Kakashi: Ever Since I Was Little, My Mom Told Me

"Extracting the Nine-Tails from Naruto's body would be effortless for me. I would only need to summon the moving toilet, and I could easily pull the Tailed Beast out of Naruto."

"But... that would cause Naruto extremely severe damage. Even with the Uzumaki Clan constitution, which would keep him from dying after the extraction, he would still be completely crippled."

Naruto had been listening to them with anticipation.

If the Demon Fox inside him could be extracted, could the fact that he was the perennial dead last be changed?

More importantly, would the people in the village acknowledge him more?

"Then what do we do? The Emperor said that the Ashura and Indra of this world cannot come to any harm..."

"Don't worry. I won't lay a hand on an innocent child like Naruto either. Let me study this first!"

As Nagato spoke, he curled his fingers and pressed his hand against Naruto's stomach.

Naruto jumped at Nagato's sudden movement. His body instinctively tried to dodge, but he was restrained.

The moment Nagato's hand touched Naruto, Naruto felt a strange force flow from Nagato's palm and seep through his skin into his body.

That force was not powerful, yet it filled Naruto with an inexplicable fear, as though something was being pulled out of his body.

As Nagato's hand continued moving across Naruto's stomach, Naruto felt that strange force grow increasingly intense. At the same time, an indescribable pain spread from within him.

It was not physical pain, but a stabbing agony from the depths of his soul that made him want to scream.

Yet Naruto gritted his teeth tightly and endured it without making a sound.

I'm going to become Hokage! What does a little pain and grievance count for?

Besides, he did not want Kakashi to worry too much.

Nagato seemed to notice Naruto's reaction, but he was at the crucial point of entering the sealing space within Naruto's body. He could not hesitate.

Naruto finally could not endure any longer and let out a low groan. His face turned pale as paper, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his body began to tremble slightly.

Hearing that they were concerned about Naruto and would not harm him, Kakashi could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But when he thought of how they might take the Nine-Tails away once they developed a method to extract it—

By then, even if the Hidden Leaf Village avoided further conflict with these people, losing the deterrent force of the Nine-Tails would likely mean the other ninja villages would not let the matter rest.

After all, the Hidden Leaf Village had always been a juicy target in the eyes of the other villages. Now that it had lost the powerful deterrence of the Nine-Tails, they would certainly exploit the weakness.

If that happened, the Hidden Leaf Village would once again be plunged into war.

At that thought, Kakashi frowned deeply.

Nagato had pressed his hand against Naruto's Eight Trigrams Sealing Style and entered a meditative state.

Naruto's head drooped as well, as though Nagato had brought him into the sealing space.

The night was long, so the others sat there and chatted idly.

Even Sasuke stopped clamoring to return to the Genjutsu to stimulate his Sharingan. As he gnawed on the grilled fish Sakura had picked the bones from, he was filled with longing for the so-called Empire.

"Teacher, what exactly is this Empire you speak of? Naruto is already so strong, so what about me?"

It was impossible for Sasuke to have no competitive feelings at all. A young man's pride made him curious about how talented he was in the Empire.

"Teacher sounds kind of strange. Just call me Sensei! As for the Empire... heh, it's too prosperous. I don't even know where to begin. Once the Cross-Dimensional Channel between our worlds stabilizes, I'll send you there for elementary school!"

"As for you in the Empire..."

"Like Naruto, you've already surpassed Kage-level and reached the Six Paths-level. But as for the specifics, I honestly can't tell."

Obito racked his brains but could not think of a fitting description.

"Six Paths? Then have I awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Sasuke asked curiously.

The Sasuke of that world was the same age as him, right? With such terrifying Genjutsu training methods and the Uchiha Body Tempering Technique, he should have awakened the Sharingan long ago. Sasuke just did not know what stage he had reached by now.

"Mangekyo? Heh, I admit I'm a genius among the Uchiha, but the you from that world is even more of a genius!"

"Our Empire's Sasuke awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan at eight and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan at twelve!"

"Poor me, the number one genius of the older Uchiha generation. Even now, I've only awakened the Eternal Mangekyo, and only in one eye..."

Watching Obito boast shamelessly while Sasuke actually believed him, Kakashi could not help feeling contemptuous.

"Pah! Shameless!"

Kakashi muttered.

"Kakashi! What did you say?"

"I said that I'm truly fortunate to have a genius partner like you!"

Obito proudly raised his head at those words.

"See? Even Kakashi, the Empire's super genius, praises me like this. Sasuke, do you understand how strong your teacher is now?"

Sasuke nodded repeatedly.

"Sensei! Being able to take you as my master is truly my blessing!"

Sasuke had wanted to ask whether his family was still alive in that world, but Kakashi spoke and interrupted him.

"You said... Kakashi is a super genius in the Empire?"

Kakashi looked toward the Kakashi who was staring at Make-Out Paradise. At last, he felt a trace of curiosity toward the Empire they had described.

"That's right. Kakashi's swordsmanship and Five Elements Ninjutsu are famous throughout the Empire. Setting aside clans like ours with Kekkei Genkai, Kakashi can be considered the ceiling for ordinary people!"

"If anyone had to be compared with him, there would only be a handful."

Obito was far more excited talking about Kakashi than he was talking about himself.

Mainly because he truly had nothing much to talk about when it came to himself!

"Can you tell me about the me from your world?"

Kakashi was somewhat curious. His years of work in the Anbu had long made him unflappable, but now that he knew about parallel universes, and that Sasuke and Naruto were both powerful in that world, while his counterpart and Obito were there as well, he was now a prisoner anyway. He might as well open up and gossip a little.

This counted as gathering intelligence too!

Kakashi comforted himself that way.

"Our Empire's Kakashi... his life can be described as a model textbook!"

"Kakashi became a Jonin at six and attended Ninja University. At eight, he became an Elite Jonin. He mastered all the major courses and theoretical knowledge at Imperial University. While attending university, aside from studying theory, he also learned swordsmanship from the White Fang of Konoha. By twelve, his swordsmanship alone could contend against a Kage-level opponent!"

Kakashi and Sasuke were both left dumbfounded by Obito's words.

Good grief! Judging from the meaning behind those words, universities in their world were places of extremely high prestige. Yet Kakashi had graduated from one at twelve?

And without any Kekkei Genkai, he had become a Jonin at six? Comparable to Kage-level at twelve?

Kakashi felt a little embarrassed by Obito's introduction and finally put away Make-Out Paradise.

"Actually, my life was no different from anyone else's. It was very ordinary."

"When I was young, my family circumstances weren't very good. Ever since I was little, my mom told me that children from poor families grow up early."

"With my father and mother's care, I was only a little more hardworking than ordinary people. I followed in my father's footsteps and learned swordsmanship from him. My talent was only slightly better than others', and I happened to get into university. That's all."

Kakashi: "?"

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