Likes Picking Off People's Heads

His mind was still immersed in disbelief over his Chidori being dispersed, but in the next instant, Kakashi reacted urgently and sensed that something was wrong!

That wind had just swept past him and gone behind him. That meant...

Not good! This is bad!

Heart pounding, Kakashi swiftly turned around and hurriedly checked behind him, hoping things were not as he imagined.

However, what he feared most had happened.

The wind Yun Yan had transformed into was incredibly fast. It had crossed a great distance almost imperceptibly, like a breeze brushing across one's face.

By the time Kakashi turned to look behind him, the Root ninja's head was already gone.

For a moment, the headless corpse had not yet lost its last bit of strength. A huge gush of blood sprayed upward from the severed neck, like a fountain of blood.

The fountain lasted only an instant. Soon, the blood lost its force and no longer sprayed upward, merely flowing from the neck.

Even the blood no longer had the strength to spurt. The corpse's remaining strength to stand was clearly no longer enough to support it.

With a thud, the Root ninja's headless body collapsed into the dust beneath Kakashi's gaze.

Watching that horrifying sight, Kakashi pursed his lips and swallowed.

His pupils scattered slightly as his gaze shifted farther away.

Behind where the Root ninja had just been standing, farther from Kakashi, Yun Yan had reappeared, standing there.

Yun Yan was no longer merged with the air. There was no wind-style chakra lingering over his body, and he had withdrawn from that whistling state of a rushing breeze, standing quietly beneath a cherry blossom tree.

Perhaps because he had come to such a sudden stop, the residual effects of his wind style had not yet dispersed. Air currents still howled around him, and gentle breezes blew in waves.

The gusts whipped his wide robes with a fluttering rustle, while cherry blossoms drifted down from the tree.

Amid that rustling rain of cherry blossoms, Yun Yan extended a hand and showed Kakashi what he was holding.

There was no doubt about it. It was a head.

Even though Yun Yan was holding it by the hair, the face still retained the Root ninja's disbelieving expression from before his death.

Kakashi did not move. He remained where he was, eyes wide as he stared at the scene in extreme shock.

Ordinarily, with gentle breezes blowing, cherry blossoms falling, and Yun Yan standing amid the shower of petals in robes fluttering in the wind, it should have been an exceptionally beautiful sight.

But he was holding a head in his hand. That made the scene both beautiful and chilling, and the contradictory feeling left one deeply unsettled.

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi had an inexplicable thought besides his shock.

Yun Yan likes picking off people's heads.

Wasn't that right? When Yun Yan had just returned to Konoha to report to the Hokage, the two Root ninja corpses he had thrown out had been the same way—their heads separated from their bodies.

And now, this Root ninja had met the same fate.

Did Yun Yan have some particular obsession with beheading people?

Actually, that was not the case.

Yun Yan only liked cutting off people's heads because most of his wind-style ninjutsu focused on sharp cutting techniques, like the director of a meat processing plant.

Since he was already good at sharp cutting, how could he not make proper use of it?

And of all the parts of the human body, the most suitable for cutting through in a single stroke, with both flesh and bone and an especially satisfying feel when sliced through, was the neck.

It was precisely because he was so enamored with the smooth sensation of severing someone's neck that Yun Yan had developed the habit of picking off people's heads.

Just like what had happened moments ago.

Everything that had just occurred had actually happened very quickly. From beginning to end, it had probably taken less than a second.

From Yun Yan merging with the air and transforming into a clear breeze rushing forward, to sweeping past Kakashi and casually dispersing his Chidori, less than half a second had passed.

In the remaining half second, Yun Yan continued speeding forward, arriving before the Root ninja with the gale. He swiftly severed the man's neck with the Eight-Part Wind Wheel, grabbed his hair, lifted his head, and continued onward until he finally stopped beneath the cherry blossom tree.

Then Kakashi reacted and swiftly turned around, witnessing that beautiful yet dangerous sight.

With his head removed, the Root ninja had become a corpse. There was definitely no saving him.

The die had been cast. Kakashi had failed to stop Yun Yan, and he could not help sighing regretfully.

But beneath that regret, Kakashi also felt a faint sense of secret satisfaction.

Those two Root bastards had died after all. They deserved it.

He could not even predict how strong Yun Yan truly was, yet those two Root bastards had dared to offend him. They had brought it upon themselves.

However, as soon as that thought arose, Kakashi's heart became solemn.

His gaze remained fixed on Yun Yan's back beneath the cherry blossom tree, his mood extremely serious.

Just how strong... was Yun Yan?

From beginning to end, he had not accurately caught Yun Yan's movements. Even his Three-Tomoe Sharingan had been useless, and even Chidori, his proud technique, had been effortlessly dispersed for no apparent reason.

What did that mean?

It meant Yun Yan was stronger than him—and not merely by a little. He was likely far stronger.

Even if he used Lightning Cutter, he probably would not be able to hold Yun Yan back for more than a few exchanges.

Kakashi considered himself a solid elite jōnin. If he went all out, he could even contend with a Kage-level opponent for a time.

But that helpless feeling from before, the fact that his opponent had not even cared about his presence and that he had been utterly incapable of hindering him...

All of it told Kakashi that Yun Yan's strength was above that of an elite jōnin.

Above an elite jōnin... meant Kage-level.

Realizing that, Kakashi could not help swallowing again.

Yun Yan was so young, yet he had already reached Kage-level strength.

He was also an Uchiha, with a thoroughly unruly temperament. He was not afraid of the Hokage at all and did not show him much respect.

What did it mean for someone so unruly to possess such terrifying strength? What effect would this have on Konoha in the future? Kakashi did not even dare imagine it.

No matter how worried or unsettled he was, that was a matter for the future. The current matter was already troublesome enough.

Kakashi gathered his chaotic thoughts and looked at one Root ninja corpse with its neck twisted off, and another without a head. For a moment, he had a terrible headache.

Two more Root ninjas had died.

And they had died inside Konoha.

They had been killed by Yun Yan right in front of Kakashi's eyes.

How could the Hokage be happy about this? How could Danzō let it go? What was he supposed to do?

Kakashi's headache had nothing to do with Yun Yan. Yun Yan had only one thought now: strike first.

As early as a week ago, he had learned of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō's conversation through the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular technique, Endless Vista.

At the time, Hiruzen Sarutobi had begun provoking Danzō, forcing him to prepare to make a move against Yun Yan so that he could judge and test Yun Yan's strength through Danzō's actions.

Well, a week had passed, and Danzō had indeed been unable to hold himself back. He had made his move, and the result was already clear.

Now, Hiruzen Sarutobi could certainly use this incident to gauge Yun Yan's strength.

But where was the fairness in that? You were allowed to make moves, allowed to test him, and even allowed to use such underhanded methods as poison, yet he was not allowed to act recklessly?

If another ninja had encountered this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's way of handling it would probably have been to offer a few placating words and then smooth things over.

But Yun Yan was not buying that.

They had come to assassinate him again and again, and now they still expected him to obediently accept it? Keep dreaming.

Holding the head in his hand, Yun Yan slowly turned around and looked at Kakashi expressionlessly.

Kakashi had no better option now. He could only sigh.

"Sorry, Yun Yan. All I can do now is immediately report what happened here to the Hokage. I believe the Hokage can give a fair judgment."

When Kakashi spoke those last words, he lacked confidence and could barely meet Yun Yan's eyes.

Yun Yan remained expressionless and unmoved.

Seeing that Yun Yan gave no response, Kakashi could only act quickly, vanishing in a Body Flicker and leaving Yun Yan's courtyard.

He leaped swiftly across several nearby rooftops, concealing his figure and suppressing his presence as he rushed toward the Hokage Building.

In the blink of an eye, Kakashi had left the Uchiha Clan compound.

With that, Yun Yan was the only one left in the courtyard.

Looking at the two Root ninja corpses before him, Yun Yan sneered.