As the simple search and retrieve mission turned into a full-blown battle, Sasuke was silently standing in the center of the area, keeping his senses on full alert for any chakra disturbance that would indicate the arrival of an Inner member of Kara.
Suddenly, his eyes widened as he sensed a disturbance in the air current surrounding him. His trained reflexes allowed him to react in time and throw a shuriken in the direction of the disturbance, intercepting the projectile that was making its way toward him. Both projectiles struck branches with their blunt ends, which caused them to divert from their path and approach a singular position, a masterful display of shurikenjutsu.
A white-haired man with a stone mask around his eyes and a loose cloak covering parts of his shoulders and head threw two kunai to deflect the projectiles and faced Sasuke.
"The Uchiha clan's shurikenjutsu is no joke, huh?" The man commented.
"Are you an Inner of Kara?"
"I am Kashin Koji," The man spoke. "Nice to meet you, Sasuke Uchiha."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Yes, I am. And I am here to take care of the Konoha shinobi who are interfering with Kara's mission."
"Are you in charge of these Scientific Ninja Tool-reliant combatants? My research says otherwise, not to mention that you don't seem like the kind of guy to rely on such external means."
"You are thinking of Victor," Kashin Koji said. "No worries, he did not align with the goals of Kara and was disposed of."
"So you decided to send all of his people to their deaths? Pretty ruthless."
"You seem confident in your village. Did you know your people are turning against you as we speak?"
"A few bad apples are present in any administration. They'll be taken care of."
"I suggest you retreat. Before you end up taking a loss you can't afford. Konoha sent a big force here."
"Since you know so much about Konoha," Sasuke unsheathed his sword. "You should be well aware of just how stubborn I can be."
The sound of Sasuke's sword whistling through the air was the only thing heard as he slashed it at Kashin Koji.
"Pity." Kashin Koji shook the hood of his cloak off his head as his hair extended forward to block Sasuke's sword. "Then again, I am curious how well my fire stacks up against the legendary Amaterasu's eternally burning flames."
He made a seal with his hands and took a deep breath before announcing, "True Fire of Samadhi." He breathed out his unique flame in Sasuke's face, and the Uchiha released his own black flames to counter it.
Sasuke quickly jumped back while using Kagutsuchi to keep Kashin Koji's flames suppressed.
The silent stalemate lasted a few seconds as Kashin Koji stopped breathing out flames, while Sasuke kept countering it with Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi.
"A stalemate. Not too far out of my expectations," Kashin Koji spoke analytically before slamming his hand on the ground. "Sealing jutsu," he spoke while making two consecutive hand signs. "Frog Gulp."
Multiple pillars marked with seals emerged from the ground around Sasuke, invoking a seal that immobilized him.
"Time to end this." Kashin Koji created the same samadhi fire in his hands, ready to burn Sasuke, but then raised a brow. He saw nothing but the sealing structure in front of him, with a leaf floating in Sasuke's place and the man in question nowhere to be seen.
"You talk too much." Sasuke appeared behind Koji, stabbing him with his sword.
"Exchanging positions with any inanimate object, huh?" Kashin Koji still seemed calm despite the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. "A useful technique."
"Tell me everything about the vessel and why it matters so much," Sasuke spoke.
"Kawaki is —" Kashin Koji was almost put under Sasuke's genjutsu, but it only took him a moment to free himself. "Dangerous …" He made a hand sign, and a burst of smoke exploded from under him as he summoned a small toad that jumped at Sasuke, igniting into Samadhi fire halfway through.
"It's fruitless, Kashin Koji," Sasuke said, using Amaterasu to counter the Samadhi fire in an eternal battle. He twisted his sword inside the Inner's abdomen, making the man groan in pain. "Tell me about this Kawaki and what Kara aims to achieve with them."
"I'm going to be better prepared for you next time, Sasuke Uchiha," Kashin Koji said, unaffected by Sasuke's second attempt at genjutsu.
Without the use of any hand signs, a burst of smoke covered Kashin Koji. Sasuke waved his arm and instantly dispersed it, frowning as he was left with nothing in his hand, with Kashin Koji and his sword nowhere to be seen.
"Tsk, reverse summoning …" Sasuke looked positively irked.
"Sasuke … I hate to be the damsel in distress, but someone just appeared in my tent … Probably an Inner. White hair, a long black cloak, and a stone mask. I probably need help …"
"Be right there."
Sasuke shot toward Ino's direction, pushing his speed to its limits.
'Without her, we'll be left without eyes on the battlefield. Battling me was just a distraction while his summons located Ino.'
…
"Who are you?" Ino asked, trying to stall for time as she looked at the white-haired man who had just appeared in front of her. He had a sword sticking out of his stomach as blood poured out, but he didn't seem concerned about that.
"This technique … did you cast it?" The Inner in front of her looked at the rod that had stabbed Ao's thigh with a contemplative expression.
[Naruto, I think I'm going to need that guarantee of protection you gave me … I'm pretty sure I'm out of my league here.]
"No," Ino answered the man. "It was the Hokage. He gave me the means to protect myself."
"I see," he nodded. "I am Kashin Koji. The Uchiha still needs some time to get here, but I would rather not take a risk and eliminate you."
He made a seal with his hands and released the Samadhi Fire with a deep breath directly in Ino's direction.
"Seriously?" Ino barely had any time to step back and release a water curtain jutsu, but she was sure that it wouldn't hold up against the large fireball and would leave her singed at the minimum. "Not even a few seconds to talk and let me prepare an attack?"
The water curtain was like paper in front of the flames, not affecting them in the slightest. Ino felt the heat approaching her and realized that she might be a little out of her depth in the current situation.
[Naruto … Some support would be nice right about now. Unless you want me dead after all that trouble giving me this seal and all.]
"Jeez, Ino, have some patience."
"How am I supposed to …" Ino took a moment to realize that Naruto's voice wasn't transmitted through their telepathy, and she had actually heard him speak. "You're here."
Ino noticed a blur of Naruto's white Hokage cloak in front of her before he burst out with his chakra cloak and wrapped the golden chakra cloak around the Samadhi Flames.
"You shouldn't play with fire like that," Naruto said, "Kashin Koji."
"The Hokage …" The white-haired man had a solemn expression. "You recognize me."
"I recognize more than that." Naruto's eyes narrowed in a look of unveiled disgust. "As much as I would like to kill you for existing in the first place. You have a bigger role to play. I'll give you a chance to leave. Don't tempt me to kill you instead."
"I cannot leave without showing some kind of result," Kashin Koji said. "Even if it takes my life." The natural energy around the tent stirred as it was drawn toward Kashin Koji.
"Fine then," Naruto said. "I'll give you a result."
The stirring natural energy stilled completely, unable to be absorbed by the Inner of Kara as Naruto dismantled the Samadhi fire encased within his chakra and deactivated his chakra cloak.
"Impossible …" Kashin Koji's eyes widened. "I can't …"
"Yeah, you can't. Sasuke will give you the result you want so badly. I'm coming for him eventually, don't you worry."
Naruto ignored the presence of the stunned Inner and turned to Ino, who was just as stunned, if not more so.
"Ino, you're too weak," Naruto said brutally. "I know your entire repertoire is support-based, but you need some kind of a means to defend yourself when it comes to stronger foes. We'll work on that at some point, I guess. Take care now."
Naruto disappeared just as he'd come, instantaneously and without any hand signs or seals.
"Um …" Ino didn't know what to say, and going by the contemplative look on Kashin Koji's face, the Inner member of Kara was in the same boat.
Before any other action was taken, Sasuke tore through the side of the tent, directly stabbing Kashin Koji with a Chidori and throwing him out through the other end of the tent.
"Did Naruto just use the Flying Raijin?" Ino mumbled to herself, not really focusing on how Sasuke pulled his sword out of Kashin Koji's back and activated his Suasnoo.
Just as things seemed to move to the next level, Sasuke's opponent disappeared in a burst of smoke again, reverse summoning himself away.
[Tell me you were able to put a tracking mechanism on him?]
Sasuke asked Ino, approaching the tent after dispelling his cloak.
"I didn't, but I identified his chakra signature," she said. "He is not in the vicinity anymore. I think he ran away."
"You look like you handled yourself …" Sasuke asked, looking at Ino's unruffled clothes. She didn't look like she'd just been in a fight of her life.
"Naruto just appeared … and disappeared after intimidating that guy," Ino said. She noticed Sasuke's confused expression and decided to clarify. "He —Naruto— gave me a special tracker and telepathy seal. I think that allowed him to teleport to me as well. I guess he learned the Flying Raijin … Not sure, though."
"Good for him," Sasuke nodded.