Tsunade whipped her head around.
Her eyes widened, fury surging in her pupils as though it might burst out of them.
"If you don't know what to say, shut your damn mouth!"
"I've got enough on my mind without you prattling on!"
Jiraiya flinched and immediately shut up.
Tsunade turned and strode out of the courtyard. The hem of her medical robe snapped in the night wind, and her golden ponytail swung behind her.
Her figure vanished into the shadows of the street.
Jiraiya stood where he was, staring after her.
The night wind swept ashes across the ground and past his feet. His white hair fluttered over half his face.
In his visible eye, heavy worry churned alongside helpless anger.
Kakashi jolted awake and darted backward!
He raised his right hand, fingers spread. Lightning Release chakra gathered in his palm, spinning and compressing. Blue arcs leaped between his fingers with a shrill hiss.
The sound exploded through the silent room, rebounding off the walls and ceiling until it became a dense hum.
Lightning Blade!
Blue light erupted in his palm, illuminating the entire room.
A masked man stood before him.
A black Red Cloud Robe, a Swirl-Shaped Mask, and a single crimson Sharingan.
That eye gleamed eerily in the blue light of the Lightning Blade, its Three-Tomoe slowly revolving. His hands hung at his sides, his stance casual, as though he were admiring the view from his own yard.
Kakashi stared at the Sharingan, his pupil contracting.
It felt strangely familiar.
The Lightning Blade hissed in his palm. Blue light danced across his face, casting his exposed eye in and out of shadow.
"Who are you?"
"What do you want?"
The Masked Man did not answer. Instead, he said,
"Hiruzen Sarutobi is coming to ruin you."
"You'd better