Boom (Double Chapter)

Kurenai Yuhi was dead.

Kakashi raised his head from the sand and dust and witnessed the scene with his own eyes.

A butterfly beat its wings, sending tiny ripples through the river of memory.

The helplessness of watching a companion die before his eyes came surging back after so many years, sweeping through Kakashi's entire body.

Countless phantoms shifted before Kakashi's eyes.

It was in a forest much like this one. A boulder had fallen from overhead, and there was the face of the boy who had shoved him away with all his strength, only to be trapped beneath the rock himself.

"Kakashi... this is my... Jonin gift to you..."

The dying boy had dug out his own eye and handed it to Kakashi.

That helplessness was like the boulder piled atop the boy, no matter how hard Kakashi pushed, refusing to move.

It was on a rain-soaked plain. Hope and pleading filled the eyes of the girl who had been implanted with the Three-Tails and was about to be sent into Konoha as the source of disaster.

"Kakashi... kill me..."

Crackling lightning pierced her chest, just as she had wished.

That helplessness was like the girl's blood staining Kakashi's hands, impossible to wash away no matter how hard he tried.

"Those who break the rules are called trash. But those who don't value their comrades are worse than trash!"

To Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi did not hold any greater place in his heart than those two had.

They had merely happened to be born in Konoha around the same time, happened to graduate from the Ninja Academy during the same period, and happened to be instilled with similar values. They had worked together, completed missions, and grown together. That was all.

She was no different from Gai or Asuma.

If anything, Kurenai Yuhi had clearly been closer to Asuma.

But comrades had never been something that could be easily defined by closeness.

To a ninja, comrades were trustworthy teammates to whom one could entrust one's back without reservation.

And for Kakashi, with Rin and Obito's sacrifices preceding this, the meaning of comrades had been given far greater weight in his heart.

Since fighting Ning Qi, first Kotetsu Hagane, then Izumo Kamizuki, and now Kurenai Yuhi...

Kakashi's pupils trembled.

It was as though the boy and girl who had died years ago were whispering questions into his ears.

You couldn't save us back then... so why, even now, can't you save anyone?

Why do all the comrades you cherish keep dying while you remain so weak?

Why did you bring your comrades here to die when you knew Ning Qi was dangerous?

Why...

Why?

Why?!

"Shut up—!!"

With a furious roar, lightning shattered the brush filling the air and grazed past Ning Qi.

That Lightning Cutter had missed by far too much... Ning Qi raised his brows. At first, he did not understand, but then he seemed to notice something and lowered his head.

Kurenai Yuhi's corpse, which had been at his feet, had vanished along with that fleeting bolt of lightning.

Ning Qi tilted his head with interest. Sure enough, not far away, Kakashi was holding Kurenai Yuhi's body, which he had snatched from beneath Ning Qi's feet, before slowly laying her down.

He removed his coat and covered the ugly cavity in Kurenai Yuhi's chest. With one hand, he brushed over her eyes, allowing her to close them for now.

"I remember she was Asuma-senpai's girlfriend, not yours." Ning Qi still called Asuma "senpai," genuinely puzzled by why Kakashi was so furious.

That was no different from humiliation.

"My mission was to bring you back alive if possible. Now, it seems... that may no longer be possible." The Mangekyō Sharingan was cold and dangerous as Kakashi stared at Ning Qi and slowly rose to his feet.

"You truly can't do it." Ning Qi smiled calmly.

They had said the same words, but their meanings were obviously entirely different.

They stared at each other.

The air around them grew stagnant under the weight of murderous intent.

Several Konoha ninja continued to watch Ning Qi closely, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Overall, Ning Qi was still at a disadvantage, but his soaring confidence nonetheless made many ninja present feel pressured.

This Hyuga clan rogue ninja had ambushed Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki at the outset, then swiftly and viciously killed Kurenai Yuhi through genjutsu. His battle instincts and how troublesome he was far exceeded those of an ordinary Jonin. Elsewhere, this would certainly have been a battle Konoha would eventually win, but only at terrible cost.

Fortunately, though this was the wilderness, it was very close to Konoha. Kakashi had already requested reinforcements from Lord Hokage before arriving, and they had left markers along the way. In short, the longer they dragged things out, the more the scales of victory would tip in their favor.

In the coming battle, all they needed to do was keep harassing Ning Qi and prevent him from escaping. Once Konoha's reinforcements arrived, the situation would be completely settled.

As long as Ning Qi did not flee, there was no need to risk their lives. It was not that they feared Ning Qi; this was simply the most appropriate way to handle things.

It was not like at the beginning, when they had relied on their numbers to try and chew through Ning Qi, only to have three of their teeth knocked out.

The ninja exchanged coded phrases and formulated a battle plan. Kakashi glanced over twice, yet pretended not to see.

I have to kill Ning Qi before reinforcements arrive... He held an entirely different thought from his comrades.

Once reinforcements arrived, Ning Qi would most likely be captured alive. The thought that he might not be able to personally slaughter this bloodthirsty demon left Kakashi unable to calm himself.

"Get him together!" Kakashi growled, forcibly taking the lead.

A ninja from the Inuzuka Clan beside him could not stand it any longer and coordinated with Kakashi's attack. Two men and one dog rapidly closed in on Ning Qi.

Ning Qi swung his long blade and clashed with them.

"Fang Over Fang!"

Ning Qi flashed aside and evaded the attack.

After the man and dog missed, they transformed back into human form and stared coldly at Ning Qi, yet did not join the follow-up assault.

After Ning Qi sent Kakashi flying,

someone else leaped down and joined the battle. Yet after only a few exchanges, his offensive momentum sharply diminished when Ning Qi blocked one of his ninjutsu.

The cycle continued. At the instant another person entered the fray and crossed blades with Ning Qi, Ning Qi immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Other than Kakashi, none of them had much fighting spirit. At the slightest sign of the battle escalating, they would proactively withdraw to defend from the sidelines. Only when Kakashi was suppressed would they rejoin the fight. Were they unable to talk Kakashi down, and thus deliberately slacking off this way?

Regardless, the choices of these Konoha ninja made the battle's rhythm, apart from Kakashi and Ning Qi, rather restrained.

"We're waiting for Konoha's reinforcements. What are you waiting for?" Kakashi, sent flying by Ning Qi's sword, could not help laying it out directly.

What kind of joke was this?!

What kind of battle was this?

→

Were they playing house?!

Ning Qi neither ran nor fought with all his strength. His lazy performance made the deaths of Kotetsu Hagane and Kurenai Yuhi seem like a frivolous joke.

Ning Qi froze for a moment, then understood.

Kakashi was in a hurry.

He was desperate to settle this.

Desperate to kill him.

Unfortunately, he could not do it.

Ning Qi shook his head. His gaze passed through Kakashi and landed on the Hidden Leaf Village behind him, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.

"Actually... it isn't just you. I'm waiting too."

Konoha.

After the Uchiha Rebellion that afternoon and the Second Nine-Tails Uprising, the areas around the Uchiha District and where the Nine-Tails had appeared had essentially become barren fields of ruins.

Trees lay toppled, countless buildings had collapsed, and roof tiles and stone bricks were scattered all the way into the streets. Not far away, flames still burned alone amid the wreckage.

A water pipe poked its head out of the ground.

An orange cat that always got lost, and had been found countless times by newly promoted Genin as the first mission of their ninja careers, heard the familiar sound of dripping water. It slipped through one narrow gap after another before finally reaching this place and greedily lapping at the pooled water leaking beneath the pipe.

Its elderly owner had already fallen beneath a stone wall. From now on, no one would come looking for it anymore.

Civilians gradually emerged from the shelters and wailed before the sites of their homes, which had long since become roadside ruins.

A strong man cracked comforting jokes with his neighbors while shoveling again and again. Then he dug fragments of his child from the pile of stones and wood that remained of his house. The man, who had been comforting others just moments earlier, instantly broke down, squatting on the ground and crying without regard for appearances.

There were also women clutching the unrecognizable corpses of their husbands and weeping bitterly. Both had been ninja, but the women had been assigned to evacuate civilians, while the men had died in the Uchiha Clan's surprise attack.

Ninja had always been a high-risk profession. Being killed because one lacked skill was nothing unusual. By Konoha's rules, as a ninja, the women should not have displayed such weakness before the public after their husbands' deaths. Only because there were simply too many people crying today did no one care or hold them accountable, allowing the women to express their grief without restraint.

There were many tragedies like these, but compared to the first Nine-Tails Rebellion, they were far fewer.

First, there were the large numbers of civilians gathered around the Konoha Theater. After the Nine-Tails appeared, they had been urgently evacuated to secluded places throughout Konoha. They were not allowed to return home until the Nine-Tails vanished and the Uchiha broke through the encirclement, so they had not actually suffered the disaster's effects.

Then there were those who had stayed home or returned home midway through the performance.

After the first Nine-Tails Rebellion several years earlier, Konoha had already established a complete evacuation and shelter system. Other than the "sacrifices" used by Konoha's higher-ups to numb the Uchiha Clan, many residents merely had their homes crushed while their lives remained safe. Overall, their losses could only be described as a scare without real danger—at least, that was true for most ordinary civilians.

On the night after the disaster, people made fires amid the ruins to cook. They discussed the day's catastrophe and which families had suffered deaths and injuries, their voices mostly filled with shared hatred.

"I heard the Uchiha Clan summoned the Nine-Tails because they wanted to rebel!"

"That kid Naruto really is the reincarnation of the demon fox..."

"I've seen Uchiha Clan people at school. They're all hot-tempered freaks!!"

"Not a single Hyuga clan member showed up today either. Those ninja clans really are all rotten..."

There were many complaints like these.

From the moment Fugaku summoned the Nine-Tails, the truth of its appearance had slowly begun to spread.

In some people's eyes, if Fugaku's coup succeeded, these "rumors" could also hinder his rise to power.

But if Fugaku's coup failed, these "truths" would become a powerful medicine that utterly crushed the surviving Uchiha Clan members in Konoha. Sarutobi could display a leader's magnanimity and spare the remaining Uchiha, but the injured Konoha civilians clearly would not be so forgiving.

The villagers' hostility would greatly assist subsequent actions against the Uchiha Clan. Even now that the Uchiha had successfully broken through, some Uchiha still remained in Konoha; they simply were no longer in the Uchiha District.

"Lord Hokage hasn't returned yet?" Iruka asked from the entrance to the Hokage office.

Behind him, a ragged little girl reached out and tightly gripped his sleeve, her expression somewhat bleak.

The girl was named Kaori, a student in Iruka's class.

Unfortunately, because she lived near the Uchiha District, she had been one of the "sacrifices" designated by Konoha's higher-ups to numb the Uchiha. Her parents had both died in today's unrest. Shielded beneath their bodies, the girl had held on until Iruka arrived, barely escaping with her life.

Iruka had heard that Lord Hokage provided aid and compensation for people like Kaori, so he had specially brought her here to take a look.

He did not know about the "sacrifices," so he could not make sense of the nature of this so-called "compensation." He had assumed it was a special category established by Konoha's higher-ups to provide extra assistance for unfortunate people like Kaori.

"He received word and went to capture a rogue ninja. Come back tomorrow." The ANBU at the door looked Kaori over and gently shook his head.

"Alright."

Iruka sighed and prepared to take Kaori away from Hokage Tower to the temporary shelter area.

Watching the two leave in disappointment, the ANBU pursed his lips. His heart softened, and he spoke up.

"There are beds and hot water in the ANBU rest area downstairs. It's much more comfortable than the temporary shelters. She can sleep there tonight, and it'll be safer too. When Lord Hokage returns, it'll also be easier for her to see him directly."

Delighted, Iruka repeatedly thanked the ANBU.

He then took Kaori to the ANBU rest area downstairs.

The room was cramped, but it was clearly much more comfortable than the shelter area.

Before Iruka left, the girl still clutched his sleeve and refused to let go.

Iruka smiled helplessly.

"You're exhausted today. Get some sleep first. I'll come see you tomorrow."

With Iruka's repeated reassurance, Kaori finally released him.

When Iruka walked out of Hokage Tower and looked back, he could still see Kaori standing blankly by the window of that cramped rest room, watching him.

"Good night."

Iruka waved high in the air before striding away.

The evening breeze drifted gently past.

After only a few steps, Iruka suddenly sniffed. It smelled like a fuse, or perhaps gunpowder. In any case, something was burning, and there was a lot of it...

The next moment, as if sensing something, he stopped.

Hm?

Iruka abruptly turned around.

In an instant.

Hokage Tower before his eyes

collapsed like a mountain.

—BOOM!!!

A book by one of my fellow authors. If you're interested in Warhammer-themed stories, give it a look—it's pretty entertaining.