Rescuing Someone

Kakashi pressed onward and soon arrived at a hidden spot in the Konoha Forest.

There was an extremely inconspicuous underground cave here.

Kakashi looked around, then jumped down.

A moment later, another person dressed as an Anbu and wearing a cat-faced mask jumped down as well. He was short and very young.

Rumbling sounds soon rose from below.

Natsuki walked to the cave entrance and stroked his chin.

The one who just went down seemed to be Yamato? Oh, he seemed to be called Kinoe now.

Danzo still sent him to dig out Kakashi's eye?

Was Danzo confident, or was something wrong with his head?

Or did he blindly believe in Yamato's Wood Release?

Suddenly, Natsuki sensed something and leaped into a tree.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Three Root members arrived at the cave entrance.

Two of them concealed themselves, while the other jumped down.

No wonder. Danzo had a backup plan—surveillance and replacements. If Kinoe failed to complete the mission, there were others.

"A mission isn't everything. If a mission requires you to kill a comrade, then that mission is wrong."

"It's only natural for people to call me Kakashi, the one who harmed his comrade. But... I never... I never wanted to kill Rin!

"I failed to protect my comrade, so Rin died. This Chidori of mine couldn't protect her. I couldn't protect her..."

"Kinoe, give up Root's mission."

"It seems the people of Root are taught to abandon all emotions."

"Not only emotions. They abandon their names, their pasts, and their futures, living solely to complete missions."

"I'm your enemy. Even if I left you to die, that would only be natural."

After waiting for some time, Natsuki saw the Root member who had been tailing Kinoe emerge first and pretend to wait for him at the entrance.

Not long afterward, Kinoe jumped out.

Kinoe took out an eyeball soaking in a jar, and the two exchanged a few words.

Natsuki knew this part of the story well. Kakashi had already won Kinoe over.

Kinoe had forged a fake Sharingan to take back to Danzo as proof of completing the mission.

Afterward, Kakashi and the Third Hokage had forcefully entered Root and taken Kinoe away, renaming him Tenzo.

Later, after the Kazekage Rescue Mission, "Yamato" became his mission codename, and everyone grew used to calling him Yamato.

"You actually dared to fake it!"

A furious shout pulled Natsuki from his thoughts. How had they discovered it was fake here?

"Move!" The other three Root members sprang out with a whoosh.

"So Lord Danzo never trusted me after all," Kinoe muttered.

Kinoe did not resist at all, allowing one of them to tie him up.

The other three jumped into the cave, presumably to find Kakashi.

"Kinoe, why did you fake it?"

No emotion could be seen in Kinoe's dead-fish eyes. He merely asked in a somewhat dejected tone:

"Oto, I've become increasingly unable to understand the meaning of this mission to kill a comrade, so I abandoned the mission."

Oto flew into a rage. "Lord Danzo's missions, as the one in charge of Root, are everything!"

"Brother Kakashi is also a Konoha Ninja. He's a comrade of Konoha too. Is it really no problem to kill a comrade?"

Oto shoved Kinoe to the ground and said:

"Remember this. The only people you can regard as comrades are us, the members of the Root Organization!"

Kinoe gritted his teeth and said:

"Isn't Root supposed to stand on Konoha's side?"

Oto's expression was almost reverent.

"Root is the unseen underground organization that silently supports the great tree of Konoha. Just as a great tree has aboveground and underground parts, Root exists independently."

"A Root ninja has no name, no surname, no emotions, no past, and no future. There are only missions in his eyes."

Kinoe suddenly began struggling violently.

"No! I am a Konoha Ninja! I don't belong only to Root. I am a ninja with branches and leaves, a ninja of all Konoha! All Konoha Ninjas are my comrades!"

Oto pinned Kinoe down with an icy gaze.

"Who exactly has led you astray!? I'll take you back and have Lord Danzo brainwash you again!"

"Oh my, of course Danzo is the one who led him astray!"

A leisurely voice drifted over.

"Who!?" Oto broke out in a cold sweat. Someone had gotten this close without him noticing.

"Urgh...!" Before Oto could turn around, pain exploded in his head. He instantly lost consciousness and collapsed.

"Get up."

As he spoke, Natsuki untied Kinoe.

"You are?" Kinoe did not know Natsuki, but from his attire, he recognized him as a member of the Uchiha Clan.

"My name is Uchiha Natsuki."

Natsuki answered calmly, considering whether he should go down and save Kakashi.

Or should I just let Root dig out his Sharingan?

"You're the Uchiha Clan's Vice Clan Head!? Why did you save me?"

He had heard of Uchiha Natsuki's reputation. Natsuki had made Danzo suffer countless losses and had recently even caused him to lose his position as an Advisor Elder.

"Me? I just enjoy opposing Danzo. Who you are isn't important."

"However..."

Natsuki curled his lips into a smile. "I do know about you."

"What do you know about me?"

"Aren't you one of the sixty babies Danzo stole back then?"

"What!?" Kinoe's mind reeled.

"Lord Danzo stole us!?"

Natsuki nodded.

"That's right. Danzo stole you away, and Orochimaru was responsible for conducting Human Experimentation on you. It seems only one of you is left now."

Kinoe asked excitedly, "Do you have any proof!?"

Natsuki raised an eyelid.

"I have my own intelligence channels. I have no intention of proving anything to you. Believe it or not."

"Over the years, Danzo has been gathering all kinds of people, using protecting Konoha as an excuse to fulfill his own ambitions."

"This..." Kinoe was deeply shaken. The person I was loyal to... was someone like that!?

"Bzzzzzz..."

The shriek of Chidori came from inside the underground cave.

"Oh no! Brother Kakashi!"

Only then did Kinoe belatedly remember that Brother Kakashi was still below.

He rose to his feet and wanted to head for the cave entrance.

Natsuki reached out and stopped him.

"No need to go. He'll be up soon."

The moment he finished speaking, Kakashi leaped out of the cave entrance.

Natsuki immediately saw that Kakashi's Sharingan was intact. Though he was injured, he was largely fine.

Damn it. Natsuki clicked his tongue inwardly.

Danzo's Root was truly useless. Three against one, and they still got counter-killed. Did they even know what they were doing?

The moment Kakashi emerged from the cave, he saw Uchiha Natsuki standing at the entrance.

He immediately assumed a combat stance.

"Lord Natsuki, why are you here!?"

A pity was a pity, but Natsuki had no intention of directly removing Kakashi's Sharingan.

"You should hurry and find the Third Hokage. Otherwise, Danzo's people will be here soon."

Natsuki did not answer Kakashi's question. He casually tossed out those words, then vanished from the scene in a flash.

"Brother Kakashi! Are you all right!?"

Kinoe hurried over to check Kakashi's condition.

Kakashi staggered. "I'm fine. Why was Natsuki here?"

Kinoe supported Kakashi.

"This isn't a place to stay long. Let's find the Third Hokage first. I'll explain on the way."