the man's throat.
Pfft!
The second Hidden Mist ninja collapsed clutching his neck.
The third froze at the sight. Kiyohara's feet burst with chakra.
"Body Flicker Technique!"
He flashed beside the last man and cut him down with a clean horizontal slash.
In the space of a few breaths, all three Mist chunin sent after Rin were dead.
Then Kiyohara lifted his voice toward Kakashi.
"Once we finish here, come with me and kill the mastermind. They're too organized. There's someone directing them from behind."
Kakashi gave him a quick look—partly in surprise, partly because Kiyohara's swordsmanship seemed far stronger than before. Had he really improved this much in such a short time?
"Got it," Kakashi said.
Kiyohara's eyes narrowed. As long as they could eliminate the one interfering with the Byakugan and remove the commander at the same time, the entire formation of the Hidden Mist would collapse.
That was their opening.
And openings, on a battlefield, were worth more than life.