Didn't I Tell You to Be More Careful?

Land of Fire, Konoha.

In the deepest office of Root, only a single lamp was lit.

The lampshade hung low, its light falling across the desk and illuminating several scrolls and books.

Danzo sat in the shadows behind the desk, his face wrapped in bandages, his emotions unreadable.

When the door was pushed open, it made almost no sound.

Two Root ninjas knelt at the entrance, their heads bowed deeply.

"Lord Danzo."

Danzo did not speak at once. His fingers slowly stroked his cane. After a long while, he asked blandly, "Where is he?"

The two Root ninjas lowered their heads even further.

"The mission failed."

The office fell silent.

The wick flickered softly, and the shadows across Danzo's face swayed with it.

"I don't want to hear that."

The Root ninja on the left said in a low voice, "Kakashi Hatake was beside the target, along with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and Sasuke Uchiha. When we made our move, Zabuza Momochi was also present. The situation was chaotic, and we failed to take the target away."

Danzo said nothing. His silence flooded the entire room like a tide.

Unable to hold back, the Root ninja continued, "After the target was injured, white markings appeared around his wounds. Then the wounds healed rapidly. We saw with our own eyes that his bleeding stopped and his flesh regrew."

Danzo's hand stopped. He leaned forward, revealing half his face beneath the lamplight.

"White chakra?"

"Yes."

Danzo's voice was low. "The Uchiha Clan truly still has secrets."

The two Root ninjas remained motionless on the floor.

Danzo opened his one eye.

"What about Kakashi?"

"He fought Zabuza Momochi and expended a great deal of strength. Before we left, he was trapped by the Water Prison Technique. Whether he escaped afterward has not been confirmed."

Danzo looked at the mission scroll on the desk, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"He will not die so easily."

He understood Konoha's ninjas too well. Kakashi Hatake was not so easy to deal with.

Still, escaping was one thing. The exhaustion caused by the Sharingan was undeniable. A jonin who fought using an implanted Sharingan could not possibly recover in a short time after fighting Zabuza.

Danzo tapped his cane.

Several more figures appeared soundlessly outside the door.

Danzo looked at them, his voice terrifyingly calm.

"All of you, go to the Land of Waves."

"Bring Chiya Uchiha back while things are still chaotic."

"Yes."

After they withdrew, the office fell silent once more.

The lamp remained lit.

Danzo leaned back in his chair as darkness enveloped him again.

The night in the Land of Waves was filled with the stench of the sea.

Tazuna's wooden house was small. At night, whenever the wind blew outside, the windows would tremble faintly. Lamps were lit indoors, and several bowls of food sat on the table. Naruto shoveled down food while still arguing with Inari.

"What does a brat like you know? Who says heroes don't exist?"

Inari sat off to the side with his bowl in his arms, his voice muffled.

"Even if they do exist, they'll die eventually."

Naruto slammed his chopsticks onto the table.

"Say that again!"

Sakura hurriedly grabbed him. "Naruto, stop arguing."

Inari looked up at him. His eyes were a little red, but his words remained stubborn.

"No matter how strong someone is, they can still die. Anyone who resists Gato will die. You're no different."

Naruto's face flushed with anger.

"I won't die! I'm going to become Hokage someday!"

Inari said nothing more. He lowered his head, took two bites of rice, then turned and went upstairs.

Tsunami watched his retreating back and sighed softly. Tazuna drank in silence as well, saying nothing.

Inari could not listen to anyone now. Reasoning would not work, and neither would fiery speeches. Only when Naruto truly stood before him and shielded him from those things would the boy understand.

After dinner, Kakashi returned to his room first.

His complexion was still poor, and he spoke lazily, as though he could fall asleep at any moment. After Naruto had eaten his fill, he still wanted to argue with Inari, but Sakura dragged him away. Before long, the house grew quiet.

Naruto's snoring was the first sound to rise, followed by Sasuke's heavy breathing. He must have been exhausted as well.

Chiya lay in bed with his eyes open.

He was not asleep.

The attack by those two ninjas during the day weighed on his mind. Something felt wrong. They would not give up so easily.

Outside, the wind made the window paper rustle softly.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from the roof.

Crack.

Chiya's gaze sharpened.

He slowly sat up without disturbing the others beside him.

Naruto was still snoring, and Sasuke's breathing remained heavy. Sakura slept next door. There was no sound from Kakashi's room, so he had probably gone to sleep as well.

Another soft noise sounded.

This time, it came from the edge of the eaves.

Chiya threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and climbed out through the window.

He did not want to lure them into the house.

Tazuna's family was inside, along with Naruto and Sakura, not to mention Kakashi, who was in poor condition. If things went wrong, they could all be dragged into it.

The moonlight in the yard was faint.

Mist drifted along the ground like a thin veil of white gauze.

Chiya stood in the center of the yard and looked up at the roof.

"Stop hiding."

His voice was quiet.

"Come out, all of you."

The next moment, two figures dropped from the roof, while three more appeared beside the courtyard wall.

All of them wore masks and black clothing. The moment they appeared, they surrounded Chiya.

The one on the roof looked down at him.

"Come with us, and you can suffer a little less."

Chiya sneered and immediately formed hand seals.

"Fire Release, Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball blasted toward them.

The courtyard was instantly illuminated by firelight. The Root ninja on the roof leaped aside, and the fireball grazed past him before crashing into the distance and exploding with a boom.

The other four moved at the same time.

Chiya's eyes turned red. Sharingan!

A short blade slashed in from the left. He twisted aside, then drove a kunai toward the man's ribs with a backhanded strike. The man raised an arm to block it, and the blade and kunai collided in a shower of sparks.

Wind howled close behind him.

Chiya stomped down hard and pressed both hands to the ground.

"Earth Release, Earth Flow Spears!"

Several earthen spikes burst from the ground, forcing the man behind him to retreat. Chiya did not pursue. Instead, he flung out three shuriken. Steel wire looped around his fingers as the shuriken skimmed past the Root ninja's shoulder, then curved back from behind.

The opponent reacted quickly. With a flick of his kunai, he severed half the wire.

The man on the roof had already completed his hand seals.

"Wind Release, Breakthrough!"

A violent gale crashed down, scattering the mist across the ground in an instant.

Chiya was blown back several steps. Before his heels had even steadied, a stream of water lashed out from his right.

"Water Release, Water Shockwave!"

The water swept at him like a whip.

Chiya gritted his teeth and rapidly formed hand seals.

"Earth Release, Earth-Style Wall!"

An earthen wall surged up from the ground, and the water slammed into it with a boom.

Before he could catch his breath, a Root ninja vaulted over the wall, his short blade thrusting straight for Chiya's throat.

Chiya looked up, and his Sharingan met the man's eyes.

Crack!

Genjutsu!

The man's movements froze for an instant.

Chiya kicked him in the chest and sent him flying. But after that kick, Chiya lost his own footing. A fist struck him in the abdomen, and he crashed into the courtyard wall, nearly coughing up blood.

The five of them worked together too seamlessly.

Chiya pushed himself upright against the wall, his breathing already ragged.

His Sharingan spun rapidly, and the chakra within him was draining at an alarming rate.

His opponents gave him no time to recover.

The short blade came down again. Chiya raised his kunai to block it. With a clang, his arm went numb from the impact.

At that moment, a kunai flew in from behind and plunged into his shoulder with a wet thud.

Immediately afterward, a wind blade grazed his calf, and blood gushed out at once.

Chiya staggered several steps and dropped to one knee.

Cold sweat dripped from his chin.

The man from the roof landed before him, a coil of black rope in his hand.

"Take him."

Chiya looked up at the rope and cursed inwardly.

This thing again.

Just as the black rope was about to wrap around him, a cold voice sounded in his mind.

"Didn't I tell you to be more careful?"

Chiya froze.

Kaguya?