Naruto: We Agreed on a Simulation, But They Actually Came to Life?

Kakashi stepped forward, shielding Rin.

He held his short blade across his chest, his right eye burning with rage as he glared at Kitahara Kaede.

"Have you gone mad?"

Kitahara Kaede didn't answer.

"I told you I'd find a way! I won't let you do this!"

"Kakashi."

Rin reached out and gently pressed her hand against his shoulder. Kakashi stiffened, but he didn't look back.

Rin looked at his profile. "From the moment they let me go, you should have known."

Kakashi grit his teeth.

"Kirigakure wouldn't just let me return to Konoha for nothing," Rin continued.

"Stop it," Kakashi's voice trembled. He had already lost a teammate once. He couldn't let it happen again. "Obito entrusted you to me. He told me to protect you."

Rin fell silent for a moment. Then, she moved around to face Kakashi and reached up to wipe the blood from his shoulder. As she looked at the crimson stain, her eyes reddened, yet she managed a small smile.

"That's exactly why I won't let you fight."

Kakashi froze.

Rin stepped back half a pace and looked toward Kitahara Kaede. "I'm counting on you, Kitahara-kun."

Kitahara Kaede remained still, making no move to act. His attention was focused entirely on the depths of the forest.

*Not yet.*

Obito hadn't arrived.

Just then, a faint sound echoed through the trees. Several kunai shot out from the shadows. Kitahara Kaede stepped aside to dodge them, pulling Rin behind him in one fluid motion. Kakashi swung his blade, deflecting the remaining projectiles.

The shadows of the trees shifted, and the masks of Kirigakure ANBU emerged from the darkness. The circle closed rapidly, cutting off every exit.

Seeing the ANBU, Rin grew strangely calm. She leaned down to pick up a kunai that had fallen earlier and gripped it tightly.

"Since it's come to this, let's take them out first."

Kakashi didn't respond. He lowered his gaze, his short blade dipping slightly. In the next instant, he lunged.

His speed was staggering. The lead ANBU barely had time to raise a hand before his mask was split open by the blade. Blood sprayed across Kakashi's cheek.

He didn't stop. A second strike followed immediately. The ANBU stepped back, but his throat had already been sliced open.

Kakashi was no longer the calm, almost robotic genius he usually was. His strikes were brutal and erratic. When an ANBU's kunai grazed his shoulder, he didn't even bother to dodge; instead, he used the momentum to close the distance and drive his blade straight into the man's chest.

Kitahara Kaede moved as well, though he never strayed far from Rin. Every strike he made was calculated to ensure her safety.

As a kunai swept toward his neck, he caught the attacker's wrist and used the corpse as a shield to block a volley of senbon firing from the side. He then kicked the body away, forcing two more enemies to retreat.

On the other side, Kakashi had succumbed to a bloodthirsty frenzy. The Kirigakure ANBU tried to pin him down, but he tore through their lines by sheer force.

However, there were too many of them. For every few that fell, new ANBU filled the gaps.

Rin held her kunai, but she couldn't find an opening to intervene. Watching Kakashi's back, her eyes grew more crimson.

Kakashi was wounded again. He could have dodged those hits. He was forcing himself to believe that as long as he killed every last one of them, there would still be a way to save her.

That was what Rin feared most. If she died, Kakashi wouldn't blame Konoha or Kirigakure. He would only blame himself.

Kitahara Kaede retreated to Rin's side. He was about to speak when his ear twitched.

There was movement in the distance.

Soon.

Finally.

Kitahara Kaede raised his right hand and formed a seal. Lightning exploded in his palm, the sharp screeching sound drowning out everything else.

Kakashi heard the noise and whipped his head around.

In that moment, he saw the one thing he dreaded most.

The bolt of lightning wasn't aimed at the Kirigakure ANBU. It was heading straight for Rin.

Kakashi's eyes widened in horror.

"NO!"

He charged back like a madman. Several ANBU immediately lunged at him. Kakashi cut down the first one in his path, but as he took another step, another ANBU grabbed him from behind, locking his waist.

"KITAHARA KAEDE!" Kakashi's voice nearly broke.

Rin didn't dodge. She watched the approaching lightning, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes, but her lips curled into a faint smile.

'I'm sorry, Kakashi.'

'I'm sorry, Obito.'

The lightning struck her chest.

Rin's body shuddered. In the final millisecond, Kitahara Kaede had shifted the strike away from her vital organs, precisely sealing her heart's pulse. To any observer, the attack had pierced straight through her chest.

Blood quickly stained her clothes. As Rin collapsed, Kitahara Kaede reached out and caught her.

She opened her eyes and gave him one last look, as if saying thank you.

Kakashi stood frozen, all strength draining from his body. The short blade slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground. A deafening boom echoed in his mind, and something inside him snapped.

High in the canopy at the edge of the battlefield, Obito arrived just in time to witness the scene.

Rin lay in Kitahara Kaede's arms. As Kitahara withdrew his hand from her chest, blood continued to soak through her clothes.

The urgency on Obito's face froze. His breathing stopped for a heartbeat.

Then, the two tomoe in his left eye began to rotate wildly. At the same time, a change occurred in Kakashi's left eye. His body swayed and he collapsed.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Obito's scream exploded through the forest.

The Kirigakure ANBU were stunned by the sound, almost all of them looking up toward the canopy.

Kitahara Kaede's gaze turned cold.

*It worked.*

He didn't give them another glance. He withdrew his right hand, scooped up Rin with his left, and slung the unconscious Kakashi over his shoulder.

With a flicker of the Body Flicker Technique, he vanished.

A few breaths later, a figure wrapped in white tissue descended from the canopy, cracking the ground upon impact.

Obito stood beside the pool of blood, the Mangekyou Sharingan in his right eye slowly spinning. He didn't look at the Kirigakure ANBU, nor did he say a word.

"Wood Release," he rasped, his voice horribly hoarse. "Piercing Wood Technique."

The ground violently erupted. Wooden spikes surged from the earth, impaling a Kirigakure ANBU through the chest. Before the man could even finish his scream, his body was torn apart.

The other ANBU finally snapped out of their shock and turned to flee.

Obito looked up.

The Mangekyou spun.

Soon, the only sound left in the forest was the dripping of blood.

...

Deep in the dense forest, Kitahara Kaede ran at full speed, carrying the two of them. Only after traveling a great distance did he stop.

He leaned Kakashi against a tree trunk and laid Rin flat on the ground. He placed his hand against the side of her neck.

No pulse.

The fake death had been successful.

But time was limited. If her heartbeat wasn't restored within two hours, the fake death would become permanent.

Kitahara Kaede looked toward the southwest. Tsunade should have arrived by now.

He picked Rin up again, his expression darkening.

From here on, it was up to Tsunade.

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