Danzo Again!!

A muffled "Bang!" echoed.

The Kakashi "trapped" by Gota instantly transformed into a puff of white smoke.

"What?!" Sano Yuji exclaimed.

He had not expected that to be Kakashi's Shadow Clone Technique.

The real Kakashi had already used Earth Release to hide underground long before Sano Yuji revealed himself.

"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"

A cold shout rang out from the ground beneath his feet.

The next second, a hand wreathed in lightning burst from the earth.

Kakashi gripped Sano Yuji's ankle tightly, dragging him into the ground with the force of a Thousand Jun.

Immediately after, Kakashi's true form shot out from the soil.

With his entire body trapped in the earth, Sano Yuji stammered, "You... when did you?!"

Kakashi formed a seal with one hand, cold light flashing in his eyes.

"The moment Pakkun warned me."

He lifted his forehead protector, revealing that scarlet Sharingan.

"As captain, failing to discover your betrayal of the village in time is my dereliction of duty. But you have no chance now."

Sano Yuji dropped the pretense. "Hmph, I did not betray the village. Everything I have done is for the village's better future!"

"For the village's better future?"

Kakashi's voice was as cold as a blade. "Everything you've done couldn't be for Lord Danzo and his 'higher goals,' could it?"

Danzo again!

Uchiha Yatsuhashi couldn't help but lament how Danzo's shadow seemed to be everywhere.

Sano Yuji shouted to Gota, "Gota! Stop them! I'm going to relocate those 'children'!"

Hearing this, Gota and the surrounding members of the Iburi Clan turned into wisps of smoke, surging from all directions to instantly surround him and Uchiha Yatsuhashi.

Sano Yuji took the opportunity to break free from the soil.

"You think you're leaving?!"

Just as Kakashi moved to pursue, Gota let out a sinister laugh and transformed into smoke to block him once more.

Kakashi's Chidori exploded within the mist, but it was like striking thin air.

Physical attacks were completely ineffective against them.

"Captain Kakashi!"

Uchiha Yatsuhashi calmly pointed out the key, "They are the Iburi Clan and can turn into smoke, but smoke fears wind. You can use Wind Release to temporarily force them back!"

"Wind Release? I understand!"

Kakashi grasped it instantly. Facing the mist lunging at him again, he took a deep breath and formed seals with lightning speed.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A violent hurricane erupted from Kakashi's mouth.

The previously erratic smoke surrounding them became thin under the suppression of the gale.

Gota and the others tumbled violently in the strong wind, but although they were pushed back, they clearly suffered no substantial damage.

"Heh heh heh..."

"Thanks to Lord Orochimaru, our Iburi Clan's bodies have been completely stabilized. We aren't something that can be blown away by a mere gust of wind anymore!"

Before he finished speaking, the smoke that had been suppressed by the Wind Release suddenly condensed.

Glaring at Uchiha Yatsuhashi, who understood their clan, Gota suddenly unleashed the "Smoke Smothering Technique."

Thick, choking smoke instantly swallowed Uchiha Yatsuhashi.

That was a lethal, poisonous mist capable of suffocating an ordinary person to death.

Pick the softest persimmon to squeeze.

In Gota's eyes, the ninja protected behind Kakashi surely lacked strength.

However, the expected scream from within the smoke never came.

"Uh... this, how is this possible?!"

Gota discovered with horror that as he approached Uchiha Yatsuhashi, his pride-and-joy mistified body began to tremble violently, the ethereal smoke being forcibly condensed back into solid flesh and blood.

"Nothing is impossible."

Uchiha Yatsuhashi's voice was icy. He stepped forward, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan beneath his Eagle Mask having already transformed into a complex Mangekyo Sharingan pattern.

The next second, a large hand lunged out, grabbing Gota by the neck as he reverted to his solid form.

"BANG!"

A heavy, muffled thud echoed through the valley.

Gota let out a miserable shriek; a single punch left him curled on the ground in agony like a crushed shrimp, completely stripped of his combat ability.

"Well done, Uchiha Yatsuhashi!"

Kakashi used Wind Release to shake off the surrounding Iburi Clan members, arriving at Uchiha Yatsuhashi's side in an instant.

He looked at Uchiha Yatsuhashi's eyes, which had reverted to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. For a split second just now, Uchiha Yatsuhashi had made him feel an unprecedented sense of oppression.

That was because Uchiha Yatsuhashi had momentarily switched to the Mangekyo Sharingan, using his unique ocular technique, Return to Basics, to temporarily nullify Gota's mistification ability.

Everything happened too fast, and Kakashi, entangled in combat with other Iburi Clan members, had not noticed.

Kakashi suppressed the suspicion in his heart; with enemies surrounding them, now was not the time to probe deeper.

Uchiha Yatsuhashi hoisted Gota up again, coldly scanning the restless Iburi Clan members nearby.

"If you don't want him to die, then all of you, back off!"

The Iburi Clan members were wary of harming their own, and for a moment, none dared to step forward.

Just as this standoff held, a series of soft footsteps suddenly echoed from the cave entrance.

A little girl of about seven or eight, wearing tattered clothes, timidly emerged from the shadows.

Her face was smudged with dirt, and upon seeing Gota held by Uchiha Yatsuhashi, her large eyes instantly filled with tears.

"Please... don't hurt him."

The little girl's voice trembled, yet she summoned the courage to stand her ground.

"Yukimi!"

Gota, lying on the ground, let out a painful roar, struggling to move. "Don't worry about me! Take the clansmen and leave first!"

Kakashi and Uchiha Yatsuhashi exchanged a glance, a flicker of surprise in their eyes.

Looking at Gota, who was restrained by Uchiha Yatsuhashi, Kakashi asked in a deep voice, "Why help Danzo kidnap children and act as his accomplice?"

Pinned down tightly by Uchiha Yatsuhashi, Gota suddenly raised his head.

"Accomplice? What do you people living in the sunlight know! Lord Danzo promised us that as long as we do his bidding, he will grant the Iburi Clan a place to dwell in the future!"

"Foolish."

Kakashi said in a low voice, "A man like Danzo—his promises are worthless. He is merely using you; once you have no value left, he will discard you like trash without a second thought."

Gota retorted, "What do you know! We of the Iburi Clan are born cursed, unable to stably control our ability to turn into smoke.

A gust of wind is enough to make our bodies dissipate; it was Lord Orochimaru who helped us stabilize our forms, allowing us to walk like normal people!"

Gota's eyes revealed a deep longing: "After Lord Orochimaru disappeared, it was Lord Danzo who found us.

He promised that one day he would carve out a dedicated territory for us in Konoha, letting the Iburi Clan finally escape these dark caves and live under the sun!"

"We have no choice!"

The despair that the clan had carried for hundreds of years surfaced in Gota's eyes.

Kakashi heard this and clenched his fists.

This was Danzo's style: exploiting the suffering of others to trade for dirty leverage.

"We can help you, too."

Gota scoffed, "You say Lord Danzo is untrustworthy, but why should we trust you?"

Just then, Uchiha Yatsuhashi, who had been silent all this time, slowly released his grip on Gota.

Under the gaze of everyone present, he raised his hand and removed the Eagle Mask.

The face revealed beneath the mask

caused Gota and the Iburi Clan members behind him, including Yukimi, to widen their eyes in an instant.

"It... it's you?!"

Yukimi gasped, covering her mouth with her small hands, her face filled with disbelief.

It was the boy who had once followed Lord Orochimaru, helping them treat their bodies—Uchiha Yatsuhashi!

"You... how are you here?"

Gota was stunned; in his memory, that assistant who was so proficient in pharmacological experiments was merely a genin with weak chakra.

Yukimi recognized him as well, her small face etched with incredulity.

"It's the big brother who gave us food... but, but you are now..."

At this moment, they felt the aura radiating from Yatsuhashi, and saw those scarlet, eerie Three-Tomoe Sharingan, making him seem like a completely different person from the boy in their memories.

Yatsuhashi looked at them, "Gota, Yukimi."

His voice was not loud, yet every word carried the weight of Thousand Jun, "I know Danzo's methods better than anyone; his promises are worthless.

Not a single one of the children you sent to him has ever returned alive!"

He paused, gesturing toward Kakashi behind him: "But this man is a member of the Anbu directly under the Hokage.

The Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who stands behind him, would never use you the way Danzo does."

Yatsuhashi looked at Yukimi, his gaze softening: "Trust me. As long as you hand over those children

and stop throwing your lives away for Danzo, the Hokage will help you find a true home in Konoha, where you won't have to hide in this sunless place anymore."

Yukimi looked into Yatsuhashi's steady eyes.

She remembered when she was little, Yatsuhashi had told them just as gently that their bodies would get better.

Yukimi stepped forward and tugged on Gota's sleeve, her eyes brimming with tears as she said, "I believe in big brother Yatsuhashi. The Hokage will help us."

The fierce light in Gota's eyes gradually faded, replaced by confusion and hesitation.

He looked at his clansmen, then back at this transformed Uchiha Yatsuhashi, and finally, his tense body slumped in defeat.

"Will the Hokage... really accept monsters like us?"

"Yes."

Yatsuhashi nodded firmly, retracting his Sharingan until his eyes returned to their ordinary pitch black, "As long as you stop aiding the wicked."

Kakashi watched from the side in silence, his eyes full of admiration.

He had not expected this new Anbu recruit to resolve the crisis in his own way.