Kannabi Bridge and Blood Curse Technique

"Sure, sure. I also want to see how Brother Obito faked his death back then."

Youhu agreed to Kakashi's plan, but in his heart, he was calculating how to weave his lies. He remembered that shortly after Obito fell into a coma back then, he had been taken away by Uchiha Madara.

This meant that Uchiha Madara's hiding place was somewhere near Kannabi Bridge.

He wondered if Obito, after incarnating as Uchiha Madara, had taken all of Uchiha Madara's legacy. It didn't matter if he had; he could just fabricate a heritage related to the Uchiha himself.

In any case, since Uchiha Madara had lived here, it was perfectly normal for him to have left behind some Forbidden Techniques.

"Let's go."

Hearing that Youhu had agreed to his plan, Kakashi let out a sigh of relief and took the lead.

He was terrified that Youhu would cause some other accident.

He still remembered that on Youhu's first day in the Anbu, he had led them to find traces of the Masked Man, fought a great battle against the unmasked Obito, and nearly caused a second Nine-Tails' Rampage.

Although Obito's appearance in Konoha had nothing to do with Youhu, those rumors about the Hokage were the real deal.

Kakashi was truly afraid that Youhu might get a sudden whim and lead them to break into the Kusagakure Main Building to confront the leader of Kusagakure, which would surely trigger a new Ninja World War.

Itachi, whom no one paid attention to, remained silent and followed in the footsteps of Kakashi and Youhu.

Even though he had joined the Kakashi Squad before Youhu, Captain Kakashi always sought Youhu's opinion.

This made Itachi start to wonder if he was the only newcomer who had just joined the team, while Youhu was a veteran Anbu peer of Kakashi. They were both Uchiha, so why was there such a big gap?

Not long after, Kakashi brought Youhu and Itachi near Kannabi Bridge.

The bridge, which had been destroyed by Explosive Tags in the past, had now been completely repaired. All sorts of travelers and merchants used the bridge to travel between the Grass Country and the Earth Country.

Kakashi gazed at the distant bridge, recalling the Battle of Kannabi Bridge that had taken place nearby.

At the time, in order to destroy this bridge, the village had sacrificed quite a few people. Obito was one of them; to protect him and Rin, Obito had chosen to perish together with an Iwa Jonin...

"Captain Kakashi..."

Youhu forcibly interrupted Kakashi's memories, frowning as he pondered: "Why did you guys want to destroy Kannabi Bridge back then? I feel that with Storage Scrolls, this bridge is useless to us ninjas, right?"

"That does seem to be correct..."

Kakashi was slightly startled, then explained: "However, the point of the Battle of Kannabi Bridge wasn't to destroy the bridge itself, but to destroy the Iwagakure Stronghold nearby and kill the logistics personnel inside."

Youhu nodded, muttering to himself:

"I knew it. No ninja would die for a bridge; that would be too strange."

"Your focus is what's truly strange. Can you stop being so active in your thinking?"

Kakashi couldn't help but complain. Originally, he was a masked, quiet Jonin who spent his time reading books and raising dogs, never engaging in unnecessary conversation with others outside of work.

Ever since Youhu joined the team, he felt he could no longer remain silent.

Youhu didn't care at all about Kakashi's complaints and said casually:

"An active mind helps with gathering intelligence. Otherwise, how would I have found Obito's traces? Captain Kakashi, you're only twenty years old this year, why are you always acting like an old man?"

"..."

Kakashi felt deeply offended but was powerless to refute.

Don't get angry, don't get angry!

After mentally admonishing himself not to get angry, Kakashi followed the mountain orientation from his memory to search for the location where he had fought the Iwa Jonin back then.

Before long, Kakashi led the squad to a collapsed cave. This was Obito's "burial ground."

Kakashi looked at the collapsed passage in front of him, his mood complex as he said:

"This is it. Obito was buried under these rubbles back then. If I hadn't been too weak at the time, I would have used Earth Style to move these boulders and save Obito..."

"You two step back a few paces first. I'll use Earth Style to shift these stones out..."

"No need..." Youhu rolled up his sleeves, lifted a stone block directly with his hands, and forcefully threw it onto the flat ground behind him, then grabbed another one.

"Your strength..."

Seeing the scene of Youhu moving stone blocks with his bare hands, a look of astonishment flashed in Kakashi's eyes.

Youhu's strength was simply too great. These stones weighed at least several hundred kilograms, and some were even several tons. He just lifted them so easily and tossed them away?

Although this strength couldn't compare to Lady Tsunade, who mastered Monstrous Strength, it was not much different from Might Guy 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, and their combat style was a flashy dance on the edge of a blade.

Yet Youhu either used despicable poison or brute force to move boulders with his bare hands. He had never displayed any talent for Ninjutsu or Illusion Technique; this wasn't elegant at all.

Youhu clapped the dust off his palms and glanced sharply back at Kakashi and Itachi.

He didn't feel his strength was that exaggerated. This was the normal state after transplanting the Wood Bloodline, which originated from Hashirama Cells.

The strength of a "vegetable" was just that terrifying.

If it weren't for pure stats, could Hashirama Senju have defeated Uchiha Madara, who had maxed-out mechanics and manipulation?

At the very bottom of the collapsed passage, Youhu found a dark red mark. This should have been the half of Obito's body that was crushed. After the passage of time, only this dried bloodstain remained.

Youhu touched the bloodstain with his finger and said to Kakashi:

"Captain Kakashi, this should be Obito's blood. Does the village have any way to kill using blood? For example, making a small doll and pouring blood into it—as long as you stab the doll, you could inflict damage on the owner of the blood."

"That way, we could kill Brother Obito from a distance."

"What are you thinking? How could such a jutsu exist in the Ninja World? Besides, why is your killing intent toward Obito so heavy?"

Kakashi mercilessly denied it, believing that such a jutsu did not exist in the Ninja World. If there really were a jutsu that could kill using blood, an enemy would only need to visit the Konoha blood bank, and who knows how many ninjas would die.

"A dead idol is the best kind of idol. I don't want to see the Masked Man exploiting the hero Obito anymore."

Youhu shook his index finger and said:

"And Captain Kakashi, don't be so quick to make a decision. You said back then that Obito was already dead, yet he appeared alive and well right in front of us."

"I still have one chance to browse the Sealing Jutsus. Once we get back, I'll go and search carefully to see if such a jutsu really exists."

With Obito as an example, Kakashi couldn't say that Youhu was just guessing wildly, but he still couldn't imagine a way to kill using blood. He could only say in a somber tone:

"Fine. I hope we never encounter such a jutsu."

Just as Youhu and Kakashi were discussing whether blood could be used to kill, Uchiha Itachi, who was nearby, seemed to have found something and called out to the two of them:

"Captain Kakashi, I've discovered a massive underground space nearby."