At first, Kakashi Hatake had not actually wanted to accept this mission to reinforce the Land of Demons from his teacher, Minato Namikaze.
Someone like him, who could not even protect the comrade he had promised to protect, had no right to protect anyone else.
But after Minato Namikaze, who was tangled up in all kinds of matters, deliberately set aside an entire afternoon and had a serious conversation with him, Kakashi finally accepted his teacher's arrangement.
Since Rin Nohara's death, Kakashi had become increasingly dispirited.
And after Konoha and Kirigakure signed the peace treaty, he had even begun showing signs of never recovering.
He had lost the father who once supported his heart.
He had lost the comrade who grew up beside him and had very seriously hoped that he would live properly.
But at the very least, right now, there was still a teacher who had always cared about him and hoped to help him walk out of the shadows.
That teacher could still serve as the pillar supporting him to continue living.
Kakashi Hatake could disregard his own life.
But he did not want Minato Namikaze, who had also endured the pain of losing a disciple, to feel guilt and self-blame because of his death too.
So he set out together with several Anbu seniors.
They headed for the Land of Demons, which was quite far from the Land of Fire, preparing to complete this mission centered around protection, while also trying to make his almost stagnant heart ripple again.
Unexpectedly, the moment they arrived at the mission location, Kakashi heard that their mission targets, the priestesses of the Land of Demons, had been kidnapped by two Kirigakure shinobi who should not have appeared here.
Although he knew this information was likely mixed with a great deal of personal resentment from those guards who had been driven away from their own protectees, he still could not stop himself from secretly praying that it was true when he relayed the news to his accompanying seniors.
Because in that case, he would have a legitimate reason to identify the Kirigakure shinobi who had appeared in the Land of Demons as enemies and attack them.
And now, Kakashi Hatake's prayer seemed to have become reality.
Because he saw someone wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector and a black robe embroidered with red clouds, someone whose body had grown extra organs, walking toward one of their fallen comrades with a kunai in hand.
He looked as if he intended to eliminate the roots and silence the witness.
Therefore, Kakashi did not hesitate.
He pushed up his forehead protector and activated Raikiri, the most powerful ninjutsu he could currently use.
Without holding back in the slightest, he attacked the other party and successfully inflicted heavy damage on one of his wings, stripping away his ability to fly through the air.
"Kakashi Hatake?"
Seeing Shisui Uchiha's wing injured by Raikiri, Rei immediately realized the identity of that white-haired Anbu wearing a fox mask.
He could not help frowning.
"Tch. Why did another troublesome target show up? Fortunately, he probably didn't see Shisui's second-stage transformation process. He doesn't have much of a relationship with Shisui either. The odds of him recognizing Shisui through his appearance after the second-stage transformation shouldn't be too high…"
"Another… one?"
Shisui Uchiha, whose heart had already been filled with struggle, clutched his pierced left wing.
His body trembled even more violently.
He lowered his voice, sounding as if his heart had been completely crushed in an instant, and murmured,
"Fourth, this one… do I have to deal with him the same way as before too?"
"If you can go all out, defeating him won't be difficult…"
The white snake coiled on Shisui's shoulder flicked its tongue and whispered helplessly.
"But right now, first, you don't have any will to fight. Second, you can't conveniently use your Sharingan in front of him. Third, the other side also has a three-tomoe Sharingan, so whether your genjutsu can take full effect is uncertain…"
After a slight pause, Rei temporarily gave Shisui two different choices.
"There are two methods now."
"One is to run immediately and stop caring whether the genjutsu placed on that Anbu will be broken. The advantage of doing this is that you won't need to fight the later Konoha Anbu, avoiding the exposure of too much personal information. The downside is that there is no way to guarantee the continued effect of the genjutsu. Whether your information is covered up or not will be entirely up to fate."
"The other is to avoid using your Sharingan and stall the opponent for a while. At the same time, share part of the Cursed Seal of Heaven's power with the white snake I taught you. After I change my clothes, you can use the white snake to perform reverse summoning and summon me over. I'll handle this situation personally…"
"The first one is fine."
Shisui Uchiha gave his answer with shocking speed.
"Are you sure? If you choose that, there's a decent chance you'll be exposed."
Rei did not sound particularly surprised.
"If I'm exposed, then I'll take it as the fate of a traitor like me…"
Shisui Uchiha smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"No matter how I try to hide it, the fact that I chose Kirigakure instead of insisting that my heart belongs to Konoha, and that I carried out a mission as a Kirigakure shinobi, can no longer be changed or denied…"
"Since I could run into two shinobi from Konoha in a row on this land so far away from both Konoha and Kirigakure, then perhaps being exposed here is my fate."
"Accepting something like fate is not the choice people like us, who are determined to change the shinobi world, should make."
Rei, dissatisfied, commanded the white snake to smack Shisui's neck with its tail.
Then he snorted coldly.
"But considering that you're still young and still at an age where mistakes are allowed, I won't hold it against you this time… Prepare yourself. We're leaving."
The white snake bit down on Shisui's cursed seal.
In reverse, it injected the senjutsu chakra Rei had poured into its body back into the seal.
Along with Shisui Uchiha's pained groan, the left wing that Kakashi Hatake's Raikiri had split open from the middle recovered at a shocking speed.
His chakra also surged.
Seeing this, Kakashi Hatake raised the Raikiri in his hand, his gaze cold as he assumed a stance to meet the enemy.
"In the end, people from the Village of the Bloody Mist can never change their bloodthirsty nature, can they?"
"You came here and immediately slandered us, who defeated Mōryō and protected the priestesses, as thugs who kidnapped the priestesses. Is this the quality and prejudice of Konoha shinobi?"
Shisui Uchiha opened his mouth and responded according to Rei's guidance.
Afterward, he flapped his restored wings and rose into the sky, looking down from above at Kakashi Hatake, whose face turned troubled because he lacked long-range anti-air methods.
"Lord Fourth does not wish for external conflict during this period. Therefore, I will not take your lives because of your hateful and repulsive stereotypes, nor because of your baseless slander…"
"But I must at least respond to the Lightning Release attack you used to injure me just now."
"Fire Release: Yatagarasu!"
After hand seals so fast that even the Sharingan had to focus completely to keep up, roaring flames spread their wings from Shisui Uchiha's body.
They transformed into a gigantic fire crow with three legs and a mirror hanging before its chest.
After the fire crow let out a clear cry that echoed in every direction, it carried a scorching wave of flames that seemed capable of igniting everything and swooped down toward Kakashi Hatake and the fallen Anbu.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Facing this terrifying Fire Release, which looked like a divine bird descending and the blazing sun falling from the sky, Kakashi Hatake did not dare be careless.
He used his most proficient Water Release with all his strength to defend himself.
But even relying on Water Release's advantage over Fire Release, the enormous fire crow still broke through most of the Water Formation Wall Kakashi had created.
It produced a massive amount of scalding steam.
While blocking all of Kakashi's vision, it also rapidly burned his exposed skin, completely cutting off his route to pursue Shisui Uchiha.
By the time the enormous fire crow completely dissipated and Kakashi could free his hands to use Wind Release to blow away the scalding steam, Shisui Uchiha, who possessed many traits similar to Yatagarasu, had already vanished from the sky without a trace under the cover of the steam.
"Such powerful Fire Release… It's not inferior to the Fire Release of the Sarutobi clan or the Uchiha clan at all. Kirigakure actually hid a shinobi this skilled in Fire Release? Or did he join Kirigakure after Rei Kaguya took office?"
Kakashi looked at the reddened, stinging skin on his arms.
On his already unhappy face, a deep layer of worry appeared once more.
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