Kiyohara's sudden entrance jolted Daishi badly. He had already swept the area once and confirmed there were no other Konoha shinobi nearby. Unless someone had stayed out of range before his reconnaissance… and if that was the case, then only a sensory-type ninja could have pulled it off.
"A sensory ninja?"
Daishi's hidden gaze moved across the three newcomers—Kiyohara, Kurenai Yuhi, and Genma Shiranui—as he tried to determine which one of them posed the greatest threat.
"Kiyohara…"
Kakashi turned his head when he saw Kiyohara appear out of nowhere, and some of the tension left his chest. As expected, Kiyohara was far more dependable than Obito, the class dead last.
"I see. Two Chunin and one Genin?"
Daishi formed a one-handed seal and continued refining chakra to maintain his concealment technique.
"Ninja Art: Camouflage Concealment."
The figure that Kiyohara had just exposed vanished once more. This technique erased not only the body, but also clothing—and naturally, even the dust clinging to it.
"No, Kiyohara. You don't have more chakra than he does."
Kakashi tightened his grip on the short blade in his hand, his brows drawing together. Even if Kiyohara could use Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to force the Iwa jonin Daishi into view, it would only last for an instant. Daishi could re-cast the technique whenever he wanted, and the number of times he could do that was definitely greater than Kiyohara's.
"Hmph. White Fang's son—not the White Fang himself. There's nothing to fear."
Daishi looked toward Kakashi, who had just warned Kiyohara, and a cruel smile tugged at his lips. Konoha's White Fang had slain countless Iwa shinobi. If he killed Sakumo Hatake's son here today, it would count as a little vengeance paid back.
But before that…
Daishi's attention shifted to Kiyohara. Right now, this boy was a greater danger than Kakashi.
From a single glance, Daishi had already noticed that Kurenai Yuhi and Genma Shiranui stood half a step behind Kiyohara. That alone was enough to tell him who held the most authority among the three. If Kiyohara was captain, then it was almost certainly because of that excellent sensory ability.
Or rather—because only with that sensory ability was he qualified to serve as captain.
The instant the thought flashed through his mind, Daishi began sorting through Kiyohara's threat level.
Then came the faint scrape of movement through the air.
The stone shifted.
"He's completely erased his presence. You can only judge his location by tiny changes in airflow and sound now."
Kakashi's face turned solemn. In the next second, he shouted a warning without hesitation.
"Behind you, Kiyohara!"
Clang!
Kunai crashed against kunai, bright sparks exploding in the darkness.
"Oh?"
Daishi's brows lifted. Sensory-type shinobi usually leaned toward support roles. He hadn't expected Kiyohara to be able to withstand his sneak attack head-on.
His first strike having failed, Daishi retreated a step and sank back into the dark once more.
"Go save Rin. Leave me to him."
Kiyohara spoke evenly, not taking his eyes off the space around him. In some ways, Daishi—whose invisibility made him almost impossible to pin down—was even more troublesome than Hikari, the other Iwa jonin.
"Kiyohara…"
Kurenai clearly wanted to say more, but Kiyohara gave a small shake of his head. There was no room to hesitate.
"All right. Be careful."
She finally nodded and withdrew with Genma toward the rear of the cave. Kakashi and Obito followed at once. No matter what, reducing the enemy's numbers came first. Kill one, and the rest of the battle would become easier.
Now the key to victory was simple—which side would lose people first?
"Hah. They're really leaving their companion behind?"
Daishi almost admired Kiyohara's decisiveness. Enemy or not, this brat at least acted like a real shinobi.
Still, he had no concern at all about what was happening deeper inside the cave.
Hikari was the real elite here—proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike, one of the finest among jonin. Did those half-grown Konoha brats really think they could overturn that fire?
The thought nearly made Daishi laugh out loud. He swallowed the sound back down at once. A laugh would give away his position.
"Lightning Release: Earth Walk!"
Kiyohara snapped through the seals, and blue arcs of electricity burst over the cave floor in branching trails.
Daishi flipped lightly upward, clinging to the cave ceiling to avoid the current spreading below.
"This brat's ninjutsu isn't simple."
His expression hardened. Kiyohara was dressed like a genin, but the ninjutsu he used was polished and efficient, completely beyond the level of an ordinary genin. Daishi put away the last of his contempt and began to regard him seriously.
"Dodged it, huh? Being able to turn invisible really is impressive. But if you depend on that trick too much… it'll get you killed."
Kiyohara dipped a hand into the ninja pouch at his waist and pulled out a fistful of powder.
"Ninja Art…!"
He shouted as though he were about to unleash some formidable technique.
Daishi's focus sharpened instantly. Kiyohara's Wind Release: Great Breakthrough and Lightning Release: Earth Walk had both been sharp and powerful, enough to prove that he possessed first-rate talent in ninjutsu. The moment he saw Kiyohara preparing yet another move, Daishi immediately went on guard.
He stared hard, trying to catch the hand seals and deduce what was coming next. That was a standard skill in a jonin-level battle—predict the enemy's technique, then counter it before it was fully unleashed. Of course, doing that required enough knowledge to infer a jutsu from its seals.
Kiyohara pressed both palms together, hiding the powder between them.
It was the seal of Shen.
Daishi recognized it at once. Shen—one of the twelve fundamental seals.
"Water Release: Wicked Mouth? Or something else?"
In an instant, every technique Daishi knew that began with the Shen seal flashed through his mind. Most of them were Water Release. But there were still too many possibilities to narrow it down from one seal alone.
So he stared even harder, determined not to miss what came next.
"Ninja Art: Scattering Lime Powder!"
Kiyohara flung the quicklime first—then followed it with a Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, shouting the name of the technique at the top of his lungs.
"Aaagh!"
The gust howled through the cave, carrying the lime directly into Daishi's face.
He reacted fast, but not fast enough. Powder still splashed into his eyes, and a burning pain flooded them at once. His vision went white and blurred instantly.
He had never expected Kiyohara to be this shameless.
One moment, the boy had been acting like some noble comrade willing to hold the line alone so his allies could go save their friend. The next, he turned around and pulled out a filthy street trick.
"You little bastard!"
Daishi roared and tried to form an Earth Release technique.
But the instant he opened his mouth, Kiyohara hurled another handful of quicklime straight into it.
"Cough! Cough—!"
Daishi choked violently, throat and eyes burning at the same time.
"Do you even have a ninja's honor?" he rasped.
Kiyohara smiled. "Sorry. I'm a very traditional ninja."
Daishi had the nerve to lecture him about honor? A shinobi who specialized in hiding himself and ambushing people from the shadows was really going to talk morality?
"All right," Kiyohara said calmly. "Now I'm invisible too. Let's have a fair fight."
In the most literal sense, he wasn't wrong. If Daishi couldn't see him, then for all practical purposes, Kiyohara had become invisible as well.