What's the Difference Between This and Dancing on a Grave?

Kakashi would definitely give him something good, right?

The last time, he had given Uchiha Ling Sakumo Hatake's secret taijutsu techniques, which had now become the core of his abilities.

[Detected Kakashi Hatake's defenses breaking. Extracting an ability related to Kakashi Hatake. The host may choose one of three options.

Option One: Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall;

Option Two: 0.9 Kak of chakra;

Option Three: Water-nature chakra.]

He immediately ruled out the first option. He had already drawn earth-nature chakra from a Stone Ninja spy, so learning an Earth Style ninjutsu from Kakashi would be far too wasteful.

The second option made Uchiha Ling's eyes light up.

His current chakra reserves were 0.9 Kak, and even that had only been achieved through the system's massive boost. He had never expected Kakashi, the chosen one of this world, to possess 0.9 Kak of chakra through his own talent alone.

Was a heaven-sent system not even as good as being born a beast?

In the original story, Obito's Sharingan had lowered Kakashi's potential. If it had not been a Mangekyō Sharingan, it would have been nothing but a nerf to Kakashi.

Uchiha Ling chose the chakra reserves option, and his chakra surged to nearly double its previous amount! It became 1.8 Kak!

Chakra was formed from a mixture of physical energy and spiritual energy.

Uchiha Ling's spirit was fine and had not changed much. Perhaps because he was a transmigrator, his spiritual energy had always exceeded his physical energy. But his body was different.

His physique strengthened further. Both his muscles and bones grew more powerful.

This fundamental transformation left him standing there for quite a while as he recovered.

His muscles trembled, and his bones groaned.

Fortunately, Kakashi had been utterly crushed. He lay on the ground like he had lost the will to live, staring up at the pale dawn sky, and did not notice anything unusual about him.

As for the third option, water-nature chakra was not particularly useful for the time being.

He raised his now stronger arm, clenched and unclenched his fist, and felt out his new power. Uchiha Ling was extremely satisfied, and even found Kakashi much more pleasing to look at.

Kakashi climbed up from the ground and stared at Uchiha Ling with his dead-fish eyes.

"Is everything you said true?"

Uchiha Ling looked around but found no one else.

He walked closer to Kakashi and lowered his voice. "Don't speak so loudly. Do you want to die?

Come on, follow me somewhere else."

Kakashi's mind was a muddled mess. When Uchiha Ling told him to go elsewhere, he simply followed.

Half a minute after they left, two ANBU arrived at the scene.

The ANBU ninjas noticed traces of a ninjutsu battle here and came to investigate.

"Two chunin specialized in ninjutsu had a sparring match here. There are no bloodstains at the scene. A private spar between chunin has little investigative value."

The other ANBU said, "There are Hyūga Clan ninjas in the guard squads stationed along the Hidden Leaf Village's walls. Unfortunately, for the privacy of the vast majority of the village's people, Hyūga Clan ninjas are only allowed to use the Byakugan to scout outside the village.

This is a rule set by Advisor Danzo. If Hyūga Clan ninjas could scan the entire Hidden Leaf Village whenever they wanted, our work would be much easier."

"Still... for those two to spar near Lord Orochimaru's underground laboratory was truly reckless."

"Maybe they thought this place was remote and no one knew anything about it, so they deliberately chose it."

At that moment, a tall, lean figure emerged from the woods.

Orochimaru's cold vertical pupils fixed on the ANBU. He waved them away, signaling for them to leave.

Only after the two ANBU used the Body Flicker Technique to flee did Orochimaru look toward the place where Kakashi and Uchiha Ling had fought. His vertical pupils gleamed with the excitement of a predator spotting prey.

"How interesting... Six or seven years old?"

If Uchiha Ling had known that this place was not far from Orochimaru's underground laboratory, he would definitely have cursed. Damn Hidden Leaf Village secrecy system—how was this any different from dancing on a grave?

Uchiha Ling no longer wanted to say anything to Kakashi, but Kakashi insisted on following him.

Outside the woods at the village's edge, Kakashi followed Uchiha Ling and gradually calmed down. Logic once again overcame his emotions.

He asked quietly, "Uchiha Ling, are you saying someone was fanning the flames behind the rumors surrounding my father before his death?"

Uchiha Ling turned to look at Kakashi and said:

"I targeted you and put pressure on you. Those people wanted you to return home carrying negative emotions and add to your father's mental burden."

"I'm not as fragile as you think. I knew my father was in a poor mental state then, but after I returned home, I never showed even the slightest negative emotion."

Uchiha Ling thought for a moment. He did not want Kakashi to become depressed for years and make no progress at all in the future. He still wanted to draw good things from Kakashi, so he said:

"In my personal opinion, the rumors before your father's death had several layers.

The first layer was the common resentment toward those in high positions.

Most people lived miserable lives. The moment they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by worries.

Jealousy toward the strong, compensation for their own miserable lives, and an instinctive rejection of authority all bred resentment toward those above them.

Whether it was the renowned White Fang of the Leaf, the Three Sannin, or the heads of the great clans, whenever someone fell on hard times, someone else would secretly take pleasure in it."

Kakashi nodded. "I understand. Everyone has a dark side. That isn't much."

"Yeah. For example, now that your father is dead, some of our classmates will undoubtedly be gloating."

Kakashi's cheek twitched. "Do you have to put it so darkly? They're not that awful."

"I'm telling you the truth, yet you're dissatisfied."

"What about the second layer?"

Uchiha Ling said, "The second layer was that after your father abandoned the mission, it really did cause enormous losses for the Hidden Leaf Village.

Some Hidden Leaf Village ninjas and families suffered disasters connected to your father. Not only were they willing, they actively repeated their dissatisfaction with your father over and over in different settings."

Kakashi said, "I can accept that too. During the first half of this year, I worked desperately hard on the front lines because I wanted to make up, even if only a little, for my father's losses and contribute to the Hidden Leaf Village."

Uchiha Ling nodded. Kakashi was exceptionally mature for his age. He said:

"The third aspect is the deliberate indulgence of the rumors by certain important figures in the village."

Kakashi's heart tightened.

Really? Was that really the case?

Uchiha Ling said, "Forget the village. Even if the Konoha Security Department wanted to eliminate a rumor, it would be easy.

If the Military Police Force ninjas just worked three to five days of overtime, they could snuff out any rumor. The village would find it even easier.

As far as I know, the Uchiha Clan had neither friendship nor enmity with the White Fang of the Leaf. Unless the village issued an order, the Military Police Force would not specifically target any particular rumor.

The fact that the rumors eventually spread so wildly, becoming so severe that the White Fang of the Leaf was pointed at and condemned whenever he went outside, was entirely because certain higher-ups deliberately allowed them to spread.

As for why the higher-ups came to dislike your father, I don't know.

I heard that your father had proclaimed since childhood that he wanted to become Hokage, just like that idiot Obito Uchiha.

No one cared when Obito Uchiha shouted that, because Obito Uchiha could never become Hokage. But your father was different. The White Fang of the Leaf had shaken the ninja world. He truly might have become Hokage."

Uchiha Ling stared at the stiffened Kakashi and said:

"Everything above is merely my personal speculation. I don't know the full story either. Investigate the rest yourself, and experience the cruelty of the ninja world.

Goodbye, Kakashi, the guy with eight bushels of swagger."

With that, Uchiha Ling vanished in a Body Flicker.

During Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan, Kakashi had stopped Might Guy from going to save the Third Hokage. That proved Kakashi understood something to some extent and harbored resentment toward the higher-ups.

He had simply learned it earlier.