"This is youth! Konoha Dynamic Entry!"
A green blur burst out of the ground, spinning like a top as it drove straight toward Fugaku's back.
But Fugaku moved as if he had eyes on the back of his head. He dipped his shoulder and slipped just out of Guy's attack arc.
"Foolish," Fugaku growled.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
A roaring water dragon surged forth, swallowing the scattered fireballs.
Fugaku wiped the blood from the corner of his eye, his expression turning colder as he faced the group arrayed against him.
"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked quietly.
"I'm fine…" Guy answered, but his tone carried a hint of uncertainty.
In the brief exchange, two more ANBU had already fallen. Kakashi's Sharingan carefully tracked Fugaku's movements as he mulled something over—until lightning suddenly gathered in his hand.
A heartbeat later, a kunai punched through an ANBU's chest.
As the body hit the ground, Fugaku, breathing hard, turned and gave Kakashi a complicated look.
"Kakashi, did you notice it too?" Asuma asked, brows knitted.
"Yes. I've confirmed it," Kakashi replied, letting the lightning fade from his hand. "This Uchiha clan head… seems to have the ability to see the future."
No wonder they hadn't been able to pin him down despite their teamwork.
Guy's ambush had been carefully planned, but Fugaku avoided it as if he'd seen it coming. And that "coincidence" had repeated again and again throughout the battle.
At first, they'd assumed it was just Fugaku's battle instincts. With his strength and experience, that would've been explanation enough. If it weren't for their coordination, their casualties would already be much worse.
But Kakashi soon realized—this was beyond mere intuition.
And to make matters worse, Fugaku had chosen the battlefield himself. Instead of breaking through to regroup with the Uchiha, he'd deliberately moved toward a shelter packed with more than a thousand civilians, drastically limiting Konoha's options.
Kakashi's last move had confirmed his suspicion.
"The Sharingan found an opening. Raikiri would've landed… but at the very last moment, Fugaku turned," Kakashi said.
"You, an outsider, wielding the eyes of the Uchiha against us?" Fugaku asked coldly, glaring at Kakashi.
"This eye was a gift from my friend Obito," Kakashi answered. "If he were here, he wouldn't want to see his clan head fighting a doomed battle."
"Doomed?" Fugaku's expression twisted with anger. With a roar, he summoned Susanoo and charged at Kakashi.
"You understand nothing, brat!"
"If the Uchiha lose—do you really think you win?"
"Return the Sharingan!"
Susanoo was overwhelming in both offense and defense. They had no reliable way to crack it—especially when Fugaku's precognition ability smothered every trap and ambush before it could truly take shape.
The Nara clan members spread their shadows across the ground, but even the Shadow Imitation Technique couldn't halt Fugaku's advance.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" Kakashi slammed his palm to the ground.
Stone surged upward—but in the very next instant, Susanoo's long, spiked chains smashed through the wall and lashed toward Kakashi.
Boom!
The target exploded into smoke—just a shadow clone.
The real Kakashi appeared at Fugaku's flank.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," Fugaku intoned, dispelling Susanoo at the exact moment Kakashi appeared and counterattacking.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
Prepared for this, Kakashi formed his seals even faster, already reading Fugaku's habits.
Steam billowed as fire met water. Kakashi's silver hair was soaked, dripping as he stared across the haze.
"Please stop, Lord Fugaku," Kakashi said. "With your ability to foresee the future, you must have already seen it: now that the Nine-Tails is gone, the Uchiha have lost."
News that the Nine-Tails had vanished from the battlefield had spread, greatly boosting Konoha's morale.
Yet Fugaku remained utterly calm. If anything, his gaze only grew heavier—as if he'd long since foreseen this outcome.
"If you already know I can see the future," Fugaku replied, wiping blood from his eye, "then try thinking a little deeper."
"Why do you think I still refuse to surrender?"
He glanced at Kakashi with a meaningful look.
The next moment, Fugaku suddenly pivoted and sprinted in a new direction.
They all realized at once.
"Not good! He's going to regroup with the Uchiha!"
His assault on Kakashi had been nothing but a feint—to punch a hole in their formation and break away.
"Go, Kakashi! We can't let him get through!" Guy shouted.
"Right…" Kakashi answered, still replaying Fugaku's words in his mind.
If Fugaku could see the future and still refused to surrender…
Did that mean there was a future where surrendering led to an even worse outcome?
Kakashi had no idea how far ahead Fugaku could peer with his eyes. Without that, he couldn't guess what kind of fate might be waiting on the other branch of the path.
He tucked the uneasy thought away for later.
Just as he was about to charge after Fugaku, an ANBU appeared beside him.
"Captain Kakashi, a message from Lord Shikaku…"
After listening to the report, Kakashi froze for a moment.
Bring back Neiki… even if it's his corpse?
Neiki… more dangerous than Fugaku?
"…I understand."
Kakashi acknowledged the mission, but Fugaku's words were still echoing in his head.
"Think carefully."
What did he want me to think about?
Kakashi turned the message over in his mind.
His eyes suddenly went wide.
Wait.
Could it be… Neiki?
…
He remembered.
That strategy meeting before the Uchiha uprising.
As he had been about to leave, he'd heard the Hokage reading from a note:
"Neiki discovered the one behind the branch-family killings is…"
"Madara Uchiha."
That was the intelligence they'd received from the missing Neiki. Everyone, including the Hokage, believed Madara was secretly assisting the Uchiha, and had formed a special task force to hunt him.
…
He remembered.
Madara's cold mockery when they finally met outside the village.
"Fools… manipulated without ever realizing it."
…
He remembered.
The clean, precise sword cuts gouged into the trees and rocks in the forest where Neiki had left his clues—and where they'd encountered "Madara."
He'd wondered then:
Why are there sword marks everywhere… when Madara doesn't use a sword?
…
So.
Even though Neiki was from the Hyuga clan…
Was he actually more skilled with a blade?
…
Did that swordsmanship match the wounds on the dead branch family members?
…
Madara Uchiha was a decoy Neiki had planted from the start.
If Neiki were the one who discovered the "culprit," then there was a very real possibility that he was the true murderer behind the branch-family killings—while Madara was nothing more than a convenient smokescreen.
Kakashi's frown deepened.
Was this what Fugaku had been worried about?
Refusing to surrender. Refusing to stay in Konoha.
…because of Neiki?
Had Neiki already done something—
—or was he about to?
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