Sage of Six Paths, Dividing the Ten-Tails, The Nine Tailed Beasts

Bang!

Within the Land of Lightning, inside a watchtower, a figure lay on the ground as if unconscious.

The fallen ninja wore a forehead protector bearing three drifting clouds—the symbol of Kumogakure.

"So it wasn't this route after all?"

At that moment, a murmur sounded. It was Kakashi speaking. The Kumogakure ninja had just been brought down by his genjutsu.

Without hesitation, Kakashi flashed away after failing to obtain any useful information from the man.

Moments later, he arrived inside another watchtower and once again used genjutsu to examine the information in his opponent's mind.

However, Kakashi's luck was clearly not very good. Twice in a row, he found nothing useful, but he did not lose heart over it.

Before becoming a qualified ninja, having sufficient patience was essential.

Whoosh!

Kakashi continued moving through the Land of Lightning, appearing within watchtower after watchtower. Finally, when he reached the thirteenth watchtower, he made a new discovery.

Unlike the previous one-man-per-tower arrangement, Kakashi sensed the presence of two people inside this watchtower. He immediately realized something was off.

With a flash, he rushed toward the watchtower.

"Who goes there?"

A burly, dark-skinned man shouted. His reaction was extremely fast; the instant he noticed something unusual, he raised both hands and rapidly formed hand seals.

"Lightning Release—"

Just as the guard completed his seals and prepared to unleash a ninjutsu, a red gleam suddenly appeared in his vision. The next moment, his eyes trembled, and his body swayed as he collapsed to the ground.

Kakashi then appeared inside the watchtower. The forehead protector concealing his left eye had been lifted, and his scarlet left eye gave off a mysterious red glow.

"Looks like he doesn't know anything."

Kakashi murmured. Although he had used genjutsu, he had found no important information in the guard's