Elsewhere in Takekawa, Minato led his team — Obito, Kakashi, Rin — escorting the caravan while teaching fieldcraft.
“Enemies often hide in tall grass, choosing patches with firm soil so even wind won’t give them away.
When you see—”
Obito launched a kunai.
“Then you flush them out!”
“Tch — idiot,” Kakashi scoffed.
No one would be that careless.
Then the grass moved.
Kakashi and Minato froze.
“Obito, Rin — guard the caravan.
Kakashi — watch our flanks.
I’ll check it out.”
Minato vanished in a blink, reappearing right where the kunai had struck.
He held up a trembling white rabbit.
“False alarm — just a rabbit.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
He glanced at Kakashi, who nodded grimly and holstered his own kunai.
Obito was no tracker — pure luck, nothing more.
Once Minato’s attention turned elsewhere, two figures stepped from the shadows.
“Damned Uchiha brat — that almost grazed me!” one ROOT operative hissed.
“Why does Danzō care so much about him?
I should teach him a lesson right now.”
“Once we deal with his brother, we can mess with this one if we want,” his partner chuckled.
“No — Obito’s Danzō’s prize.
But his brother?
“He’s dead anyway — what difference does it make?”
“Death is what we make it.
The Uchiha pride themselves on those cursed eyes… I’ll carve them out and keep them.
Any investigation will just see a thief after Sharingan.
And with Yuu gone, Danzō will find it easier to bend Obito to his will.
Perfect.”
He trembled with excitement.
To kill one of Konoha’s most revered clan — to hold their fate in his hands — that was the true power of ROOT.
He was the Uchiha’s reaper.
“Though I didn’t expect him to be here.
This just got messy.”
“Who?”
“Minato Namikaze — Jiraiya’s student.
The Yellow Flash.”
“What about our plan?”
“Simple.
We wait for the Kirigakure deserter to hit the caravan, then kill Yuu in the chaos.
Everyone will blame the rogue.”
“Funny — I was thinking the exact same thing.”
A voice cut in from nowhere.
“So was I.”
They jumped.
It was Uchiha Yuu.
Shock paralyzed them.
Uchiha were arrogant brutes who loved to announce themselves — they never ambushed.
And how had he slipped past ROOT’s own stealth?
Yuu had learned that trick from Kiba — scent masking and silent movement.
In the shinobi world, if your enemy touches your shadow before you notice, you’re already dead.
“Earth Style: Underground Death Decapitation!”
He burst from the earth.
Steel sliced through flesh.
The operative who’d bragged about taking his eyes died instantly, no pain, no cry.
The second ROOT agent finally snapped out of it — and ran.
Here is the complete, unabridged translation preserving every detail and nuance:
Even though his conscious reaction and speed were undeniably swift, every single response and movement trajectory he would make had already been seen through the predictive feedback Yuu had extracted from his notes.
So the moment he acted, Yuu responded almost simultaneously — no, even sooner…
A kunai appeared precisely in his escape path, as if this ROOT operative had deliberately run straight onto Yuu’s blade.
The ROOT ninja’s eyes bulged wide, yet he could not make the slightest further reaction; momentum drove the steel deep into the back of his head.
In his final moment, only one question lingered: how had that kunai come to be there?
Pure coincidence?
Right now, Yuu moved just like Minato’s Yellow Flash — appearing the very instant his opponent committed to an action, leaving them no time for a second response.
And this scene matched exactly the future vision Yuu had recorded using four‑dimensional power.
In that moment, Yuu knew clearly: his combat strength had risen.
He was no longer the same as before; from now on, his battles would hold a crucial new trump card.
As for why Yuu had not used his three‑tomoe Sharingan for this assassination: Konoha’s ANBU always collected intelligence from the memories of fallen Konoha ninja.
If he had used it now, he might have seized control of the two ROOT agents instantly — but he would also have left the most damning impressions locked in their minds.
Instead, every move he made perfectly mirrored the brutal, straightforward style of the Kirigakure jonin he had learned about through his system notes.
Even a full ANBU investigation would find nothing to hold against him.
No sooner had Yuu disposed of the two ROOT members than a thick fog began to spread, wrapping around Minato and his team — followed by a wild, rasping cackle.