Meanwhile, at Kakashi's house.
"Heh..."
Kakashi set down the brush and looked at the bathtub, now scrubbed spotless and practically gleaming. Yet instead of his usual sense of accomplishment, he let out a long sigh.
"I have to ask—how did delivering things all over the village turn into keeping watch on me when it came to my place?"
After that long sigh, he could not help looking out the window at the bare tree in the yard beneath the gloomy sky, and at the boy crouching on one of its branches, watching him put down the brush.
"I was just so engrossed that I was studying the art of scrubbing bathtubs."
The boy crouching in the tree answered with both complete shamelessness and utmost seriousness.
"Who are you trying to fool...?"
Kakashi's face nearly twitched, and his voice was full of helplessness.
"I couldn't help it. Don't take it too seriously."
Seeing that Kakashi clearly did not believe his earlier excuse, the boy changed his tune.
"What couldn't you help...?"
Kakashi casually tossed the towel from his shoulder aside, looked at the boy on the tree trunk, and curled his lip in disbelief.
"This was an assignment from Teacher Kushina. If you don't go when the time comes, I won't be able to bear the consequences."
The boy sounded equally helpless. "If Teacher Kushina hadn't repeatedly insisted that it had to be you, I wouldn't have had to waste all this Chakra."
"So even after cycling through two batches of Shadow Clone Jutsu, you know enough to feel bad for your Chakra?"
Kakashi's lips twitched again as he replied flatly.
"What two batches? There was only one batch, okay? Even this little bit pains me."
Hearing Kakashi's dry jab, the boy answered with absolute seriousness, sincerity practically shining from his