Chapter 355: Kakashi: I Must Bear the Sins
Sasuke's first purple arrow caused a certain amount of chaos.
Kakashi, who was handling official business in a "little dark room", quickly noticed it.
Pulling back the curtain and looking outside, he saw that it was Sasuke "invading" Konoha, and immediately became anxious.
As Sasuke's superior, he couldn't just ignore him. He had to go stop him.
"Tsunade-sama?"
Just as Kakashi was about to leave, he found Tsunade standing at the door, blocking his way.
Could it be that she still wasn't willing to let him leave the room?
Wasn't that a bit too careless about priorities?
Kakashi muttered to himself inwardly.
"Kakashi, I know what you're about to do. I won't stop you, but there are some things you need to know first."
Tsunade looked at him and slowly relayed the information Shiromo had passed along.
This included the fact that the "assassination" of Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura was actually a mission she had issued.
Itachi and Sasuke had accepted it.
It also included Kakashi's current "identity", someone who had been taken away by Granny Chiyo, yet willingly stayed behind due to having a special preference for elderly women.
"..."
Kakashi fell silent after hearing all this.
But after thinking about it, his reputation had already spread throughout the ninja world because of his books. This wouldn't make much difference.
So it didn't matter.
Besides, according to Tsunade, Itachi wasn't a rogue ninja. He had carried out a secret mission assigned by the Third Hokage, and the clan massacre had been ordered by the village.
Itachi had borne all the sins.
Now Sasuke had taken on a mission to kill two members of the elder council. It wasn't just revenge, it was also taking on that burden of sin.
Then there was Naruto, his sensei's son, who had carried the burden of the Nine-Tails incident since childhood.
Jiraiya once said that a ninja is someone who can endure everything.
If that was the case, then what did it matter if he, Kakashi, bore some sins as well?
Compared to the others, what he carried was nothing.
"Tsunade-sama, even though this is your mission, I still need to go."
"Sasuke is still young. If he loses control and starts thinking about the night of the massacre, his killing intent might surge. If he harms villagers or comrades, that would be bad."
After gathering his thoughts, Kakashi expressed his intention to go stop Sasuke anyway.
"Kakashi, you're very responsible. That's exactly why I want you to become the Sixth Hokage."
Tsunade was very satisfied with his response.
Kakashi's habitual lateness and laziness were just his way of imitating his "deceased" friend.
In reality, he had always been a hardworking genius.
"But Kakashi, there's something else I need your help with. Naruto took advantage of Sasuke's chaos and snuck into the archives to steal your files."
"…"
Hearing this, Kakashi felt his head splitting in two.
Was there even a single normal one in Team 7?
One after another…
"In short, I need you to cooperate. You understand, this is a suitable excuse."
After whispering a few more words, Tsunade patted Kakashi on the shoulder and left.
Kakashi took a deep breath and made up his mind.
…
"I got it, Sasuke!"
Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop, carrying a pile of document folders.
"Let's go!"
After easily killing Mitokado Homura with a second purple arrow, Sasuke directly used Susanoo to grab Naruto and headed outside the village.
The ANBU and guards who had followed were all stopped by Tsunade. Only Kakashi pursued them.
Outside the village.
Sasuke dismissed his Susanoo and set Naruto down.
Naruto scattered the document folders onto the ground.
"Hurry, before they catch up, let's find it!"
He crouched down and started tearing open the files.
He hadn't looked at any of them before, there hadn't been time.
Before leaving, Naruto had left a strand of Nine-Tails chakra on Sasuke as a communication link.
Sasuke activated his Tenko (Heavenly Fox) perception, set the range to the archive room, filtered with the keyword "Kakashi", and successfully located all relevant documents. He then told Naruto their positions.
Finally, Naruto didn't have to fumble around like in that "finding Kakashi's true face" episode, searching forever only to get caught by ANBU.
"This is bad."
Naruto's expression suddenly changed as he looked at one of the files.
"What is it?"
Sasuke asked.
"Actually, Utatane Koharu is also tempting to Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi used to be in ANBU and reported directly to the Third Hokage. It says here that the Third Hokage often held meetings with the elder council."
"So Utatane Koharu could also be considered Kakashi-sensei's superior. Even if she's not a friend's older woman, it's definitely still stimulating."
Naruto looked full of regret.
"…She's already dead. Stop worrying about it. Find someone else."
Sasuke clicked his tongue.
"Sasuke, Naruto, you two…"
Kakashi rushed over.
With the vision of his Sharingan, he saw that Naruto was about to pull out a crucial document, the one that contained a photo of him without his mask.
"Kamui!"
With precise use of Kamui, a hole appeared in the document folder.
By the time Naruto pulled it out, the part with the photo was already gone.
Kakashi let out a sigh of relief.
Naruto didn't care whether the photo was there or not. He was just surprised to see Kakashi.
But only for a moment, then realization hit him, and he turned to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, see? I told you Kakashi-sensei likes Utatane Koharu. I gave him a photo of her bathing, and he immediately abandoned Granny Chiyo and came back!"
"… "
I never even left Konoha!
Kakashi felt helpless, but for the sake of the bigger picture, he had to endure it.
So he chose silence… and effectively accepted it.
"Sasuke, Naruto, do you know what crime stealing classified files is?"
Kakashi walked over and asked helplessly.
"Is it the same as stealing the Scroll of Seals?"
Naruto asked cautiously.
"Not quite."
Kakashi shook his head.
The importance of the Scroll of Seals was far greater than ninja personnel files.
"Then it's fine. Sasuke, let's keep looking."
Naruto immediately relaxed and motioned for Sasuke to continue.
"…"
"What exactly are you trying to find? Why not just ask me directly instead of digging through all this?"
Kakashi let out a long sigh.
He didn't try to stop them by force.
He knew his limits.
Right now, Naruto and Sasuke were like two children holding super explosive tags.
If he made the first move, they might just take revenge for the bell test and hit him with a few Thousand Years of Death techniques.
"Found it!"
Sasuke ignored Naruto and Kakashi's conversation and kept scanning through the files. Finally, he found a suitable candidate.
The main reason was that one keyword immediately caught his eye.
[Uchiha]
Since Kakashi had a Sharingan eye, it made sense that he had connections with the Uchiha after all!
(End of this chapter)