A Pirated Life in Kusagakure

"Senior Kakashi has gone silent again."

After a few sentences left Kakashi silent and his defense broken, Youhu looked toward Itachi, who was standing beside them. "Senior Itachi, why don't the two of us have a chat? Tell me about what's troubling you; perhaps I can help."

Youhu genuinely wanted to guide Itachi.

He felt that Itachi was very lost and desperately needed someone with a normal mindset like his own—an Uchiha—to lead him, so as to avoid going astray and becoming the greatest contributor to the Senju Clan.

Itachi recalled his life up to this point and thought about Youhu's outstanding performance over the past few days, then nodded slightly.

He had originally intended to find Obito to discuss his future, but since Youhu was willing to offer guidance, that was a good thing as well. Perhaps he could find a way to save his clan and the village from Youhu's side.

"Youhu, I want to know how to save the clan."

Youhu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Didn't I tell you last time? As long as you take out Clan Head Fugaku and let me become the Guard Captain, the clan will no longer face the crisis of annihilation."

"..."

Itachi suddenly felt that seeking help from Obito wasn't such an unacceptable thing after all.

Why did Youhu have such great hostility toward his own father? If you want to be the clan head, you should run for it at the clan meeting; what is the point of asking someone to kill their own father?

Watching Itachi leave alone, his back fading into the distance, Youhu felt very innocent.

He was sincerely offering Itachi advice on how to save the clan, yet Itachi always ignored him, which made him lose face.

Only by personally destroying the Uchiha Clan could the Uchiha be saved. This wasn't him talking nonsense; this was something you, Uchiha Itachi, personally practiced in the original timeline.

Never mind how many people died on the night of the clan's annihilation; at least there were no more contradictions or conflicts between the Uchiha and the village.

Now, one only needed to kill Fugaku alone, which would spare so many clan members from sacrifice, yet Itachi was unexpectedly unwilling to agree.

It was evident that the current Uchiha Itachi did not have the Will of Fire in his heart and was an enemy of the village and the Third Hokage. Since Itachi was an enemy, he would adopt the attitude one takes toward an enemy.

After noting Itachi down in his little black book, Youhu walked toward the depths of the forest, temporarily leaving under the guise of patrolling.

He had been out for almost a day and hadn't reported to Obito yet. They would go to Obito's place soon, so he had to at least report to the host, Obito.

After finding a secluded spot, Youhu took out a scroll and summoned White Zetsu Afu.

Afu appeared in a side-lying position, still holding a Ninja World Encyclopedia in his hand. Only after noticing he had been summoned did he crawl to his feet.

"Are you reading?" Youhu found it quite interesting to discover Afu reading a book.

Afu nodded and said, "While helping Lord Youhu clean the study, I found these books quite interesting, so I thought I'd take a look."

"Lord Youhu, why did you call me here this time?"

"Afu, go send a message to Brother Obito. Tell him Kakashi has guessed our base is in the Grass Country, and we are currently heading there..."

"Never mind, wait a moment."

Youhu thought for a second and decided that a verbal message wasn't reliable enough, so he took out paper and a pen and quickly wrote a letter.

"Sending a letter again?"

White Zetsu Afu froze. He felt his life had become significantly bleaker.

He had been sent to Youhu's side to monitor his every move, to see if Youhu would betray Lord Obito or the Moon Eye Plan.

As it turned out, after coming to Youhu's side, he had been reduced to a mere summoning servant for the household.

It was one thing to clean the house every day, but the moment he had a moment of leisure, he was assigned to deliver letters to Lord Obito.

Did he have any idea how far away Lord Obito was? Even with the Mayfly Technique to travel underground, it still took several hours of lurking beneath the surface.

The next afternoon.

After nearly two days of long-distance travel, the Kakashi Squad arrived within the borders of the Grass Country.

Unlike the Land of Fire, which was covered in forests, the Grass Country possessed a vast plain. This place had once given birth to a great ninja village that had nearly ruled the entire Ninja World.

But that was all in the past. The current Grass Country was a small nation, and Kusagakure was just an ordinary ninja village.

Watching a Grass Ninja in the distance using the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique to discipline some bandits, Youhu couldn't help but speak up:

"Captain Kakashi, isn't that our Uchiha signature jutsu, the Great Fireball Technique?"

"And that guy over there, using Water Dragon Bullet and Earth Flow Wall—he's clearly imitating you. Does Kusagakure not have any jutsu of their own?"

"They really don't..."

Kakashi thought about it carefully.

During his years in the Anbu, he had come into contact with Grass Ninjas. They gave him the impression of a village that desperately tried to imitate the Five Great Ninja Villages but could never quite grasp their essence.

They could only capture the market share of the Five Great Ninja Villages through price advantages to maintain the village's necessary expenses.

If that were all, it would be one thing, but Kusagakure possessed an ambition that didn't match its strength, always wanting to become the sixth great ninja village of the world.

"Captain Kakashi, should we attack them and use an Illusion Technique to interrogate them for intelligence?"

Youhu looked eager to try, giving the impression of a Genin who had just graduated and was executing his first mission.

Kakashi quickly stopped Youhu's crazy idea and said, "Don't be impulsive. This is a time of peace. If you attack Kusagakure, it's equivalent to declaring war on them..."

"Even though we've hidden our identities, we might still leave behind some clues..."

Youhu frowned, feeling that Kakashi was being too indecisive, and stated his plan directly:

"Wouldn't it be easier to just kill them? In any case, this is very likely Uchiha Madara's territory. We can interrogate them for intelligence first to confirm the location of the Grass Village leader."

"Then, we'll go and attack the Grass Village leader to confirm whether or not they are colluding with Obito."

"If they are, we'll manipulate the Grass Village into a civil war. If not, I'll just use my Space-Time Ninjutsu to escape. Besides, we can always frame Brother Obito for it."

"Afterward, we'll have the Third Lord step in to pacify the Grass Village and announce that Konoha and the Grass Village are joining forces to deal with the Masked Man."

"Your plan..."

Kakashi was startled; he even felt that Youhu's words made some sense.

Attacking the Grass Village under the guise of the Masked Man—if the Grass Village was confirmed to be colluding with Obito, then the battle within the village would be completely justified. If there was no collusion, it could still be blamed on Obito.

It would even strengthen the relationship between Konoha and the Grass Village.

Youhu had thought this through so thoroughly that he was even helping the Third Hokage with his work.

However, the last shred of justice in his heart would not allow Kakashi to do such a thing. If he did this, what would be the difference between him and the Obito who attacked the village?

Taking a deep breath to suppress the darkness in his heart, Kakashi made his decision:

"Until we have a clear understanding of the specific situation in the Grass Village, we cannot act rashly."

"Youhu, haven't you always wanted to see Kannabi Bridge? Let's go there and see if the boulder that crushed Obito back then is still there."