Divine Artifact?

"It's over, Teacher Kakashi."

Watching the two of them leave, Kitagawa Gen was grumbling inwardly, but he finally relaxed.

This battle had been far more dangerous than he'd imagined.

If Itachi Uchiha hadn't been a two-faced bastard with misgivings, whether for his younger brother or for the village...

And if the effect of his own Purple Electricity hadn't been stunning enough, this probably really wouldn't have ended so easily!

"Yeah."

After confirming the two had truly left, Kakashi slumped to the ground.

Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

Even though he also had a Sharingan, the suppression the Mangekyō exerted over an ordinary Sharingan was truly beyond imagination!

"No wonder he was able to slaughter his entire clan by himself..."

Kakashi still felt a lingering fear. If Kitagawa Gen hadn't affected Itachi Uchiha at that critical moment, things likely would not have been optimistic.

Especially that purple current—it gave him an inexplicable feeling.

Only...

Kakashi glared at Kitagawa Gen, and his expression suddenly turned a little ugly.

"Didn't I tell you to run? Although you performed well, and even managed to bring out the technique you envisioned, still—"

"That's enough, Teacher Kakashi."

Before Kakashi could finish, Kitagawa Gen smiled and cut him off.

"Didn't we already fool them?"

"But have you thought about what would have happened if they hadn't been fooled?"

Kakashi shook his head and asked in a low voice.

"If this goes on, you're going to die!"

"But I couldn't just let Teacher Kakashi fall into danger."

However, Kitagawa Gen blinked, then slowly spoke with a smile.

"Maybe I didn't follow orders, but has Teacher Kakashi forgotten? Those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who don't cherish their comrades are worse than trash. All right, Teacher Kakashi, you rest first. I'll go see how our employer is doing."

After saying that, Kitagawa Gen quickly stood up, smiled at Kakashi, then headed straight for the sedan chair.

"That kid..."

Kakashi froze in place. He looked at Kitagawa Gen's back, his gaze somewhat indescribable.

To be honest, when he had encountered Biwa Juzo and Itachi Uchiha this time, he had truly felt things were about to go bad.

Because looking back over his fate from childhood until now, it was as if he had been destined to be alone.

When he was young, his father committed suicide, and he became an orphan outright.

After he grew up, close friends like Obito and Rin sacrificed themselves one after another in the war.

Later still, his teacher and his wife both passed away in the Nine-Tails' rampage...

During that period, he had sunk entirely into darkness, muddling through life and unable to find the road ahead. All he could do was numb himself by constantly carrying out missions.

If not for Guy and his other friends in Konoha helping him, he felt that his best outcome might have been dying during some Anbu mission.

And after leaving the Anbu, he could be considered to have met his first student.

In truth, at first, he hadn't taken it to heart, and after that student's other teammates entered the hospital, he had even wanted to give up.

But he hadn't expected that this student would, in the end, personally say the same words Obito had once used to admonish him.

And this encounter had proven even more that this student approved of those words from the bottom of his heart!

"But this time, my luck was pretty good. Nothing went wrong..."

Kakashi's gaze was a little dazed. The last person who had said those words had died on the battlefield after saving him.

And this time, the person who had also said those words had saved him too, but everything was different now.

Slowly, Kakashi's gaze recovered.

He lowered his forehead protector to cover the Sharingan, and the exposed eye curved into a crescent.

"Looks like this really is a new beginning..."

Side Quest completed: Light in Kakashi's Heart

Reward obtained: information on Divine Artifacts

Just as Kakashi's thoughts were running wild, new information also surfaced in Kitagawa Gen's mind.

Seeing the mission completed, Kitagawa Gen could only sigh. Obito Uchiha's words really were lethally effective against Kakashi!

Only when he saw this reward, his expression became especially strange again.

"What the hell is this?"

In his memory, these so-called Divine Artifacts seemed to be the things used by that pair of lunatic brothers from Hidden Cloud, right?

But after examining it carefully, he realized something was off!

"The Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror?"

Kitagawa Gen frowned. He remembered that these two things seemed to be the weapons of Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo.

If he remembered correctly, Itachi Uchiha had relied on the Totsuka Blade to cleanly seal away Orochimaru after he used the Eight Branches Technique.

And both of these things were in a Chakra state. He had always thought they were Susanoo's original weapons.

But looking at it now, it seemed things were a little different.

"Could these two so-called Divine Artifacts have originally been in a Chakra state, and only after Itachi Uchiha found them were they equipped onto his Susanoo?"

Thinking about it carefully, that really did seem possible!

Because when Itachi Uchiha used the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror, both Orochimaru, who was fighting him, and Black Zetsu, who was watching, recognized them.

Not only that, they even knew some of the abilities of these two Divine Artifacts!

"That means these two Divine Artifacts had actually existed in the ninja world for a long time, and had left behind plenty of legends."

Otherwise, those two, Orochimaru and Black Zetsu, couldn't possibly have known the details of these two Divine Artifacts the very first time Itachi Uchiha used them.

As for why these two Divine Artifacts had ultimately fallen into Itachi Uchiha's hands...

"Either that guy was lucky, or this information was already in the Uchiha Clan!"

At that thought, Kitagawa Gen's gaze changed slightly.

He didn't care about Divine Artifacts at all, but if the information on these two Divine Artifacts was truly connected to the Uchiha, then he was interested.

There was a high probability this meant that these two things either belonged to their ancestor, Indra, or...

"They were even once used by the Sage of Six Paths!"

No matter which it was, weapons in a Chakra state would inevitably have their user's Chakra left behind, and that Chakra might very likely help promote the development of Kitagawa Gen's bloodline!

Especially the Sage of Six Paths. If he really found something, Kitagawa Gen would be able to take quite a few shortcuts.

"And after they leave this time, they should also go back and report Kakashi's situation to Obito Uchiha, right?"

At this moment, Kitagawa Gen's eyes were full of light. Even though he didn't like Itachi Uchiha, he couldn't help murmuring.

"You really are a good person, Itachi Uchiha."

"Are you all right?"

In another part of the forest, Itachi Uchiha glanced at Biwa Juzo, whose body was still stiff, and asked with a frown.

"It's not a big problem, but I'll need to rest properly for a while..."

Biwa Juzo shook his head and spoke in extreme displeasure.

"I was careless. I rushed in without any intel on that kid, and that kid's Lightning Release really was unbelievable..."

He had been one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, after all. Although Biwa Juzo had been tricked by Kitagawa Gen...

Ninja used every means available. A loss was a loss, and he still acknowledged it.

What left the deepest impression on him now was still that purple lightning. That move had truly brought him no small shock!

"All I can say is, as expected of Kakashi Hatake's disciple. And Kakashi isn't simple either. Even after I used a Mangekyō Eye Technique, I still couldn't completely subdue him."

Itachi Uchiha nodded, then closed his eyes.

"Let's leave here first. I also need to rest properly. If Konoha's Anbu catch up, it'll be troublesome."

In truth, he wasn't sure whether those so-called Anbu reinforcements existed, but as a spy, he insisted that they did.

"Mm, let's go."

Biwa Juzo nodded as well. He moved his numb body slightly before speaking.

"What a pain. To think I was recognized by a brat. The mission failed. We'll report it to the others afterward..."

"After all, we ran into the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, as well as a genius ninja."