A successful guess

By communicating with his Diary cheat, Luo Mang had successfully activated its special rules and perks.

[Congratulations, host, on discovering that copy holders can be entered as guesses. Correctly identifying a suspected holder will grant a special reward.]

My god, so many rewards!

Luo Mang's eyes lit up as he looked at the available rewards. He could even get a new bloodline.

In this bloodline-driven Shinobi World, having a bloodline was important. Today's battle had made that clear.

Just a two-tomoe Sharingan had increased his chances of survival so much against the Chunin assassins sent by Root.

Although the odds of getting a powerful bloodline like the Ōtsutsuki's were low, even drawing the Uzumaki Clan's would be excellent. It would increase his chakra reserves.

Normal people had chakra, but Naruto Uzumaki had "chakratons." Even if the Uzumaki Bloodline didn't give him tons, it could still add a few Kakashis' worth to his reserves!

After imagining his wonderful future, Luo Mang wrote down his guess.

[Guessed target: Kakashi Hatake.]

While waiting for the result, he looked at Kakashi beside him. Surprisingly, the man wasn't reading Icha Icha Paradise.

That was completely out of character. He must have discovered something more important, something that made him give up his days of slacking off with Icha Icha Paradise.

It was hard not to be suspicious. His guess was as good as confirmed.

Soon, the Diary delivered the result.

[Correct guess.]

[Gurgle, gurgle~]

[A flash of green! Congratulations on receiving 10 Explosive Tags.]

Luo Mang: Nice.

That deserved a single "nice." Sure enough, good stuff wasn't so easy to draw. Ten Explosive Tags weren't bad, though. He could use them to catch someone off guard.

So there really were copies. Thankfully, he hadn't revealed much, beyond mentioning that he had a Sharingan. Still, it wasn't impossible for the Uchiha bloodline to have spread outside the clan. They didn't have rules as strict as those governing the Byakugan.

It seemed he would have to keep guessing whether anyone else had a copy. With enough attempts, he would eventually get a good reward.

He wasn't counting on getting another Kekkei Genkai. Quality mattered more than quantity, after all. A few suitable ninjutsu would be better.

After making his guess, he didn't chat for the rest of the journey. Mostly, he didn't know what to talk about, so he focused on walking.

The two returned to Konoha Village toward evening.

"All right, out on a mission."

The gate guard nodded, recorded Luo Mang's passage, and gestured for him to proceed.

They had barely entered the village when Kakashi turned his dead-fish eyes toward Luo Mang and asked curiously,

"Want me to come with you to turn in the mission?"

The mission had been bait, so its details were incomplete. It only listed the pickup location, without even saying who should receive the item. That left him with no choice but to take it to the Hokage Building.

Worried that Danzo might pull another stunt, Kakashi decided to accompany him personally.

"Thank you, Senior Kakashi."

With someone protecting him, Luo Mang immediately relaxed a little. If something unexpected did happen, he wouldn't have to reveal his pocket world trump card.

"Mm, let's go."

Kakashi looked away and led Luo Mang toward the Hokage Building.

Unlike other protagonists, he wasn't met with some provocation the moment he entered. He reached the Hokage Building without incident, handed in the so-called mission, and left.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

"All right. Thank you, Senior Kakashi."

Kakashi soon left, since he had no reason to linger.

Luo Mang watched him leave without showing any reaction. On the way home, he opened the Diary and began writing.

[That sneaky old bastard Danzo really did ambush me on my mission. I didn't expect the Copy Ninja to happen to pass by. What a coincidence. Well, as long as I survived.]

Meanwhile, Kakashi saw the Diary in his mind light up. Instinctively, he reached for it with his consciousness to check!

"How rude!"

Seeing the Diary call him the Copy Ninja again instantly made his temper flare!

[At least I survived. I'm pretty grateful to the Copy Ninja. Kakashi Hatake, an Elite Jonin skilled in lightning-style ninjutsu, possesses a Sharingan gifted to him by a friend and is known to the world as the Copy Ninja.]

[That sounds impressive, but beneath that title lies a different story. It's tragic. As a child, he witnessed his father's suicide. Joining a team and going on missions finally helped him change, only for special circumstances to force him to kill his own teammate. Later, he witnessed the deaths of his teacher and his teacher's wife. Like a walking jinx, he now has no one left behind him.]

After a tense day, the Diary had finally updated.

Sasuke Uchiha was excited as he read it. Luo Mang had actually survived. Kakashi had happened to pass by and save him.

Could it really be that coincidental? He explained this morning that the Hokage had assigned him a mission, so he had to leave immediately and cancel today's training. But he saved Luo Mang right after leaving? Wasn't that a little...?

[That was why he became so dispirited, spending every day reading Icha Icha Paradise and drifting through life. Then he met Sasuke and saw his own reflection in him. So logically, he shouldn't have been taking missions, let alone leaving the village.]

Reading this, Kakashi, who had been lamenting his past, suddenly froze and snapped back to his senses.

Right!

Luo Mang could predict the future. Could he guess that Kakashi could read his Diary?

Would he stop writing in it?

[Could it be...]

[Could it be that the Third sent him? After all, Danzo is Hiruzen Sarutobi's friend. I don't believe he doesn't know what kind of man Danzo is. Was it to protect the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki?]

Whew!

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief at those words, raising a hand to wipe the nonexistent sweat from his forehead.

Good guess!

Click.

Luo Mang had just returned home and was still writing in the Diary, a faint smile on his face.

Of course, those words were false. Luo Mang had written them purely to avoid arousing suspicion. Kakashi was no fool, after all.

If he restrained himself in the Diary and wrote things intended to exploit Kakashi, the highly intelligent Copy Ninja would very likely figure it out. Better to spell things out himself, offer a guess, and send them chasing in that direction!

And it worked perfectly, successfully misleading both Kakashi and Sasuke Uchiha.

Those words neatly dispelled Sasuke Uchiha's suspicions.

"Oh..."

Reading what the Diary said, Sasuke touched his chin and muttered,

"That makes sense. The Diary has mentioned Naruto's importance so many times. If the Hokage wants Luo Mang to become Naruto's friend, he would probably send someone."

[Forget it. Let's keep talking about Kakashi. He really is someone worth befriending. After everything he's been through, the Copy Ninja values his comrades, too. But the Sharingan seems to put a heavy strain on him. He's basically a single-use teammate: use him once, and he falls unconscious. It honestly feels like the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.]

"The Sharingan?"

Sasuke Uchiha paused. Kakashi had a Sharingan, given to him by a friend. Although he had long known about Kakashi's Sharingan, he hadn't known how he had obtained it. He had only just learned that from the Diary.