— — — — — — —
"Forget it! Cancel your attack plan!" Renzo ordered. "I came here to rescue them, not to wipe everyone out!"
"If we fire that weapon at this range, I don't know if the enemy will die—but Kakashi and the others definitely will!"
"Hell, everything within a dozen kilometers would be obliterated! That's a price I can't afford to pay!"
Renzo tried to explain to Red Queen, hoping to teach her and make her evolve over time.
"Understood. Executing your will," Red Queen responded flatly.
Clearly, she still didn't grasp the concept of emotional reasoning. She was just following cold, calculated logic—choosing the most optimalsolution for Renzo based on data.
"This is gonna be a long road…" Renzo sighed, rubbing his forehead.
Maybe he should try creating a digital soul?
But without a reference sample or proper data, it was just an idea.
"Hm… maybe I should ask Apocalypse bro to dismantle his version of Red Queen for research?"
"…Nah, forget it."
The thought alone made Renzo shake his head rapidly.
Apocalypse Renzo treasured his Red Queen like a child. If he touched that, he'd be in serious trouble.
"Still… maybe I can get him to use his [Omniscience] eye technique to analyze the original Red Queen's data and break it down…"
That might be the best solution he could think of for now.
Of course, if a Renzo from a world with more advanced AI technology joined up later, that would be even better.
— — —
Meanwhile, deep in a forest at the border of the Land of Fire and Land of Grass…
"Kakashi! Rin! Watch out!"
Obito shouted as he fought off Iwa-nin, his combat prowess completely unlike his past self.
His Sharingan was now blood-red, with two tomoe in each eye.
Seeing Kakashi and Rin fall into danger, he let out a fierce roar, cutting down another enemy with his kunai before rushing to their aid.
Kakashi was already exhausted, his chakra almost depleted, and his one eye blinded. His combat ability had plummeted, and he was struggling against multiple Iwa-nin.
As a blade swung toward him and Rin, it was already too late to dodge.
Obito's heart shattered as his eyes spun wildly, the tomoe in his Sharingan beginning to merge—
"BOOM!!"
Suddenly, a terrifying sword aura erupted from Kakashi's shoulder, forming a devastating slash that cut through the Iwa-nin in front of them—along with several trees in the background.
"What the—?!"
Kakashi stood there stunned, looking at his shoulder, then back at the devastated battlefield in front of him.
"...Renzo?"
"Huh?!"
Obito, who had been on the verge of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, froze mid-thought.
His spinning tomoe slowed down… and soon returned to normal.
"Kakashi! What just happened?! What was that?!" Obito shouted, flashing to Kakashi's side while staying on high alert.
"Kakashi! Obito! Look out!"
At that moment, Rin screamed, shoving the two of them aside—just as a blade erupted from the ground, swinging toward her.
Kakashi and Obito barely dodged the attack thanks to Rin's warning.
But—
"No! Rin!!"
Obito turned just in time to see a blade descending toward Rin.
His heart stopped.
The world turned gray.
A storm of emotions raged inside him, and his eyes spun wildly again, the tomoe overlapping—
BOOM!!
Before Obito could explode, another sword aura erupted—this time from Rin's shoulder.
It instantly enveloped the Iwa-nin attacking her.
The energy burst inside his body, killing him on the spot.
His lifeless body and weapon dropped to the ground with a thud.
Obito: "..."
"What the f—"
He didn't even know whether to celebrate or scream in frustration.
This was the third time he had been on the brink of unlocking the Mangekyō Sharingan, only to have some mysterious force interrupt it at the last second.
Still… Rin was safe. And that was all that mattered.
"…But what the hell was that?"
Obito glanced at the lifeless enemy, then at the others cleanly sliced in half in the distance.
His brain was a mess.
"Hey… Kakashi, what did you mean by 'Renzo' just now? Does this have something to do with him?"
As he spoke, Renzo's annoyingly smug face popped into his mind.
His expression immediately soured.
He hated that guy!
Renzo was almost everything Obito wanted to be.
The problem was—he wasn't even near!
"Damn it, now's not the time for this! We need to break through!"
Kakashi's expression was serious as he urged Obito and Rin to follow him, sprinting westward in an attempt to escape.
"That's right!" x2
Obito and Rin knew they were in deep trouble. More enemies were closing in from every direction, surrounding them.
Without hesitation, they rushed after Kakashi, trying to break through the encirclement.
At this moment, Obito was their main firepower, leading the charge at the front.
But barely five minutes later, as Obito himself found himself in a life-threatening situation, the same mysterious sword aura Renzo had left on him suddenly activated.
In an instant, the seven or eight Iwa-nin surrounding him were all cut in half at the waist!
Obito almost jumped out of his skin.
"WHAT THE HELL?! I had it too?!"
His face twisted as he frantically pieced things together.
"This is Renzo's doing, isn't it?! It has to be!"
"I knew something was off when he patted all of our shoulders before he left! Right on this exact spot!"
"I thought he was just being weird! I even wondered if he had some strange new habit or something!"
"But turns out, he actually left us with a life-saving measure!"
"If I make it out of this alive, I definitely owe him a big thank-you!"
For once in his life, Obito actually put two and two together quickly, and he was so moved he almost teared up.
But he didn't let his emotions distract him—he still needed to get the hell out of here with Kakashi and Rin.
"Yeah… if we make it back alive," Kakashi muttered, nodding grimly.
Rin, on the other hand, looked like she was about to pass out from anxiety.
"Could you two stop jinxing us?!" she snapped. "I'm grateful to Renzo too, but can we please wait until we're actually safe before celebrating?! We may not even make it out alive!"
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately covered her mouth.
She wished she could go back in time and slap herself.
Kakashi: "..."
Obito: "..."
Rin! You're no better than us!
— — —
Meanwhile, on the enemy's side…
At the site where the first group of Iwa-nin had been brutally cut in half, a squad of enemy ninja had gathered, their leader looking extremely serious.
"What the hell happened here?!" he muttered.
"Even our Jōnin didn't have time to react before getting instantly sliced in half!"
"It looks like some kind of slash attack… very sharp!"
"Are you kidding me? A slash attack? What kind of sword technique is thispowerful?! You think some samurai could do this?!"
The Iwa-nin immediately began arguing, panic and disbelief spreading among them.
The squad captain snapped in frustration.
"Enough!"
"Seal the corpses and bring them back to the intelligence division for analysis!"
Then, his eyes narrowed.
"What about those three brats? Have we located them yet? They absolutely cannot be allowed to escape!"
A nearby Iwa-nin immediately stepped forward and reported: "Captain, we've found them! They're hiding in a cave a few hundred meters away. Looks like they think we haven't noticed them! Heh!"
"Perfect."
A cruel smirk spread across the squad captain's face as he clenched his fist.
"This time, we won't underestimate them. Don't engage them directly. Since they've chosen to hide in a cave…"
"Surround the area and plant explosive tags everywhere. We'll bury them alive to eliminate the threat once and for all!"
A bunch of bratty kids with this level of power?
And to make things worse—they were the students of Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash.
Killing them would not only eliminate future threats but also serve as revenge for the Iwa-nin who had been slaughtered by Minato.
If they were allowed to live and grow stronger, they'd only become an even bigger problem in the future.
"Yes, sir! We'll get to work right away!"
The Iwa-nin immediately began preparing their trap.
Meanwhile, deep inside the cave, Kakashi and the others remained unaware that danger was rapidly closing in.
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