Karasu moved like a ghost through the valley. He did not follow the path. He glided from one boulder to another, each footstep as light as a feather, making no sound other than the howling wind.
He quickly spotted Kenji's first tripwire. He didn't disarm it. He simply stepped over it, a smirk seemingly forming behind his cloak. He continued forward, easily evading two, then three more of the simple traps. He was sending a message: These childish games have no effect on me.
Kenji, from his observation post, remained perfectly calm. He knew those traps wouldn't hold Karasu. Their purpose was to slow him down, to study his movements, and most importantly, to draw him deeper into the web.
When Karasu was about fifty meters from Kenji's seated clone, the clone spoke, its voice hoarse with "exhaustion." "You're late, Karasu. I thought a cowardly crow wouldn't dare to show up."
The black-cloaked figure stopped. He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he formed a single hand seal.
Ninpō: Karasu Bunshin no Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Crow Clone Technique!)
Dozens of black crows burst forth from his cloak, letting out ear-piercing caws. They didn't attack. They fanned out across the valley, a suicide squad of scouts.
Kenji's brow furrowed slightly. A clever move. Using the crows to trigger the traps from a distance.
Caw, caw, caw!
The crows flew into the tripwires. BOOM! A smoke bomb detonated. SWISH! A kunai net was launched, pinning a dozen crows to the cliff face. Karasu stood still, observing the battlefield being torn apart by Kenji's own traps.
But Kenji had already anticipated this move as well.
One of the crows, as it soared high to avoid a ground trap, snagged a wire that Karasu couldn't see. This wire wasn't connected to a bomb or kunai.
It pulled a small pin, carefully hidden on the cliff face.
Instantly, from multiple positions high above, a series of small bags burst open. Inside was not a weapon, but an extremely fine, silvery-white powder. The powder was carried on the wind, quickly blanketing a large area around Karasu.
Karasu realized something was wrong. He started to fall back.
But it was too late.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three blindingly bright orbs of light detonated simultaneously from three different directions. They were flash bombs. Their intense white light was reflected and amplified many times over by the silver powder in the air, turning the entire valley into a hell of light.
"AAAAA!" Karasu screamed in pain, clutching his eyes. He was temporarily blinded. His senses were completely overloaded. The howling wind drowned out his hearing, and now the blinding light had stolen his sight.
"Now!" the real Kenji commanded in his mind.
Instantly, Kenji's second, hidden clone shot out from the east. The real Kenji dove down from above like a hawk.
They weren't aiming for vital points. The goal was to capture him alive and unmask him.
Karasu, though blind, still reacted with incredible speed. He swung his kunai wildly, relying on instinct to defend himself. Kenji's clone charged in, accepting a glancing blow from a kunai on its shoulder in order to tie Karasu down.
And in that moment, the real Kenji closed in from behind. He didn't attack. He put all his strength into a single grab. His hand shot out, seized Karasu's hood and mask, and yanked hard.
The cloak and mask flew off.
Time seemed to stop. Under the dim, fading light of the flash bombs, a face was revealed. A young man, perhaps only a few years older than Kenji, with black hair and black eyes.
But then, those eyes suddenly turned blood-red. The pupils morphed into two spinning tomoe.
The Sharingan!
A chill ran through Kenji's entire body. He knew these eyes. He knew this clan. The traitor... was a member of the Uchiha clan.
"Uchiha... Naoki," Kenji whispered, the name he had read in the Hidden Stone's file. A member of a cadet branch of the Uchiha clan, known for his Genjutsu but who had always operated quietly within the Anbu.
The man called Naoki, though cornered, let a cold, cruel smirk spread across his face. His Sharingan eyes stared directly at Kenji, without a trace of fear.
"You're smarter than I thought, Kageyama Kenji," he said, his real voice no longer disguised, youthful but filled with hatred. "But what good will discovering me do?"
His Sharingan began to spin faster.
"When you will never leave this Howling Wind Valley alive."