The Choice Has Been Made

During the battle, Kakashi had undoubtedly gone up against their leader—a ninja capable of using Wood Release.

Wood Release had been Hashirama Senju's specialty. He had once suppressed an entire era through his own strength alone. As the saying went, a man's reputation was like a tree's shadow. Even though the masked ninja before him looked about the same height as Kakashi and seemed to be a teenager, Kakashi did not let down his guard in the slightest.

Still, he knew perfectly well that the person before him most likely came from Root.

For certain reasons, Kakashi wanted to spare his opponent's life.

After all, to Konoha, a ninja capable of using Wood Release meant many things.

Even if he came from Root, Kakashi believed he might not be beyond redemption.

After their surprise attack failed, Root knew their plan to assassinate the Third had failed as well. Especially when the battle had already begun and yet the Third was still nowhere to be seen, they understood an even harsher truth.

Run, or die.

While their leader was held back by Kakashi, the other Root ninjas quickly began suffering casualties.

The ambushers had been ambushed instead. The Root ninjas had never imagined things would turn out this way.

What surprised—and horrified—them even more was that the intelligence error had come from Yuzuru Hyuga.

"Gentle Fist!"

The blue chakra waves were like bullets with an aimbot locked onto their targets. They covered the Root ninjas across the battlefield with astonishing precision, and their power was equally terrifying.

Unlike Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, which was limited in range, Yuzuru Hyuga's Gentle Fist waves could travel extremely far, as fast as thrown Kunai. Worse still, while distance reduced the damage of his Gentle Fist, it could not weaken its special effect—blocking chakra points.

By himself, he had become a humanoid mobile machine gun firing numbing bullets across the battlefield. Wherever his Gentle Fist chakra reached, Root ninjas could only avoid its edge.

They had no choice. The other ANBU were not useless either. In battle, a single second of hesitation could mean death, let alone being afflicted by the numbing effect of Gentle Fist!

"Take him down first!"

The Root ninjas realized something. If they could not restrain Yuzuru Hyuga, they would all be left here. There would be no chance to escape under the blanket bombardment of Gentle Fist.

Did the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm have such an obnoxious restraining effect?

They did not know, but two of them tacitly broke away and attacked Yuzuru Hyuga together.

As long as they stopped Yuzuru Hyuga from leisurely controlling the battlefield from behind his teammates, the other Root ninjas would have a chance to escape!

"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The two high-level ninjutsu were unleashed almost simultaneously. With the help of Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, the terrifying flames surged toward Yuzuru Hyuga in the blink of an eye, becoming a towering sea of fire.

"We hit him!"

Their voices carried suppressed delight. They had not expected the attack to land directly. They could see clearly that, within the flames, a figure seemed to be painfully turning to charcoal.

Several ANBU's expressions changed slightly, but in the next instant, they saw a youth's figure dropping from above.

Substitution: Shadow Fold!

This strange Substitution Technique combined effects similar to a Shadow Clone, often confusing uninformed opponents into making the wrong judgment.

And on the battlefield, what happened when one made the wrong judgment?

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Before Yuzuru Hyuga even landed, his hands had already assumed their stance.

An invisible Eight Trigrams domain seemed to shroud the surroundings. The targets under his Byakugan's gaze were the two Root ninjas whose reactions had slowed slightly.

"Two Palms!"

With both hands spread wide, the dark-blue chakra in Yuzuru Hyuga's palms struck both men squarely in the chest. In an instant, their scalps tingled. The youth's white eyes were like congealed frost, flashing with a terrifying radiance like the Death Star.

Gentle Fist chakra struck the vital chakra points in their chests with perfect accuracy. In an instant, the chakra throughout their bodies ceased circulating and froze.

"Eight Palms!"

"Sixteen Palms!"

"Thirty-Two Palms!"

In the air, unending chakra-wave punches, swift as a tide, formed a blue barrage that wildly surged up and down, blasting toward the two ninjas' chests.

"Sixty-Four Palms!"

It was called sixty-four, but Yuzuru Hyuga had actually launched well over a hundred clusters of Gentle Fist chakra. He slowly exhaled. The chests of the two Root ninjas had already caved in. Before their chests collapsed, their hearts had been shattered by Gentle Fist chakra.

Like wooden stakes blasted apart, they swayed before crashing to the ground, lifeless.

It would not have hurt much, because before the pain could reach their brains, their bodies had already been numbed beyond all sensation.

Yuzuru Hyuga watched everything indifferently, his heart unexpectedly calm. Perhaps it was because, long before this happened, he had imagined this scene—or scenes countless times more brutal than this—happening around him over and over in his mind.

More than the shocking sight of two "Konoha comrades" dying, what concerned Yuzuru Hyuga more was his system.

Killed a ninja. Free experience +1299.

Killed a ninja. Free experience +1320.

Assisted in killing a Root ninja. Free experience +370.

Assist.

Battle concluded. In this surprise attack, not only did you assist your teammates in controlling the overall situation, you also completed an excellent double kill—clean and decisive! Free experience +1029.

That was an absurd amount of experience!

They were only two Jonin-level opponents, yet each had provided him with over a thousand points of free experience.

And assists counted too.

What was more, judging from the system's final message, outstanding performances in battle even earned additional experience rewards!

If he could truly fight an exceptionally beautiful, exhilarating battle on a battlefield or during a mission, then a single battle might earn him as much free experience as one or two months of training!

"Well done."

An ANBU praised him quietly. He had never seen anyone from the Hyuga Clan perform so brilliantly in battle.

This strange and unique Gentle Fist had also left a deep impression on them. It had practically mutated overnight; no one had ever used it this way before.

He had forcibly turned Gentle Fist, a purely close-quarters taijutsu, into a mid-to-long-range, wide-area battlefield control technique. In close combat, it displayed even more terrifying melee power than an ordinary Hyuga's.

Combined with Rotation, the Hyuga Clan's famous "absolute defense," some ninjas could not help falling into thought—was this genius not a little too flawless already?

"Mission complete. Return to Konoha and rendezvous with the Third before setting out again."

Kakashi arrived belatedly.

Just as Yuzuru Hyuga had beaten down the two Root ninjas, Kakashi had finished his battle with Yamato—or rather, the Wood Release ninja still called "Kino" at the moment. Kakashi had held back and had not used Lightning Blade to blow off Yamato's head. Instead, he had spared him for the sake of his Wood Release.

It was hard to imagine that Danzo, a man who constantly claimed to act for Konoha, would use such a precious Wood Release ninja as a disposable assassin to attack the Third. Yet Kakashi, who had always been known for his coldness, had spared his opponent for the greater good.

Only then did the other ANBU, who had been farther away from the Third, learn that the Third, who had remained missing all this time, had actually returned to Konoha alone.

Perhaps the Third knew better than anyone who the mastermind was.

Kakashi let out a long breath.

He pulled down his mask slightly, concealing his Sharingan as he glanced at Yuzuru Hyuga. "Not bad."

Without waiting for Yuzuru Hyuga to respond, he was the first to turn and head back toward Konoha.

But Yuzuru Hyuga followed after him and said meaningfully, "Do you think the Third knows who attacked him?"

Kakashi did not answer.

"Then do you think the mastermind will pay the price?"

Kakashi frowned slightly and turned to Yuzuru Hyuga. "What are you trying to say?"

Yuzuru Hyuga only smiled faintly. "I was just curious. If the mastermind this time is one of our own, and even a murderer like that can be forgiven, then what about Konoha White Fang back then—"

"Remain silent while carrying out a mission." Kakashi's rebuking tone was somewhat harsh.

His cold eyes carried a heavy warning, brimming with killing intent.

Yuzuru Hyuga blinked beneath his mask. There was no need to say more. He knew his goal had been achieved.

For Kakashi—

As long as he remained in Konoha,

As long as he still held hope and love for this village, there was one cruel reality he could never avoid.

Konoha White Fang.

Kakashi's mood worsened by the moment. Merely hearing the words Konoha White Fang caused facts he had tried desperately to forget to resurface in his mind.

That strong father, that powerful father, the father no enemy could defeat, who had been invincible on the battlefield—could he truly have been so fragile that mere doubts and insults from ordinary people in the village drove him to suicide?

Of course not!

Kakashi remained silent. Deep down, he had long had his suspicions about the matter and had even grasped part of the truth. But what could that change?

What could he possibly do?

The reason his father had chosen death to prove his conviction, rather than defecting from Konoha in anger or drawing his blade to question why Konoha's higher-ups allowed the rumors to keep spreading—

Was because, until his death, he had loved this village! He had his own belief in the Will of Fire. He believed that one day, Konoha's people would understand that his suicide had been a glorious martyrdom.

He would rather die than fail to prove to Konoha's people what the Will of Fire was meant to be.

What exactly had the Will of Fire his father believed in been?

Kakashi's thoughts were in turmoil.

He had not considered these questions in a long time. It was not because he was heartless, but because there was simply no answer that could satisfy both sides, nor was there any solution.

All he could do was keep moving forward, one step at a time. Where would he have to go? What destination would reveal the answer? He did not know. But now that he had lost everything, he truly lacked the courage to think any further, because every path of thought eventually led to destruction—either his own destruction, or—

He did not know how long he remained lost in thought before suddenly looking up. He glanced to his side and met a pair of smiling white eyes.

This brat.

What exactly was he thinking?

Kakashi withdrew his gaze and suddenly sneered inwardly.

He had nearly fallen for the kid's trap.

His eyes turned cold as he met Yuzuru Hyuga's gaze again. There was none of the care or gentleness he had previously shown as a "senior."

Seeing this, Yuzuru Hyuga's smile only grew brighter.

Kakashi.

As long as there were obsessions he could not let go of and problems he could not solve,

There was still a spark in his heart, and one day, it would ignite.

The group returned to Konoha in silence. Meanwhile, the Third, already within Konoha, had unsurprisingly made his choice.

PS: Since everyone has differing opinions on Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, I will establish it myself after considering the feedback and make it more reasonable. If you have a different interpretation, just treat it as my own alternate setting.