A Visitor from Root, Danzo's Summons

Kakashi lay beneath the shade of a tree, avoiding the blazing sun overhead.

Right now, he did not even want to move a finger.

Kakashi had originally been nearly Guy's equal in taijutsu, but after a period of despondency, the gap between them had steadily widened.

Besides, Guy's boundless energy was downright terrifying.

He counted everything by the thousands: a thousand push-ups, a thousand sit-ups, a thousand laps around the training ground...

Of course, Kakashi had refused to do a thousand laps around the village while standing on his hands. He had no desire to be treated like a monkey.

Watching Guy continue his push-ups, Kakashi felt a trace of respect.

Only a training fanatic like Guy, who had maintained high-intensity training day after day for decades, could fully open the Eight Gates.

A lazy person like me should forget it!

Kakashi reluctantly pushed himself upright, assuming the posture he had used for training that morning as he sensed chakra and Natural Energy circulating through his body.

The two energies felt wonderfully cool. As they flowed through his meridians, they repaired Kakashi's damaged muscle fibers, and his limbs, which had felt as though they had been scorched by fire, finally did not ache quite so badly.

Hokage's Office.

The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, staring at the crystal ball before him with a pleased smile on his face.

"Kakashi, you finally came through it. You have finally stepped out of the shadow the Fourth's death left behind..."

The crystal ball displayed the scene of Kakashi and Guy training.

Watching Kakashi sweat and train, the Third fell into his memories.

Kakashi was gifted and brilliant, a pillar of talent the Third had long believed would one day become one of Konoha's mainstays.

Yet this former prodigy had not risen to prominence. Blow after blow had crushed the young man's heart, and he had completely withdrawn into himself.

The pain Kakashi carried far exceeded anything ordinary people could imagine.

Whenever the Third saw Kakashi, he could sense the darkness spreading madly within the youth's heart, along with a weary air that no young person should possess.

Konoha was in a period of transition, and the Third had placed great hopes on Kakashi. In him, he could vaguely still see that blond-haired young man who always wore a smile.

The Third sighed again. Looking at his own gradually aging reflection in the mirror, he gave a self-mocking smile.

Was it not laughable that the Shinobi World's once-renowned Hero of Shinobi had become what he was now?

Konoha had successively lost top-tier combatants such as the White Fang of the Leaf and the Yellow Flash. Though his three disciples were all powerful, not one of them was dependable.

The Third could practically sense the other villages stirring restlessly. Worse still, the village itself was not harmonious.

Relations between the major clans and the Uchiha had become increasingly tense, and in order to eliminate certain hidden threats, the Third had delegated authority to Danzo and chosen not to interfere in some matters.

He had heard that Danzo's methods were becoming more and more bloody. The Third knew it was only a matter of time before the village's internal conflicts erupted.

"Trouble within and without..."

The village was currently short-handed. The Third had actually wanted to send Kakashi out on missions, but after seeing Kakashi's current performance, he would rather wait until Kakashi had adjusted himself to his best condition.

And besides...

The Third tapped his pipe against the desk and revealed a sinister smile. The fish was nearly on the hook.

Naturally, Kakashi knew nothing of the Third's troubles. If they were compared, his own troubles were far greater.

After all, he was a man who had seen the ending. He had even watched quite a bit of that nonflammable garbage called Boruto.

Naruto: Shippuden had been fine, but in Boruto, Ōtsutsuki were running around everywhere. That was just ridiculous!

Everyone said Naruto ended with Naruto: Shippuden, but what if?

What if Ōtsutsuki really did end up running around everywhere?

By then, Naruto would have been drained dry by Hinata until he was merely Kage Level, Sasuke would only know the Uchiha suplex, and who would save Konoha? Boruto?

So during this time, Kakashi did not dare slack off in the slightest.

During the day, he exercised with Guy, striving to raise the upper limit of his chakra reserves and hoping to cast off the humiliation of being a unit of chakra measurement as soon as possible.

At night, when no one was around, he trained using the method taught by the old man.

Kakashi believed the cultivation method he had learned was also a form of Senjutsu. Though the old man's identity was impossible to determine, he was certainly at least comparable to the Sage of Six Paths!

The process of absorbing Natural Energy for cultivation was extremely dangerous. One careless mistake and one could be assimilated by Natural Energy, becoming part of nature.

For instance, while cultivating by absorbing Natural Energy at Mount Myōboku, one misstep could turn someone into a stone frog.

Yet during his own Senjutsu training, such danger seemed absent. Natural Energy had always remained completely obedient within his body.

Otherwise, with my chakra reserves, I would probably turn to stone pretty quickly...

After all, he had never encountered Sage Mode before, and his sensory ability was not particularly strong. He had been completely unable to sense the existence of Natural Energy.

Yet the method taught by the old man had forcibly allowed him to directly absorb Natural Energy and even store it within his body. This was something others could not achieve.

Everything indicated that the Senjutsu taught by the old man was far more profound than that of the three great sacred lands!

However, he was still unable to fuse and refine sage chakra. Kakashi awkwardly discovered that the cultivation method he had been taught seemed never to have considered using Natural Energy together with chakra in the first place.

Thus, Kakashi still could not quite grasp how to coordinate chakra and Natural Energy. Naturally, he did not dare try recklessly, afraid he might accidentally send himself to an early grave.

During this time, Kakashi had also tried opening his Mangekyō Sharingan again, but regrettably, he never saw the old man or the two children again. That miraculous scene from before seemed to have been nothing more than a fleeting bloom.

If not for the Natural Energy within his body, Kakashi would have thought it had all been a dream!

It was worth mentioning that Kakashi tried using a small amount of Natural Energy to power his Sharingan, and to his delight, he found that the Sharingan consumed far less chakra.

As long as he did not use the Sharingan normally, it was essentially in power-saving mode. His chakra consumption had once been -100, -100, but now it had become -10, -10...

Overall, Kakashi's gains had been enormous. Not only had he recovered some of his rusty taijutsu, but his chakra reserves had also increased.

If his previous chakra reserves had been one Kakashi, then now he had at least three Kakashis' worth!

Wait... why am I using myself as a unit of measurement?!

Muttering to himself, Kakashi got to his feet, glanced sideways behind him, and asked.

"How long are you planning to stand there?"

A figure silently stepped out from the shadows, wearing a strange animal mask.

The visitor showed no emotional fluctuation at being discovered and spoke in a completely emotionless voice.

"Kakashi, go to the open ground west of the village before the Hour of the Ox tomorrow. Lord Danzo wishes to see you."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Though he appeared to be smiling, the killing intent flashing through his gaze sent a chill down one's spine.

Shimura Danzō!

I did not go looking for you, yet you came right to my door.

Kakashi turned around and said coldly, "Did no one teach you to knock before entering someone else's home?"

"Heh." The Root member let out a mocking laugh.

Kakashi casually grabbed a kunai and threw it at the Root member.

He was extremely irritated right now and wanted someone to vent on.

The Root member casually knocked aside the incoming kunai. Seeing it fall weakly to the ground, he smiled disdainfully.

"The legendary genius is only capable of this much?"