Chapter 21: The Decision
Uchiha Kei's tone was chilling—there wasn't the slightest hint of a joke in his voice. His eyes, without anyone noticing, had turned blood red, and the three tomoe in his Sharingan rotated slowly.
Rin Nohara was completely stunned by the sight. She never would have imagined that someone from the same squad would act like this.
What shook her even more was Hyūga Ayaka—who had always treated her kindly—also activating her Byakugan without hesitation.
For a moment, the atmosphere turned oppressively tense.
Meanwhile, Kenta Imai still wore his usual harmless smile, but the danger in his eyes, fixated on Rin, was unmistakable.
The internal affairs of their squad were not for outsiders to know. And the secret they shared as a team was better left buried.
Kenta wasn't acting for the sake of their squad—he had his own reasons. And leaving someone like Rin alive was simply too risky.
Especially if Hyūga Ayaka and Uchiha Kei really clashed—things would spiral out of control fast.
But Kenta doubted it would come to that. Ayaka wasn't crazy—at least not yet.
Sure enough, she restrained herself. Uchiha Kei without his Sharingan was one thing, but now that he had awakened it, Ayaka had no intention of confronting him head-on.
Even with the rules that restricted them, she didn't see much potential in someone without a kekkei genkai. But this was different. This new Uchiha Kei had dodged a lethal strike from Minato Namikaze himself.
Ayaka didn't think she could match that speed.
"Let's hear your plan," she said with a touch of frustration, deactivating her Byakugan. "You'd better have a real strategy, not some suicidal mission."
"I'm not even sure I'll survive," Kei replied, deactivating his Sharingan as well. That feeling just now… it was exhilarating. "Like I said before—whatever we're after, Iwa-nin are after it too. And looking at this map, the area with the fewest enemies? That's a kill zone. It's a trap. Once Kakashi enters, reinforcements from nearby points can converge instantly."
"So what?" Ayaka's gaze stayed on the map. "You want us to march in there and die with Kakashi?"
"But if we pick another route to break through," Kei said coolly, "they can still pull their forces back. And the other paths are even more fortified. We're outnumbered."
Though Kei couldn't find any hidden clues on the map, he could already infer a lot from its layout and Ayaka's intel.
The Iwa-nin wouldn't be careless enough to station so few forces at a weak point. That had to be intentional—either to lure them in or to fake a retreat.
Kei didn't think Iwa-nin were dumb enough to bluff in such a high-stakes situation. More likely, it was a trap: either a squad of elite ninja lying in wait, or a pincer ambush just waiting to spring.
Any typical ninja might avoid that obvious bait and attack from another angle.
But Kei? He was planning something bold. He was going straight through it.
It was a gamble, yes. But if it worked, the path ahead would be wide open—straight to Kannabi Bridge.
Kei wasn't the gambling type, but this time, he had an ace up his sleeve: Minato's special kunai. Before they parted, Kakashi had passed it to him. Kei could now summon Minato whenever he needed.
"You're saying it's definitely a trap?" Ayaka and Kenta seemed to follow his line of thought, even if Kei hadn't said it out loud.
"Not just a possibility. It's likely," Kei nodded. "So I'm planning to go with something extreme."
"But if we charge in like this, we'll all die, Captain," Kenta scratched his head. But when he saw Kei create multiple shadow clones, his eyes lit up. "Ah… you're going to bait them with clones?"
"Exactly." Ayaka nodded in realization. "They won't want to waste chakra on large jutsu in the rear lines. So your clones hit a point hard, force a response, and while they're distracted, we hit the real target alongside Kakashi. Brilliant…"
Kei chuckled. He honestly couldn't stand these two, but he had to admit—smart teammates really made missions easier.
He glanced at Rin, still looking completely lost. Kei didn't bother explaining. She might be a capable kunoichi, even a noble one—but she certainly wasn't the brightest.
Once the plan was clear, everyone split off shadow clones in multiple directions.
The real team followed closely behind Kakashi. Splitting off clones with equal chakra reserves was a heavy drain for all of them.
But Kei noticed that both Kenta and Ayaka instantly popped a soldier pill into their mouths, boosting their chakra recovery as they moved.
Even Kei did the same. Veterans of war knew how to survive.
It might not restore much chakra, but even a sliver could mean the difference between life and death.
Iwa-nin probably counted on that. They didn't expect anyone to take this kind of risk.
Kei swallowed his pill and led the way, keeping his breathing controlled, steps light—following Kakashi while conserving energy.
"Don't get us killed," Ayaka said coldly, not caring that others were within earshot. "Seven years on the battlefield—I'm not throwing it all away."
"I've been here six," Kei replied flatly. "Kenta's the longest—eight years, right? If we didn't all carry the same conviction, we wouldn't be here now. I may not like you two—we're too alike—but we have to work together if we want to make it out."
Kenta gave a silent nod, his usual fake smile gone.
Even Ayaka, after a moment's pause, nodded as well—she didn't argue.
Only Rin still seemed completely in the dark, weak and confused. She had no idea what the other three were talking about—or what kind of bond they shared.
The night was cold and quiet. Five shadows darted silently through the woods, one after another…
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