Return to the Village for Ramen

"Yes, yes!"

Only after hearing Kakashi's words did Yamato regain his senses.

He hurried to Iburi Yukimi's side and anxiously helped Yukimi up.

"Yukimi, Yukimi, are you all right?"

Iburi Yukimi looked as though she were enduring immense pain. Kakashi saw the bright-red Curse Mark on her neck, like a brand seared into her skin.

"It's Orochimaru's Curse Mark. This is really bad," Kakashi said.

By now, Yamato had long regarded Kakashi as his pillar of support. "What do we do, Kakashi?"

Yukimi, held in Yamato's arms, gradually lost all signs of life. Her entire body began turning into pink smoke, slowly drifting into the distance.

Kakashi fell silent. The feeling of watching a companion die before his eyes surfaced in his mind once more.

Whew. The more it's a time like this, the calmer I need to be. If we could save this little girl in my memories, then we can do it now too.

Kakashi forcibly steadied himself, then looked at Yamato beside him.

"Yamato, you're the only one who can save her now. Wood Release can grant life. If you use Wood Release, Yukimi might still have a chance."

"Wood Release..." Yamato wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. With a resolute gaze, he pressed his palms together. "Wood Release!"

A wooden platform more than ten meters tall appeared out of thin air, trying to keep the smoke that Iburi Yukimi had become from escaping.

Yamato clenched his teeth, his forehead covered in fine sweat. This was already his limit, yet he still could not hold back the smoke that Iburi Yukimi had become.

"No!" Yamato roared in anguish.

Just then, streams of white smoke surrounded the pink smoke from every side. Kakashi knew they were the souls of the dead from the Iburi clan.

At last, the pink smoke was wrapped within Yamato's Wood Release. The wooden platform gradually transformed into a towering tree gleaming with golden light.

"Yukimi!"

In the center of the tree, the pink smoke once again took Yukimi's form. Yamato hurried forward and caught the little girl.

Iburi Yukimi slowly woke up. Kakashi tactfully left the two of them some time alone.

Kakashi stood at the entrance of the cave for who knew how long before Yamato emerged with a delighted expression. Iburi Yukimi had already left.

"Senior Kakashi, thank you. You made me realize that I can protect others too," Yamato said sincerely.

"Well, there's no need. I've experienced the pain of losing companions myself," Kakashi said desolately.

"Back then, my companion was controlled by someone... To protect the village, she chose to die by my hand."

Kakashi's eyes widened. Rin's laughter seemed to echo in his ears again, along with that idiot Obito chattering away beside her.

Kakashi slammed his fist hard into a rock. He had thought he could already face those memories head-on.

But when he spoke of it again, his body still began trembling involuntarily. That pain could never be erased.

Feelings buried for so long took over, surging into his heart all at once. For a moment, Kakashi could not control his emotions.

Just then, Yamato gently placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

Yamato said nothing. He knew that words of comfort would be of no use at all to the pitiful man before him.

After a long while, Kakashi finally recovered and looked at Yamato beside him with a complicated expression.

"What I want to tell you is that, for a ninja, missions are certainly important."

"But as people, there will always be things more important than missions, such as protecting your companions."

Kakashi had originally only meant to keep Yamato from being brainwashed by Danzo. He had not expected himself to become genuinely emotional.

Still, genuine feelings clearly worked extremely well. Judging by Yamato's expression, he was already considering the meaning and weight of companions.

Yamato did not know why Kakashi Hatake trusted him so much and opened his heart to him, but the feeling made him relaxed, and he liked it...

The two belonged to different organizations, so they went their separate ways on the road back to the village.

After returning to Konoha, Kakashi headed to the Hokage's Office to report to the Third Hokage.

Kakashi knelt on one knee and recounted his experiences from the mission to Hiruzen Sarutobi, polishing a few details along the way.

The Third Hokage let out a long breath, seeming to age ten years in an instant.

"It seems this interception failed... Don't blame yourself. You've done very well, Kakashi."

Seeing that the Third Hokage had nothing further to say, Kakashi felt somewhat disappointed.

He had hinted several times that one of Danzo's subordinates was a Wood Release ninja, but the Third Hokage acted as if he had not noticed at all and showed no concern over it.

"Go back and rest for two days, Kakashi."

The Third Hokage had already begun lighting his pipe. Kakashi understood that the old man was dismissing him.

"Yes!"

Kakashi left the Hokage's Office and began to analyze the situation.

There's no way the Third Hokage didn't understand what I meant. He has to be pretending not to know.

There could be two reasons.

First, the Third Hokage may not want me involved in this matter. It concerns too many factions, so he might negotiate with Danzo in private.

Second, the Third Hokage had only recently returned to office, and then Orochimaru's defection happened almost immediately.

Yamato himself was the product of forbidden experiments. Perhaps the Third Hokage believed it was better for Yamato to remain under Danzo for now, so he would not affect his own political reputation.

Of course, that was only Kakashi's guess. He had no idea what the Third Hokage was really thinking.

For someone as lazy as him, coming up with those two possibilities was already no easy feat.

If it were not for a junior he cared about, he could not even be bothered to make those guesses.

Since nothing could be done for now, Kakashi temporarily set the matter aside.

At worst, he could let Yamato assassinate him once three years later, then deal with it then. What was the big deal?

Kakashi wandered aimlessly down the street when he suddenly stopped, then took a few steps backward.

"This is... Ichiraku Ramen! The coordinate anchor point of the Hokage world!"

"Well, well, why am I spouting nonsense again? I'll have ramen today."

Having made up his mind, Kakashi walked into the ramen shop.

Teuchi looked quite young at this time, and he was delighted to see Kakashi enter.

"Welcome! What would you like to eat?"

"Hmm, one bowl of tonkotsu ramen," Kakashi said.

"Certainly. Please wait a moment."

Teuchi began preparing Kakashi's noodles. Taking the opportunity, Kakashi lifted his forehead protector and stared intensely at Teuchi.

"I can't seem to see anything unusual. Is he really an Ōtsutsuki?" Kakashi muttered quietly.

"Hm? What did you say, sir?" Teuchi asked in confusion. "The ramen will need a little longer."

"Ah, it's nothing, nothing." Kakashi smiled guiltily, his eyes curving into crescents.