"Sounds good! I want to see how Brother Obito faked his death back then, too."
Youhu agreed to Kakashi's plan, but inwardly he was figuring out how to spin a lie. He remembered that not long after Obito fell unconscious, Uchiha Madara had taken him away.
That meant Uchiha Madara's hideout was near Kannabi Bridge.
He wondered whether, after becoming Uchiha Madara, Obito had taken all of Madara's legacy. Even if he had, it didn't matter; Youhu could fabricate a Uchiha inheritance of his own.
Madara had lived here, after all. It would be perfectly natural for him to have left behind some Forbidden Techniques.
"Let's go."
When Kakashi heard that Youhu agreed to his plan, he felt relieved and took the lead.
He was afraid Youhu would spring another surprise on him.
He still remembered Youhu's first day working in the Anbu. Youhu had led them to the Masked Man's trail, and they'd fought Obito after his identity was exposed, nearly causing a second Nine-Tails' Rampage.
Obito's appearance in Konoha had nothing to do with Youhu, but those rumors about the Hokage were very real.
Kakashi was genuinely afraid that Youhu might get carried away and take them straight into the Kusagakure Main Building to confront Kusagakure's Leader. That would surely spark another Ninja World War.
Ignored by everyone, Itachi followed Kakashi and Youhu in silence.
He had joined Kakashi Squad before Youhu, yet Captain Kakashi always asked Youhu for his opinion.
It made Itachi wonder whether he was actually the new recruit and Youhu a seasoned Anbu who had served alongside Kakashi for years. They were both Uchiha, so why was there such a huge difference between them?
Before long, Kakashi led Youhu and Itachi to Near Kannabi Bridge.
The bridge, once destroyed by Explosive Tags, had now been completely rebuilt. All sorts of travelers and merchants crossed it between Grass Country and Earth Country.
Kakashi gazed at the bridge in the distance, recalling the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, fought nearby.
Back then, the village had sacrificed many people to destroy the bridge. Obito had been one of them. To protect Kakashi and Rin, he had chosen to die alongside an Iwagakure Jonin...
"Captain Kakashi..."
Youhu interrupted Kakashi's memories, frowning as he thought it over. "Why did you have to destroy Kannabi Bridge back then? With Storage Scrolls, I don't see what use a bridge would be to us Ninja."
"That does seem true..."
Kakashi paused, then explained, "But the point of the Battle of Kannabi Bridge wasn't to destroy the bridge. It was to wipe out the Iwagakure Stronghold nearby and kill the people handling its supplies."
Youhu nodded and muttered to himself:
"I knew it. No Ninja would die just for a bridge. That would've been strange."
"The strange thing is what you choose to focus on. Could you try not to let your mind run so wild?"
Kakashi couldn't help complaining. He used to be a quiet, masked Jonin who liked to read and take care of dogs. Outside of work, he never went out of his way to talk to anyone.
Ever since Youhu joined the team, he felt like he could no longer keep quiet.
Youhu paid no mind to Kakashi's complaint and said casually:
"An active mind helps with gathering intel. Otherwise, how would I have found Obito's trail? Captain Kakashi, you're only twenty this year, right? Why are you always acting like an Old Man?"
"..."
Kakashi felt deeply insulted, but had no way to refute him.
"Don't get mad, don't get mad!"
After reminding himself not to get angry, Kakashi searched for the spot where they had fought the Iwagakure Jonin, using the mountain's features as he remembered them.
Before long, Kakashi led the team to a collapsed cave entrance. This was where Obito had been "buried."
Kakashi looked at the collapsed passage ahead, his feelings complicated.
"This is the place. Obito was buried beneath these rocks. If I'd been stronger back then, I would've used Earth Style to move these boulders and get him out..."
"You two, take a few steps back. I'll use Earth Style to move these rocks..."
"No need." Youhu rolled up his sleeves, lifted a boulder with his bare hands, and hurled it onto the open ground behind him. Then he grabbed another one.
"That strength of yours..."
Kakashi watched Youhu move the boulders with his bare hands, surprise flashing in his eyes.
Youhu was ridiculously strong. These rocks must have weighed at least several hundred kilograms, and some weighed several tons, yet he lifted and tossed them with ease.
His strength might not match Lady Tsunade's Monstrous Strength, but it was about on par with Might Guy's in his normal state.
Itachi felt that Youhu didn't seem much like an Uchiha.
The Uchiha had always relied on speed and technique to win. Their fighting style was an elegant dance along the blade's edge.
But Youhu either resorted to the underhanded tactic of poisoning people or used brute strength to move massive boulders. He had never shown any talent for Ninjutsu or Illusion Technique. There was nothing elegant about him.
Youhu dusted off his palms and turned to glare at Kakashi and Itachi.
He didn't think his strength was particularly extraordinary. This was normal after receiving a Wood Bloodline transplant; the Wood Bloodline came from Hashirama Cells.
That was just how terrifying a plant-based body could be.
If it all came down to raw stats, could Hashirama Senju really have beaten Uchiha Madara, with all his mechanics and control maxed out?
At the very bottom of the collapsed passage, Youhu found a dark red stain. It must have been the half of Obito's body that had been crushed. After all these years, only this dried bloodstain remained.
Youhu touched the stain with his fingertip and said to Kakashi:
"Captain Kakashi, this should be Obito's blood. Does the village have a way to kill someone using their blood? Like making a little doll and pouring the blood into it—then you just stab the doll and hurt whoever the blood belongs to."
"Then we could kill Brother Obito from a distance."
"What are you talking about? How could the Ninja World have a Jutsu like that? And why are you so intent on killing Obito?"
Kakashi dismissed the idea without hesitation. He didn't believe any such Jutsu existed in the Ninja World. If there really were a Jutsu that used blood to kill people, an enemy would only need to visit Konoha's Blood Bank. He couldn't imagine how many Ninja would die.
"A dead idol is the best idol. I don't want to see the Masked Man exploit Hero Obito."
Youhu wagged his finger.
"And Captain Kakashi, don't be so quick to decide. You said Obito was dead, but then he showed up alive right in front of us."
"I still have one chance to look through the Sealing Jutsu. When we get back, I'll search carefully and see whether such a Jutsu really exists."
With Obito as an example, Kakashi couldn't say Youhu was making things up, but he still couldn't imagine a way to kill someone with their blood. All he could say, in a low voice, was:
"All right. I hope we never encounter a Jutsu like that."
As Youhu and Kakashi debated whether blood could be used to kill someone, Uchiha Itachi seemed to find something nearby. He called out to them:
"Captain Kakashi, I found a huge Underground Space nearby."
Before you continue