A Conversation

Hyuuga Nen knocked Kakashi and the others unconscious and took them to a cave not far away. Then he stripped them of all their weapons and gear and began taking inventory.

Long swords, short swords, kunai, shuriken, Explosive Tags, and other items—Hyuuga Nen found them all and set them aside.

But these weren't what Hyuuga Nen was looking for. He wanted the letters Kakashi's team had kept from their communications with Konoha, but he couldn't find any.

Hyuuga Nen went over to Kakashi and roused him, then asked, "Where are the letters from your communications with Konoha?"

Kakashi's eyelids drooped as he answered weakly, "Missions carried out by Konoha's Anbu are classified. Any letters we read are destroyed immediately. Don't waste your time trying to find useful information on us."

"How much does Konoha know about me? What orders did the Hokage give you? Is anyone coming to back you up? Who are they?" Hyuuga Nen fired three questions at Kakashi in a row.

Kakashi didn't answer. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.

Seeing that Kakashi wouldn't cooperate, Hyuuga Nen picked up a short sword, walked over to the unconscious Itachi Uchiha, and held it to his throat.

"If you don't answer my questions, your teammate's life is forfeit."

At Hyuuga Nen's words, Kakashi turned back and stared at him. "A qualified ninja puts completing the mission first, even if it costs him his life!" Kakashi said sternly.

"So between the mission and your teammate's life, you're choosing the former, right?" As he spoke, Hyuuga Nen pressed the short sword a little harder, and blood welled on Itachi Uchiha's neck.

Kakashi watched Hyuuga Nen's actions without saying a word or trying to stop him, silently making his position clear.

But Hyuuga Nen noticed Kakashi's eyelashes twitching. He didn't seem as calm inside as he appeared. They stared at each other for a while before Kakashi gave in.

"We don't know much about you. We saw you fighting Kakuzu and went over to investigate. After you left, Kakuzu told us what he knew about you. He only said you were from the Hyuga Clan. We know nothing else."

"The Hokage ordered us to capture you alive if possible."

"Capture me alive if possible? So you can kill me if necessary, right?" Hyuuga Nen continued pressing Kakashi.

Faced with Hyuuga Nen's question, Kakashi didn't answer. He fell silent, seemingly confirming Hyuuga Nen's guess.

Kakashi chose to ignore Hyuuga Nen's third question, but Hyuuga Nen already knew who was coming to reinforce them, so he didn't bother wasting more time asking.

Hyuuga Nen went to another spot and continued taking inventory of Kakashi's supplies. He had used up quite a bit in the previous battle, and since he had already captured Kakashi and the others, he wasn't going to waste this chance to replenish what he'd used.

Hyuuga Nen opened the three sealing scrolls belonging to Kakashi and the others, and a pile of things spilled out. Most of them were odds and ends, such as clothes, and there was little of use to him.

Hyuuga Nen picked up an unusually shaped kunai and examined it closely. It was a three-pronged kunai, and four large characters were written on its handle: "Sword of Shinobi Love."

"Give it back!" Kakashi suddenly shouted, panting heavily as he spoke.

Hyuuga Nen glanced up at Kakashi and ignored him. He activated his Byakugan and examined the inside of the kunai.

Through his Byakugan, Hyuuga Nen saw that the four characters on the kunai weren't a Sealing Formula, just ordinary writing. The actual Sealing Formula was etched inside it.

But Hyuuga Nen couldn't make sense of the Sealing Formula at all. He knew that this kunai had belonged to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. It let Minato mark a location when using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Trying to understand the Flying Thunder God Technique just by looking at a kunai is pure wishful thinking. Hyuuga Nen laughed at himself, tossed the kunai away, and continued searching through the other things.

"Are these two scrolls for ninjutsu?" Hyuuga Nen asked. Kakashi only glanced at him before ignoring him again.

Hyuuga Nen didn't mind. He carefully examined the Sealing Techniques on the two scrolls. After a while, he concluded that they were indeed ninjutsu scrolls. A specific ninjutsu had been sealed inside each scroll, and all it took to use one was to pour chakra into it—even if the person using it didn't know that particular technique.

Hyuuga Nen created a clone and sent it outside the cave with the scrolls. He activated them and watched the scrolls' changes with his Byakugan.

The scrolls contained only ordinary Fire Style and Wind Release Ninjutsu. But Hyuuga Nen was already highly skilled in sealing techniques, and his Byakugan let him observe the activation process in great detail. He was confident he could master this method himself.

"Not bad," Hyuuga Nen said with satisfaction, then returned to the cave.

In the end, Hyuuga Nen took very little. He only replenished his supplies with some Explosive Tags, kunai, shuriken, and Military Ration Pills from Kakashi and the others. He left everything else behind, taking it outside the cave to destroy with Fire Style.

"Hm? The Fourth Hokage's kunai didn't melt in the flames. I didn't expect it to be so sturdy." Seeing that the kunai had only turned faintly red in the fire, Hyuuga Nen paused in surprise. He didn't give it another thought, though, and turned back toward the cave.

Hyuuga Nen crouched in front of Kakashi and the others and stared intently at the three of them, as if considering something.

Kakashi had seen Hyuuga Nen try to burn his teacher's kunai, and he glared at him furiously.

It took a while for Kakashi to calm down. He looked at Hyuuga Nen and said, "Judging by that look on your face, are you planning to kill us all here?"

"That's one possibility." As Hyuuga Nen spoke, his gaze stayed fixed on Kakashi's Sharingan.

"Then why haven't you done it? Do you have some reservations?" Kakashi spoke up, seemingly trying to stall for time until reinforcements arrived.

Hyuuga Nen ignored him and continued rubbing his chin as he thought. If he killed Kakashi and the others here, he could certainly make himself safer in the short term. But doing so would put him completely at odds with Konoha.

"The Hokage ordered Kakashi to capture me alive if possible. It seems he doesn't want to kill me right away. Why is that?" Hyuuga Nen wondered.

Just then, Hyuuga Nen noticed Itachi Uchiha lying unconscious nearby and suddenly realized why the Hokage had made that choice. If the Third Hokage had directly ordered them to kill him, he might offend the Hyuga Clan.

Hyuuga Nen had already worked out that it would soon be time for Naruto to enroll in the Academy.

That meant the Uchiha Clan's massacre must be approaching, too. Konoha and the Uchiha Clan were probably on very bad terms by then, so they wouldn't want to antagonize the Hyuga Clan as well.

Hyuuga Nen shifted his gaze from Itachi Uchiha to the Sharingan in Kakashi's eye and thought, Should I take Kakashi's eye? Its ocular technique is Kamui, after all—a rare space-time ability.

Obito Uchiha had given the eye to Kakashi and never taken it back, which showed he didn't care about it. But if Hyuuga Nen took Kakashi's eye, he would draw Obito's attention. Even though the eye's ability could counter Obito, doing so would only transfer the danger directly onto himself.

Thinking this over, Hyuuga Nen shook his head and abandoned the idea of taking Kakashi's eye. He stood up, broke the arms and legs of Kakashi and the others, and walked out of the cave.

A long while after Hyuuga Nen left, Itachi Uchiha finally woke up. He struggled to turn his head and saw Kakashi half-reclining against the wall. Ashamed, he said,

"Captain Kakashi, this was my fault. If I hadn't suggested it, we wouldn't have ended up like this. I should've listened to you and waited for reinforcements before acting. I'm sorry!"

"Getting out of this alive is good enough. Don't blame yourself, Itachi," Kakashi replied.

After they finished speaking, silence fell over the cave once more. Their chakra had been sealed, and they were tied up. If they shouted, they might attract unknown dangers, so they could only wait quietly for reinforcements.