Akatsuki, All Kage Level? Terrifying!

After the video ended, Hatake Kakashi fell into deep thought. A sheet of paper in his hand was filled with notes he had jotted down while watching. The dullest pen was better than the sharpest memory.

An adult's appearance might not change much for years, but children were different. Judging by Uchiha Sasuke's appearance in the video, the events should take place less than a year from now.

In other words, he would soon come face-to-face with Uchiha Itachi.

The gap between his and Uchiha Itachi's ocular power was obvious. Even with his Sharingan open, he had been instantly dragged into Tsukuyomi Space and tortured for three whole days—or rather, perhaps far longer than three days.

What a headache!

In the past, others had to be wary of his Sharingan. Now, it was his turn to beware of someone else's Sharingan. His experience was still too limited.

Ultimately, ever since obtaining the Sharingan, he had never truly fought a powerful Sharingan user.

Or rather, based on the information he could find, his mastery of the Sharingan would have made him outstanding even within the Uchiha Clan. But Uchiha Itachi was an existence beyond all standards.

After all, he was someone who had slaughtered his entire clan by himself.

Was the Mangekyō Sharingan really that powerful?

Could it truly be so much stronger than an ordinary Sharingan?

Hatake Kakashi decided that he would find a way to visit the Archives later and look up information on the Mangekyō Sharingan. Given his authority, there were many things he could not access, but there were also many things he could. He had simply never thought to investigate before.

After all, there were barely any Sharingan left in circulation now. Looking into it would have been pointless.

Also, Uchiha Itachi's attitude was strange. He had had countless opportunities to kill him, yet he had let him go every time. Especially at the end—he had not let Kisame Hoshigaki kill him, but instead told him to take Kakashi away.

What did that mean?

On one hand, it further confirmed Kakashi's suspicion: Uchiha Itachi had gone easy on him and had seemingly even passed along intelligence.

He drew two lines beneath the word "seemingly," because even he felt that thought was somewhat bold.

Would an S-rank Rogue Ninja who had killed his entire clan pass intelligence to a Konoha Ninja?

That seemed rather impossible.

Yet he could not shake that feeling.

At the same time, it also confirmed another of Hatake Kakashi's suspicions. From that brief glimpse, Uchiha Itachi's combat strength clearly surpassed his own by a great deal. He had most likely entered the Kage Level solidly.

And his partner—the partner who appeared completely obedient to him, Kisame Hoshigaki—was probably no ordinary Elite Jonin either. Otherwise, Uchiha Itachi would not have had him take Kakashi away while also dealing with both Asuma and Kurenai.

Even if those two were weaker than Kakashi, they were still unquestionably Elite Jonin.

That meant Kisame Hoshigaki was very likely Kage Level as well.

But if that was true, it led to the most terrifying possibility.

If the three known members of Akatsuki—Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi, and Kisame Hoshigaki—were all Kage Level existences, then this organization's upper limit was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

That would mean its baseline was not Elite Jonin, but possibly every member being Kage Level?

At that thought, Hatake Kakashi sucked in a sharp breath. If that were true, then the trouble would be enormous.

Such a lineup would be enough to suppress any ninja village in the current Shinobi World.

Perhaps only Konoha at its peak—apart from the era of the First Hokage—could stand against it.

Back then, Konoha had a Kage Level group among its Higher-ups led by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. It had also had his father, the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo; his teacher, the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze; the Legendary Sannin; and a whole host of other Kage Level experts.

Konoha had been unimaginably powerful then. Even while dealing with multiple fronts at once, it could still emerge victorious.

But Konoha was far weaker now than it had been back then. Even Orochimaru dared to openly prepare something like the Konoha Collapse Plan.

More terrifying still, if this organization's members were all at least Kage Level, then who was their leader?

It would take no ordinary person to make so many Kage Level experts bow their heads in submission.

Hatake Kakashi vaguely felt that he had begun to touch upon the truth of this world.

At the same time, the last lingering doubt in his heart regarding Kitahara Kaede's Diary vanished completely.

Neither of the events in those two videos had happened, yet both fit perfectly with what he knew about himself.

It seemed it was time to learn from Might Guy—how to judge an opponent's movements solely by observing their feet. Or perhaps, if he could not look into their eyes, he could judge their actions through movements of their shoulders and the like.

After all, one characteristic of Sharingan genjutsu was that it required the eyes as a medium.

With that thought, Hatake Kakashi immediately burned the sheet of paper to ashes in the lamp flame. Not a single thing recorded on it could be leaked outside. Not one bit.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke stared fixedly at the Diary, only giving up after confirming there was no more content.

The Diary that had suddenly appeared today had given him a series of pieces of information that he should not possibly have known yet.

For example, after passing the Ninja Academy assessment before long, his jonin squad leader would be Hatake Kakashi, Konoha's Number One Technician.

For example, Uchiha Itachi would soon return to Konoha.

In the past, he would definitely have tried every possible way to kill Uchiha Itachi. But now, that desire had weakened considerably, because he had witnessed Uchiha Itachi's strength.

He was not afraid of death. If killing Uchiha Itachi were possible, he could die immediately.

But the gap between his strength and Uchiha Itachi's was far too great. Hatake Kakashi was already far stronger than him, yet he had still been instantly defeated by Uchiha Itachi in a single move. If it were Sasuke instead, Uchiha Itachi might not even need to use Tsukuyomi to kill him with ease.

He would not rashly throw his life away. He needed to find a way to truly kill Uchiha Itachi.

For now, it seemed that merely training under Hatake Kakashi would not be enough. Should he consider joining Orochimaru instead?

But that was a choice born of necessity, because Orochimaru was undoubtedly ill-intentioned.

Yet Hatake Kakashi, who had both the ability and willingness to help and bore no ill will toward him, lacked the power to defeat Uchiha Itachi.

Where did the true gap lie?

Was it in those Mangekyō Sharingan?

Could he really not defeat him without those eyes?

And he knew the price of obtaining those eyes. He was not completely ignorant of it.

Did he need to kill his closest Friend?