The Incredible Kakashi

Hearing Naruto say it so bluntly, Kakashi suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

Replace the Hokage?

This wasn't about someone becoming Hokage through the usual means.

It meant replacing him through some kind of extreme measure.

That kind of thought had no place in Konoha. It shouldn't even exist.

Kakashi almost reflexively tried to object.

He wanted to warn Naruto that such an idea was unrealistic and would invite unnecessary trouble.

But the words caught in his throat, as if something invisible had blocked them. He couldn't force them out.

Because of the Hyuga incident Naruto had brought up.

It was something Kakashi had never been able to accept deep down, either.

That humiliating choice to sacrifice a comrade in exchange for a brief peace ran completely counter to the belief Obito had once expressed: "Those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."

Kakashi had been powerless to change the Third Hokage's decision at the time, but he had never truly accepted it.

His lips moved slightly beneath his mask. In the end, Kakashi spoke in a low voice, with a rasp he hadn't even noticed himself. "Naruto... do you understand what you're saying? If the Anbu or other ninja hear you say something like that..."

"It's just us here, Teacher Kakashi."

Naruto cut off Kakashi before he could finish. His sapphire-blue eyes were clear, yet unfathomably deep. "Besides, you kept me behind. Isn't that because, deep down, you've already begun to sense it, too?"

"That the old way may no longer work."

"You followed my advice and presented this proposal to the Third Hokage. That means you're longing for some kind of change yourself, doesn't it?"

Kakashi fell silent.

He couldn't deny what Naruto had said.

After the survival exercise, he had indeed awakened as if from a dream and glimpsed a new possibility—a faint glimmer of hope that might prevent more tragedies from happening.

But turning that possibility into reality was far harder than he had imagined.

And far more...

Radical, even dangerous.

"Even if... you're right." Kakashi carefully considered what to say next, trying to reclaim the stance befitting a Konoha jonin. "Changing the system takes time. It needs to happen gradually, not through... such an extreme measure..."

"Time?" Naruto shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a hint of weariness and resolve. "Teacher Kakashi, time is the one thing I have the least of."

"Or rather, I can't afford to waste any more of it on endless waiting and compromise."

That was right. He had only five years.

If he waited for the so-called "right moment," he had no idea how long it would take.

Naruto couldn't afford to wait.

Of course, Kakashi couldn't understand that.

"Then... what are you planning to do?"

Kakashi's voice was hoarse as he asked.

There was a hint of hesitation in it, one he hadn't even noticed himself.

And a faint hope that he was reluctant to acknowledge.

Only now did Kakashi truly realize that his subordinate standing before him, Minato-sensei's son, was more than just exceptionally mature and gifted in combat.

He already had his own mature, well-thought-out ideas and plans.

No!

Naruto had openly laid all this out in front of him. Did that mean...

He had already started putting his plans into action?

Kakashi suddenly felt a chill at the thought.

"As for what I'll do... you'll understand when the Chunin Ninja Exams come around." Naruto looked at Kakashi, his gaze turning sharp. "Teacher Kakashi, before long, you'll have to make a choice."

"Will you keep following the old path laid out by the Third Hokage and watch the same tragedies happen again and again? Or... will you take a gamble and see whether I can bring about a completely different future?"

Kakashi fell silent once more.

He had called Naruto over, hoping the boy could help resolve his doubts—or even help persuade the Third Hokage. He hadn't expected Naruto not only to leave his questions unanswered,

but to push him into even deeper confusion and turmoil.

But...

As Naruto had said, could he really keep putting up with this?

Could he keep watching avoidable sacrifices happen again and again?

Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei, Kushina...

Their faces flashed through Kakashi's mind one by one, bringing with them a familiar ache.

Naruto seemed to have expected this reaction from Kakashi.

He didn't rush him or offer any further explanations.

Naruto simply smiled faintly and said, "Teacher Kakashi, I know you're confused right now. But I believe that after the Chunin Ninja Exams, you'll understand which path you should choose."

Without waiting for Kakashi to reply, Naruto turned and walked steadily toward home.

Kakashi stood alone, watching Naruto's figure recede into the distance. For a long time, he didn't move.

He had an unusually strong feeling that these Chunin Ninja Exams would be nothing like any of the previous ones. They would not pass quietly or peacefully.

"Man... to think Minato-sensei's kid would back me into a corner like this again..." Kakashi murmured, so softly that his words were almost inaudible.

Then he vanished in a flash.

Kakashi needed time to think through everything Naruto had said that day, alone.

Had Konoha really reached the point where it needed to seek change through such extreme measures?

Night fell, and Naruto returned home.

He took out a blank scroll and spread it open.

Then he sorted and compiled several blueprints he had finished drawing long ago.

He recorded them on the scroll.

If the contents of these plans became known to the outside world, they would cause a considerable stir in the Shinobi World.

They included blueprints for all the weapons of the long-fallen Sky Ninja Village.

There were designs for a massive seagoing ironclad, too.

And even more astonishingly, plans for a gigantic fortress that could float in the sky.

This mysterious Sky Ninja technology was just one of the many kinds of knowledge Naruto had gained during countless cycles, while searching for a way to break free from the loop. It was almost insignificant by comparison.

After carefully sealing these crucial blueprints inside a scroll, Naruto planned to deliver them to Zabuza when the time was right.

In the Shinobi World, countries without ninja villages were almost invariably poor.

So even though the Gato Company controlled many coastal countries without ninja villages,

and even though the Dawn Company's income had plunged now that trade was no longer restricted, compared to what the Gato Company had once earned, it was still a considerable sum.

The Land of Sea was a particular example. If no one had intervened after Gato was killed,

the country would soon have paid the Land of Water an annual fee in exchange for protection.

Fortunately, under Naruto's direction, the Land of Sea and the other countries were now all under the Dawn Company's management.

Now that the Dawn Company had become completely stable,

Naruto planned to use this opportunity to continue building up his forces, starting with weapons from the Sky Ninja Village, for example.