You Human Race!

In the forest.

Yakushi Kabuto's glasses reflected light as he looked down at Gekko Hayate, whose limbs were broken and throat slit.

"I told you not to chase."

He didn't kill the opponent directly; leaving him half-dead and crippled would be more effective in hindering pursuers.

Dropping his Konoha forehead protector, Yakushi Kabuto tied on the Otogakure one. He picked up Sasuke, but before he could stand straight, he suddenly crouched as a kunai grazed his hair and embedded itself in the tree trunk above his head.

He looked up and saw Kakashi with his Sharingan, his white hair, staring at him.

He pushed up his glasses. "This is troublesome."

"Put down Sasuke."

Yakushi Kabuto pointed at the bleeding Gekko Hayate. "Aren't you going to save him first?"

Kakashi's eyes didn't even shift. "Ninety percent of ninja die on missions. My only target is Sasuke."

"Is that so?" Yakushi Kabuto narrowed his eyes, put down Sasuke, and decisively lunged at Gekko Hayate, his kunai aimed at the bloody gash on his throat.

Clang!

Kakashi swooped down, his kunai clashing against Yakushi Kabuto's.

Yakushi Kabuto retreated instantly, smiling. "It seems you're not as heartless as you claim."

The wind rustled the leaves, and two heads of white hair swayed in the breeze.

Kakashi's dead fish eyes showed no emotion, giving Yakushi Kabuto immense pressure.

After all, his specialty was Medical Ninja, not close combat. The gap between his ninjutsu and Kakashi's was also significant. If Kakashi had truly been ruthless and watched Gekko Hayate die, fighting him with full power, Yakushi Kabuto would have had a seventy percent chance of dying.

Facing Kakashi, he knew he couldn't escape with Sasuke.

"Where's Baki?"

"He's dead."

Yakushi Kabuto suddenly smiled easily. "I imagine your chakra must be running low."

Crackle!

Blue electricity flashed around Kakashi's right palm. "What did you just say?"

Yakushi Kabuto frowned. Kakashi had almost no visible injuries, and his clothes were intact, not suggesting he'd fought a difficult battle.

He knew Baki's strength well; it wasn't much lower than his own. How could he have won without injury and still have enough chakra to use Chidori?

Was he bluffing?

The electricity surged to human height, bathing the entire forest in a deep blue light.

Kakashi: "Leave Sasuke, and go."

Yakushi Kabuto pulled his hand through the air. The muscle wounds on Gekko Hayate's body suddenly burst open, and he was covered in blood.

"If he doesn't receive treatment within ten minutes, he's as good as dead."

Gekko Hayate's half-closed eyes snapped open in agony. "Kakashi… save Sasuke. He's a genius, the last of the Uchiha…"

Sasuke wasn't unconscious; he just couldn't move. Hearing this, his face buried in the dirt finally broke into tears.

Everyone was focused on him. Naruto had warned him multiple times beforehand, yet he still became a burden to prove himself, implicating an innocent examiner.

Where was the line between confidence and arrogance? How could he tell?!

Kakashi had to make a choice.

His psychological tactics had initially succeeded, offering a chance to save everyone, but the opponent had a backup plan, creating pressure and buying time.

He would only make one offensive move. If it failed, he would take Gekko Hayate and leave.

Kakashi bent down and charged, his right hand flashing with Raikiri.

Yakushi Kabuto met him head-on, Yin Healing Wound Destruction gathering on his left shoulder.

Just as they were five meters apart, Kakashi's left hand suddenly pressed a kunai into his right, channeling the blue lightning and throwing it at Yakushi Kabuto.

It struck precisely the side of the abdomen where Sasuke had previously used Chidori.

The kunai, imbued with Raikiri, didn't penetrate but was detonated by an explosive tag attached to its tail.

Yakushi Kabuto was blown sideways, half his abdomen a charred, smoking ruin. He fled into the trees without looking back, popping medicine as he ran.

Kakashi couldn't relax. Holding Sasuke in his left arm and Gekko Hayate in his right, he rushed towards the ninja hospital.

He had won, winning because the opponent didn't know his Raikiri had reached a level where he could release it remotely using a kunai.

Unfortunately, he had to save lives and couldn't pursue and kill the spy.

In the village, a Summoned Snake was fighting a twin-sword toad, with Sand Ninja and Sound Ninja wreaking havoc everywhere.

The "Ino-Shika-Cho" formation's butterfly, Choza Akimichi, used Expansion Jutsu, becoming a giant as tall as a five-story building, absorbing a barrage of ranged attacks.

Kakashi felt a knot of frustration in his chest; he hated this scene.

What bothered him even more was Gekko Hayate's willingness to sacrifice his life, coughing incessantly as he urged Naruto to protect the villagers.

He couldn't help but recall his father, a genius who was ostracized by the village for abandoning a mission to save his comrades, only to be blamed by those same comrades and commit suicide.

His father had possessed such keen eyes, yet he died in such a trivial manner.

No matter what, he didn't believe his father was wrong. He wouldn't abandon his comrades.

The Ninja Hospital was overcrowded, with staff fighting on one side while treating patients on the other. After easily dispatching a few clueless ninja blocking his path, he personally placed Gekko Hayate on a sickbed and handed him over to the medical staff.

This was what he had to do, the only thing he could do.

Sasuke watched all this unfold in Kakashi's arms, self-reproach and a thick sense of emotion churning in his chest, making him choke back sobs and unable to speak.

After a series of internal struggles, only one question remained in his mind.

What was Naruto doing?

Naruto was utterly exhausted.

He had already used seventy to eighty percent of his Chakra.

A ninja battle often ended in the blink of an eye, yet Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru's confrontation had already lasted for nearly an hour.

The Four Violet Flames Formation remained stable, but the four Sound Ninja maintaining it were gaunt, their bones protruding and their skin shriveled. They continuously stuffed medicine into their mouths.

"How does this brat have so much Chakra? I can barely hold on."

"You have to hold on even if you can't. Do you want to be sacrificed to Manda?"

They were also fighting desperately. Orochimaru would never forgive them if the critical mission failed.

Naruto gasped for air, his Chakra sword fading to a pale blue, almost transparent. He patted his stomach and said, "Lend me some, don't be so stingy, okay?"

He had tried to enter the sealing space multiple times, only to be driven out by the Nine-Tails, whose attitude was quite hostile.

However, he could understand. After all, his own attitude towards the Nine-Tails wasn't exactly great either.

"We're doing something big!" Naruto said, frustrated, "Can you stop acting like a woman? You hold a grudge just because I curse you a few times? If you want, curse me back now, and I promise I won't say a word."

"You human! You species of human!"

Naruto blinked, "Huh."

"Apologize! I want you to kneel down and apologize! Say you're blind and don't recognize me, Kurama the Heavenly God!"

Naruto's face darkened.

He looked at Hiruzen, who had split into three within the formation and was shouting about using a Forbidden Jutsu, then he looked down at his own knees.

"Will you lend it to me if I kneel and apologize?"

The Nine-Tails was silent for a long while. "Are you really going to kneel?"

Naruto roared, "Stop your damn whining! We're in a hurry! Answer me!"

Within the cage, the Nine-Tails' ferocious fox face tilted up, its red eyes darting around. It knew Naruto valued his dignity greatly, which was why it had said those discouraging words.

The goal was not to lend the Chakra. How could he, the great Kurama the Heavenly God, be summoned at will and treated like a disposable fox?

But it never expected the other party to agree. How could it back down now?

It snorted, exhaling two streams of hot air from its nostrils.

"Don't think I care about what you do. In my eyes, you're just a human! My vessel! I've never taken you seriously. This Chakra is my gift to you! Take it!"

Blood-red Chakra seeped through the gaps in the cage and flowed into the sewer, where it was absorbed and swept away by the Eight Trigrams Seal.

Outside, Naruto's pupils turned a deep, blood-red, changing from round to vertical. His body ignited with a raging inferno, and a ferocious greatsword, seemingly forged from blood, appeared in his hand.

Without a second's delay.

"Chakra revolving ten thousand times! Hell Demon Blade!"