“Take a look at this, Kakashi-sensei.”

Kitagawa Gen pulled out a scroll and quickly unsealed it.

“This is…”

As smoke dispersed, a small piece of pale flesh, a shriveled arm and leg, and a pair of blades appeared before them.

“This bit of flesh is small, something I sliced off Obito. It felt strange, so I kept it.”

Kitagawa Gen explained, though he had wrestled with the decision of whether to reveal it.

After thinking it over, he felt it was useless to him anyway—he already had all the power he needed.

Konoha would eventually uncover this stuff too, so he figured he might as well take it out and see how it could be used. After all, he still had two of Obito’s arms in storage.

As for Nagato’s…

He would treat it as spoils of war. He couldn’t let that fall back into enemy hands.

“Not sure if he’s dead or not, though.”

Even after striking Nagato, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted about whether the man had survived.

If he wasn’t dead, that would be best. He could still help collect the Tailed Beasts, and besides—if he died, there wouldn’t be as many missions to hand out!

But if he was dead…

'That would be troublesome. Still, Uchiha Obito won’t stop moving. Worst case, I’ll just have to act as Ōtsutsuki Genshiki.'

Ōtsutsuki Genshiki was his ultimate fallback. Normally, he would never use it lightly, but it wasn’t something he intended to keep hidden forever either.

“These two blades belonged to Kurosuki Raiga.”

Kitagawa Gen continued, choosing not to go into detail about Nagato’s condition.

“If I remember correctly, he was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He died here today, so naturally, I claimed his swords.”

“Kirigakure really does have it out for us, huh.”

Kakashi couldn’t help but twitch at the sight of the blades. He realized that, over the years, his ties with the shinobi of Kirigakure were always entangled and messy.

And Akatsuki seemed to have a fondness for recruiting defectors from the Mist—Biwa Juzo, Hoshigaki Kisame…

Now there was Kurosuki Raiga too. At this point, Kakashi wondered if Akatsuki specifically targeted Mist defectors.

“Forget it. Put them away for now—let’s head back.”

Kakashi rubbed his head, then suddenly chuckled.

“Still, our luck was good this time. Looks like neither of us got injured.”

“True, our luck wasn’t bad at all.”

Kitagawa Gen studied Kakashi, stroked his chin, and nodded.

“But let’s not end it there. During the fight, I sensed a rather unusual chakra.”

“Unusual chakra?”

“That’s right. It was very distinct. At first, it was inside Kusagakure, but then it seemed to leave the village. I think we should track it down.”

“Is that so?”

Kakashi thought it over. If Kitagawa Gen said the chakra wasn’t ordinary, then it certainly wasn’t something simple.

He didn’t know what it meant, but searching for it wouldn’t hurt.

“Hold on—you just said Kusagakure?”

“Yeah.”

“You fought near Kusagakure?”

“Seems so.”

“…”

Kakashi froze, his face going pale.

That massive rock had exploded right near Kusagakure. He couldn’t even bring himself to imagine the consequences!

This was bad… really bad.

Kakashi swallowed hard, while Kitagawa Gen blinked beside him—because his system had just flashed!

[Side Mission Complete: My Style Surpasses Yours]

[Reward Obtained: Yin Release Power of the Rinnegan]

The moment he saw the reward, Kitagawa Gen’s eyes lit up. Yin Release was exactly what he had been missing!

'So then… when it says my style surpasses Nagato’s, it wasn’t that I twisted Pain’s aesthetic…'

'Did I actually slice up Nagato himself?'

Kitagawa Gen didn’t really care much about Nagato’s condition.

That said, he couldn’t deny that what Nagato had given him was truly valuable.

'The Yin Release chakra of the Rinnegan, huh?'

Kitagawa Gen stroked his chin. To him, this thing was of great importance. His eyes’ potential, at least for now, seemed to surpass even Uchiha Madara’s Rinnegan.

The abilities he gained were growing in number, and their effects were more than sufficient.

'And I have this feeling… maybe my eyes are about to evolve again.'

He had a keen sense of his own eyes. After they absorbed a small amount of Nine-Tails’ chakra, the rate at which they absorbed chakra had only increased.

Especially with the appearance of the “Source of the God Tree,” the transformation of his eyes had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Although they remained in a state of high-speed chakra absorption, he understood this pace would soon slow, shifting into a stage of accumulation.

'Just like the very first time my eyes transformed.'

He was truly looking forward to that day. He had been anticipating the second stage of the Tenseigan for a long time.

“Are you sure Kusagakure is alright?”

While Kitagawa Gen was lost in his own thoughts, Kakashi could no longer hold it in.

Ever since he’d heard that disastrous news, he had fallen completely silent.

And when he used the Flying Thunder God to reach Kitagawa Gen’s battlefield, his face collapsed even further.

“Although Kusagakure has plenty of its own problems, and during the war they gave Iwagakure a lot of support, right now they still count as a kind of hidden ally of ours, so you—”

“I don’t know.”

Kitagawa Gen instantly gave the perfect answer, hesitating for a moment before speaking.

“It was that Pain who dragged me around. I have no idea what he was trying to do.”

“You didn’t know Kusagakure was nearby?”

“I’m bad at geography.”

“Nonsense. If I remember right, other than being bad at math, you excel at everything else!”

Kakashi pressed his hand to his forehead. He had no idea what to say anymore, and he didn’t even dare to glance toward Kusagakure.

The entire surrounding area looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster—he couldn’t bear to imagine the current state of the village.

Only one thought remained: we need to get out of here fast and leave the rest for the Hokage to deal with.

“Found it, over there.”

Just as Kakashi was lost in thought, Kitagawa Gen suddenly pointed in one direction.

“That chakra trail went that way. If we hurry, we can still catch up.”

“...Haa.”

Kakashi let out a sigh, but when he saw Kitagawa Gen already rushing ahead, he followed without hesitation.

Yet even amid his unease, looking at the wreckage around them, a faint sense of pride welled up inside him.

He had witnessed Kitagawa Gen’s growth step by step.

From the time he graduated, he had already been strong—but back then, his immaturity was still plain to see.

'To think he’s grown to become one of the very pillars of the village… it’s unbelievable.'

…Though he causes far too much trouble.

With that thought, Kakashi followed Kitagawa Gen into the ruins.

The ground here was riddled with craters, with blazing flames still burning everywhere. Clearly, the aftermath of the earlier impact wasn’t going to fade so easily.

Amid the ruins, Kakashi soon spotted a figure in the distance.

“That’s the person we’re looking for?”

Kakashi asked with some doubt, and Kitagawa Gen nodded.

“Yeah, that’s her. During the fight, I noticed her chakra was unusual. It gave me a feeling very similar to Naruto’s.”

“Similar to Naruto? And her hair color too…”

Kakashi thought for a moment, and it seemed he had already guessed the girl’s identity.

“She’s from the Uzumaki Clan?”

Encountering descendants of the Uzumaki Clan in the shinobi world wasn’t particularly rare.

After the fall of the Land of Whirlpools and the destruction of Uzushiogakure, the Uzumaki’s descendants had scattered across the continent.

Though there had once been a pact between their clans to protect one another, Konoha had been far too embattled back then, surrounded and beaten down on all sides. Who had the strength to spare?

And as the years passed and their village vanished, that pact had long been forgotten by most.

To many shinobi of Konoha, the Uzumaki were little more than ordinary people—especially since Konoha already had its own “legitimate” Uzumaki line.

From the first Uzumaki Mito, to Kakashi’s teacher’s wife Uzumaki Kushina, and now Naruto, all carried Uzumaki blood.

Kakashi thought it over, but instead of dampening the mood, he asked the question. “You think she’s special?”

“Yeah, a bit.” Kitagawa Gen nodded.

“In terms of chakra, she’s somewhat like Naruto. And she should be from Kusagakure. If we bring her back, it’ll be easier to explain things, right?”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t know the situation in Kusagakure?”

“…”

“Say something!”

“What’s done is done. Let’s just grab her first.”

After their brief exchange, the two sped up toward Karin. But the girl, already running ahead, had noticed the disturbance behind her.

Now that she had her chance, there was no way she was going to stay in Kusagakure. No matter where she went, she had to get away first!

She had been moving cautiously all along, never expecting to be caught up to like this. And the ones chasing her were—

“The owner of that chakra!”

Even though the chakra had changed significantly, she felt certain she hadn’t mistaken it. And that realization made her feel doomed.

Especially when she saw the two behind her suddenly pick up their pace, she could only slow down bitterly.

She couldn’t escape. There was no way she could get away!

---

I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. /TitoVillar

---