The So-Called Ninja

Hearing Koko's answer, everyone present except Obito was filled with deep shock and confusion.

"That's... a really unexpected answer."

Kisame silently pondered Koko's almost nonchalant words, but his small eyes showed little surprise.

He had his own understanding of the answer from the "Master Kou" whom he sincerely admired.

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

Kakashi repeated the words in a low voice, slowly looking at Guy beside him.

Kai turned around almost simultaneously, and their eyes met.

Kakashi saw the exact same shock in Guy's round, dark eyes.

During those long five years, they had considered every possibility of Konoha leaving.

Were they threatened by Danzo? Or were they coerced by the radical faction of the Uchiha Clan?

They went through every possible reason they could think of, and even the absurd hypothesis that Koko might have been kidnapped by Orochimaru for experiments briefly crossed their minds.

But they never imagined the answer would be like this.

"Why, Kou! Why did you make this decision?!"

Kaina's urgent voice boomed through the forest.

His face, which was usually full of passion and enthusiasm, was now scrunched up, his eyes filled with deep confusion and bewilderment.

His intuition told him that Kou's answer was heartfelt.

But he still couldn't understand this dear friend who had run alongside him through the streets of Konoha, who had shouted youthful slogans with him day and night.

From the moment I met them, I considered them both a lifelong rival and a close friend with shared goals... Why did I make this decision?

Kakashi didn't speak, but simply stared quietly and motionlessly at Koko, his eye that was visible outside the Forehead Protector.

His gaze held caution, restraint, and a suppressed urgency that only those who truly understood him could decipher.

"Hmph, what a fuss over nothing."

Obito scoffed inwardly, crossing his arms over his chest. His face, hidden behind the Spiral Mask, was filled with deep contempt.

Although when I first heard Kou say those words, I was no less shocked than the two people in front of me.

But he didn't show it at all!

This is definitely not because he wanted to act profound in front of this guy or maintain the mature persona he had worked so hard to build.

Absolutely not!!

Obito snorted inwardly again, turning his face slightly to the side, maintaining what he considered to be a rather calm and composed bystander's posture.

Kouchi glanced speechlessly at Obito, who was secretly gloating beside him, and silently rolled his eyes in his mind.

He looked again at Kakashi and Guy, who were staring at him in shock, his expression showing no surprise, as if he had already anticipated their reaction.

After all, when he was in Konoha, he had never revealed his "true feelings" to anyone...

"Kakashi, Guy, do you remember when I first awakened my Two-Tomoe Sharingan...?"

The knocking sounded very calm, the tone as relaxed as if he were simply recalling a small incident from long ago.

But there was no hint of a smile in his eyes when he looked at Kakashi and Guy.

Hearing Kou's words, Kakashi and Guy both fell silent.

The shock in Kakashi's eyes faded in an instant, replaced by deep sorrow.

"Ah, of course I remember."

Kakashi's voice was a little hoarse, and he said with a hint of sadness:

"At that time, you and your squad members went to the Sand Village battlefield to carry out a support mission, but on the way, you encountered a premeditated ambush by the Sand Village."

... Including your team leader, Jonin Morishita Naoto, and teammates Inuzuka Cloud and Tetsuki Fukama, all three perished in the battle.

Having witnessed their sacrifice, your Sharingan evolved from One-Tomoe to two Tomo. With these new eyes, you defeated the remaining Sand Village and brought their remains back to Konoha...

At this point, Kakashi paused, looked back at Koko, and tentatively asked:

"That's what you told us back then, right?"

Meeting Kakashi's gaze, he remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"That's exactly what I told you back then."

He twitched the corner of his mouth, but it wasn't a smile.

Kakashi and Guy were silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

An ominous premonition arose in their hearts.

However... that's not the case.

The knocking sound was still very soft, as if recounting an old story that was no longer relevant to him:

"At least some of them aren't."

Kou raised his head, looked at the silent Kai and Kakashi in front of him, and continued:

"Tetsuki Fukama and Inuzuka Cloud, they did indeed die in the course of battle."

But Morishita- Teacher didn't give up. Despite being at an extreme disadvantage, he fought desperately with his severely injured body, and finally, with the aid of my Sharingan, he traded his life for the life of the Sand Village's only Jonin.

He paused for a moment, his voice softening slightly:

"But at that time, Teacher. Morishita was already nearing his end."

"After Morishita- Teacher fell, I fought with all my might and killed the remaining Sand Village."

But at that time... my Sharingan hadn't evolved.

Kou stared directly into Kakashi and Guy's eyes, his gaze calm to the point of being cold.

"I didn't awaken the Two-Tomoe Sharingan because I witnessed their sacrifice."

He paused, then said in a low voice:

"After all, it was just a small team that was temporarily assigned to the task force."

The four of us spent less than a week together in total.

Before that, I had already switched teams three times, Two-Tomoe Sharingan... If I could have awakened it, I probably would have done so already."

Kakashi and Guy listened to Koko's almost nonchalant confession, their ominous premonition grew heavier.

But neither of them spoke to interrupt.

Because they knew that what Kou was about to say was an old wound he had never revealed to any living person.

Obito stood quietly beside Kō, his face beneath the mask serene to the point of being cold.

He knew everything Kou was about to say...

"The opportunity that triggered my awakening of the Two-Tomoe Sharingan happened after that... no, to be precise, it was already there from the very beginning of the battle."

The knocking sound lowered a few decibels, and he slowly spoke:

"In the area where we fought the ambush squad from Sand Village, there was a family of civilians from the Land of Wind who had not evacuated from the combat zone."

We all found it strange at the time. Logically speaking, if Sand Village was able to set up an ambush here in advance, it meant they had ample time to evacuate the surrounding civilians...

At this point, a deep chill crept into Kou's tone:

"Later I found out that it wasn't an oversight."

"That was a wartime policy deliberately formulated by the Fourth Kazekage of Sand Village."

Koko looked in the direction of Sand Village and said in a cold voice:

"We deliberately preserve a portion of civilians in the combat zone. If the battlefield situation is unfavorable to Sand Village, these civilians will be the most reliable source of intelligence."

Out of fear, they would instinctively run to their own country's Sand Village for help, while also relaying the enemy's location and numbers.

Once they are exposed on the battlefield and see unarmed civilians suddenly appearing, the young ninjas with little battlefield experience will instinctively lose focus and reveal their weaknesses.

Fuma and Kumo... they both died because of this.

Upon hearing Kou's words, Kakashi and Guy's expressions instantly became extremely solemn.

Behind them, Kabuto lowered his eyes with a complicated expression.

"Sand Village... Battlefield."

He silently repeated these words in his heart.

According to Nonō, he was rescued from the battlefield of Sand Village by the dean and his team during the Third Ninja World War.

At that time, he had suffered severe brain damage, and all his previous memories were blurred...

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel extremely ironic.

Although he was technically from the Land of Wind, the person who saved him was from Konoha, an enemy faction...

Kisame stood to Kakashi and behind, his expression remaining unchanged from beginning to end.

For him, who had survived the era of Village of the Bloody Mist, simply leaving civilians in the war zone as bait was nothing.

Trying to outdo us, the Mist Village, in cruelty? That's laughable, everyone.

Looking at Kakashi and Guy before him, a hint of reminiscence flashed in his eyes:

"If I remember correctly, the people who rushed into the battlefield were a family of three."

Father, mother, and a girl who is about six years old.

Their house was on a hillside at the edge of the combat zone. Half of the roof was blown off by the Sand Village's Wind Release, and the entire house collapsed.

In the chaos, the parents pushed their daughter out of the window to let her run, but they themselves didn't have time to dodge the Wind Release Wind Release and died from it.

He paused for a moment, then continued speaking in a flat tone:

"What happened next is what I just mentioned. I dragged my exhausted body and killed all the remaining Sand Village."

When I went to check on Morishita- Teacher's condition, he was already on the verge of death.

As he lay dying, with his last strength, he pointed towards me in the direction the girl had run off to.

The color drained almost completely from Kakashi and Guy's faces at that moment.

What happened next... needs no further explanation.

Exhausted, I caught up with the girl.

Then... I killed her.