Orochimaru Should Be the One to Worry

After news of Houka becoming an S-rank Missing-nin spread throughout the Ninja World, those who bore grudges against him began searching for him, as did those coveting his Sharingan and the Three-Tails Isobu. Ninjas from the major hidden villages were searching as well. Forces from every side gathered in the Land of Fire and scoured the area, yet no one had managed to find him so far.

After leaving Konoha, Kakashi left the Land of Fire directly. He did not believe Houka would remain in the Land of Fire after defecting.

Kakashi's first stop after leaving the Land of Fire was Takigakure.

He had found Houka here last time!

But this time, the moment he arrived in Takigakure, its leader Shibuki, red-faced and agitated, swore that whenever they encountered that shameless Missing-nin Uchiha Houka, they would beat him up; that if they discovered him, they would notify Konoha immediately; and that Takigakure was Konoha's most loyal friend and would absolutely never side with Uchiha Houka.

He rambled on and on without stopping.

Seeing Shibuki's face flushed purple-red, Kakashi did not know whether to laugh or cry.

But from Shibuki's reaction, Kakashi could be certain of one thing: even if Houka was not in Takigakure, he definitely had close ties to it. Things were absolutely not as "innocent" as Shibuki claimed.

Still, the man was the leader of a village, so Kakashi had to show him sufficient respect.

And to avoid alerting the enemy, even if Kakashi saw through his lies, he could not expose them to his face.

After a pleasant conversation where everyone got along, Kakashi said he intended to stay in Takigakure for a while.

Shibuki had no reason to refuse, so he assigned a Takigakure Anbu ninja to serve as Kakashi's guide and specifically attend to him.