Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara were now embroiled in a bitter struggle.
Now, all three of them, Kakashi included, were more or less injured.
And the most severely injured was Kakashi.
Kakashi had deep knife wounds on his left arm and back, which were bleeding profusely.
Kakashi, breathing heavily, said to Obito and Rin Nohara, "Both of you, retreat immediately!"
"Kakashi!"
Obito and Rin Nohara shouted Kakashi's name in unison, clearly unwilling to abandon him and flee.
Kakashi said in a deep voice, "If this continues, we'll all end up here. You two split up and run; if one can escape, that's one!"
Kakashi didn't give Obito and Rin Nohara another chance to hesitate, directly throwing two smoke bombs at them.
The smoke enveloped Obito and Rin Nohara.
Of the three Cloud Ninja, one charged at Kakashi, while the other two tried to rush into the smoke to stop Obito and Rin Nohara from leaving.
Kakashi threw a Kunai at the two Cloud Ninja charging into the smoke, then raised the short blade in his hand, intending to counterattack the Cloud Ninja rushing at him.
Suddenly, the three of them immediately retreated backward.
Several Kunai were embedded in the ground; if they hadn't retreated in time, these Kunai would have hit them.
Kakashi and the three Cloud Ninja simultaneously looked into the smoke.
Because these Kunai were shot from within the smoke.
Kakashi's brows furrowed tightly.
Could it be that Obito and Rin Nohara hadn't left?
Isn't this just nonsense!
He had wanted to trade his life for their chance to escape.
After the smoke dissipated, two figures, one large and one small, appeared.
The faces of these two figures, one large and one small, were indistinguishable.
Because both of them had cloth tied over their faces; only the smaller one had two holes cut out for his eyes, while the larger one simply had his entire face covered with a piece of black cloth.
And the identities of these two people were self-evident.
It was Shindai and his puppet, Kannazuki.
This was the method Shindai came up with: as long as no one saw his face, no one should recognize him.
"Shindai!"
Obito cried out in surprise.
Shindai's scalp tingled, and he looked at Obito in disbelief: "No way, you recognized me even like this?!"
Obito asked in confusion, "It's easy to recognize; nothing else changed except your face. By the way, why are you covering your face?"
Shindai helplessly rolled his eyes at Obito: "Obito, you're making this very difficult for me."
Shindai hadn't expected his flawless disguise to be so easily discovered by Obito.
Kakashi breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw Shindai return; if Shindai joined the battle, they would be safe.
But Shindai was conflicted again: should he expose his strength in front of Kakashi and the others?
Perhaps it wasn't a good idea; if Kakashi and the others reported it, he might have to take on dangerous combat missions in the future.
Kakashi saw Shindai's conflicted expression and guessed that Shindai was probably wondering whether to expose his strength.
It would have been better if Obito had pretended not to recognize Shindai just now.
Kakashi shouted at Shindai, "Shindai, we can't see anything right now!"
Obito looked at Kakashi in confusion: "I can see, Rin, you can see too, right?"
Rin Nohara had already understood Kakashi's meaning and echoed, "Yes, I can't see anything now, Obito, you can't see anything now either!"
Obito's mind was a bit slow; what was going on?
Seeing Kakashi and Rin Nohara looking at him intently, Obito could only say, "I, I can't see anything either."
Shindai unconsciously raised an eyebrow when he heard Kakashi and the others.
Listening to Kakashi, it seemed... he wanted to help him conceal it?
Otherwise, why would Kakashi say 'we can't see anything'? It was clearly a statement to help him keep it a secret.
However, he hadn't even made a move yet, and Kakashi and the others didn't know his strength, so why would he say that?
Could it be... Kakashi had already sensed his aura as a strong person?
It must be!
Isn't there an old saying,'Strong people always appreciate each other'?
Because he was strong, Kakashi sensed it.
Shindai nodded in satisfaction: "Kakashi, you're really on the right track. It's best if you can't see, otherwise I'll run away."
Kakashi let out a soft breath.
Fortunately, he had a flash of inspiration, otherwise if Shindai ran away again, the three of them would truly be in dire straits.
However, Kakashi also hadn't expected the timid and fearful Shindai to return.
Just as Shindai was about to brag a bit more, the three Cloud Ninja had already charged over.
Two Cloud Ninja targeted Kannazuki, and one Cloud Ninja targeted Shindai.
Because Kannazuki looked so realistic, the Cloud Ninja didn't pay attention to sensing and thought it was a real person.
And Kannazuki's build was that of an adult, so they assumed Kannazuki was the priority target to deal with.
"Kannazuki: Needle Rain!"
Kannazuki's chest opened up, and very fast, dense senbon needles shot out from within.
The two Cloud Ninja charging at Kannazuki were startled when they saw Kannazuki's chest open, and upon seeing the large number of senbon shooting out, they immediately dodged.
However, because it was too sudden, one Cloud Ninja was a bit slow in dodging and had several senbon embedded in his body.
Shindai's senbon, of course, were poisoned.
This poison took effect quickly, and the Cloud Ninja who was struck by the senbon soon began to feel his body gradually numb.
However, this poison wasn't very potent and wasn't fatal; it would wear off after a while, so it only caused temporary paralysis.
There was nothing he could do; Shindai didn't really research poisons. These poisons were obtained for him by Pakura.
Because Shindai stayed at home and didn't go out, Pakura worried that if Shindai accidentally ingested poison or was accidentally cut and poisoned, no one would discover him, so she absolutely dared not give Shindai potent poisons.
And the Cloud Ninja who charged at Shindai happened to be Rumoda, and he was already at close quarters, having assumed a slashing stance.
Shindai suddenly pulled with his right hand.
Kannazuki swiftly returned to Shindai's front.
Under Shindai's manipulation, Kannazuki's right hand extended a ninja blade, blocking Rumoda's slash.
"Kannazuki: Blade Vortex!"
Blades popped out from all of Kannazuki's joints.
Shindai's fingers flew, and under Shindai's control, Kannazuki continuously spun his body, performing various poses that humans would find difficult or impossible to achieve, with the blades on his joints assailing Rumoda like a whirlwind vortex.
Rumoda initially tried to resist.
However, Kannazuki's fierce offensive and attacks from various strange angles made Rumoda realize after a brief attempt at resistance that he couldn't block it, and he chose to retreat.
Seeing that Shindai was not under much pressure fighting the Cloud Ninja, Rin Nohara immediately ran to Kakashi, who was the most severely injured, and provided emergency treatment for his wounds.
As for Obito... he just watched; mainly, he couldn't really help.