"Hah... looks like I'm not the only one who understands the intelligence advantage."
Standing in place, Kakashi let out a breath and dropped his fighting stance. One hand reached up to pull his forehead protector back down over his left eye—a clear signal he was done performing.
Whatever else was true, this one fight had shown Kakashi the degree of coordination between his three students.
The commander was undoubtedly Hinata. He'd already witnessed plenty of the pale-eyed girl's methods on set, but today proved that her touch was just as precise when directing combat operations.
As the ones carrying out her orders, Naruto and Sasuke could follow directions perfectly well—to a point. But neither of them, regardless of which one, possessed the kind of "wisdom" to abandon a comrade.
"Since I'm going to be your teacher, I have a responsibility to teach you the one principle I hold above all others."
Kakashi looked at the three of them standing together, his expression complicated. "In the shinobi handbook, someone who breaks the rules is called trash—because shinobi are, by definition, tools that exist to complete missions. But in my personal handbook... someone who abandons their comrades is worse than trash. The three of you already possess considerable strength, but what earned you a pass on my test wasn't your power. It was the way you refused to leave each other behind. So—"
He straightened up, and genuine sincerity entered his voice: "Congratulations on passing. From today, you are full-fledged shinobi."
"Huh? Then what about the bell test?"
Naruto blinked, still struggling to catch up. Kakashi nodded with trademark impudence: "Just a smokescreen. You really are an idiot, huh?"
"Argh! You jerk! And what the hell was that horrible genjutsu you hit me with?!"
"Oh? What did you see?"
"Uh... well... that's..."
Watching the battle's conclusion through his crystal ball, the Third Hokage inside the Hokage Building gave a quiet nod of satisfaction. He'd been observing from the start, and Kakashi's stringent pass-fail standard was one he endorsed.
"I never imagined they could push Kakashi that far. What kind of techniques are those three using? Isn't Hiashi going to explain himself?"
The ones watching alongside the Third were Konoha's current elders—Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. As seasoned veterans of the shinobi world, they could read Kakashi's condition far more clearly than most.
"For that matter, we never approved of letting the Nine-Tails jinchūriki become a shinobi in the first place. And we recommended placing the Uchiha boy under monitored confinement. You insisted on letting them reach this point—do you understand what that means?"
Homura pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his gaze severe. "Fresh out of the Academy, and the three of them can already challenge an elite Jōnin as a team. Given time, they'll inevitably become extraordinarily powerful shinobi. If they lose control, do you have any idea how serious the consequences will be? Hiruzen?!"
"I'm well aware. But the fundamental purpose behind creating jinchūriki—surely you two haven't forgotten?"
Having deliberately given these two stubborn elders their opening, the Third naturally had his own rebuttal prepared. The aged Hokage raised his head, eyes as sharp as in his youth. "Jinchūriki—by definition, these people are cages that imprison tailed beasts. But they are also specialized shinobi developed specifically to harness that power for their communities. Their mission has always been to wield tailed-beast strength on behalf of their own people. The Fourth Mizukage Yagura was the finest example of this—and in every other Hidden Village, jinchūriki who can effectively use their tailed beast's power have always existed. There is no reason Konoha should possess the strongest tailed beast's jinchūriki and leave that power sitting idle."
The Third Hokage's words were cold and pragmatic, but they laid bare the fundamental logic behind jinchūriki's creation.
Long before the Hidden Villages existed, tailed beasts were simply dangerous entities roaming the wilds. Their terrifying power inspired both fear and envy across the shinobi world, and attempts to capture and tame them were hardly rare—though all had failed for one reason or another.
It wasn't until the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, arrived with sage power that a viable method emerged. He proposed using jinchūriki to effectively harness tailed-beast power, and in the name of peace, distributed the nine tailed beasts among the various villages. His wife, Mito Uzumaki, became the first jinchūriki capable of suppressing the Nine-Tails.
Jinchūriki were, in essence, strategic weapons belonging to their respective villages. The risk of losing control was real, but the destructive force a tailed beast could unleash when properly wielded was beyond imagination.
Konoha currently sat on the most powerful of the nine tailed beasts—yet couldn't use that power. It was an agonizing waste.
"Are you serious? Even if Naruto shares the Uzumaki bloodline, he could never match Lady Mito Uzumaki!"
Koharu was clearly agitated, but the Third simply raised a hand to adjust the brim of his hat with quiet confidence. "It's far too early to say. We need to give it time—time for those children to prove themselves, and time for us to think carefully. Both are necessary."
"After all, the future belongs to the next generation. We must have some faith in them."
Light and shadow had always coexisted. On Konoha's side, the newest class of genin had earned their teachers' approval and become true shinobi, ready to fight for the future of the shinobi world.
Elsewhere, the rogue shinobi who made up Akatsuki were equally hard at work.
"Ahhh! Including today's target, that's every last electronics factory in the Land of Lightning officially 'shut down due to unforeseen circumstances'!"
Standing atop a clay bird, Deidara struck the final mark off his map and exhaled with gusto. Below him, an electronics factory still blazed merrily. Compared to being cooped up indoors making figures all day, getting out for a bit of demolition was a welcome change of pace.
Sasori sat on a second clay bird nearby, paging contentedly through a new art book and speaking with total indifference: "If you're done, hurry back. Tonight at seven is episode two of Fox Tales. Miss the broadcast and you'll have to wait for the videotape and reruns. I hate waiting."
Fox Tales was still only airing inside Konoha and a handful of larger towns across the Land of Fire, but for Akatsuki's members, setting up a false identity and temporarily settling in a town with reception was no challenge at all.
[Nicely done. Effective immediately, the factory-destruction campaign is on hold. You two are free to rest.]
In the Hidden Rain Village, Pain stood atop a statue's head and coolly acknowledged his subordinates' efforts. For once, the rain had stopped. Below him, throngs of industrious villagers and shinobi were hauling massive quantities of factory components under organized direction. A small fraction of this equipment had been purchased cheaply on the black market, but most had been looted outright from the destroyed factories.
Being rogue shinobi meant that outside of missions, the rules you had to follow were remarkably few.
"Mm, that should just about complete the assembly line."
Inspecting the factory's interior, Kakuzu studied the assembly blueprints with satisfaction. With a permanent village providing support, building factories was trivial—the Hidden Rain Village had more than enough space and manpower to sustain operations effortlessly.
Naturally, keeping costs to an absolute minimum still required the personal oversight of Akatsuki's finance director.
"Man, it's been kinda boring lately. I'm seriously itching to kill something. Stuck in this dump day after day—I feel like I'm going moldy!"
Hidan lounged against his scythe, visibly restless. For a man whose entire identity revolved around slaughter, maintenance work was a poor fit.
"Relax. The electronics factory can be built here in the Hidden Rain, but Deidara and Sasori's figure workshop can't be located in the same place. Pain has already arranged your next assignment."
Konan materialized overhead in a flurry of paper flowers. As Pain's messenger, her words carried his authority.
"Oh? What's the job? Killing people?"
Hidan sprang to his feet, interest piqued, and licked his lips with bloodthirsty relish. "Fair warning—I'm seriously about to snap."
"Heh. Don't worry. This one gives you plenty of freedom."
She produced a map and handed it to Kakuzu. "To find a suitable location for the figure workshop, Pain has drawn up a list of smaller nations. You and Hidan will investigate them one by one—geography, labor pool, political situation, trade routes—and determine which is best suited as a production site."
"Hmm, I see. Manpower, terrain, government, logistics—check each one in person, correct?"
Kakuzu raised an eyebrow as he accepted the map. "Fine by me. I could use a few bounty hunts to unwind."
"Then we'll leave it to you."
"Please identify the most suitable location within one month."