Chapter 50: You are...?

The vine attacks all fell on empty space!

One after another, the vines passed through the body of the mysterious masked man, just like passing through air, without causing him the slightest harm!

The Wood Release Jutsu of Akihara Kagura had no effect on the mysterious masked man!

The ability of the mysterious masked man's Mangekyō Sharingan, which allows him to evade any attack, almost innately secures him an unbeatable position in battle!

"Planning to hold out for reinforcements with these tactics?"

The mysterious masked man ignored the vines piercing through his body and rushed towards Akihara Kagura: "Kid, the people from Konoha are always late. Before they arrive, I'll capture you, so that the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki doesn't face any danger!"

"You're the biggest danger here, aren't you?"

Akihara Kagura raised his finger to his chest, and a vine emerged from beneath his feet, quickly retreating with him!

Even though Akihara Kagura knew the weakness of the mysterious masked man, it wasn't easy to counter his abilities, as the opponent wouldn't just stand still to be attacked and could easily use his intangibility to catch him!

The mysterious masked man leaped into the air, touching the retreating vine. His right eye rapidly spun, creating a spacetime vortex in an instant!

The vine was rapidly dragged into space!

Akihara Kagura's body was involuntarily pulled towards the mysterious masked man. Once captured, he would be at the mercy of his captor!

However...

This was also an opportunity!

When the mysterious masked man used his spacetime dojutsu to absorb objects, his body would become tangible!

Akihara Kagura quickly formed a wooden spike and threw it at the mysterious masked man, forcing him to abandon the absorption of the vine and re-enter his intangible state!

"What a hassle..."

Akihara Kagura frowned.

Without a spacetime Dojutsu, it was indeed troublesome to fight against the mysterious masked man. He could only try to set some traps, as the most important aspect of the opponent's dojutsu was space. If he could hide a clone inside the opponent's space...

"In the face of power disparity, one must experience the harshness of reality."

The mysterious masked man charged at Akihara Kagura again, coldly saying, "No matter how you resist, it's all futile..."

"It doesn't matter."

Akihara Kagura took a deep breath, as if regaining his fighting spirit, but said somewhat despondently, "All I need is to hold out until reinforcements arrive…"

Akihara Kagura seemed still eager to make an effort: "As long as Captain Kakashi arrives immediately, everything will get better…"

"Hmph, Kakashi is just a waste!"

The mysterious masked man dismissed this with contempt, as if the name triggered his anger: "In this despairing reality, that waste Kakashi can't change anything!"

"..."

Akihara Kagura ignored him and just raised his finger to form a hand seal.

Vines rapidly grew from the ground, spiraling into a huge sphere, and Akihara Kagura hid himself in the center of the vines!

"Wood Release: Wood Clone!"

Using the cover of the vines, Akihara Kagura quickly created a wood clone. Compared to other clone techniques, the wood clone was not much different from the shadow clone technique, and could also be used for attack!

"Kid, do you think you can escape by hiding inside?"

The mysterious masked man extended his palm and placed it on the giant vine sphere. The Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly, and the spacetime jutsu quickly activated!

Ordinary ninjas might find it difficult to deal with Akihara Kagura's defense, but for the mysterious masked man, Kagura's actions were no different from an ostrich hiding in the sand, just deceiving himself!

If he went into the vines to search, it might waste time, so the mysterious masked man simply absorbed the entire vine sphere, along with Akihara Kagura inside, into space!

The giant vine sphere was completely absorbed by the mysterious masked man!

"Plan complete."

The mysterious masked man casually glanced over the battlefield, looked at Naruto, who was still pinned to the ground, and then at Akihara Kagura standing next to Uzumaki Naruto.

Huh?

Akihara Kagura?

Wasn't this kid absorbed into space along with the vine sphere?

The mysterious masked man suddenly widened his eyes, doubting what he had just done. How did this kid escape to Uzumaki Naruto's side!

"I've said it before..."

Akihara Kagura chuckled softly, his gaze turning to a leaping figure in the distance: "I just need to buy time, until reinforcements arrive..."

A white-haired ninja wearing a mask leaped in from afar, and other ANBU ninjas were also quickly converging towards this place, reinforcements were about to arrive!

"Hmph, what can another waste do?"

The mysterious masked man spoke harshly, but the Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly, planning to slip away into space!

Since Hatake Kakashi has already arrived, Akihara Kagura should no longer dare to harm the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Let's spare Akihara Kagura this time!

Just three seconds...

The mysterious masked man could use the Kamui to escape!

Boom!

A vine on the ground stopped his movement!

"When I saw you just now, when you appeared using the spacetime, it took three seconds. That's when I used the Piercing Technique to stab your body; I guess it would take at least three seconds for you to use the spacetime ninjutsu to absorb yourself and escape, right?"

Akihara Kagura's fingers were crossed in front of his chest, his eyes carrying a devilish smirk: "My Wood Release only needs one hand seal, and the technique activates in at most one second…"

...

The mysterious masked man realized the problem for the first time.

This kid was not as murderous and reckless as he had imagined. He even noticed such a small detail and had already found one of his weaknesses!

"Don't be in a hurry to leave..."

Akihara Kagura, looking at the mysterious masked man, spoke with a smiling persuasion: "Didn't you say that Captain Kakashi is useless? When I was under Lord Danzo, I always wanted to kill him. Can you help me do it?"

After saying this, Akihara Kagura didn't wait for the mysterious masked man to answer and shouted towards Hatake Kakashi, who was running over: "Captain Kakashi, there is an intruder who sneaked into the village attempting to kill Naruto. Come and help quickly!"

"This kid..."

The mysterious masked man cursed softly.

It was actually this kid who wanted to kill Uzumaki Naruto, and he appeared here to avoid the death of the Nine-Tails!

However...

Hatake Kakashi wouldn't care about these!

Hearing someone was attempting to kill Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi's mood suddenly became tense, and he spotted the mysterious masked man!

"Who are you?"

Hatake Kakashi rushed towards the mysterious masked man and reached for the mask on his face, wanting to see who the person really was!

The body of the mysterious masked man instantly became intangible!

Hatake Kakashi's hand grasped at thin air!

However, the most bizarre scene occurred. The mysterious masked man, who had seemingly dodged the attack, involuntarily widened his eyes as if he saw something terrifying!

Within a strange space.

Every time the mysterious masked man's body becomes intangible, a part of his body or his entire physical form appears in this alternative space. All the items he absorbed with his Kamui, including enemies, are also placed in this space.

For instance, a vine-wrapped sphere.

Or a Wooden Clone hidden inside the sphere.

When the mysterious masked man becomes ethereal to avoid Kakashi's attack, his head appears in the Kamui dimension!

Akihara Kagura's Wooden Clone stands in front of the mysterious masked man's head, ignoring the terrified eyes on it, and forcefully pulls off his mask!

In the real world.

The mysterious masked man's mask suddenly vanishes!

As if it was abruptly yanked off by someone!

Kakashi was initially surprised that his hand missed, but then he saw the mask fall off and glimpsed the true face of the mysterious masked man!

"You are…"