Kakashi and Kuro

"Knock? You've seen him, Lord Jiraiya?!"

Kakashi's voice was rapid and hoarse:

"Where did you meet him? How is he now? Will he ever return to Konoha...?"

He couldn't help but take a step forward, his gaze burning as he looked at Jiraiya ahead, all traces of his previous languor and sorrow gone.

"Kakashi."

Minato's gentle voice rang out slowly, precisely interrupting Kakashi's out-of-control questioning.

Minato looked into his eyes and gently shook his head:

"Calm down first."

Kakashi paused for a moment, then slowly lowered his head.

The eye that was exposed closed tightly, and when it opened again, the emotions that had just surged within him had been forcibly suppressed back into the depths of his eyes.

But his hands, hanging by his sides and still trembling slightly, ultimately betrayed the turmoil in his heart.

"I'm sorry, Lord Jiraiya... I got too excited."

Jiraiya looked at the silver-haired youth with his head down in front of him, said nothing, and simply nodded earnestly at him.

"It's okay. I completely understand how you feel."

He paused, his voice deepening slightly:

Let me answer your most pressing question first.

He knocked on his door... but he won't return to Konoha.

The atmosphere in the office seemed to become a little heavier at that moment.

Kakashi's body didn't move; even his trembling stopped in that instant.

Sunlight fell on his silvery-white hair, and the light in his lifeless eyes gradually dimmed.

He lowered his head even further, his silvery bangs obscuring the emotions in his eyes, and only a single syllable, so soft it was almost carried away by the wind, slipped gently from his throat:

"... Yeah."

Kakashi's voice was soft, tinged with a deep bitterness:

"Thank you, Lord Jiraiya."

Minato looked at Kakashi, who was in a low mood, with heartache and sighed inwardly.

Of everyone present, no one understood the weight that Kouch held in Kakashi's heart better than him.

When Kakashi first became the Jonin instructor of Team 7, his closest friend was not Rin or Obito from the same squad—but Koko.

Their bond began even before Kotaro had demonstrated his worth; he was still just an ordinary child in the Uchiha Clan...

Many years ago, Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, abandoned his mission to protect his comrades, which led to a huge public backlash.

At first, it was only discussed privately within the ninja community, but it gradually spread to the streets and alleys, and to every corner of conversations after meals.

While Kakashi's father, White Fang of Konoha Hatake Sakumo of Ninja World, was being criticized by everyone, the young Kakashi stepped forward and debated with the crowd, silencing all the ninjas and villagers who were criticizing him.

"Blaming them for saving you and abandoning their mission? Why don't you just die, you piece of trash? What were you doing all this time?"

When someone was trying to save you, you shouldn't have offered your help. Didn't you realize you were trying to kill yourself?

You're back in the village, making a scene here. Why don't you bring your parents along to yell at you too?

Make your parents join you in cursing, cursing why they saved their good-for-nothing son?

"You worthless bastard, raised by a mother but uneducated by one, you don't even care about your own parents, yet you have the nerve to lick your boots and say you're doing this for Konoha?"

"And you bunch of troublemakers who're just jumping on the bandwagon, are you really stupid or just pretending?"

White Fang of Konoha was a war hero of the Second Ninja World War!

The fact that you can sit here and eat peacefully now is all thanks to the people who risked their lives on the battlefield!

All you do is blindly follow the crowd and hurl insults. How dare you, who just loaf around in the rear, criticize war heroes? Do you even deserve to?

"Damn it, it's all because Konoha's ninja education is too high that you bunch of bastards are spoiled. If you encounter someone with a bad temper, your heads will fall to the ground the moment you open your mouth!"

You only dare to bully honest people. Why don't you come to the gates of our Uchiha Clan Compound and start spewing insults in front of us Uchiha? A bunch of cowards!

"In my two lifetimes combined, I Uchiha Kuro, have never seen anyone as shameless as you!!!"

Kou's words were like knives, cutting into the hearts of those people, leaving them speechless, blushing, and ashamed to the point of shutting their mouths.

Ironically, the reason why Konoha first became famous was precisely because of those unprecedented verbal battles.

Five-year-old Uchiha boy debates with a group of scholars.

That was the hottest topic in Konoha at the time, even overshadowing the White Fang of Konoha Incident itself.

Even Minato himself first remembered the name Uchiha Kuro there.

Looking back now, Kakashi, who was always by his father's side, must have noticed Kokoro around that time too...

Although the public attention on Hatake Sakumo's dereliction of duty was diverted to some extent because of Koko's unprecedented insults, the number of people publicly criticizing him decreased significantly, and the number of voices daring to stand up for him increased considerably.

But having suffered a fatal blow to his beliefs, Hatake Sakumo ultimately chose to resign from all his positions in despair.

He declined the Third Hokage Hokage's repeated attempts to persuade him to stay, cancelled his ninja file, and went to live in seclusion in the Land of Iron, never setting foot in the Ninja World again.

Kakashi, who was supposed to leave with his father, refused his father's suggestion to take him with him and stayed in Konoha alone, determined to prove to his father that the path he had chosen was not wrong.

From then on, Kakashi could often be seen beside Obito and the Obito.

For Kakashi, Kokoro, Obito, and Rin were the places he found again in Konoha after leaving his father.

Minato was well aware of the immense impact Kakashi had on him when Konoha left without saying a word.

He looked at Kakashi, spoke softly, his tone gentle yet firm:

"Let Jiraiya Teacher speaking first, Kakashi."

Once we know Kou's whereabouts, we can go find him anytime.

All we can do is find him and convey our message to him.

He can definitely hear your voice...

Kakashi raised his eyes, and a faint light flashed in those dead fish eyes—not bright, but enough to orient himself in the darkness.

The corners of his mouth beneath the mask lifted slightly, a faint smile forced by all his might.

Thank you, Teacher.

Minato looked at him and smiled gently.

Jiraiya watched this scene with satisfaction, suppressing the slight turmoil in his heart, and continued:

"Not long ago, I went to the Land of Water with the sole purpose of investigating the Akatsuki that Kouchi had joined."

"To my own surprise, I actually ran into Kou by chance at Mist Harbor in the Land of Water."

"I fought him to bring him back."

Jiraiya paused, then continued in a serious tone:

"I have to admit, Kou is very strong now, even comparable to me!"

That child's growth rate was definitely not something he could achieve by simply burying himself in cultivation.

Jiraiya frowned slightly and said in a low, uncertain voice:

"I suspect that for the past five years, he has most likely been under the guidance of a very capable Teacher!"