Kuro: Asuma, you good-for-nothing!

In the dense forests of the Cloud Thunder Mountain Range, sunlight barely managed to squeeze through the branches and leaves of the towering ancient trees, and occasionally the calls of unknown birds drifted from afar, only to be swallowed up by the layers of foliage.

Kotoko and Itachi traveled at high speed through the Orochimaru was.

The two moved with lightning speed, without a single unnecessary movement. The hems of their Black Cloak with Red Clouds patterns fluttered in the breeze as it passed through the forest.

Since entering the dense forest, none of them have uttered a single word.

Itachi followed behind Kokoro, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far, his gaze always fixed on the back of the black-haired youth in front of him.

On that usually stern face, a complex emotion was surging within him, an emotion that even he himself might not be able to fully comprehend.

After hesitating for a long time, Itachi slowly spoke:

"You... really don't want to say anything more to Mr. Asuma?"

Knock's normally steady steps slowed slightly by half a beat upon hearing those words.

He turned his head, his deep black eyes landing on Itachi's face. His gaze was filled with an almost indifferent coldness.

I have no reason to answer your question.

Despite Kō's blunt rejection, Itachi remained unmoved and stubbornly continued:

"Although I didn't have much contact with Mr. Asuma back in Konoha."

But as far as I remember, your relationship with him has always seemed to be very good.

He lowered his eyelids slightly, his gaze involuntarily falling on the silver-white Thunder Sword at his waist.

He had heard Kou mention the origin of that knife—

This sword was custom-made by Asuma and Kakashi for Kotaro... as a gift for his promotion Jonin.

"Facing old friends, you..."

Stop acting like you know me so well!

A cold knock interrupted Itachi's words:

"Neither I nor Asuma... you know nothing about either of us!"

He turned his head away, no longer looking at Itachi, his voice returning to its previous calm:

"Different perspectives lead to different views and different actions."

"I should have told you and Shisui these things long ago."

"... But now it seems that all these words, just like everything I've ever said to you, have been completely forgotten by you."

He paused, then said with a tone full of sarcasm:

"That's true. After all, how could you geniuses with the mindset of the Hokage possibly listen to the words of a mere mortal like me?"

Itachi paused, staring blankly at Koko's retreating figure, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately said nothing.

It seems too late to say anything now...

Kou clearly wasn't going to listen to Itachi's reply.

He didn't look back at him, but continued walking forward, saying calmly:

Since we have different stances, there's nothing more to say.

"No matter what Asuma says, I won't object..."

Before he could finish speaking, a roar that echoed throughout the dense forest exploded from the direction they had just left.

"He's someone who could be my father!!!"

The sound echoed wildly through the forest, causing the leaves nearby to rustle and fall.

Upon hearing those thunderous words, Itachi's usually calm face instantly showed an extremely rare look of astonishment.

He subconsciously turned his gaze to the door in front of him, his eyes filled with pure bewilderment.

Upon hearing those words, Kou's body stiffened slightly, his foot slipped, and he uncontrollably fell from the tree branch.

"Bang!"

With Lao Da bang, the plane crashed to the ground, its Black Cloak with Red Clouds spreading out in an extremely undignified fan shape amidst the fallen leaves.

He lay on his back on the ground, staring blankly at the sky, and it took him a long time to slowly come back to his senses.

He then clenched his fist, slammed it against the pile of fallen leaves beside him, and shouted angrily in a frustrated voice:

"Asuma —you... good-for-nothing!!"

On the other side of the battlefield, that earth-shattering roar still echoed in the air.

Hatake Sakumo looked at the young man before him, whose face was contorted with pain, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the explosive remark he'd just made.

He completely recovered from the thunderous words of "The 100 Secret Affairs Between Uchiha Madara, the True Sister-in-Law of Konoha, and Senju Tobirama, the Evil Sister- Tobirama Senju".

His hand was still in the position it had been thrown away from, half-suspended in the air, his lips slightly parted.

Clearly, the reconstruction of this poor middle-aged and elderly man's worldview is still in progress.

"I will absolutely not give up!!"

Asuma gave Hatake Sakumo no time to process the information.

He raised his reddened eyes, his voice heavy and firm:

"No matter what, I must bring Kou back!"

There must have been difficulties for Konoha when he left. I believe that in Konoha's heart... he still cares about everyone in Konoha!

If I can find out the real reason he left, I'm sure I can help him now! That way, I can definitely bring him back!

Asuma looked at Hatake Sakumo, his rugged face filled with an almost stubborn earnestness:

"We absolutely cannot let this opportunity slip by! With Kou's current strength, it would be too easy for him to evade us."

An opportunity like today will never come again! We must now...

Asuma!!

Hatake Sakumo shouted loudly, interrupting Asuma's attempt to continue.

Asuma stared at him blankly, her eyes still red, but her almost out-of-control emotions seemed to have finally been temporarily brought to a halt.

Hatake Sakumo took a deep breath, suppressing all the thoughts that had been stirred up by Asuma's thunderous words.

He raised his head again, looking at Asuma with his calm eyes, and said in a low voice:

"There's one thing you're absolutely right about."

"Touching his heart... he truly still cherishes us, his companions."

Asuma's bloodshot eyes widened suddenly, as if she were eager to say something.

Hatake Sakumo didn't give him time to ask further questions.

He turned his head slightly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the hunched figure watching them coldly from a distance, then lowered his voice to a level that only the two of them could hear:

"Just now, Kou gave us some information."

That information... seems to be related to Sasori's weakness.

Asuma's pupils contracted sharply in that instant, but before he could speak, a hoarse voice slowly rang out from not far away.

"What a farce!"

Sasori coldly stared at the two Konoha Ninja in front of him who were still talking in hushed tones.

The brief look of confusion and astonishment in his eyes has now been replaced by pure murderous intent.

"Although I really want to keep watching, I hate waiting for people, and I hate making others wait."

I've waited long enough for you. Your last words... you've probably said them all, haven't you?"

As Scorpion spoke coldly, he pulled a dark red scroll from Scarlet Amber's sleeve.

He pressed the puppet's hand firmly onto the seal in the center of the scroll, and whispered in a hoarse voice:

"Untie."

Thick white smoke exploded from the scroll, engulfing the entire open space in a cloud of dust.

Asuma and Hatake Sakumo simultaneously ended their conversation, their gazes fixed solemnly on the slowly dissipating smoke.

Their hands, in the same instant, silently gripped their respective ninja tools, their center of gravity lowered, and their breathing became as shallow as possible.

As the smoke and dust settled, the outline of the puppet gradually became clearer amidst the billowing white smoke.

It was an entity completely different from all the puppets that Scorpion had released before.

His jet-black robes swayed slightly in the wind, and beneath his deep blue hair was a handsome face.

The puppet's face still retained the last features of its life, with its brows slightly furrowed and lips tightly pressed together.

It was as if, until the very moment of his death, he couldn't understand why he was dying.

The moment Hatake Sakumo saw the puppet's face clearly, his pupils widened slightly.

"That, that is..."

"The Third Kazekage!!"

Side Story: Knocking on the Door with Asuma

(Originally intended as the first part of this chapter, but after repeated revisions, I was still not satisfied, so I cut it off and rewrote it, and then put this part here.)

(I feel this is poorly written, you can skip it)

In the Ninja World, there is a consensus that Konoha is the cradle of geniuses.

In almost every generation of young ninjas, Konoha produces geniuses who become famous throughout the Ninja World.

In the years leading up to the Third Ninja World War, the most renowned of the new generation was undoubtedly Kakashi Hatake, the son of White Fang, a genius ninja who graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of five and became a Chunin at Chunin age of six.

With Kakashi's overwhelming talent, almost everyone else at the same time couldn't even see his back.

This situation inevitably brings to mind Namikaze Minato from back then.

The Yellow Flash, already famous Ninja World, possessed absolute dominance over his contemporaries when he was still a teenager.

However, unlike the Namikaze Minato era, where almost no one believed anyone could rival him,

In Kakashi's generation, there was still one person on whom everyone placed high hopes and who was considered to be able to rival the White Fang's son.

That person is...

The second son of the Third Hokage Hokage, the young master of the Sarutobi Clan, a true-blue, rising genius of the Hokage faction— Asuma Sarutobi!!

Although from the perspective of those who came after him, Asuma, who was on whom so much hope was placed, was clearly no match for Kakashi in terms of talent,

However, given the perspective of most people at the time, it's not hard to understand why Asuma and Kakashi would be compared.

After all, Asuma's starting point was... simply too high.

His clan, the Sarutobi Clan, was a powerful family during the Warring States period, second only to the Senju Clan and Uchiha. After the founding of Konoha, it was the first major clan to actively join Konoha while other clans were still observing.

With such a family background, Asuma's Sarutobi Clan can be considered the Ninja World's version of the "Sarutobi Clan," a true "four generations of high-ranking officials."

His grandfather, Sarutobi Sasuke, was a top-tier shinobi who made his name during the Warring States period, in the era of the God of Shinobi Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara.

His father, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, not only surpassed his father in strength but also became the Third Hokage of Konoha, leading the Konoha to its golden age.

Given this context of each generation surpassing the last, it's not incomprehensible that people have such high expectations for Asuma.

But what happened next greatly disappointed many people.

After entering the Ninja Academy, Asuma's talent was undeniably excellent, easily reaching the Jonin.

However, compared to his extraordinary predecessors, his talent was clearly less remarkable.

Those who had placed high hopes on him were naturally greatly disappointed by this reality.

His parents— the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and the head of Konoha's medical department Biwako Sarutobi— were aware of this long ago.

However, this was on the eve of the Third Ninja World War, and the situation in the Ninja World was changing rapidly.

As Konoha High Command, they had no time to care for their young son and could only offer him brief words of guidance during their rare daily meetings.

Although Asuma developed a more composed personality than his peers under his mother's strict upbringing, deep down he still carried the same reckless and impulsive blood as his father, Sarutobi Hiruzen, in his youth.

The long-term doubts from the outside world, his own lack of talent, and the insecurity caused by the lack of long-term parental companionship... all of these combined to create a seemingly calm and composed state of mind during his adolescence, but in reality, he was extremely uneasy inside.

Emotionally, he desperately wanted to prove himself, but rationally, he was well aware of the reality that he could not meet the expectations of others.

With the pride of a young boy, he could only suppress his inferiority and longing under that precocious mask, looking at his future with confusion.

"In the end, how could I possibly compare to Kakashi? He's the real genius."

All of us in this year's class were just background figures for him.

Asuma, as a boy, naturally thought so.

For ninjas, talent means everything.

But just when Asuma was feeling incredibly lost about his future, someone appeared... and changed everything.

Uchiha Kuro.

He was an ordinary young man in the Uchiha Clan, with almost nothing particularly noteworthy about him except for his exceptionally handsome appearance.

In the overall ranking of those entering the Ninja Academy, only his theoretical scores were quite excellent; in other aspects, he could only be considered slightly above average, completely incomparable to Kakashi, and even himself.

Asuma was initially a little intimidated by the Uchiha boy who had been assigned to sit next to him.

After all, the Uchiha Clan has a long-standing "fine tradition" of looking down on everyone except themselves, believing that heaven is the greatest and they are second only to the Uchiha.

He initially approached the other person with the thought, "After all, we're deskmates, so let's try to get along as a friend as possible."

However, after spending some time with him, Asuma's opinion of the Uchiha Clan boy in front of him underwent a complete change.

Unlike myself, who was somewhat reserved when I was around him, Kou was very natural and easygoing when talking to me, as if he had known me for a long time.

That familiarity wasn't feigned, nor was it deliberate flattery; rather, it was a perfectly natural ease that made people feel comfortable being with him.

As a teenager, Asuma naturally developed a strong interest in this seemingly unreliable but incredibly relaxing boy, who was completely different from the aloof Uchiha he knew.

They naturally became friends.

Perhaps it was because it was the first time he had made a friend his own age, but he would unconsciously tell this boy about the troubles and words he had kept buried in his heart and had never confided to anyone.

Even though he knew very well that the boy in front of him, who was the same age as him, probably didn't understand much at all.

But Kou's next reaction completely surprised him.

Faced with his outpouring of emotions, Kou simply listened quietly.

After listening attentively, he didn't pretend to understand or offer vague words of comfort as Asuma had expected. Instead, he seriously analyzed the problem that was troubling him and then worked with him to think of solutions.

Even if what he's saying isn't actually important, Kou will listen very attentively, offer his own insights, and encourage him to think about it together and make a decision.

For Asuma, who had been taught to be mature and not to worry his parents who bore heavy burdens since childhood, Koko's serious attitude towards him had a tremendous impact on his young mind at the time.

Over time, he gradually came to see Kou not just as a friend, but as someone he could rely on, almost like an elder.

Over the course of their long-term relationship, he also witnessed and even participated in Kou's growth.

He saw that after Kou finished his theoretical studies ahead of schedule, he diligently studied the books he had borrowed from the Uchiha every day.

He witnessed firsthand how Koko systematically planned and repeatedly revised his training path, and witnessed him rise step by step from the teens in practical classes to the top five, and then to the top, where he could stand shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi...

Day after day, year after year.

Unbeknownst to many, Kou had grown into someone who could be compared to Kakashi, the universally acknowledged genius.

Asuma, who had been by Koo's side the whole time, witnessed the entire process.

He knew that Kou was not a genius in the true sense.

But for him, Kou was someone who transcended genius!

Kou broke down the high wall in Asuma's heart built by the word "talent" through his actions.

For him, Kou was not only his first friend and an important elder who was like a father to him, but also the person he admired and aspired to be the most.

He had thought that Kou would continue to move forward, and that he would try his best to keep up with him, do his best to stay by his side, and witness his future.

But all of this collapsed the moment he learned the news.

He knocked on his door... and left Konoha.

(One more chapter to go)