Kurenai Yuhi was dead.
From within the settling dust, Kakashi lifted his head and saw her body.
A butterfly flapped its wings, stirring small ripples in the river of his memories.
The helplessness of watching a comrade die in front of him surged back after so many years, swallowing Kakashi whole.
Countless phantoms shifted in his eyes.
He remembered a similar forest, a massive boulder crashing down, and the boy who had pushed him out of the way, pinned beneath it instead.
"Kakashi… this is for you… a gift for becoming a jonin…"
The dying boy had gouged out his own eye and pressed it into Kakashi's hand.
That helplessness had been like the immovable rock on the boy's body.
…
On a rainy plain, the girl implanted with the Three-Tails, destined to become a source of chaos for Konoha, had looked at him with a mix of hope and despair.
"Kakashi… kill me…"
The explosive lightning, just as she wished, had pierced straight through her chest.
That helplessness was like the blood on Kakashi's hands—something he could never wash away.
…
"Those who break the ninja code are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!"
To Kakashi, Kurenai did not hold more weight than those two in his heart.
They had simply been born in Konoha around the same time, graduated from the Academy together, and been instilled with similar values. They had worked together, carried out missions together, and grown stronger together.
It was the same with Guy and Asuma.
If anything, Kurenai had always been closer to Asuma.
But "comrade" was never defined by distance alone.
To a ninja, a comrade was someone you could trust completely—even with your back.
And for Kakashi, after losing Rin and Obito, the word "comrade" carried an even heavier weight.
In the battle against Neiki, first Kamizuki Izumo had fallen, then Kotetsu Hagane, and now Kurenai Yuhi.
—Kakashi's pupils trembled.
It felt as if the long-dead boy and girl were whispering in his ear:
You couldn't save us back then… so why haven't you saved anyone now?
Why do the comrades you cherish keep dying, and you're still this weak?
Knowing how dangerous Neiki is, why did you still bring your comrades here to die?
Why…
Why?
Why?!
"Shut up—!!"
With a roar, lightning exploded from his hand, tearing through the surrounding bushes and skimming past Neiki.
The Chidori had deviated too much.
Neiki blinked, then suddenly realized something and looked down.
Kurenai's body, which had been lying at his feet a moment before, had vanished along with the lightning.
Neiki glanced to the side. As expected, Kakashi was there, cradling Kurenai's body and slowly laying her down.
He took off his flak jacket and draped it over the ugly wound in Kurenai's chest, then gently closed her eyes.
"I thought she was Asuma's girlfriend, not yours," Neiki said, still calling Asuma "senpai," genuinely puzzled by Kakashi's rage.
It was nothing short of an insult.
"My mission was to bring you back alive if possible," Kakashi said coldly. "But now… it seems that won't be possible."
The Mangekyō Sharingan, cold and dangerous, spun in Kakashi's eye as he slowly stood up.
"You definitely can't," Neiki replied with a faint smile.
Though they both said "can't," the meaning behind their words was completely different.
They stared at each other.
The killing intent in the air grew so thick it felt suffocating.
Several Konoha ninjas watched Neiki closely, waiting for an opening. Although Neiki was at a disadvantage in numbers, his calm confidence put tremendous pressure on everyone present.
This renegade Hyuga, who had ambushed Izumo and Kotetsu and then swiftly, ruthlessly killed Kurenai with genjutsu, fought with an intuition and difficulty far beyond that of ordinary jonin. Anywhere else, this would be a battle Konoha could win—at a heavy cost.
Fortunately, although they were outside the village, they were still close to Konoha, and Kakashi had already called for reinforcements. They had left markers along the way; the longer they held Neiki here, the more the balance would tilt in Konoha's favor.
In the coming battle, their goal was to harass Neiki and prevent him from escaping until backup arrived. That alone would be enough.
As long as Neiki didn't run, they wouldn't need to risk everything. It wasn't out of fear—just the most rational choice.
It wasn't like at the beginning, when they had thought they could easily bring Neiki down with sheer numbers, only to end up with three comrades dead.
The ninjas exchanged hand signals, quickly forming a plan. Kakashi glanced at them and pretended not to notice.
His only thought was: I have to kill Neiki before the reinforcements arrive—for my comrades' sake.
If backup came, Neiki would likely be captured alive. The idea of not being able to personally kill this mass murderer filled Kakashi with a deep, gnawing unease.
"All at once!" Kakashi shouted, charging forward.
An Inuzuka clan ninja, unable to stand back any longer, joined Kakashi's assault. The two, accompanied by the ninja dog, rushed Neiki together.
Neiki swung his sword, stepping into the fray.
"Fang Over Fang!"
Neiki slipped past the spiraling attack with a sidestep.
After missing their target, the Inuzuka ninja and his dog landed and reverted to human form, fixing Neiki with cold stares—but they didn't immediately attack again.
After Neiki knocked Kakashi away, another ninja rushed in to take his place. Yet their offense lost momentum after just two exchanges and a blocked jutsu.
As new opponents stepped in one after another, Neiki quickly sensed that something was off.
Aside from Kakashi, the others' killing intent was weak. Whenever the fight intensified, they would back off, only returning to the fray when Kakashi was pushed into a corner.
Are they trying to stop him… by half-heartedly "helping" him?
In any case, this passive choice from the Konoha ninjas slowed the overall rhythm of the fight.
"We're waiting for Konoha's reinforcements," Kakashi said, once again knocked aside and catching his breath. "What are you waiting for?"
…What a joke.
What kind of battle is this?
Kindergarten play-fighting?
Neiki wasn't running. He also wasn't fighting seriously. His lazy, almost bored demeanor turned Izumo and Kurenai's deaths into a cruel farce.
Neiki blinked, and then it hit him.
Kakashi was anxious.
Anxious for an ending.
Anxious to kill him.
But he couldn't.
Neiki shook his head, his gaze drifting past Kakashi, as if looking straight toward Konoha itself. His lips curled into a smirk.
"Actually… I'm waiting too."
…
In Konoha.
After the Uchiha rebellion and the second Nine-Tails attack that afternoon, the area around the Uchiha compound and the Nine-Tails' appearance was little more than devastated ruins.
Trees lay uprooted. Buildings had collapsed. Tiles and bricks were scattered across the streets, while distant fires still burned among the wreckage.
A bent water pipe jutted from the ground.
An orange cat—often lost, yet always found by fresh genin on their first missions—heard the sound of dripping water. It squeezed through the narrow gaps of the pipe to lick at the shallow puddle within.
Its elderly owner lay crushed under a collapsed wall; no one would be coming to look for it again.
Civilians leaving the shelters sobbed as they stood before the remains of their homes.
A burly man, trying to comfort his neighbor with forced jokes, dug through rubble over and over. When he finally unearthed pieces of his own child, the man who had been consoling others broke down, bawling like a child himself.
A woman clutched what was left of her husband's body and wailed. Both of them had been shinobi, but when the Uchiha attacked, she had been assigned to evac duty—he had died on the front line.
Being a shinobi was always high-risk; dying due to incompetence was common. According to Konoha's rules, she shouldn't show such weakness in public—but today, tears were everywhere, and no one cared. She wept openly, without restraint.
There were many such tragedies, though still fewer than during the first Nine-Tails attack.
First, many civilians gathered at the Konoha Theater had been evacuated to remote shelters ahead of time, avoiding catastrophe.
Second, those who stayed or returned home during the chaos had benefited from years of evacuation drills and contingency plans. Only those designated as "sacrifices" by Konoha's higher-ups suffered devastating losses. For most others, although their houses were destroyed, their lives were spared.
After the chaos, scattered fires burned among the ruins, around which people gathered, discussing the day's events and casualties with shared grief.
"I heard the Uchiha summoned the Nine-Tails to revolt!"
"That Naruto kid really is the reincarnation of the demon fox…"
"I've seen those Uchiha at school—always so hot-headed!"
"The Hyuga clan was nowhere to be seen today. These big ninja clans are all the same…"
Such grumbling spread throughout the village.
The truth about the Nine-Tails' appearance had already made the rounds.
If Fugaku's coup succeeded, these "rumors" would hinder his rise. If he failed, these "truths" would further alienate the remaining Uchiha from Konoha. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi wished to show mercy, the wounded civilians would not.
The villagers' anger would only help justify further action against the Uchiha—even if some had already escaped, others still lurked within Konoha.
"Has the Hokage not come back yet?" Iruka Umino asked outside the Hokage's office.
Behind him, a little girl in tattered clothes clung tightly to his sleeve, her expression empty.
Her name was Kaori.
She was one of Iruka's students.
Her parents—marked as "sacrifices" by Konoha's higher-ups—had died in the chaos. Shielded beneath their bodies, Kaori had survived until Iruka dug her out.
Iruka had heard that the Hokage would personally provide aid and compensation to children like Kaori, so he had brought her here.
He knew nothing about the "sacrifice" plan and thought this was an extra kindness from the Hokage.
"He received a report and went after the rogue ninja. Come back tomorrow," the Anbu at the door said, glancing at Kaori and shaking his head.
"Alright."
Iruka sighed and was about to take Kaori to a temporary shelter when the Anbu suddenly spoke again:
"The Anbu rest quarters downstairs still have beds and hot water. It's safer and more comfortable than the shelters. She can rest there tonight—and it'll be easier to see the Hokage when he returns."
Iruka's face brightened. He bowed repeatedly in thanks.
He led Kaori to the Anbu rest area.
It was cramped, but far better than the public shelters.
Before he left, Kaori refused to let go of his sleeve.
Iruka smiled helplessly.
"You've had a long day. Get some rest—I'll see you tomorrow."
After he reassured her again and again, Kaori finally loosened her grip.
Outside, Iruka could still see her small face framed in the window, watching him.
"Goodnight."
Iruka raised his hand high and waved, then turned and walked away.
A gentle night breeze blew through the shattered streets.
After a few steps, Iruka sniffed the air, catching a faint, acrid scent of burning…
The next moment, he froze.
Hmm?
Iruka turned back.
In that instant—
The Hokage's office—
Collapsed like a mountain.
—Boom!!!
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