Kuro's Answer
When he said this, his tone was exactly the same as before.
There was no trembling; it was quite calm.
"My Two-Tomoe Sharingan awakened at that moment."
Kou slightly tilted his head back and said softly:
"To this day, I still remember the look in that child's eyes."
It was filled with hatred... there wasn't even any fear.
He twitched the corner of his mouth and said in a low voice:
"It was Sand Village that instigated the Third Ninja World War and launched the first invasion of Konoha."
It was the Fourth Kazekage of Sand Village who deliberately left their family in the combat zone as tactical tools.
It was Sand Village's own ninja who killed her parents...
But in the end, the person she hated was me.
"Well, it's not entirely incomprehensible."
Kou withdrew his gaze, shrugged slightly, and defended the child who had passed away many years ago:
"After all, a six-year-old child couldn't possibly know these things."
Even her parents probably didn't know until their deaths that the land beneath their feet had been designated as a war zone at some point.
The Sand Village wouldn't tell them, and the Konoha had no ability to tell them either.
He looked at Kakashi, then at Guy, and smiled.
That smile held none of its usual cheerfulness, only a faint calm:
"But as a Konoha ninja, to protect my comrades, for the sake of the battle..."
He paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice:
"No, as a human being, in order to ensure one's own safety, shouldn't it be necessary to kill something that threatens one's life?"
If she survives and runs to Sand Village, revealing my information, I'll be the next one to die.
Looking at Kakashi and Guy before him, he said in a deep voice:
"Therefore, I must kill her."
"Logically, there's no problem. From a ninja's perspective, it's completely correct."
Kou continued talking incessantly, his voice suddenly becoming very soft:
"But no matter what, killing a child with my own hands who has done nothing wrong, who isn't even a ninja... that's truly a first for me."
He looked at Kakashi, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Having worked in the Anbu before, you must have experienced this feeling too, Kakashi."
"That feeling... must be awful."
Kakashi opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
He simply looked at Kou's face, which still wore a faint smile, and nodded heavily and slowly.
"Kakashi..."
Kai watched Kakashi's face, which had suddenly lost all color, and then looked at the still smiling Koko in front of him, his face full of deep difficulty and helplessness.
He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what he could say.
He hadn't experienced any of this; of the few people standing here, he was the only one who hadn't shed the blood of innocent people.
He... had no right to offer any words of comfort to Kakashi and Koko in front of him.
"After that incident, no."
Kou withdrew his gaze and looked at his right hand, which was hanging by his side:
"To be honest, from the moment I took my first life, I knew from the bottom of my heart that I no longer wanted to be a ninja."
He looked at Kakashi and Guy and said seriously:
"This idea has been living in my mind for more than just a day or two, but for several years."
From the beginning to the end of the Third Ninja World War, I thought about it every single day.
"And I made this decision five years ago."
He said firmly:
"Leave Konoha, leave this Ninja World that keeps pushing me in a direction I don't want to go."
"This... is the decision I made five years ago."
Knocking on his lips, observing Kakashi and Guy's reactions, he spoke in a calm, deep voice:
"This is my answer."
The forest fell silent.
No one spoke.
Kakashi remained silent, Guy remained silent, Kisame remained silent, and Kabuto also remained silent...
Every word Kou had just said was still echoing silently in their minds.
Obito stood beside Koko, his expression behind the mask filled with deep complexity.
The person I used to be, the one I considered closest to.
That Uchiha Obito, still living in his own beautiful dream, only knowing how to measure the world with the purest kindness.
At that time, I was completely unaware of what was truly in my heart.
He only saw Kou's carefree smile on the surface, and the smug look on his face when Kou patted him on the shoulder on the Training Ground.
I never knew how much bitterness was hidden behind Kou's smile.
If it weren't for that night of reunion when Kou poured out all those words to him, he probably still wouldn't understand.
Koko, why did you choose to leave Konoha...?
After a long silence, Kakashi slowly raised his head and stared directly into Koto's eyes.
His voice was hoarser than before, but also more solemn:
"I now understand why you left Konoha in the first place."
"But, knock."
Kakashi's brow furrowed tightly, his voice filled with an extremely serious and pained scrutiny:
"You had already decided to give up being a ninja, so why have you now become a member of the Akatsuki!"
Isn't this choice completely contrary to the decision you made in the first place?!
Beside Kakashi, Guy also raised his head.
His eyes were still a little red, but his round eyes were fixed intently on Kou, waiting for his lifelong friend's reply.
Koko looked at Kakashi calmly, as if he had expected him to ask that question.
He looked at Kakashi's serious face, then at Guy's confused eyes, and calmly said:
"Because after leaving Konoha, I... found a new goal."
He glanced at Obito beside him out of the corner of his eye, exchanged a look with him for a fleeting moment, then looked away and uttered the answer that, in a sense, was not false:
"A goal... that can change this illusory Ninja World."
Hearing Kou's words, Obito silently curled the corners of his mouth.
Kakashi fell silent.
He looked into those eyes, trying to find any trace of hesitation or self-deception within them.
But he didn't find it.
"That target..."
"Is this something you could only achieve within the Akatsuki?"
He stared at Kakashi, but did not answer.
A faint smile appeared on that face, weathered by time and now more hardened and mature than in its youth.
Silence is the best answer.