Chapter 268: Playing for Keeps

And on the other side was Kakashi.

After receiving Dong Shilang's signal, he dealt with his opponent and then silently crept toward the rear of the Mist Ninja.

Unfortunately, the Mist Ninja on the scene weren't blind—there were only two Leaf ninja, making it impossible to hide.

No orders were needed; immediately a squad of Mist Ninja moved to intercept Kakashi.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

A cacophony of bird cries rang out, followed by blinding electric light.

Faced with layers of Mist Ninja interception, Kakashi could only use the Chidori ninjutsu to break through the blockade ahead of him.

Before the Mist Ninja in front of Kakashi could react, their chests were already pierced by his high-speed charge.

Seeing this, the Mist Ninja mission leader was already desperate; no matter how frantic he felt, facing Dong Shilang ahead and Kakashi behind left him feeling powerless.

He might truly become a criminal of the village—not just heavy casualties and mission failure, but even the village's Three-Tails would be lost.

"Don't worry about them—just scatter and break through to find that experimental subject and kill them!"

When they were moving the seal on the Three-Tails, they didn't just tamper with it—they could at any time control the Three-Tails to break the seal and go berserk.

Even the experimental subject's body had been implanted with a tracking mark.

Now it's impossible to control the Three-Tails' berserk state, so they simply kill the experimental subject; after a while, the Three-Tails will return to their hands.

Having issued the final order, as the leader he did not try to kill the experimental subject like his companions; instead he brought a dozen or so Mist Ninja to stay behind and try to intercept Dong Shilang.

With this enemy present, they simply cannot smoothly kill that little girl; they hope his death in battle can mitigate the fallout from mission failure.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu"

Seeing the enemy preparing to go after Yeyuan Lin behind them, Dong Shilang directly used Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating three clones to intercept those Mist Ninja.

"Kakashi, I'll handle this—you go protect Lin!"

After creating the shadow clones, Dong Shilang, still feeling uneasy, shouted at Kakashi, who had just used Chidori to take out those Mist Ninja trying to make the Three-Tails go berserk.

"Mm! Be careful yourself…"

Actually, Kakashi is nearly at his limit; a whole day of search-and-rescue, pursuit, and combat has left him utterly exhausted.

But whenever he thinks of his promise to Obito, he grits his teeth and presses on; and at this moment, waves of power continually flow into his body from Obito's eye.

It seems Obito is also fighting alongside him.

After saying that, Kakashi turned and charged toward the Mist Ninja who had gotten past Dong Shilang's interception.

He would never let those Mist Ninja get near Lin, no matter what.

Seeing this, the Mist Ninja leader merely twitched the corner of his mouth behind his mask and said nothing more.

However, his actions were indeed unusually resolute.

He directly pulled out a stack of explosive tags from his ninja tool pouch and stuck them on himself; his subordinates followed suit, doing the same.

"MMP, these Mist Ninja—none of them are normal!"

Seeing this, Dong Shilang spat and muttered curses.

What annoys him most about the Mist Ninja is that when they can't beat him, they fight desperately; even though he's strong, dealing with such stubborn opponents gives him a huge headache.

If he's not careful and gets dragged down to mutual destruction by these Mist Ninja, that would be a huge loss; even if he luckily survives, suffering serious injury like losing limbs is unacceptable to him.

"Well… I'll step aside… you guys can go chase that little girl!"

Seeing such a death-defying Mist Ninja, Dong Shilang gave a dry laugh and made a middling joke.

Hearing this, the leading Mist Ninja had no reaction, but his subordinates inevitably stirred.

Even if they are Mist Ninja who don't value their own or their comrades' lives, facing such a deadly battle, feeling fear is inevitable.

They all began to waver in their convictions.

"Don't fall for their trap; he's just probing our resolve~"

Seeing his subordinates still harboring hope at this point, the Mist Ninja leader felt sorrow yet also some admiration for the Leaf ninja opposite.

However, at this point there's little room for maneuver—it's basically a fight to the death.

Hearing their superior's words, these Mist Ninja also abandoned their insignificant hopes; each looked at Dong Shilang with eyes filled with resolve to die.

"Really…"

Seeing that his own words had barely any effect, easily countered by the opponent calming morale, Dong Shilang also gave up any hope of luck.

He had no choice but to start fighting desperately with these Mist Ninja.

At this time, Yeyuan Lin was hiding herself in a concealed treetop; the time was too rushed, she couldn't properly find a hiding spot, so she just made do.

Her experiences today all day truly deserve to be called tumultuous.

Originally she was on a simple mission with Kakashi, never expecting to be captured by the Mist Ninja's ANBU.

Afterward she fell into a coma; although she retained consciousness through her will, her perception of the outside world was intermittent.

These Mist Ninja seemed to have placed her on an altar, doing something indescribable to her, and kept saying something intermittently.

When she finally regained consciousness, she had already been rescued by Kakashi. Only then did she realize she had fallen into enemy hands once again.

But this time, only Kakashi came to rescue her—Obito wasn't there.

When they were escaping, because of a sentence from Kakashi, she again recalled her ordeal; she had already resolved to die by Kakashi's hand, but was then rescued by senior Dong Shilang.

Now, hiding in this concealed treetop, she finally managed to sort out today's events.

But the ensuing pressure left her bewildered and at a loss; she simply didn't know how to face what comes next.

After all, she's just a 12- or 13-year-old girl.

Tailed beasts—though she hasn't seen one firsthand in this wartime era, she's heard rumors about them.

Thinking back to the terrifying legends she'd heard, she glanced at her own belly.

Yeyuan Lin suddenly missed Obito!