The Kusagakure's Ninja being stepped on glared at his companion. "Mui, what are you waiting for? Save me!"
Mui lowered his eyelids. "You are bringing disaster upon Kusagakure."
"Don't pretend to be a good guy here!" The Kusagakure's Ninja roared. "The Five Great Villages dump all their troublesome scum that they can't handle into Hozuki Castle for imprisonment. I don't believe you have no resentment about that! I'm voicing our demands for the village! This is what the Five Great Villages owe us!"
Hearing him shout so righteously, Obito actually felt a bit guilty for a moment. But he quickly snapped out of it, 'No matter how eloquently this guy spoke, the fact remained that he bullied his own companion. I, Obito, hadn't done anything wrong.'
Mui sighed, then suddenly raised his hand and shot out a flame. "Fire Release: Heavenly Prison!"
Streaks of fire interwove, forming a prison cage that trapped Obito.
Obito reacted quickly, rapidly forming hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
However, his fire dissipated instantly upon contact with the fire prison.
Mui said calmly, "Don't waste your energy. This is a confinement technique passed down through my clan for generations. I haven't even mastered it fully yet. Otherwise, this fire prison wouldn't manifest externally but would be engraved inside your body, preventing you from even gathering Chakra."
"Obito!" Rin and Ibiki tried to rush forward to help, but Mui trapped them with two more fire prisons.
"Baki-san, this is our chance!" In the corner, Baki's underling urged him. "Konoha's Ninja were defeated by Kusagakure's Ninja. If we save the Konoha people now, wouldn't it perfectly display Sunagakure's strength and magnanimity?"
Baki was tempted, but the problem was, he wasn't confident he could win quickly either.
He specialized in Wind Release Ninjutsu. Wind aids fire, especially since that Kusagakure's Ninja's Fire Release seemed to be a special type. If he failed to rescue them and got caught himself, Sunagakure's reputation would be utterly ruined.
"Wait a bit longer. The hero always appears last," Baki decided to quickly find a weakness in the Kusagakure's Ninja's technique.
Meanwhile, Nagato couldn't help but raise his right hand, but Yahiko stopped him.
Nagato looked at him questioningly. Yahiko smiled and whispered, "Look at his expression. Is there even a hint of fear?"
Nagato looked up and indeed found that the boy named Obito looked very calm.
"Idiot, let me go now! Do you want Mui to burn you to death?" The Kusagakure's Ninja under Obito's foot shouted arrogantly.
"Heh, do you think this is the full extent of my power as an Uchiha?" Obito laughed proudly.
"You're actually from the Uchiha Clan?" Mui's expression turned serious. "What other tricks do you have? Show me everything."
"Then watch closely," Obito took a deep breath and shouted with all his might, "Setsuna-san, help!!!"
Mui was stunned, 'This is the famously proud Uchiha Clan?'
Before he could speak, a tall figure abruptly appeared before them.
"Heh, what are you all playing at this time?" Setsuna asked with a smile.
"Setsuna-san, please save Rin first," Obito said worriedly.
Ibiki watched indifferently. 'Did Obito just completely ignore me?'
Setsuna glanced at the fire prisons confining them and reached out to grab one.
"Be careful-" Mui was startled by Setsuna's recklessness and tried to warn him, only to see his proud fire prison shattered by the other's bare hand.
"How is that possible?" Mui's pupils constricted sharply, 'Couldn't that person feel the temperature on his hand?'
After freeing Rin, Setsuna conveniently released Obito and Ibiki as well.
"What's going on here?" Setsuna asked.
"This jerk tried to threaten and blackmail us," Obito promptly grabbed the Kusagakure's Ninja to tattle.
"It was you who bullied our companion and refused to compensate! Can people from great villages just not reason?" The Kusagakure's Ninja suddenly started crying pitifully, trying to attract the surrounding Sunagakure's civilians.
Obito was trembling with anger. "You were clearly the one bullying that red-haired big sister!"
"She's my teammate! How could I bully my own teammate?" The Kusagakure's Ninja changed his tune completely.
Setsuna lightly tapped the ground with his toe and smiled. "That's right. People from great Ninja Villages can choose not to reason."
The Kusagakure's Ninja was shocked, 'Is that something you can say in front of ordinary people?'
"Everyone, look-" The Kusagakure's Ninja tried to call out to the Sunagakure's villagers, only to find that the nearby civilians seemed to have been paused, frozen in place.
An indescribable fear welled up in his heart. His voice trembled as he asked, "W-what did you do to them?"
"I just used pressure points. They won't know what happens in the next 30 seconds," Setsuna smiled like a demon.
The Kusagakure's Ninja trembled, crying and begging with snot and tears. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have threatened you! Please let me go! I promise I won't dare do it again!"
"Don't worry. You don't have a 'later'," Setsuna delivered a powerful kick, and the next moment, the other vanished into the sky.
Setsuna's toe touched the ground again, and time resumed its flow.
"Huh? Where did that bastard go?" Obito asked, confused.
"Not sure. Probably used some Ninjutsu to escape," Setsuna clapped his hands.
"He got off easy," Obito gritted his teeth.
In the corner, Baki's underling urged, "Baki-san, if we don't act now, the crowd will disperse... Huh? Baki-san?"
The underling only then noticed that Baki was sitting slumped on the ground, hands covering his mouth, his eyes filled with terror.
Just moments before, Baki had discovered that everyone had frozen, even his two underlings. It was as if time had stopped flowing at that moment.
Then, he personally witnessed the Konoha's Ninja named Setsuna kick the Kusagakure's Ninja into the sky.
'A monster... that Konoha's Ninja is a monster...' Baki trembled all over, suddenly remembering what Rasa had told him. 'Wait, could he be Chiaki Setsuna, the opponent I'm supposed to defeat in the Chunin Exams?'
Baki felt his vision darken, 'Is this an enemy I can handle?'
"Baki-san, should we go out now and reprimand the Konoha's Ninjas for disturbing the peace, have them detained?" one underling suggested.
"Absolutely not!" Baki broke out in a cold sweat. He had no desire to experience being a human projectile.
Baki wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "What I mean is, we should display the host's magnanimity and defeat our opponents in the Chunin Exams, not pressure them using external factors."
The two underlings looked at him with admiration. "As expected of Baki-san!"
"Let's get ready to go," Setsuna was about to move when he suddenly felt two sharp gazes fixed on him.
Setsuna looked back and found two more familiar faces: the future Kazekage-assassin Sasori, and Kakuzu, who had once attempted to assassinate the First Hokage and successfully survived.
Setsuna then glanced at the grinning Obito and the trio of Yahiko pretending to be passersby, and couldn't help but feel amused, 'Was this an early Akatsuki team-building event?'