"Listen, my name is Might Guy. I'm going to become a taijutsu shinobi who surpasses Kakashi."
Shisui put away his Ninja Blade and was about to leave when those words made him turn around. He took a good look at the bowl-cut boy.
The name Kakashi was very familiar. Guo Wang had told him that Kakashi was one of only two people in Konoha whose talent could rival his own. He was also the target Shisui needed to surpass at this stage.
To keep the Mangekyo from draining his life force, Guo Wang had forbidden Shisui from using Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Betsukami until he had beaten Kakashi.
Guy had just witnessed Guo Wang and his student sparring. The old man's astonishing taijutsu and swordsmanship, and the boy's terrifying talent—so strong in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu that he was nearly Jonin level despite his age—had left the slow-witted Guy feeling frustrated and unwilling to accept defeat. He had shouted his name partly because of his competitive nature, but even more because of the tenacity he had held onto all this time.
He wouldn't complain about not having talent or a powerful teacher like Guo Wang. He would simply keep at it until he surpassed the mysterious young Anbu and Kakashi.
"Shisui."
Just as Guy angrily pounded the ground with his fist, a voice reached him.
He looked up and saw the boy with Three Tomoe in his eyes pick up a fox mask with a crack in it and put it back on.
"My name is Shisui Uchiha. Kakashi is also someone I need to surpass at this stage. If you're willing, I'll come an hour early every evening."
Shisui didn't explain why he would come early. He thought Guy would understand the implication, but he had clearly overestimated the father and son's emotional intelligence.
"Oh, Guy, another companion has acknowledged you."
After Shisui left, the father and son hugged each other and wept.
"Yes! I'll work even harder from now on. I'll get up an hour early and do five hundred push-ups."
The next day.
Oblivious to all of this, Kakashi was honing his skills at another training ground.
Ever since returning from the battlefield, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw himself piercing his teammate's heart. It drove him to cut back on sleep and practice his Ninjutsu.
Surrounded by bamboo groves, this was the training ground where his father used to spar with him. The thick, sturdy bamboo stalks made perfect targets for testing the sharpness of his Ninja Blade.
Though the Ninja Blade passed down from the White Fang had broken during the Shinobi World War, he had gotten into the habit of coming here every day.
His hand reached for his back, instinctively trying to draw his sword, but found nothing there.
He thought of the Iwagakure shinobi who could turn invisible. His teammate Obito had died at that man's hands, but there was no denying he had been a worthy opponent.
Should he have a new sword custom-made at a ninja tool shop, or give up swordsmanship?
His left eye began to ache faintly. Kakashi didn't want to forget Obito. He decided to give up swordsmanship from then on and fight with the Sharingan instead, using that choice to commemorate his fallen friend.
Clang!
Suddenly, the sound of a blade being drawn rang beside him. A familiar Ninja Blade plunged straight into a bamboo stalk three fingers wide.
"This was used by Sakumo when he trained under me. I thought you might need a new weapon."
An old man in a black cloak approached slowly. When Kakashi saw him, he regarded him with respect.
"Greetings, Elder Danzo."
"Your father was my finest work."
Standing before Kakashi and seeing a face almost identical to that of his eldest student, Guo Wang couldn't help but sigh.
"What do you think of your father?"
Guo Wang loved teaching others, but he wasn't trying to steal Kakashi away and take him on as his student. Teaching Shisui had stirred old memories: when he had crossed swords with the young Hatake Sakumo and shaped him, strike by strike, into a perfect killing machine.
"I used to think my father was a disgrace. Now I think he was a hero."
Even though he knew this answer wouldn't satisfy the Root leader before him, Kakashi said it anyway.
After Obito's death, he had come to believe that the lives of his companions were what mattered most.
"Is that so? Looks like you don't intend to become the second White Fang."
The White Light Chakra Sabre was a killing blade, devoid of emotion, mercy, or hesitation.
It was the White Fang's emergence that had given Root the authority to train the Anbu. Senju Tobirama believed Konoha needed more killing blades. Unfortunately, in more than twenty years, Root had never produced another White Fang.
"I won't become the White Fang, but I will become the second Hatake Sakumo."
The words carried a profound meaning, leaving Guo Wang briefly stunned. He looked at the Sharingan in Kakashi's left eye, which he couldn't deactivate, and shook his head with regret.
"Your father surpassed me in swordsmanship. Without that eye, you could have gone even further."
Only Guo Wang, who had transplanted a Sharingan himself, knew how burdensome it was. Kakashi was still young, in the prime of his life, and hadn't yet felt much fatigue. Once his body had fully matured, he would understand just how severely the Mangekyo drained his Chakra.
Even after getting a close look, Guo Wang could hardly believe that Kakashi's Sharingan contained the Dojutsu Power of the Mangekyo.
If it were only Three Tomoe, Kakashi's talent would let him wield it perfectly.
But if it was the Mangekyo...
It was only thanks to the Dual Cultivation Technique, which let Guo Wang absorb life energy, and Mirror Flower, Water Moon, which was continually transforming his body into an Uzumaki Sage Body, that he could control a complete pair of Mangekyo.
"This is the last thing Obito left me. I want to use it to watch over this world."
That way, I can feel that he's still alive, always there in my eyes.
Kakashi didn't say the second half aloud, because Guo Wang had already turned and left the training ground.
"Namikaze Minato recommended that you join the Anbu. The Hokage has approved it. Report to Root tomorrow."
Every Anbu had to pass through Root first. Only after being tested and tempered in both body and mind could someone become a true Anbu. That was the greatest source of Guo Wang's power: Senju Tobirama had given him this position, and even the Hokage had no authority to revoke it.
Just as Guo Wang was leaving the training ground, he suddenly frowned and turned to look at the newcomer.
"Ah, what a coincidence, Lord Danzo."
The man had silver hair, handsome features, pale skin, and unexpectedly red lips. He also carried the same preservative-like smell as Orochimaru. It came from a solution used to preserve corpses and for human experiments.
"I heard about Kakashi. Losing a companion must have been hard on him, so I came to comfort him."
Guo Wang nodded, as though he believed the excuse.
But inwardly, he thought, I'll have Gui look into his background later. He seems to be a Jonin from Orochimaru's generation. What was his name again?
Before you continue