Born in Sunagakure, dedicated to antagonizing Konoha for decades

The Akatsuki organization's known lineup is already terrifying enough, not to mention the two leaders whose backgrounds are unclear, and the suspected rogue Uchiha hiding behind them. Frankly, if such a force were to actually come to Konoha and take Naruto away, she doesn't even have the confidence to withstand them...

"...Hey! I just made up that tailed beast. Before I went to the Land of Sky, I ran into Orochimaru. He was also interested in the planes and cannons of the Sky Ninja, so we went to take a look together. According to Orochimaru, this tailed beast is just an artificial tailed beast created by the Sky Ninja by collecting a huge amount of dark chakra. Although it has some of the functions of a tailed beast, it is not a real tailed beast. Moreover, this so-called dark chakra can easily affect people's moods, and it is completely different from the tailed beasts formed by natural chakra. It would be really fun if they actually took the tailed beast in Takikage's hands as their target! ヾ(^?^)?"

Masato laughed gleefully.

The script he painstakingly crafted over so many days was all to convince the will of the Six Paths' mother and Obito that the giant snake was a true tailed beast. He also wanted to see whether the snake would end up being stuffed into his mouth or...

"......ヽ(ー_ー)ノ"

The three of them stared speechlessly at this gloating bastard. This guy was truly despicable; the whole wild tailed beast myth that had caused such a stir in the ninja world was fabricated by this bastard.

No wonder they always felt it was a bit far-fetched. Even the Sage of Six Paths is incredibly powerful, but there's a limit. Just the bloating caused by indigestion turned him into a tailed beast. That's just too damn powerful.

Rope Tree silently mourned for that idiot Takikage; that was a whopping 10 billion!

.....

Although this wild tailed beast is in Takikage's hands, the matter is far from over. In particular, the origin of this tailed beast is what the great ninja villages are most curious about. When they learned that the tailed beast that Shinto was talking about was indeed a real tailed beast, but because this tailed beast was born later than the other nine tailed beasts, and was even the gas in the stomach of the Sage of Six Paths... Onoki and the others were dumbfounded.

Whether it's true or not, Onoki wouldn't believe what came out of the mouth of a despicable and shameless scoundrel like Golden Lion. But the problem is that Golden Lion said it in front of the leaders of most of the small ninja villages and countries in the ninja world. Someone who cares about his reputation wouldn't lie, right?

After all, if this is exposed, he will be the one who loses face.

That's why Onoki, the Raikage, and the others were confused, unsure whether what that bastard Shiki was saying was true or false. However, even the tailed beasts in their own village admitted that they were born from the Sage of Six Paths, which perfectly matched what Shiki said about the origin of the tailed beasts. Under these circumstances, they still believed that the origin of this wild tailed beast was somewhat credible.

The most bewildered of them all was probably the will of the Six Paths, Black Zetsu. He knew perfectly well how the nine tailed beasts came to be, and these nine tailed beasts had been his targets all these years. Although he had Obito persuade Nagato to include this tailed beast in the capture list, he still had doubts about its origins. During this time, he and Obito had searched through all the historical records and his own historical notes, but they couldn't find a single record of this wild tailed beast. This made him remain skeptical about whether this wild tailed beast was real or not.

But now, listening to Golden Lion's explanation, it turns out that this wild tailed beast is actually his nominal elder brother suffering from indigestion and bloating... To be honest, it's even less certain now whether this tailed beast is real or not.

This origin might seem far-fetched to others, but it makes perfect sense to the creature that has actually witnessed the power of its nominal older brother.

As I said before, you can never imagine how powerful your mother and two nominal brothers are until you've witnessed their strength. Although Hagoromo Otsutsuki's power is not as great as his mother's, he is still a god. It's not surprising that a god's burp becomes a tailed beast.

But now a new question has arisen in its mind: this tailed beast was formed from the bloated air of Hagoromo Otsutsuki and the remaining chakra of the Ten-Tails. So does it count as the Ten-Tails' chakra? If it does, the Ten-Tails' body has only nine holes. But if it doesn't count, what if it doesn't have enough power to summon its mother...?

It's been waiting for hundreds, even thousands of years. If this doesn't work, who knows if its mother will be the first to kill her useless little son when she comes out...

"Black Zetsu, where do you think... we're going to put that tailed beast from Takigakure?"

Unlike Black Zetsu, Obito didn't have this problem. Since he had already decided to include this tailed beast in his capture list, he would capture it regardless of whether it was real or fake. If the tailed beast was fake, it would be good to give the Ten-Tails more power. If it was real, then there would be no problem at all.

However, he had been considering the same problem as Nagato during this time. The Ten-Tails' body did indeed have nine obvious large holes, which were specifically used to seal the nine tailed beasts. There was no doubt about that. If the Ten-Tails, this super nuclear weapon, was to be successfully activated, its lost abilities had to be replenished. But now there was an extra tailed beast, and Shiki's explanation was so reasonable that no one could find a flaw. So, where should this tailed beast be placed in the end? That was the key.

The mouth? Or...?

1076. The Golden Lion is still so powerful.

"...We'll see how things go then. Where to put them will have to wait until we capture the Tailed Beasts. Takikage is just a small ninja village; capturing them shouldn't be too difficult..."

After thinking for a long time, Black Zetsu said.

He was also pondering this question, but seeing Obito looking somewhat lost, he naturally couldn't let his mindset falter any longer. After all, taking down another tailed beast wouldn't be too difficult for the Akatsuki, especially since it was Takigakure. At worst, if nine didn't work, the last one would just be stuffed in their mouths...

Actually, compared to this extra tailed beast, he was more worried about the One-Tailed and Seven-Tailed beasts of Sunagakure. It was true that Nagato could use the Rinnegan, but it was ultimately not his own. Moreover, Shiki's strength was too strange. Logically speaking, Shiki, an ordinary person without strong life force genes, was already sixty years old. The Third Raikage was already at his peak at sixty, and even the well-maintained White Fang of Konoha was already at his peak as a small tailed beast. But this Shiki was still so powerful at sixty.

Recalling the Golden Lion's hard figure, powerful taijutsu, and strange Magnet Release, to be honest, he didn't have much confidence in whether Nagato could handle the One-Tailed and Seven-Tailed of Sunagakure. He guessed that Madara would have to be resurrected and have the Rinnegan before he could manage.

As for the tailed beasts of other villages, they are not too difficult to defeat. Even in Konoha, without a monster like Shiki who can withstand both damage and attack, taking down the Nine-Tails is just a piece of cake for the Akatsuki. Konoha's White Fang is already at the peak of his tailed beast form. Although his movement is still quite stylish, his attack power is not as strong as before.

While Tsunade is decent, she's only decent; berserkers without ranged abilities are actually the easiest to defeat...

......

"Lord Raikage, we searched all the routes the two Yugitos took and found traces of a battle, as well as remnants of the Two-Tails' chakra and large-scale water-style attacks in one place, but... we just can't find them."

In Kumogakure, a Kumogakure ANBU underling was cautiously reporting to the Raikage, who was burning with rage.

"boom!"

"Keep looking for more workers!"

The Fourth Raikage punched a large hole in the load-bearing wall behind him and roared angrily at his underlings.

The wild tailed beast caused quite a stir in the ninja world a while ago. Mabui asked him to inquire about the situation with his sworn brother. After contacting his brother, he remembered that Kumogakure not only had the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, but also Yugito, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki. Speaking of which, he, as the Raikage, had been somewhat negligent. He had been in power for so many years, but his mind was always on his sworn brother, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and he rarely paid attention to the two Yugito, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki.

The main reason is that he really can't handle the Eight-Tails if it goes berserk, but he can still protect the Two-Tails. So for many years, he has been paying attention to Killer Bee's emotions, but neglecting the two Yugitos. This is the worst thing a qualified Raikage should do.

His father once told him that to become an excellent leader, one must not have any biases. Even among the Jinchūriki, everyone must be treated equally. Especially since the two Yugito are girls, and girls are very sensitive, he immediately had his underlings call the two Yugito over to offer their concern and inquire about their love lives. He had never forgotten the matter of Minato Namikaze and his wife. Minato Namikaze was a man even faster than him, but because the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was a girl, something went wrong when she was about to give birth, which led to Minato Namikaze's death.

He would never forget this incident. If it weren't for the fact that Yugito Nii and the Two-Tails got along so well, he really wouldn't have wanted the girl to be a Jinchūriki. It was just too much trouble. After all, the girl had to overcome the difficulty of childbirth, while the man didn't have that problem.

But when the underling he sent returned and told him that Yugito had already taken his students on a mission, he wasn't surprised. He just said that he would notify Yugito to come to Raikage Tower after she returned.

But now it has been two months and Yugito still hasn't returned. Now not only the Raikage, but also Mabui felt something was wrong. Yugito wasn't on a high-difficulty mission, just a B-rank mission, and it wasn't far from their Kumogakure. Even if he were standing upside down, he should have returned by now after two months.

Yugito's strength may not be as great as Killer Bee's, but he is not someone that ordinary people can easily mess with. Moreover, he is just leading students on a small B-rank mission. How could he possibly run into Shiki?

Even if they encountered Shiki, given the friendship between Shiki and the Third Raikage, he shouldn't have attacked Yugito.

But now Yugito has been missing for more than two months, and there is no trace of him. The Raikage is furious.

It's another tailed beast. A while ago, Shiki managed to get his hands on a tailed beast, and now the Jinchuriki of their village has disappeared again. If he didn't know that Takikage bought a bloated beast that wasn't the Two-Tails but just the Sage of Six Paths, and that Shiki didn't know Water Release, he would have suspected that Yugito had been taken down by Shiki.

Don't doubt it. Although it's true that Shiki and his father were teammates, since his father passed away, the Cloud Village and Shiki haven't had much interaction, and he and Shiki aren't that close.

"Lord Raikage, I have a feeling this matter is not simple. I think we should inform Lord Killer Bee and warn him to be careful. The opponent who captured Yugito must be quite strong..."

After tapping her fingers on the table in deep thought for a while, Mabui said, "Everything happened too coincidentally. Almost everyone in the ninja world knows that Shiki is an expert at taking down tailed beasts, but that doesn't mean no one can. Although Yugito is a Jinchuriki, his actual strength isn't very strong. Moreover, traces of a large-scale Water Release technique were found at the scene. The Kirigakure ninja are the most skilled in Water Release techniques in the entire ninja world, but according to the information she knows about Kirigakure, it seems that no outstanding talents have emerged in Kirigakure in recent years. Or rather, since the extermination of the Mizuki and Hozuki clans, the Water Release techniques of Kirigakure have declined. The current Fifth Mizukage didn't rise to power based on Water Release."

Adding to the fact that Shiki had just auctioned off a tailed beast, and their Two-Tails Jinchuriki had disappeared, the Azabu clan, with their sharp intellect, had every reason to believe there was some conspiracy she was unaware of—a grand conspiracy targeting Shiki, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and even the tailed beasts themselves...

"...Alright, let Bee return from the Land of the Moon. There aren't many people in the ninja world who can capture Yugito."

Concerned about his sworn brother, the Raikage calmed down. Both of their Cloud Village's Jinchuriki could perfectly control the power of the Tailed Beasts. Although Yugito's was the Two-Tails and slightly weaker than his brother, it was still not something an ordinary person could capture. If Yugito could be captured without anyone noticing, and if it was really as Mabui analyzed, his brother would also be in great danger.

1077. Kakashi finally understood, but there were no "what ifs".

"What happened? Did someone attack you? Your father is a half-sleeve Hokage, who in Konoha would dare to attack you? (⊙_⊙)?"

In Konoha Village, Masato was living a life of leisure with the Hatake clan. As the saying goes, "a new emperor brings a new court," and the era of Hiruzen Sarutobi was over. Now it was Nawaki's era in Konoha. Naturally, Nawaki wouldn't keep Sakumo Hatake around to keep a close watch on him like Hiruzen Sarutobi did. Sakumo Hatake was away serving as Nawaki's security chief and wasn't home. Instead, Kakashi returned home in broad daylight looking disheveled. Masato noticed that Kakashi still had some blood on him, clearly indicating that he had just returned from fighting someone the night before, and it was the kind of fight where he was ganged up on.

Kakashi, the rightful heir of the Hatake clan, is not very promising and is still in the sewers. However, if it were a one-on-one fight, his 50/50 aura would prevent him from being in such a sorry state. Judging from his posture, he must have gone to a group fight and ended up being surrounded.

Kakashi's work ethic is undeniable; he's even more of a workaholic than his father. Obito was supposed to be responsible for his own livelihood, but Kakashi, perhaps due to a different level of comprehension, has been working two jobs since the Chunin Exams. He not only leads his genin class but also occasionally works as a temporary ANBU member. Last night, he clearly went to the ANBU as a temporary member and got into a fight.

"......"

Dragging his matching body, Kakashi didn't want to talk to the old man, rolled his dead fish eyes, and went back to his room.

It's one thing for this old guy to freeload at my house, but considering he at least knows how to pay back debts, it won't cost much.

But the key point is, what do you mean by "I'm the Hokage of Konoha, who dares to cut him down"?

Does that mean Kakashi has gotten this far only because of his father's protection?

My dual titles of "Konoha Technician" and "Copy Ninja" were earned through sheer hard work, punch by punch, kick by kick, you know?

"...Dual titles are alright, but they're not as impressive as Konoha's White Fang! Heh...so Danzo's here too! But didn't your dad say Danzo's only goal is money? When did this old man get his eye on the tailed beasts...?"

After all, he was someone I had watched grow up since he was a child. Although he wasn't related by blood, he was still my nephew. Out of concern for my nephew, I activated my Observation Haki!

After hearing Kakashi's inner monologue, he shrugged dismissively and then found the answer.

It turns out that this kid took his underlings to fight Danzo's Root underlings last night. Although the Anbu won, it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Although Danzo's Root forces weren't very strong, not even close to the level of the Anbu, which only elites could enter, Danzo's Root underlings were fearless!

There's an old saying: the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless.

Although the Konoha ANBU members are stronger than the Root members, they are at most tough. They would be no match for Danzo's reckless fighting style.

Especially Kakashi. Although he wears a mask, the aura of the Hatake clan is simply too strong. His striking white hair and cool skills make the mask useless. This is why Hatake Sakumo never wore a mask back then; with the Hatake clan's ancestral short sword and his white hair, no one would mistake him for Jiraiya even with a mask on...

Kakashi wearing a mask is completely pointless and unnecessary.

When Aburame Torune, the leader of Root, was also a man well-versed in military strategy, he realized that the leader of the opposing force was Kakashi. After assessing the difference in strength between the two sides, he decided to capture the leader first and gave up the opportunity to improve his stats. He then led a group of reckless Root henchmen to gang up on Kakashi.

However, Kakashi was practically a chosen one. Before he could prove himself on par with Kaguya, the heavens wouldn't let him die. As a result, it was as if the Hatake clan's hereditary disease had finally been cured. He became incredibly brave among a group of reckless people, charging in and out seven times as if they were nothing. Even Aburame Torune was stabbed twice, but he didn't flinch. This was the most remarkable thing.

However, being surrounded and beaten by so many reckless Root henchmen, and with Kakashi's movements not being as stylish as his father's, it's normal for him to get stabbed a couple of times and look a bit disheveled.

"Damn it, don't use that ability unless it's absolutely necessary! (-"-Angry)"

After spraying the water, Kakashi hurriedly left the hall.

This ability is absolutely terrifying. His father once said that this old guy has a mind-reading ability, able to hear what the other person is thinking. Although it's a bit of an exaggeration, and he has never witnessed it, his father wouldn't lie to him. However, he has only seen this old guy a couple of times in the past few years, so he doesn't care.

Now he finally saw it for himself. He had just been mentally complaining when this old guy immediately knew what he was thinking and even knew about Danzo's Root organization. This was too damn unbearable. It was good that Tsunade-sama hadn't been defeated by him. Being with this kind of person was too damn uncomfortable; there were no secrets left.

However... here's the problem: this old guy has such convenient abilities, so why has he been trying to flirt with Lady Tsunade for so many years and still hasn't succeeded?

If his best buddy Obito had had this ability back then, Rin would have been head over heels for him long ago, and they wouldn't have had this love-hate relationship...

As soon as Kakashi stepped into the room, he thought of his best friend and felt a lot of regret. His relationship with his best friend was complicated. Although they were comrades, their relationship was usually somewhat strained, even less so than the relationship between his father and this old guy, which was both hostile and friendly. His best friend would hostile towards him for no reason.

When he was a child, he didn't understand why. It wasn't until he read Jiraiya's masterpiece that he realized that Obito liked Rin, and Rin seemed to like him. The reason why Obito was so hostile to him was because he regarded him as a rival in love!

The most crucial point is that he had no idea when he was a child that Lin seemed to like him. If he had known back then, he could have just told Lin directly, and none of this would have happened.

And although he can't read minds, he knows the micro-expressions of the Anbu. Obito can't be as incompetent as that old man, can he...?

"Why.....!"

Kakashi sat on the bed, looking at the group photo of the four of them on the table, and sighed regretfully. It's a pity that he had finally understood, but there were no "what ifs" now!

Kakashi didn't know that, given Obito's character before he joined the yakuza, the fact that even with a womanizer like Minato Namikaze by his side, it was useless, proved that what Obito lacked wasn't mind-reading or micro-expressions, but rather brains...

1078. Danzo: After all that, I didn't get a single penny.

"Clang...!"

"Damn the Anbu, damn Kakashi, Torune, how many more men can we send out? (-"-Rage)"

At the Konoha Root headquarters, Danzo was furious. He grabbed at the various vases around him, wanting to smash them, but then, remembering that these valuable vases from the Uchiha clan were quite expensive, he reluctantly put them down and started smashing the teacups next to him instead. After all, teacups were cheap, and he could always replace them...

He mobilized dozens of elite troops this time, all of whom he had trained over the years. He spared no expense to obtain the tailed beast from Takikage, but before they even left Konoha, they were ambushed by the Anbu and suffered heavy casualties. Even his leader, Torune, was on the verge of death. How could Danzo not be furious?

However, it's no longer just about the tailed beast and the 10 billion; it's now about Danzo, the leader of Konoha, saving face. If he doesn't get revenge after his underlings are killed, how will he ever live in the future?

Danzo's furious rival asked, looking like he was about to get revenge for his underling.

"Ahem... Lord Danzo, please reconsider. We still have many men we can send, but the losses we suffered earlier have already wiped out our elite forces. A small act of impatience could ruin a great plan!"