Kakashi came over to Yuzuru, looking at him with a complicated expression.
"Just how strong are you now?"
"Well, nothing special."
Yuzuru released Sage Mode, and his hair turned black again.
"Come on. Let's check on Rin first."
Reaching Rin's side, Yuzuru looked at her tattered clothes, took out a fresh set and draped it over her, then reached out to touch her abdomen. The next second, a special technique formula appeared on it.
"Argh!"
With a cry of pain, Rin immediately opened her eyes, then looked around in shock, especially at Yuzuru before her.
"I, you... Yuzuru? I'm not dead?"
"You were dead, but I saved you. So from now on, you're one of mine."
With that, he took off Rin's forehead protector and crushed it.
"This..."
Watching this, Rin's expression grew complicated.
"Come on. It's time to leave. We're not going to Konoha."
"Huh? We're not going back to Konoha?"
Rin froze for a moment, looking at him in surprise.
"Why would we go back?"
Yuzuru sneered, then looked toward Kirigakure.
"Next, we need some territory of our own. It can't be too small, and it can't draw too much attention."
"Kirigakure really is a good fit, but what if we're discovered?"
Kakashi immediately guessed Yuzuru's destination.
"Discovered? By whom? Kill the daimyo, slaughter the nobles, take control of the ninja village. All we need is absolute force and violence to keep control. After that, we train a new generation of young people. In just ten years, Kirigakure-or rather, the Land of Water-will change completely. And that will be our true foundation."
Yuzuru looked toward Kirigakure, in the easternmost reaches of the Shinobi World, a village that had always been the most isolated from the outside world.
Kakashi sucked in a breath. "Yuzuru, that idea is too extreme."
Kakashi's eyes widened.
Even though he knew Yuzuru might do something big, he hadn't expected anything this outrageous.
Killing the daimyo, slaughtering the nobles, taking control of a ninja village, and in a major nation like the Land of Water at that-he didn't even dare imagine such a thing.
"The wind hasn't fully picked up yet. Until then, let Obito and Madara stir up trouble. Let those two rats in the gutter do as they please. Without their troublemaking, far fewer people would die. What this sick Shinobi World needs isn't gentle healing, but a blade to cut away the flesh, carving out every rotten part."
"Wait, Yuzuru, did you just say Obito? Is Obito still alive?"
Rin sounded shocked.
"Of course. The good die young, while scourges live a thousand years. For someone like Obito, forget a thousand-even ten thousand years would be an understatement."
"Um, Obito... he isn't that bad, is he?"
Rin offered a timid reply.
"Hah! Don't contradict me."
"Oh."
Afterward, the three left together, without returning to camp.
All that remained were the sprawling corpses of Kirigakure's ninja and a huge crater whose origins were unknown.
Perhaps some people had sensed the fierce battle here, and others had noticed the enormous ice spike, but if they actually came looking, they would probably come for nothing.
"Is it okay not to say goodbye to Dad?"
Kakashi suddenly turned to Yuzuru and asked.
"Use your Ninja Dog to send Dad a secret letter."
"All right."
Without wasting words, Kakashi immediately summoned a Ninja Dog, wrote a secret letter using a special method, and had it delivered to Konoha.
"So where do we go now? Kurenai and Guy are on the other side of the Kirigakure battlefield. Should we go find them first?"
"No need. We can leave first. You, me, and Rin, who's now the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki, are enough for the time being."
"Come to think of it, we should thank Madara Uchiha."
Yuzuru said with a smile.
"Madara Uchiha? The Madara Uchiha who founded Konoha with the First Hokage?"
Rin's mouth fell open in shock.
"He's the one who stuffed the Three-Tails into you. His goal was to have Kakashi kill you. Once Obito saw that, he would become his pawn completely."
"How could that be? Then Obito is now..."
Rin was still a little worried.
"Don't bother with him. Like I said, Obito is rotten to the core. Selfishness and twistedness are the only things at the foundation of his soul. Compared with those, his stupidity barely even counts."
"Rather than Obito, you should be worrying about Minato and Kushina. Because Minato was on another mission and didn't save you in time, Obito would like nothing better than to kill him now. As for Kushina, heh, she'll just get caught up in it."
Yuzuru sneered.
Hearing this, Kakashi couldn't take it anymore. "How dare he? Doesn't he understand how cruel war is?"
"Would a selfish idiot understand if you told him that? All he knows is how good it feels to kill others, but when something like that happens to someone close to him, he can't accept it, and even hates everything. That's why I said rotten people are rotten people. They can't be saved, and there's no need to save them."
"Besides, I've already taken his Sharingan. Even if Madara Uchiha transplants new eyes into him and gives him the Mangekyō again, a fake is a fake. They'll never compare to his own."
Taking out Obito's pair of Sharingan, Yuzuru suddenly thought of something interesting.
"Kakashi, what do you think would happen if I transplanted these eyes into you?"
"No thanks. I don't want someone else's eyes."
Kakashi looked thoroughly disgusted.
"Tsk, you're actually turning your nose up at them. Forget it. I still have a use for these for now. We're going to welcome a new companion. One who can change the world."
Yuzuru summoned a large raven.
"Xiaohei, sorry for the trouble."
"My name is Yakyū."
"All right, Xiaohei."
Yakyū: ...
"Is this your summoning beast? Just what have you been through all these years?"
Seeing the enormous raven, Kakashi couldn't help asking again.
"I found a race of nature that predates the Sage of Six Paths and learned the most authentic Sage Mode."
Hearing this, Kakashi looked utterly incredulous, then seemed to want to say something.
"You want to learn?"
"Ahem, a little."
"Sure. Let's take care of a few things first. After that, we'll have plenty of time."
The three rode Yakyū and swiftly left.
The night sky was Yakyū's best cover.
After a night had passed, Yuzuru arrived in the Land of Lightning with Kakashi and Rin.
"The Land of Lightning? Why did we come here?"
Rin asked.
"Our companion is here."
After landing, Yakyū nodded to Yuzuru, then vanished on the spot.
Yuzuru brought Kakashi and Rin to the foot of a mountain. With a wave of his hand, he dispelled the Genjutsu, and a passage appeared in the ground, with a faint glow of firelight coming from within.
"Let's go."
Under Yuzuru's lead, the two also reached the depths underground.
At the very back was a special altar, with a stone coffin on top and many Gates of the Great God around it to reinforce the seal.
Yuzuru immediately entered Sage Mode, then used natural energy to erode the seal, which had already become extremely weak, and successfully undid it.
After he opened the stone coffin, a black-haired girl lay quietly inside, her eyes tightly closed.
Yuzuru released the final seal on her body. The next second, a pair of Mangekyō suddenly appeared as the girl opened her eyes.