Breakthrough

By the time Kakashi reached the edge of the Rock encampment, the moon had already started its slow descent. The damp underbrush muffled his steps as he moved.

He crouched in the dense jungle, motionless and breath shallow. Through the shifting branches, he counted silhouettes. iwa Ninjas pacing in careful formations, their patterns tight. These weren't greenhorns.

Kakashi knew what he'd signed up for.

He'd volunteered to be the bait Not because it was smart or because he wanted to be a hero. Just Because there was no one else to do it, and because he'd been tired of carrying regrets.

Death wasn't something he feared. Not anymore. Not after Obito.

Obito had run into death like it was a doorway. Like it meant something. And now here Kakashi was, in the middle of enemy territory, trying to make that stupid sacrifice worth something.

He still remembered Obito's voice, half-mocking, half-serious, telling him to protect Rin. That memory felt heavier than the kunai in his hand.

But it wasn't just Obito's ghost pushing him now.

Kisuke had changed something. The guy wasn't even the one who finished the fight that day, Minato-sensei had done that, but it was Kisuke who bought them time. Kisuke who stepped up when no one else could.

He was quiet, unimpressive on paper. Kakashi remembered him from the Academy, average grades, no standout talent. The kind of guy you forgot was even in the class.

But he was still alive. And somehow opened the Sharingan. And the guts to use it.

Kakashi had handed Kisuke one of Minato-sensei's marked kunai before leaving. Just in case, If things went sideways, he would know when to call him.

And if that happened…well, he'd probably already be dead by then.

"Obito...I might be seeing you soon," Kakashi murmured before he moved.

With a puff of smoke, four clones appeared, and then immediately shifted into camouflage, scattering into the trees like real bodies.

Kakashi hissed through his teeth. The chakra drain hit fast. Equal distribution between all the clones left him winded, even if he didn't show it. But it was necessary. They needed to believe he was everywhere.

The moment the chakra wave rippled through the forest, the Rock Ninja reacted faster than he anticipated.

One of them dropped to one knee, fingers flashing in practiced sequence.

Summoning technique.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Probably relaying his position, flagging him for cleanup. Reinforcements wouldn't be far behind.

"Using summons for communication..." His fingers hovered near his weapons. "Guess we're playing with the grown-ups tonight."

Just as Kakashi was about to make a move, a whistle cut through the air.

A kunai cut clean through his ribs, straight from the side.

"That's it, kid," came a low voice behind him, sounding amused. "Don't worry. The others'll be joining you soon enough."

The ninja twisted the kunai twisted, but instead of hearing a dying gasp, there was a puff of smoke.

The Kakashi that collapsed was a clone.

The real Kakashi was already moving.

Somewhere behind the trees, the voice cracked with alarm: "No! Substitution—when?!"

He shifted his weight, kicked off the ground, and twisted mid-air, kunai already drawn and sweeping back toward the noise.

A sharp clang of steel rang out, followed by the hiss of torn fabric and a shallow slice across his chest.

He landed in a crouch, one hand pressed to the new wound. His gaze flicked to Kakashi, whose Sharingan was still spinning faintly.

"Tch... damn brat," the man muttered, stepping out of the undergrowth. His voice was calm, but his eyes were alert, sizing Kakashi up now that the element of surprise was gone. "Sharingan. That's how you saw through it, huh? So the camouflage doesn't work on you. Didn't expect that tonight—what a lucky catch."

Kakashi stayed silent, jaw tight. He knew that technique, like the one who helped bring down Obito.

A low anger simmered in his chest, but there was no time for it.

His focus snapped outward—and he felt the sudden void where his clones had been all had been killed.

A crunch of leaves followed. One by one, four more Iwa shinobi appeared from the darkness, closing him in.

Kakashi's gut turned. The clones hadn't even slowed them down. Either his jutsu had been too weak, or these men were far above the average.

Too late to think it through. Chakra was already running low. The clones had drained him, and now he was paying the price.

He adjusted his stance.

All he could do now was stall.

"You really thought that little trick would work?" one of the Iwa ninja sneered. His tone filled with mockery. "We figured someone would draw our attention but you? Hatake Kakashi? We didn't expect to catch such a big fish."

Kakashi said nothing. No point in wasting breath.

"Your team's already trying to move through another zone. We got word just before you showed up. You're not the only mouse caught in the trap."

The man laughed again. "Trying to recover chakra, huh? Smart, but pointless. You're already done. Your teammates too."

Without waiting, the four of them moved, striking from all angles.

Kakashi leapt back, barely clearing a sweeping strike aimed at his legs. A second kunai came for his ribs and he twisted midair, deflected it.

They were trying to take him alive. He could tell by the spacing. It bought him a sliver of breathing room but not much.

If they were aiming to kill, he doubted he'd last thirty seconds.

He'd come here expecting to die but not like this. And now the plan might already be falling apart.

Still, he had one job: buy time. Keep them here. Delay the message from going back. Make them think there was still a threat behind him.

Kakashi gritted his teeth. His hand brushed his left eye. One last resort, just in case.

If it came down to it—if he was about to fall—he wouldn't let Obito's eye be taken by the same bastards who left him under that rock.

He'd destroy it himself.

***

"Kakashi had already moved. Unsurprisingly, he'd been spotted."

A short distance away, hidden in the forest underbrush, Aya knelt silently, her Byakugan active, while trying to recover her chakra.

The Pills helped, but anyone with half a brain knew they came with a catch. Minimal boost, minimal side effects, but use them too often and "minimal" started piling up into something a lot less reassuring.

She wasn't alone in this. Kisuke and Kenta were both conserving their chakra as well. None of them were eager to eat pills unless the situation turned truly awful—which, judging by the way things were going, would be any second now.

Kisuke cracked an eye open. The Sharingan was many things, but long-distance surveillance wasn't one of them. White-eyed freaks had him beat there, and he knew it.

"What's the status?" Kisuke asked impatient. "Figure out how they're talking to each other?"

Ayane replied without looking away. "Mental communication. Efficient, annoying, and a giant pain for us. The other side is probably compromised already."

"Tch. Great." Kenta scratched the back of his head and gave a grin. "Well, since Kakashi's playing bait and already has their attention, how about we just charge in and break through?"

"No! That's—" Rin started, but Aya cut her off without missing a beat.

"It's worth considering," she said, flat. "Kakashi volunteered for this. He's not stupid."

"But he's our teammate!"

"And this is a mission, Chūnin Nohara," Aya shot back. "Do you want him to watch you make the same mistake his father did?"

Kisuke watched the two argue and felt a dull ache in the back of his head. They weren't wrong, Technically. But that didn't mean the whole situation wasn't giving him a headache.

Indeed, there were only four Iwa-nin covering the escape point. if they made a break for it now, they might slip through. But might wasn't much to bet on—not with people like these.

Still, Aya had a point. If Kakashi really was holding the bulk of the enemy's attention, they needed to make it count. Letting the effort go to waste wasn't an option.

Then Ayane suddenly froze, her expression tightening. A moment later, Rin and Kenta followed suit. Kisuke didn't need Byakugan to know what that meant.

His clone team had been wiped out. All of them. Except for the one he dismissed personally, every single decoy had been taken apart.

They were out of time.

Kisuke exhaled slowly. "What's Kakashi's condition?"

"Worse than you'd expect from a jonin," Aya said with a scowl. "Even factoring in the clones, his chakra consumption is absurd. What the hell was he doing, throwing lightning bolts into space?"

"Shut up. It doesn't matter anymore." Kisuke stood. "We move now. Help Kakashi, then punch a hole through whatever's in our way before reinforcements show up."

Aya muttered a curse under her breath, but didn't argue. Kenta gave a small nod—he understood the stakes well enough. If he stayed back, he'd probably get killed by his own side before the enemy got a chance.