"Well, well. Looks like we found ourselves a valuable haul."
A bald, powerfully built man stepped onto the road. His broad face was covered in old scars, and an enormous cleaver rested across one shoulder.
He swept his gaze over the carriage, the medical personnel, and the crates of supplies before grinning.
"My name is Kumada, leader of the Mountain Bear Gang," he announced. "This road belongs to us. Leave your money, weapons, and cargo behind, and we might let you walk away alive."
Obito immediately stepped forward.
"You'd better take another look!"
He pointed proudly at the metal plate on his forehead.
"We're shinobi from Konoha! Run now, and we might let you walk away!"
Several bandits exchanged uncertain looks.
Kumada stared at the leaf symbol for a moment before baring his teeth.
"So what?"
He pointed his cleaver toward the convoy.
"Most of you are women and children. The only adult who looks remotely dangerous is that blond pretty boy."
Minato smiled pleasantly.
Kumada mistook the expression for weakness.
"Do you honestly believe a few little brats can stand against the Mountain Bear Gang?" he continued. "Hand everything over. If you force us to take it, we'll start removing heads."
Bandits emerged from the forest on both sides of the road.
Several carried swords, axes, and spears. Others raised bows and drew their strings, aiming at the members of Team Minato.
Kakashi placed one hand on the sword across his back.
Clang.
The White Light Chakra Sabre slid an inch from its sheath.
Obito drew a kunai, and Rin pulled two shuriken from her pouch. Her grip was tight, but she kept herself positioned between the bandits and the medical personnel.
Ren's hand rested near his own weapon.
Minato did not stop them.
His blue eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he studied the forest. Ren noticed his attention pass over the visible bandits without lingering on any of them.
Minato was sensing something else.
For several tense seconds, neither side moved.
Then Kumada lost patience.
"Kill the stubborn ones!"
His arm swept downward.
The bandits released their bowstrings.
Dozens of arrows tore through the air.
"Protect the carriage!" Kakashi shouted.
He drew the White Light Chakra Sabre and stepped into the barrage. His weapon became a pale blur, striking arrows from the air in a rapid series of sharp impacts.
Obito moved beside him, using his kunai to deflect the missiles that slipped through.
Rin remained close to the medical-nin, swatting aside an arrow aimed at Haruka.
Ren acted at the same moment.
His wrist snapped forward.
A kunai shot over the bandits' heads and buried itself in a tree nearly twenty meters away, well beyond the immediate defensive line.
"Substitution Technique!"
Ren vanished.
The kunai embedded in the tree disappeared with him, and he materialized in its position. He was now above and behind the first group of archers, far enough from the carriage to unleash his strongest Fire Release without endangering his teammates.
Ren completed a single hand seal.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Chakra erupted from his lungs.
A colossal orange-red fireball roared into existence.
The surrounding leaves curled beneath the heat. Several branches ignited before the flames even touched them, and the nearest bandits stared upward in horror.
There was nowhere to run.
Boom!
The Great Fireball struck the center of their formation.
Flames exploded across the forest floor.
Several bandits were engulfed instantly, their screams rising above the blast as they fell and rolled desperately across the ground. The shockwave hurled others aside and scattered weapons through the burning undergrowth.
Smoke and embers filled the air.
The archers' formation collapsed.
Great Fireball had finally struck real enemies—and nobody could call it merciful now.
Kakashi seized the opening.
He shot forward like a silver flash.
The White Light Chakra Sabre swept across the first bandit's chest before reversing toward the next. Kakashi moved through the disorganized group without hesitation, every strike clean and decisive.
Blood scattered across the leaves.
A man raised an axe.
Kakashi slipped beneath it and struck once.
Another thrust a spear from behind. Kakashi turned, severed the shaft, and drove the hilt of his sword into the attacker's throat before cutting down a third enemy approaching from the side.
Ren landed among the remaining archers with his borrowed blade already drawn.
The forest descended into chaos.
Fire spread through the brush. Bandits screamed conflicting orders, and the smell of smoke mixed with the metallic scent of blood.
Rin and Obito stared.
"Ren…" Rin whispered.
Their Academy instructors had always explained that shinobi techniques were created to deceive, disable, and kill. They had trained against wooden targets and exchanged attacks during supervised exercises.
But a training ground could not reproduce reality.
Wooden dummies did not scream when they burned.
Classmates did not collapse with blood pouring from sword wounds.
Kakashi's composure was understandable. He had already completed missions beyond Konoha and experienced genuine combat.
But Ren moved with the same frightening decisiveness.
Rin's face became pale.
She tightened her grip on her kunai and forced herself to remain in front of the medical personnel, even as the sight of the burning battlefield made her stomach twist.
Obito swallowed.
His eyes were wide behind his goggles.
Part of him wanted to rush forward and prove that he could fight too. Another part remained frozen by the realization that every weapon before him was real.
A blade through the chest would not end with an instructor announcing the winner.
Death would be permanent.
While everyone's attention remained fixed on the battle ahead, the true ambush began.
A pulse of unfamiliar chakra appeared behind the convoy.
Minato sensed it first.
"Behind us!" he shouted.
He moved instantly, shoving Rin and Obito in opposite directions.
A masked figure emerged from the shadows.
His hands were already together.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
A compressed blast of air erupted across the road.
The gale struck like an invisible wall.
Dust, leaves, and loose supplies flew in every direction. Rin was thrown toward the carriage, while Obito rolled across the ground and barely avoided being hurled into a tree.
The medical-nin scattered.
The defensive formation broke apart.
A second masked shinobi appeared near the rear of the convoy. He wore the same brown clothing as the first and pressed both hands against the earth.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Sand!"
The solid road collapsed.
Soil loosened into a swirling pool of sand and mud, swallowing the ground beneath Minato, Rin, Obito, and several of the medical-nin.
Rin gasped as her legs sank past the ankles.
She attempted to pull free, but the movement only dragged her deeper.
Obito fared worse.
He struggled instinctively, and the quicksand immediately climbed toward his knees.
"Rin!"
"Don't move!" Minato ordered. "Spread your weight and control your breathing!"
Obito froze with visible effort.
Before Minato could continue, a metallic cord shot from behind the Earth Release user.
The loop wrapped around Minato's arms and torso.
The masked shinobi yanked hard, tightening the wire, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind him. A kunai pressed against Minato's throat.
"Everybody stop!"
The man's voice was low and rough.
Kakashi's sword froze halfway through another strike.
Ren turned from the burning bandits.
"This man is your leader, isn't he?" the masked shinobi called. "Drop your weapons. Especially you two silver-haired brats."
He pushed the kunai more firmly against Minato's neck.
"One wrong move, and his head comes off."
Silence spread across the battlefield.
Ren stared.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Are these people serious?
They had wrapped a metal cord around the Yellow Flash and were now attempting to hold him hostage with one small kunai.
Kumada noticed Kakashi's hesitation and charged.
The bandit leader's fist was nearly as large as Kakashi's head.
Bang!
His punch struck Kakashi directly in the face.
Kakashi grunted and flew backward. His body crashed into a tree before sliding down its trunk, while the White Light Chakra Sabre fell several feet away.
Obito's expression changed.
"Kakashi!"
Ren narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
Kakashi had seen Kumada coming.
Even exhausted, he would not have taken such a slow and obvious punch directly. More importantly, Minato's posture remained relaxed despite the blade at his throat.
Ren understood.
They're acting.
The hidden attackers were not powerful.
From what Ren had observed, the enemy force consisted of two Chūnin-level missing-nin supported by a group of physically strong but poorly trained bandits.
Minato could eliminate them all within moments.
Instead, he had deliberately allowed himself to be restrained.
Kakashi had also accepted Kumada's punch to make the situation appear genuine.
They wanted to test how the three new Genin responded when their leaders were supposedly incapacitated.
Ren almost admired their dedication.
Kakashi had taken that punch hard enough that one of his teeth might genuinely be loose.
Still, knowing this was a test did not make the danger imaginary.
Rin, Obito, and the medical personnel remained trapped in quicksand. The Wind Release user could attack them again at any moment.
Kakashi was pretending to be injured.
Minato was pretending to be a hostage.
That left Ren as the only person apparently free to act against two trained shinobi and the surviving bandits.
"You really think highly of me," Ren muttered.
He evaluated the battlefield.
The Earth Release user stood behind Minato. The Wind Release shinobi remained near the trees, maintaining a clear angle on the trapped medical-nin.
Four or five bandits were still capable of fighting.
Ren's first priority was breaking the hostage situation. Once Minato was "free," the enemy would be forced to divide their attention.
He allowed his sword to drop slightly.
The masked shinobi relaxed by the smallest degree.
That was enough.
"Substitution Technique."
A loose stone behind the hostage-taker vanished.
Ren disappeared from the burning section of forest and materialized in its place.
The masked Chūnin sensed danger.
His skin prickled.
He twisted his head and caught a glimpse of silver-white hair directly behind him.
Ren had already completed the seal.
The attacker's eyes widened.
"When did you—"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Blinding orange-red flames filled his vision.
Boom!
The Great Fireball struck at nearly point-blank range.
The explosion ripped the hostage-taker away from Minato and launched him across the road. Fire consumed his clothing as he crashed through the bushes.
Minato slipped free of the loosened cord.
He vanished with the Body Flicker Technique and reappeared several meters away, safely beyond the flames.
Ren landed beside the quicksand.
He seized the metal cord that had fallen from Minato's body, planted one foot, and swung it toward the closest trapped teammate.
"Obito!" Ren shouted. "Catch it!"
The cord arced through the smoky air.
Obito reached out as the quicksand climbed toward his waist.
If he missed, there would not be time for a second throw.