"Yeah, they're here—and not just a few of them."
Kiyohara spoke up.
Iwa-nin were known for one thing above all: swarming tactics.
No fancy maneuvers—just overwhelming numbers.
The most notorious example was when they sent ten thousand ninjas to fight the Third Raikage.
Kiyohara couldn't even picture that scene.
A narrow mountain valley, filled to the brim with Iwa-nin, charging through rugged peaks chasing the Third Raikage… Could they even fit?
"They're here,"Kakashi nodded, confirming Kiyohara's claim.
They all kept their voices low, facing away from the enemy to prevent lip-reading or any leakage of tactical information.
'Looks like only Kiyohara and Kakashi caught on quickly. The others still lagged behind a bit.'
Minato nodded in approval.
One scout for each squad—Kakashi's team had Kakashi, and Kiyohara's squad had Kiyohara. A balanced setup.
"From here on, we'll be going separate ways. I won't be accompanying you much longer, so you'll need to handle things on your own."
Minato deliberately created this challenge for the two squads.
If anything went wrong, he could still intervene using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Understood."
Kakashi responded calmly.
He moved silently to scout ahead toward the suspicious area. But the moment he stirred, shuriken came flying out of the bushes.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kakashi whipped out his short sword and deflected the projectiles cleanly.
"They've found us!"
He clicked his tongue—no chance for a sneak attack now.
"Heh, my turn!"
Obito quickly formed a string of hand seals and shouted:
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Boom—
A pitiful puff of fire sputtered out of his mouth.
Cough, cough…
Nervous, he flubbed the jutsu.
"The Konoha shinobi spotted us—no choice but to fight!"The older Iwa-nin squad leader's brow furrowed.
He had originally planned to lie low until Minato left, hoping to ambush one of the stragglers.
But seeing the group whispering amongst themselves tipped him off—they'd been discovered.
So he launched a surprise attack.
Only for it to fail completely.
"Captain!"A younger Iwa-nin tossed two more shuriken.
Kakashi was about to slice them away again when—Kiyohara moved.
He rapidly formed the Dog → Horse → Bird hand seals, the whole process taking just about a second and a half.
Then, pulling two finely polished metal shuriken from his pouch, he imbued them with Wind Chakra.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The wind-enhanced shuriken spun out, much faster and sharper than normal ones.
Thanks to fusing part of Rogue Kiyohara's talent, Kiyohara's wind manipulation had leveled up drastically.
Something he could've never pulled off in the past.
BANG! BANG!
The two wind-infused shuriken smashed the enemy's weapons out of the air.
Then—two bursts of fire exploded outward.The force of the blast flung leaves upward and made the underbrush sway violently.
Caught at close range, the younger Iwa-nin was torn apart—flesh and blood shredded by the explosion.
Smoke and scorched meat filled the air.
"What just happened?"Genma hadn't caught it clearly.
Even Kakashi looked confused for a moment—then realized.
Explosive tags.
The enemy had attached them to the hilt.If Kakashi had tried to deflect them, they would've exploded right in his face.
Kakashi glanced toward Kiyohara.
Without his intervention, he would've taken serious damage.
"Thanks, future me."
Kiyohara muttered in his mind.
He hadn't noticed the tags either.
But Rogue Kiyohara had.
It was the ghost's warning that let him react in time.
"Nice work,"Minato nodded.
He was just about to step in—but Kiyohara beat him to it.
In the ninja world, hand speed was king.
The faster you formed seals, the faster your jutsu hit.
"Daikō!"the Iwa-nin captain cried.
The one who'd just died—ripped open by his own explosion—was beyond saving.
Even his brains had been blown out.
Kiyohara drew his kunai and charged in to clean up the rest.
With the explosion weakening the others, now was the time to strike.
He picked the wounded Chūnin.
Best part?
The one who landed the finishing blow got to loot the body.
And Kiyohara still had debt to pay.
"Sorry, fellas,"he muttered, swinging his blade.
"You're about to become my shiny silver savings!"
Clang!
The older Iwa-nin parried with his katana.Sparks flew as the weapons collided.
He tried to disarm Kiyohara with technique, but the earlier blast had injured his arm.He couldn't muster the strength.
Kiyohara pressed the offensive.
Kakashi also moved to take on one of the remaining enemies.
"Needle Rain Jutsu!"Genma puffed his cheeks and spat out the senbon he kept in his mouth.
With a hand seal, they multiplied into dozens of phantom needles—raining down on another Iwa-nin.
Rin and Kurenai stayed on alert, ready to support whoever needed it.
Obito clutched his throat.He had just burned it trying to cast a botched fireball.
It felt like he had a mouth ulcer inside his windpipe.
"Damn… those two explosive tags were way too powerful."
The Iwa-nin captain gritted his teeth.
"I've trained in kenjutsu for twenty years… how can I lose to you?!"
He roared and charged.
Shhk.
Kiyohara's kunai stabbed into his gut—then twisted.
Organs shredded.
Thud.
The man collapsed, a look of unwillingness frozen on his face.
"What's the point of yelling about midlife strength?"
Kiyohara shook his head.
Of the four, the one he just fought had taken the most damage from the blast.
Sometimes people bark loudest right before they fall.
Just like when you rage at a math problem—
Still doesn't mean you know the answer.
At that moment, Kakashi finished off his target too, leaving one alive for interrogation.
"Nice work, everyone."
Minato praised them.
Apart from Obito messing up, the team performed well.
"Kiyohara, you don't need to loot that eagerly."
He chuckled, watching Kiyohara raid the corpse like a man possessed.
"Understood."
Kiyohara slowed his hand down a bit.
But hey.
A bag's a bag.Still had to check it.
After all, ninja gear isn't free.