Yamato

Within the Water Wall, Yuzuru Hyuga stood with his arms folded, speaking confidently in a clear voice. "There's no need to attack me, just as I have no intention of doing anything to you."

"Since you're unwilling to believe me—or rather, don't dare believe me—then let's make an agreement first."

"If Orochimaru is genuinely sincere toward you, then when he arrives, his first instinct will surely be to take you with him or tell you where the children are."

"If, as I said, his intentions toward you are not so simple, then he will have only one purpose in coming here."

"To use your abilities to escape."

"You can send someone to watch me and this silver-haired, bad-tempered fellow. If either of us tips him off, you can fight us then."

"This is the best choice for you—I simply don't want to see your clan face the tragic future of extermination because you misplaced your trust in Orochimaru."

For some reason, one of those words struck Gota Iburi. His face darkened as he waved a hand, signaling his clansmen to calm down.

Kakashi dispelled the Water Wall and let out a breath of relief, but he also made up his mind: it seemed he needed to learn more ninjutsu later.

Before this, Kakashi's fighting style had been rather simple. He wielded a blade and slashed; if that could not cut through, he used Lightning Blade. Most people could not withstand his three moves, especially since his tactical awareness was exceptionally strong. With just a few ninjutsu, he could achieve the greatest tactical results, so he had never cared much about building up a broad repertoire of ninjutsu.

After all, with the Sharingan limiting his chakra, there was only so much he could do. Even if he learned more ninjutsu, he would not be able to use many of them.

But now, he felt that knowing something and not needing to use it was one thing. Not knowing it at all was another.

Gota Iburi stared darkly at Yuzuru Hyuga, his voice trembling slightly. "I agree."

He took a deep breath, seemingly making some important decision. "If you are lying, then after Lord Orochimaru leaves, I will kill you myself."

"Sorry." Yuzuru Hyuga looked puzzled, tilting his head slightly. "I only showed goodwill because I couldn't bear to watch your clan vanish like this."

"What gave you the illusion that I have no way to deal with you?"

Yuzuru Hyuga narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly. "To be honest, I spotted you with my Byakugan before I came in, and had my companion's two summoned beasts standing by. As long as he dismisses one of them, the other will send a warning to Konoha."

Kakashi froze inwardly. Seeing Yuzuru Hyuga's calm, assured demeanor, he instinctively gave the matter serious thought for a moment. I don't think I summoned any ninja hounds, did I?

Yet at that moment, he remained calm and impassive. When Yuzuru Hyuga mentioned the summoned beasts, he even seemed to nod slightly without realizing it, using his body language to corroborate his words.

"It was not you who gave me an opportunity."

Yuzuru Hyuga's glasses gleamed with a faint, cold light inside the cave. "I gave you an opportunity."

"Even using only that Rotation from earlier would be enough for me to break out of this tree hollow unharmed. Your clan's abilities may be strange, but as long as I don't confront you head-on and am determined to leave, the speed at which smoke moves is far inferior to my Body Flicker Technique."

"Put away your useless arrogance and your delusions born from living at the bottom of a well. This is a moment that concerns the survival of your entire clan!"

Gota Iburi fell silent for a moment and turned to look at the other clansmen. Yet Yuzuru Hyuga's words—"clan extermination"—continued to linger in his mind, leaving him unable to make up his mind. In the end, he could only say coldly, "What do you want to do?"

"You wait for Orochimaru. I'll make my heroic entrance."

"If Orochimaru does not tear off his own mask, there is no way you will trust me wholeheartedly, right?"

"Of course, to prevent anyone from tipping Orochimaru off."

Yuzuru Hyuga's gaze turned cold as he looked toward the corner behind the crowd.

"Kakashi, leave your defeated opponent to you."

Yamato—or rather, the young Root ninja still named Kinoe—slowly stepped out of the tree hollow. Looking at Yuzuru Hyuga and Kakashi in the distance, he fell silent.

At the same time, a young girl leaped out and stood in front of him. "What exactly are you trying to do?!"

She stared warily at Yuzuru Hyuga, who looked far younger than herself. She had already heard everything he said from the shadows, and now she shouted, "I won't believe what you say! The others—the other clansmen aren't dead!"

"Then why don't you ask the person beside you? Perhaps he knows better than we do whether those children are dead or alive."

Yuzuru Hyuga merely smiled faintly. Beneath his glasses, his Byakugan seemed to see through the conflicted heart of the young man.

Yamato remained silent. It was not that he could not lie. Having been raised in Root, he knew full well that shinobi should stop at nothing to accomplish their goals. But facing the hopeful, trusting eyes of the girl before him, he simply could not bring himself to utter a lie so lightly.

He was one of the test subjects who had been "experimented on" alongside those Iburi Clan children.

Only he had survived. Only he had survived.

He recalled the girl he had once seen through the nutrient fluid and glass cover of a cultivation tank. That girl looked eighty percent similar to the one before him; perhaps she had even been something like her sister.

During those sunless days of experimentation, he had endured one lonely day after another by looking at that girl's peaceful, unconscious face.

Facing the girl's question now was like facing the girl who had floated in the cultivation tank opposite him all those years ago. How could he possibly shamelessly open his mouth and deceive these people?

He had already heard the truth from Yuzuru Hyuga, and he had begun to question what this mission was truly for. Helping Orochimaru escape—why did they have to do that?

Yamato's silence gave the girl her answer.

She staggered back several steps in disbelief, nearly tripping over the uneven ground in the dim tree hollow. Tears streamed down her face. "I don't believe it!"

"Chief Gota, they're lying, right?" Her words received no agreement.

The Iburi Clan members stared directly at Yamato with angry, suspicious, icy gazes.

The young man who had been welcomed moments ago because he carried Root's secret letter was now being watched by many with gazes as cold and sharp as knives.

"You... do you know something?"

The middle-aged woman from the Iburi Clan who had initially impulsively wanted to attack Yuzuru Hyuga asked in a trembling voice.

She staggered toward Yamato. "You... have you seen my child?"

"She should be the same age as you now. She should be the same age as you!"

"Have you seen her?"

"She was very cute, with big eyes, and..."

She desperately tried to describe her daughter's features, only to realize that because she had not seen her for so long, aside from those beautiful, sunny eyes that curved like crescents when she smiled, she no longer knew what else to say.

How had her face changed as she grew up? Had the baby fat faded away?

"I'm sorry!" Yamato could no longer bear the pressure and lowered his head. "I... don't know."

"You do! You clearly know!"

The woman turned into mist as if possessed, about to rush into his body. "I'm going to Konoha to see her!"

Gota Iburi likewise transformed into smoke and blocked her path. "Calm down, Qinzi!"

The woman became white smoke, rolling frantically through the tree hollow. In the end, she leaned against the wall and took human form again—a helpless woman covering her mouth, burying her face against the wall, and letting out muffled sobs.

At this point, the dust had settled.

Yuzuru Hyuga merely calmly removed his glasses and put his mask back on.

"Finished changing?" Kakashi looked at him evenly.

Yuzuru Hyuga turned his head in confusion, only to hear Kakashi murmur faintly, "So, that bad-tempered silver-haired guy you mentioned earlier... were you talking about me?"

"Kakashi, you've always been very gentle in my eyes." Their quiet exchange beneath their masks failed to draw the attention of the Iburi Clan, who were all immersed in grief and indignation, relentlessly interrogating the innocent Yamato.

Heartache? Grief?

For Kakashi—a man who had lost his father at a young age, accidentally pierced Rin's heart with his own hand, and still carried Obito's Sharingan in his right eye—he had long since learned to keep a straight face no matter how violently his heart churned in the face of such tragedies.

But he worried that all this might weigh too heavily on Yuzuru Hyuga, so he spoke up, hoping to ease his mood.

Yet he found that Yuzuru Hyuga seemed far more mature than he had imagined.

Yuzuru Hyuga might never grow accustomed to tragedies like this, but he had likewise grown used to accepting reality with an even mind—before one had the power to change such things, emotions were nothing more than useless restraints.

Would crying in each other's arms with them change what had already happened?

No. Only by enduring it, staring at it, remembering it, bearing all of it, and moving forward—turning it all into nourishment until he soared through the skies—could he one day use his own strength to blot out the heavens and cover the earth, then reshape the world!

"Nicely done."

Kakashi suddenly said.

"Mm, I know." Yuzuru Hyuga smiled faintly, then spoke softly. "Unfortunately, the worst is still to come."

Kakashi looked at the silent Yamato, who was being subjected to the Iburi Clan's "soul interrogation." After thinking for a long time, he ultimately decided to ask the little brat beside him for his opinion. "What do you think... of that guy?"

"I think your idea is a good one." Yuzuru Hyuga had clearly known all along that Kakashi had let Yamato off earlier, allowing him to escape safely when he attacked Third.

What a perceptive guy, Kakashi thought with a sigh. But Yuzuru's next words made him fall into thought.

"That child who has never seen the light mistook Danzo's insignificant glimmer for the sun that would shine on him forever. How pitiful."

"Go on, gentle Senior Kakashi. Melt him with your kindness. With that prematurely aged face of his, maybe in another two years, he'll be able to openly buy Make-Out Paradise for you."

"...I'm not interested in that book. Besides, I think you're better at melting people's hearts with kindness than I am."

"Really? I was thinking of finding a copy to give you for your birthday next year."

"..."

What was he supposed to do? Kakashi found himself at an impasse.

"And besides, my kindness is an act."

As Yuzuru Hyuga spoke, he gently shook his head, revealing a rare, childlike manner.

Kakashi turned to look at him, seriously studying the calm eyes beneath his mask for once.

Turning back, the proud silver-haired youth who rarely voiced his true feelings gave this person he had once found somewhat irritating a rare, heartfelt assessment. "Some things can't be faked."

"Really? Is my acting really that good?" Yuzuru Hyuga sounded utterly incredulous.

Hatake Kakashi sighed and adjusted his face mask, covering his face more securely. His voice sounded somewhat muffled beneath his mask. "Tell me, in two years, will that guy really be able to openly buy Make-Out Paradise?"

And so, the two began discussing Yamato's prematurely aged face. Only when Yamato had been questioned by the Iburi Clan to the point that his soul was nearly leaving his body, and he was about to be beaten by the crowd, did they tacitly stop talking.

Yuzuru Hyuga stepped forward and said loudly, "He's only a child too."

"As for the final answer, let Orochimaru give it to you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the members of the Iburi Clan all turned to look at him. Then, their complicated gazes met, and they came to a decision.

"Young ninja of Konoha."

"Yuzuru Hyuga. Just call me Yuzuru."

"Yuzuru Hyuga, what should we do?"

Gota Iburi sighed. Exhaustion and sorrow were impossible to hide in his eyes as he actually asked the boy before him to make the decision for him.

Yuzuru Hyuga merely smiled. "Leave it to me."