Shadow Clone Technique!
Because he used ninjutsu, Kageyama Kokugetsu's chakra signature flickered back into existence—then vanished the next instant.
"Three identical chakra signatures. Trying to match shadow clones with shadow clones?"
"In that case…"
The Mist jōnin's thoughts snapped into place. His true body and his clones flashed through seals.
Water Release: Wild Water Wave!
Three unbroken torrents blasted from the Mist jōnin's mouth. With sustained chakra output, water flooded a radius of over thirty meters. It swallowed treetops and, under deliberate control, turned the area into a pool—a mirror-smooth sheet with three Mist jōnin standing back to back at the center.
"As expected of an ANBU-class jōnin from the Mist—he came up with a way to limit my assassination in no time," Kageyama thought.
He could merge with the environment and erase his chakra, but his body still had mass; the water's reaction would give him away.
Not a good time to flaunt certain abilities under White Zetsu's nose. Lucky you.
Fine—if the kill from the shadows won't land, then I'll do it head-on.
At his signal, two shadow clones slipped toward the four chūnin without a sound. The real body stepped lightly onto the pool and showed himself.
Seeing this, the Mist jōnin smirked inwardly, released his white-knuckled control over the water, and charged forward along the surging flow.
Kageyama didn't flinch. He blinked out—and a Mist jōnin burst into white smoke.
"Hiss… how can he be that fast?" the masked jōnin gasped, rattled to his core.
"I was only trying to save a little effort," Kageyama said, lips curling. "Here's a truth for you: the lower a Leaf shinobi's rank, the scarier he tends to be."
He laughed darkly and sprinted across the water. His path crisscrossed into afterimages; alone, he forced a surround. With the clones holding back in reserve, the pressure on the Mist jōnin spiked—cold sweat beaded at his brow as death breathed down his neck.
Makes a kind of sense. That Might Duy was only a genin… but I'm not giving up!
One jōnin formed seals while the other covered him.
Kageyama flickered behind the one weaving signs. At the same moment, the Mist jōnin reversed his grip and stabbed straight back with his blade.
"Heh. Just as I thought."
"Too shallow—and too short—your routine."
Kageyama's left hand pressed into the spot where that back-thrust should have landed. In his empty palm, a blue chakra sphere spun to life at blurring speed.
Rasengan.
The clone burst, the blade was batted away, and the Rasengan slammed into the true jōnin's kidney, hurling him into the water with a splash.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Kageyama sheathed his blade, flashed through seals, leapt, and spat a blazing orange-red fireball—its power far beyond a typical chūnin's.
Steam shrieked. The water boiled away. The fireball kissed the wounded jōnin's back; a single piercing scream—then silence.
With the caster dead, the chakra-wrought water collapsed. Kageyama landed atop a tree and looked down at the heat-hazed crater.
"When it comes to shadow-clone games, I know them better than you. Hashirama turned them into an art."
"Also—consider that a little justice for the Great Fireball."
He blurred and rushed toward the four chūnin.
Two agonized screams snapped the air—the clones had already assassinated two Mist shinobi. The remaining pair fought desperately and managed to dispel one clone. Kageyama arrived; working light and dark in tandem, he finished the last two in a handful of moves.
…
While pursuing Kakashi and Rin, Black and White Zetsu received detailed reports from several watchers.
"Black Zetsu, this guy's stronger than the intel said—maybe even stronger than that Kakashi," White Zetsu said, intrigued.
Black Zetsu agreed. "Mm. With that chakra-suppression secret art and paired assassination, he's troublesome. Add the Byakugan, extreme speed, and signless ninjutsu—if the Kage of any village gets careless, he could be killed."
"Fortunately, he's moving away from the objective. He won't affect our plan."
"Should we assign a White Zetsu to tail him later?"
"No. He has the Byakugan—the risk of discovery's high. When we need to, we'll watch him then."
"Got it."
Silence swallowed the underground again, while above grew louder and bloodier. With constant reports from Black and White Zetsu, more and more Mist ANBU converged on Kakashi and Rin. Their room to maneuver shrank.
About an hour later, several Mist ANBU blocked them in. Though Kakashi and Rin fought with everything they had, Rin was seized.
They hauled her to a cave. Several Mist shinobi skilled in fūinjutsu worked together to move the Three-Tails from a sealing vessel into Rin's body.
After that, everything followed Uchiha Obito's script. In a forest clearing, Kakashi and Rin met again. Dense mist veiled sight. Lightning flashed. Chidori screamed. With Obito watching, Chidori pierced Rin's heart.
"Even Kamui can't hide the tears." Under that brutal surge of emotion, their two-tomoe Sharingan leapt past three-tomoe straight into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Such a jump ravaged mind and body. Kakashi—already spent—couldn't bear it and fainted. Perhaps because he blacked out mid-awakening, and because he wasn't of Uchiha blood, he wouldn't tap Mangekyō's power until much later.
Obito, at his peak with Hashirama cells in his body, withstood the leap easily. Blackened by grief, he grew viciously sharp in battle—mastered his new power in moments and braided it with Wood Release.
As Obito went berserk and butchered Mist ANBU, Kageyama—his chakra sealed to nothing—had already slipped from sky to soil. To be doubly sure, he invoked Sukunahikona to shrink himself.
He approached Rin's corpse and, using Daikokuten, stowed it away in a separate space.
Job done, Kageyama ghosted out. Even if he'd stayed, Obito and Black/White Zetsu likely wouldn't have noticed—but why tempt fate? Predictably, when Obito found Rin's body missing, he went mad; turning the area upside down wouldn't be surprising.
Watching Obito carve through ANBU with space–time and Wood Release, Black and White Zetsu were satisfied. Space–time ninjutsu—so rare even across the Uchiha's long history.
Their eye for talent had been perfect; among the Uchiha, they'd picked the most suitable one.
Just then, a startled cry yanked Black Zetsu back to the present.
"Hey—Rin's body is gone!"