The Reason for Defection

On either side of the dirt road, two groups of people stood in silent confrontation.

The mist in the forest had been dispersed by the afternoon sunlight, leaving only a few wisps of thin gauze that were easily blown away by the wind.

After Kakashi finished speaking, the atmosphere fell into a very brief silence.

Almost simultaneously, everyone's gaze fell upon Kou.

Kisame stood to Kakashi and behind him, his large hand resting on the hilt of his sword, looking no different from anyone else on an escort mission encountering an emergency.

Be vigilant, cautious, and ready to draw your sword at any moment.

But his small eyes were fixed with interest on the black-haired youth who was being watched by everyone.

It must be said, what exactly made this man, whom he genuinely admired, leave Konoha, the village known as the "Pure Land" of the Ninja World...?

He was genuinely interested in the reasons behind this.

Obito, standing next to Kouta, was tilting his head slightly, curiously observing Kouta beside him.

He still remembered the words Kou had said to him on that night when they "coincidentally" met, not long after Konoha's defection.

But standing before him now were Kakashi and Guy.

Will the answer to the question be different if it's asked in front of both of them?

Obito pondered this with curiosity, a slow smile creeping onto his lips beneath the mask.

He was quite interested in Kou's next answer.

"Why... do you want to leave Konoha?"

Koko repeated Kakashi's question in a low voice, his tone very soft, as if he were quite calm.

He remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was experiencing a complex mix of emotions.

"We've come this far, if we don't act now, are we just waiting to become a moving target for the limited- Night of the Uchiha Massacre ' event?"

He silently complained to himself, then felt a wave of helplessness wash over him.

Even now, when Kou recalls those days of constant anxiety, he can't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

The two years following the Nine-Tails Incident were undoubtedly the most difficult period of his life since he came into this world, without exception!

The Uchiha Clan Compound was forcibly relocated to the very edge of Konoha. On that barren land across the Naka River, an entire "village within a village" abruptly rose up, isolated from Konoha.

At all times and in all places, there are Anbu eyes silently monitoring every Uchiha who comes in and goes.

Besides himself, those young Uchiha who, under his influence, had gradually entered Konoha's management and assumed important positions during the Third Shinobi World War...

They began to be "voluntarily" resigned for various reasons, and one by one they were excluded from the Konoha power structure.

The Konoha High Command, headed by the Third Hokage Hokage, truly considered him a trustworthy "one of their own."

But the only people they ever trusted were themselves, not the Uchiha.

When it comes to matters concerning the Uchiha, they always politely avoid mentioning him, trying their best to stay out of it.

Meanwhile, within the Uchiha clan, there was already widespread resentment towards the village's relentless pressure.

The radicals wanted him to stand up and represent the Uchiha, using his popularity and influence in the village to openly confront the Konoha High Command.

The moderate faction, led by clan head Fugaku, hoped that he would continue to act as a bridge between the Uchiha and Konoha High Command, conveying the Uchiha Clan's reasonable demands for fair treatment to the Hokage line as much as possible.

Despite doing well on both sides, he ended up suffering from being "too popular".

On one hand, he had to ease the increasingly sharp conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha; on the other hand, he had to desperately squeeze out the little time he had left for training.

On one hand, he repeatedly hits a wall at his own skill bottleneck with no hope of breaking through; on the other hand, he has to watch helplessly as Shisui and Itachi grow rapidly day by Tenten...

That feeling of powerlessness—knowing all the plot developments yet being unable to stop them—almost gnawed him apart from the inside out.

The PTSD from the battlefield, the unchangeable tragedies, the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha, the long-term stagnation in strength, the failure to educate Shisui and Itachi, and a dark future that seems endless...

All the pressure piled up, causing him to often wake up in the middle of the night, making him wonder if he was about to unleash Mangekyo at any moment!

Finally, on an ordinary afternoon when nothing seemed to happen, he and Shisui had a huge argument...

Then, I chose Kairun!

Of course, he would never utter a single word of these innermost thoughts.

Even if I told them, they wouldn't believe me!

"However... I never intended to lie to you."

Koko looked at Kakashi and Guy, who were anxiously awaiting his answer, with a complicated expression, and sighed silently in his heart.

Kakashi and Guy are not people who can be easily fooled.

Let's not even talk about Kakashi's ridiculously strong observation and judgment skills.

With Kay's almost superhuman intuition, if he were to casually utter a few lies, he would probably feel extremely uncomfortable under Kay's gaze before he even finished speaking.

Only the truth can convince them.

The same truth he told Obito after their "reunion" after he left Konoha.

Having made up his mind, he slowly raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Kakashi and Guy.

Kakashi stood ramrod straight, his eyes fixed on Koko in front of him, his hands clenched tightly.

Kai stood beside Kakashi, his round eyes still brimming with tears he hadn't had time to wipe away, his lips pressed tightly together.

He forcefully suppressed his inner passion and quietly awaited the next answer.

Waiting... for the answer that has been five years overdue.

Looking at the two people in front of him, he said softly:

The reason I left Konoha is actually very simple.

His voice was not loud, and his tone was steady. The deliberate distance and forced smile from before were gone.

Looking directly into Kakashi and Guy's eyes, he continued speaking in a gentle tone:

"I made up my mind when I left Konoha."

He paused for a moment, a short pause that seemed to stretch the sounds of birdsong and wind throughout the forest far away.

"I... I don't want to be a ninja anymore."