State of Emergency

The morning sunlight streamed through the window, falling across Sasuke's gloomy face.

Ever since the night the Nine-Tails went berserk, he had remained in this lounge inside the ANBU Building, not taking a single step outside.

At that moment, Kakashi entered carrying a tray of breakfast. "Sasuke, come eat."

Sasuke looked coldly at Kakashi. "How much longer are you going to keep me locked up here?"

"We're protecting you."

Kakashi explained patiently.

"Protecting me?" After a pause, Sasuke snorted. "I don't need your protection!"

Kakashi placed the breakfast before Sasuke and spoke earnestly. "Sasuke, you're extremely talented, but precisely because of that, it will bring you many unforeseen troubles."

Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his dark pupils had turned scarlet, two tomoe slowly revolving within them. "Do you think I'm afraid of trouble?"

Kakashi was somewhat helpless.

Still, he understood, because Sasuke truly had the right to be arrogant.

Anyone who awakened a two-tomoe Sharingan at seven years old and could easily subdue the rampaging Nine-Tails had every right to be arrogant.

Seeing that Kakashi could not make the decision either, Sasuke simply began eating breakfast on his own.

Halfway through the meal, he casually asked, "By the way, how is that guy?"

"He's out of danger now."

The corner of Kakashi's mouth lifted.

He knew Sasuke was asking about Naruto. He could sense Sasuke's concern for Naruto, even though Sasuke was desperately trying to hide it.

A moment later, Sasuke asked in confusion, "Why does that guy have such a monster inside him? Is he really the son of a fox demon?"

Kakashi hesitated before revealing the truth. "Naruto is Konoha's Jinchuriki!"

He then briefly explained what a Jinchuriki was to Sasuke.

He would not have explained so much to anyone else.

But Sasuke's Sharingan possessed the ability to subdue the Nine-Tails. He might become the village's best candidate for dealing with another Nine-Tails rampage in the future, so the Third Hokage had already hinted that Kakashi should reveal some of Naruto's information to Sasuke at an appropriate time.

"Hmph, someone like that can be the village's secret weapon? I think you should replace him with someone else!"

Sasuke looked disdainful.

Kakashi shook his head. "If the Nine-Tails inside Naruto is transferred now, Naruto will die. For a Jinchuriki, losing a Tailed Beast is equivalent to death!"

Sasuke fell silent for a long while before uttering, "What a pitiful guy."

Kakashi smiled. "Sasuke, if I remember correctly, you two are classmates. I hope you'll look after him in the future."

Sasuke instinctively wanted to nod, but then suddenly remembered something. "I don't have that kind of free time! Let me out already. I'm going to kill that man!"

"Itachi?"

At the sound of that name, Sasuke's expression immediately twisted. He panted heavily. "I'm going to kill him with my own hands!"

Kakashi advised, "You can't kill him yet."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "I've already awakened the Sharingan!"

Kakashi remained unmoved, shaking his head. "It's still not enough. Itachi is the strongest Uchiha I've ever seen. Your talent is certainly greater than his, but you're not his match right now!"

Just as Sasuke was about to argue—

Whoosh.

An ANBU suddenly appeared in a flash at the doorway. "The Hokage summons you!"

Kakashi's expression hardened. "What happened?"

"Kikyo Mountain Outpost was attacked last night. The five squads stationed there were completely wiped out!"

At the training ground.

Shinji had arrived early as usual to practice his Breathing Technique.

He discovered that as his body gradually adapted to the Breathing Technique, his strength, speed, reactions, and even his efficiency in refining Chakra had all improved noticeably.

When he compared his progress with that of the dozen or so swordsmen who practiced Water Breathing through the memory fragments in his mind, his improvement was even more obvious.

For that reason, he gradually came to enjoy practicing the Breathing Technique.

This kind of visible growth in strength was truly addictive.

"If someone with a status similar to mine intervened in the Shinobi World, what could his objective be?"

As he practiced the Breathing Technique, he continued analyzing the events of the previous night.

His duty was to protect the Shinobi World, and the mysterious voice had called him a Reserve Lantern Bearer. From that, he could infer that Lantern Bearers were people like him, guardians of a particular world.

Then the unknown Lantern Bearer who had interfered with the Shinobi World last night was most likely a guardian from another world.

If that was the case, then Shinji and the other party should not have had any conflict of interest. They only needed to guard their own worlds and fulfill their own duties.

Yet no matter how he interpreted the other party's actions last night, they clearly carried hostility.

"Tonight, I'll search for the target again. I hope I can find the intruder this time!"

Shinji's expression was grave.

After realizing that behind this invasion might stand a mysterious Lantern Bearer like himself, most likely someone responsible for protecting a world—

He understood that the situation was extremely serious.

And the more the other party wanted to avoid him, the less willing he was to let the other party have their way.

Because the other party's interference had actually conveyed a message: they needed time. Perhaps to make preparations, perhaps to gather intelligence.

In short, the other party did not want to clash with him head-on immediately after invading.

"This time, he interfered with me, yet I could do nothing about it. It must be because my authority is insufficient."

Only yesterday had Shinji discovered that the mysterious voice was not incapable of communication. The reason it had ignored him before was most likely because of the word "Reserve" in Reserve Lantern Bearer.

In other words, he was not yet a true Lantern Bearer of the Shinobi World.

Hokage Office.

The Third Hokage looked at the four ANBU lined up before him, led by Kakashi, and said, "Kikyo Mountain Outpost was attacked. All stationed personnel have been killed."

Kakashi asked, "Lord Hokage, who were the attackers?"

The Third Hokage shook his head.

Mitokado Homura, standing to the side, said, "The messenger hawk sent out by the outpost before its fall only mentioned an attack by mysterious individuals. It did not identify them."

Kakashi's heart sank. "Could this be war?"

Attacking a Konoha outpost was not something any ordinary force would dare to do. Whenever something like this happened, it inevitably made people think of war.

The Third Hokage said in a deep voice, "That is why the village needs to know exactly what happened there."

"Understood."

Kakashi and the other three ANBU answered together.

Mitokado Homura continued, "A support squad has already departed. Remember, your team's mission is to confirm the enemy's identity and purpose and assess the severity of the situation. This mission takes the highest priority!"

Kakashi's expression tightened.

He understood the Elder's unspoken meaning.

It was that in an emergency, they could abandon the support squad that had set out earlier, even comrades from their own class, but they had to ensure that the critical intelligence was delivered back to the village.

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