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"It's over, Kakashi-sensei."
As he watched the two figures gradually disappear into the distance, Kitagawa Gen couldn't help but grumble inwardly, though a deep sense of relief finally washed over him.
This battle had turned out to be far more dangerous than he had expected.
If not for Uchiha Itachi—whether for the sake of his younger brother or the village—holding back due to inner conflict, things would not have ended so easily.
Add to that the dazzling performance of his own "Purple Lightning", and perhaps, just perhaps, they had barely managed to make it through.
"Yeah..."
Once he was certain the enemies had truly left, Kakashi collapsed onto the ground, his entire body drained.
That pair of Mangekyō Sharingan possessed by Uchiha Itachi was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined.
Though he himself also possessed the Sharingan, the oppressive force of the Mangekyō over an ordinary Sharingan was simply beyond comparison.
"No wonder he was able to wipe out his entire clan all by himself..."
The thought sent a chill down Kakashi's spine. If not for Kitagawa Gen's timely intervention disrupting Itachi's resolve, the outcome might have been disastrous.
Especially that mysterious purple lightning—it gave him an unshakable, unsettling feeling he could not put into words.
But then...
He cast a sidelong glance at Kitagawa Gen, and Kakashi's expression darkened.
"Didn't I tell you to run away? Even though you did well, even managing to pull off that jutsu you devised..."
"That's enough, Kakashi-sensei."
Before Kakashi could finish speaking, Kitagawa Gen cut him off with a faint smile.
"Didn't we manage to fool them in the end?"
"But did you ever consider what would have happened if they hadn't been fooled?"
Kakashi shook his head, his voice low and heavy.
"If you keep acting like this, you're going to get yourself killed."
"And yet, I couldn't just stand by and let you face danger alone, Kakashi-sensei."
Kitagawa Gen blinked once, then smiled gently and spoke slowly.
"Maybe I didn't follow orders. But has Kakashi-sensei forgotten that those who break the rules are trash, yet those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash?"
"Now, please rest for a while, Kakashi-sensei. I'll go check on our client."
With those words, Kitagawa Gen stood up swiftly. He offered Kakashi a brief smile, then turned and walked briskly toward the palanquin.
"This kid..."
Kakashi sat there, stunned. His gaze lingered on Gen's retreating back, filled with complicated emotion.
To be honest, when they encountered Jūzō Biwa and Uchiha Itachi, he had truly believed it was the end.
His entire life had felt like it was woven from loneliness and sorrow, as though fate had destined him to walk a solitary path.
When he was young, his father took his own life, leaving him an orphan.
As he grew older, Obito and Rin, his closest friends, both fell one after another in the chaos of war.
Later on, even his sensei and his wife perished during the Nine-Tails' rampage.
During those dark days, he had been completely lost, drifting through life like a shadow, unable to see any path forward. He numbly threw himself into mission after mission, trying to fill the void.
Were it not for Gai and the friends he had left in Konoha, perhaps his best outcome would have been a quiet death on some nameless ANBU mission.
And then, after leaving the ANBU, he finally met his first student.
At first, he hadn't thought much of the boy. When the other members of his team were hospitalized, he had even considered abandoning the entire group.
But what he never expected was that this student would one day repeat the very words that Obito had once spoken to him.
And now, through this ordeal, that same student had proved with his actions that he truly believed in those words.
"Still, we were lucky this time. Things didn't go wrong..."
Kakashi's gaze turned distant. The last person to speak those words had died saving him on the battlefield.
But this time, the one who said them had also saved him—and yet, the ending was different.
Slowly, clarity returned to Kakashi's eyes.
He lowered his headband, covering his Sharingan once more. The eye that remained visible curved gently like a crescent moon.
"It seems this really is the start of something new."
[Side Quest Completed: The Light in Kakashi's Heart]
[Reward Obtained: Information on Divine Weapons]
While Kakashi was still lost in thought, new information surfaced in Kitagawa Gen's mind.
Upon seeing the task was complete, Gen couldn't help but marvel inwardly—Obito's words truly held incredible power over Kakashi.
Yet when he turned to examine the reward, his expression took on a strange twist.
"What the hell is this?"
In his memory, the so-called "divine weapons" were probably just those absurd tools used by the crazy brothers from the Hidden Cloud.
But as he studied the details further, he quickly realized something was amiss.
"The Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror?"
Gen frowned. If he recalled correctly, those two were the very weapons wielded by Uchiha Itachi's Susanoo.
If his memory served him right, Itachi had used the Totsuka Blade to effortlessly seal away Orochimaru, even after the latter had unleashed the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique.
And both weapons existed in a chakra-based form. He had always assumed they were simply part of Susanoo's natural arsenal.
But now, it appeared that might not be the case.
"Could it be that these so-called divine weapons existed in a chakra state from the start, and Itachi only found them and equipped them onto his Susanoo?"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
After all, when Itachi had wielded the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, both Orochimaru—who was fighting him—and Black Zetsu—who was merely watching—immediately recognized them.
Not only that, they even seemed to know some of the weapons' abilities beforehand.
"This can only mean that these so-called divine weapons have existed in the shinobi world for a very long time, and have already become the stuff of legend."
Otherwise, there was no way that both Orochimaru and Black Zetsu could have recognized them so precisely the very first time Uchiha Itachi used them.
As for how these two weapons ultimately ended up in Uchiha Itachi's possession...
"Either that guy just had extraordinarily lucky, or the knowledge of these weapons was already passed down within the Uchiha clan."
At that thought, Kitagawa Gen's gaze grew sharp with a flicker of interest.
He didn't really care about sacred weapons in and of themselves. However, if these two artifacts were indeed linked to the Uchiha, then he was certainly interested in learning more.
It likely meant that these two objects either once belonged to the Uchiha clan's forefather, Indra...
"Or perhaps even to the Sage of Six Paths himself."
Either way, weapons forged from chakra would undoubtedly still carry traces of their original wielder's power. And that chakra could very well hold the key to developing Gen's own bloodline.
Especially if it came from the Sage of Six Paths. If he truly managed to find something of that caliber, he could shortcut a vast portion of his growth.
"Besides, now that they've left, they'll probably be reporting Kakashi's situation to Uchiha Obito."
Light flickered in Kitagawa Gen's eyes. Though he held no affection for Uchiha Itachi, he couldn't stop the words from slipping out in a quiet murmur.
"You really are a good guy, Uchiha Itachi."
---
"Are you alright?"
Deep within the forest, Uchiha Itachi turned to glance at the still-rigid figure of Jūzō Biwa. A faint crease formed between his brows as he asked calmly.
"Nothing serious. But I'll need a good amount of rest before I'm back in proper shape."
Jūzō shook his head, his voice tinged with irritation.
"I was careless. Went in without proper intel on that brat, and paid for it. That Lightning Style of his was completely beyond my expectations."
He might have been outmaneuvered by Kitagawa Gen, but Jūzō was no stranger to defeat. As one of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he understood better than most that shinobi would use every tool at their disposal to survive. A loss was a loss. He would accept it.
What stuck with him most was that surge of violet lightning. That jutsu had genuinely shaken him.
"No wonder he's Kakashi Hatake's student. And Kakashi himself isn't someone to take lightly either. Even with the Mangekyō activated, I still couldn't completely suppress him."
Itachi gave a small nod in agreement, then slowly closed his eyes.
"Let's leave here first. I need time to recover as well. If the ANBU from Konoha catch up to us, it will be troublesome."
In truth, he wasn't entirely sure whether any reinforcements were on the way. But as a spy, it served him well to assume the worst.
"Yeah. Let's get going."
Jūzō nodded too, only speaking after stretching his still-numb limbs with some difficulty.
"What a pain. To think a damn kid managed to see through my identity. The mission's a failure. I'll give a full report once we're back."
"Then again, we did cross paths with the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. And that genius kid..."
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[Chapter End's]
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