Chapter 95: The Ambush Point
"All right?!"
"It's really good!!"
In the dim light of the cave, Rin stared at Kakashi's fully restored eye, her voice trembling with disbelief and joy.
Even Obito, standing beside her, was stunned into silence by the miraculous sight. A crippling injury, healed with nothing but a piece of grilled fish? And…
Seeing Kakashi's whole and healthy face, Obito's newly awakened Sharingan flared to life again, the twin tomoe spinning unconsciously as he analyzed the impossible recovery.
Liumu sat off to the side, nursing a profound, internal ache.
That was Heluo flesh. A spiritual beast! he lamented silently. A sigh, heavy with the weight of a priceless sacrifice, escaped him. He turned his head to watch Kakashi, who was now flexing his fingers and moving his limbs with renewed vigor, and allowed himself a small, private smile.
His plan had worked. Days ago, he had deliberately left the three genin under the pretext of supporting Minato. His true goal was to allow fate—or a carefully nudged version of it—to play out.
Now, Obito's Sharingan had awakened, and Kakashi's eye was not only saved but enhanced. More importantly…
"Kakashi, how do you feel?" Liumu asked, walking over to scrutinize him.
"Amazing," Kakashi breathed, clenching and unclenching his fists. He looked at Liumu with undisguised shock. "Not just healed. I feel… boundless energy. My chakra… it's like it shattered its previous limits."
If, as the system suggested, all energy in this world manifested as chakra, then the innate spiritual power within a mythical creature like Heluo would be the purest chakra imaginable. Kakashi, once notoriously limited in his reserves and mockingly called a "low-chakra genius," would no longer be measured by that old standard. His chakra pool was now deep and vast.
With Team 7 ready to move, Liumu pulled the tactical map from Kakashi's backpack and spread it on the cave floor.
"Look. This entire mountain range is now the main battlefront in the Land of Grass," he explained, tracing a line with his finger. "If we lose here, not only will Iwagakure forces break through, but Kirigakure units will also have a clear path to bypass the border and strike directly at Konoha's heart."
"Sensei Minato is heading here," Kakashi interjected, pointing to a marked depression in the mountains—a narrow col.
"Right. That col is a natural chokepoint, easy to defend. It's Konoha's primary sniper position to hold the line."
The four of them studied the chaotic battle lines. A deep unease settled in. The intelligence suggested Iwagakure had committed nearly a thousand shinobi to this flanking maneuver, hoping to punch through the Grass Country. Yet Konoha's main force was committed to the brutal war in the Land of Rain. The contingent sent to intercept here in Grass—including Team 7—was a fraction of the enemy's numbers. If the Iwa forces realized this and simply widened their advance, they could easily overwhelm or bypass the thin Konoha line with disastrous results.
"Should we go to support Minato-sensei, then?" Rin asked, her voice laced with concern.
"No!"
"No!"
Liumu and Kakashi spoke in perfect, sharp unison.
Liumu glanced at Kakashi, surprised. Kakashi met his gaze, and a flicker of understanding passed between them. A faint, grim smile touched the corners of their mouths.
"Since you see it too, you explain," Liumu offered.
"Alright." Kakashi nodded, his finger moving to a different area on the map—a jagged series of peaks and narrow gorges. "Look here. These mountains are steep, and the passes between them are extremely tight. If I were the Iwagakure commander, and the main col proved too difficult to crack quickly, I'd take a calculated risk and push through here."
Liumu picked up the thread. "The col where Minato is makes a straight, short path for the enemy. But you have to remember, Minato's 'Yellow Flash' reputation isn't for show. To preserve their combat strength, the Iwa commanders won't want to grind themselves to pieces against him in a bottleneck. The terrain southeast of the col is all open swamp—no cover. A detour there would make them sitting ducks for our ambush units."
He tapped the map where Kakashi had pointed. "So, this mountain pass is their only viable alternative. It's risky, but it offers cover and a potential breakthrough."
"Then… you mean we should go there? To ambush them?" Obito concluded, his Sharingan eyes wide.
"Exactly," Liumu confirmed, refolding the map and handing it back to Kakashi. He turned to Rin with a reassuring, if tired, smile. "And trust your sensei. Minato Namikaze is far from weak. He can hold that col."
Several days of hard travel brought them to the designated mountain pass.
The terrain was as brutal as the map suggested. The path was a treacherous ledge, so narrow a cart could barely pass. Liumu surveyed it, then stepped to the cliff face. With a muffled crunch, he drove his fist into the rock, shearing off a large section of unstable scree.
"Move this debris to the edge. Secure it so it looks natural, but ready to go."
"Right!"
"On it!"
They sprang into action. Rin produced a roll of explosive tags from her kit, carefully affixing one to each of the larger stones.
Liumu, however, couldn't relax. His mind was on a different quarry. The key player he expected to encounter in the Land of Grass hadn't shown yet. Obito's fate had been altered, but did that man—Danzō—still have other cards to play?
And Rin… It was unusual for Kirigakure ninja to be this deep in Grass Country. But if one considered the tragic fate of a certain Three-Tails jinchūriki in another timeline, Rin's presence here might be no accident. She could very well be a secondary target in this bloody game.
Thud. Thud. Thud!
A series of clone dispersions echoed. Kakashi was using the Shadow Clone Technique to accelerate the trap-setting. Dozens of copies of him moved in unison, positioning rocks and wiring tags with expert precision.
"Kakashi, you…" Obito stared, jaw slack. Even Kakashi himself paused, looking at the swarm of clones—at least fifty strong.
The Shadow Clone Technique was a legacy from his father, Sakumo. Before today, Kakashi's limit had been around thirty, and maintaining them drained him swiftly. Now, after creating this many, he felt… fine. His chakra reserves hummed, robust and seemingly endless. He glanced at Liumu, and in that look, full comprehension dawned. He owed this newfound power to that strange fish.
Once the avalanche trap was primed, Liumu and Team 7 concealed themselves among the boulders atop the cliff.
"Now," Liumu whispered, eyes fixed on the pass below. "We wait for the fish to swim into the net."
At the Col.
The Iwagakure assault was a relentless, grinding wave. Konoha's forward defensive line had buckled, only stabilizing when they fell back to this narrow, defensible gorge.
"Captain! We can't hold much longer! There are too many of them!" A Konoha chūnin, face smeared with soot and blood, scrambled to the side of a bearded jōnin in standard combat fatigues.
The jōnin snarled, parrying a spray of shuriken. "Reinforcements are coming! Hold the line! Don't let a single one through this pass!"
Suddenly, a blur of yellow streaked past them, settling between the defenders and the advancing Iwa front line. The wind settled, revealing Minato Namikaze, his expression calm but his eyes sharp as honed steel.
"It's you!" The bearded jōnin's face transformed from desperation to fierce hope.
Without a word, Minato unsealed a large batch of his distinctive three-bladed kunai. He handed a bundle to the jōnin. "Have your men throw these into the enemy ranks. Put some force behind it. Leave the rest to me."
"Alone? But they have hundreds out there…" the chūnin stammered, incredulous.
Thwack!
The jōnin captain cuffed the chūnin on the back of the head. "Shut up and do as he says! That's the Yellow Flash!"
Minato didn't wait for further debate. He gripped one of his special kunai, his gaze calculating the distance, the numbers, the angles. A faint, blue-white aura began to flicker around him. The Iwagakure force, seeing a lone Konoha ninja step forward, roared and charged.
They were about to learn why a single man could hold a valley.
(End of Chapter)
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