The Orphanage

"Suifeng, what are you looking at?" Haku asked, puzzled as Suifeng stared at the orphanage.

"Oh, nothing. So this is the orphanage. I remember a few of my classmates live here. I was just curious!"

"What's there to be curious about? The Second Shinobi World War just ended, and many shinobi died. The orphanage looks after their children. Plenty of shinobi also came from orphanages," Uchiha Fukuyama said. "So it's no surprise that some of your classmates live here!"

"I see!"

Suifeng finally understood. He had underestimated this orphanage.

Never mind what the surviving civilian shinobi thought of the orphanage, or Konoha's moral obligation to raise the children of fallen shinobi. The shinobi who had come from the orphanage alone made up a force that couldn't be underestimated.

Perhaps the orphanage's limited resources meant that not many shinobi could make their way out of it. But Suifeng didn't believe that those who left simply stopped caring about it. Even if just one of them became a jonin, they would become one of the orphanage's powerful supporters. Only a fool would imagine Konoha's orphanage as some miserable place. It simply wasn't.

That being the case, Danzo sticking his nose into the orphanage was obviously a move that would make him very unpopular.

If put to good use, this force could also help bring Danzo down in the future.

Of course, for now it was only a plan, a fantasy—no, just wishful thinking.

"I'm getting ahead of myself. I haven't even taken the first step!" He chuckled and shook his head as he walked past the orphanage entrance. On the playground inside, tiny children were busy playing at being shinobi.

"Huh? Is that...!"

At a fleeting glance, Suifeng couldn't help stopping. A familiar figure inside the orphanage had caught his eye.

"What's wrong?!" This time, Suifeng's reaction was so pronounced that Fukuyama stopped, too.

"I saw someone I know!"

"A classmate?!"

"Yeah, a classmate!"

"Want to go say hello?!"

"No need!"

"Then let's go!"

"Right!"

The four of them walked past the orphanage. Inside, Nohara Rin, completely unaware, played with the other children.

...Scene break...

"So Nohara Rin came from an orphanage, too? That makes sense. I don't think her parents ever appeared in the original story!"

The Naruto world was full of pitfalls. History was often driven by insignificant characters, while the legendary protagonists were nothing more than tools.

"So what can I gain from her experience growing up in an orphanage?!"

He had already defeated Kakashi, achieving his first small goal in life. At last, he had a little breathing room. Besides training, he also needed to prepare for the future.

For example, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!

The Zanpakuto Red Ghost could solve the problem of evolving his Sharingan, but his own Sharingan's ultimate form was the Mangekyo.

Next, he would need to find suitable eyes.

He had no siblings. The only two possibilities were his younger cousins, Obito and Shisui. They were his closest blood relatives, and both had awakened the Mangekyo.

Of the two Mangekyo, he preferred Obito's.

As for Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, all he could do was scoff...

Permanently changing someone's thoughts? Never mind the cooldown. He wasn't some pervert playing a life-simulation game. What would he want that for?

But Obito's eyes would be far harder to get than Shisui's. Never mind the power of his Mangekyo; having Zetsu watching him would be trouble enough.

What's more, according to the story, if he didn't find a way to change things, one of Obito's eyes would end up in Kakashi's hands. That one would be easy to get, but Kakashi wasn't Obito. He had a natural shortage of chakra, and he wasn't part of the Uchiha Clan. Even by the time the Uchiha were wiped out, he still hadn't evolved his eye into a Mangekyo. How would Suifeng ever find the time to wait for that?

So the most direct approach was to wait until both eyes were still intact in Obito's possession, then take them as soon as he awakened the Mangekyo.

Don't tell him it couldn't be done!

He could do it, and he had to!

The key to Obito's Mangekyo was Rin. If he had Rin under his control, he could even roughly predict when Obito's Sharingan would evolve. Knowing that timing might allow him to prevent the Nine-Tails Incident and keep the Uchiha Clan's situation in Konoha from deteriorating further.

So the plot really was the ultimate cheat, huh?

...Scene break...

Konoha Hospital

In the same hospital room where Suifeng had woken up, Kakashi lay with his head wrapped in thick bandages and one leg propped up in a cast. His lifeless eyes showed no emotion, and there wasn't a trace of vitality about him.

"Kakashi, don't take it too hard. Suifeng only beat you this time because he used underhanded tricks. He's not as strong as you, right?" Obito tried to comfort him in his painfully awkward speech, but his words did no good at all.

"What do you mean, 'underhanded tricks,' Obito, you idiot? That was a targeted strategy Suifeng had planned in advance, and it worked perfectly. Kakashi let his guard down this time," Sarutobi Asuma said bluntly. "Gathering intelligence and designing tactics are essential skills for a shinobi. Suifeng did a flawless job of both."

"You're taking that despicable guy's side?!"

"Why shouldn't I? I'm just calling it as I see it!" Asuma said scornfully. He put his gift on the bedside table, then glanced at Obito, who had come empty-handed.

"Idiot!"

He rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

"Gah, you jerk!"

Feeling provoked, Obito couldn't hold back. He roared and charged after him.

Bang!!

The door opened, and Asuma and Obito both froze.

"Lord White Fang!"

"Mm." White Fang nodded. "Asuma, Obito. Did you come to see Kakashi? Thank you."

"Hello!" The two hurriedly greeted him, then rushed out of the room.

"Those two friends of yours aren't bad," White Fang said thoughtfully as he watched them leave. "It's been three days. Have you still not recovered?"

"I'm just wondering why I lost this time." In front of White Fang, Kakashi could no longer maintain his cool and aloof demeanor. His cold, lifeless eyes finally came to life. "I was too arrogant!"

White Fang smiled. "You were indeed too arrogant!"

"Next time, I definitely won't lose!" Kakashi clenched his small, fair fist.

"You're both Konoha shinobi, so you probably won't have many chances to fight, unless you challenge him," White Fang said. "But you'll have to wait until you've recovered!"

Challenge him!!

Kakashi looked a little dazed. He wasn't unfamiliar with the word, but he had never tried challenging anyone.

Having grown up under White Fang's strict training, Kakashi was far stronger than his peers. He was always the one others challenged; he had never known what it felt like to challenge someone else.

He used to think that anyone who challenged him was overestimating themselves. So if he challenged Uchiha Suifeng, would people think he was overestimating himself, too?

Why did just thinking about it make him feel so embarrassed?

For a moment, Kakashi couldn't help sinking into deep thought.

"I have a mission to carry out soon. Rest up in the hospital."

"Yes!"