Uchiha Saya hadn't expected her grandfather to bring up Kakashi at all.
She froze for a moment, but quickly recovered. Lowering her head, she answered softly.
"I know him, but we weren't close. He was the acknowledged genius of our year… and he also has the Sharingan of our Uchiha clan."
"Any other contact?"
"I know a bit about his current situation. He's teamed up with Hikaru-kun now—and Hikaru-kun is his captain."
"Hikaru? Captain?"
Sora's grandfather, Uchiha Makoto, seemed to blank for a second. Then his expression shifted into deep contemplation.
Because her answer didn't match the intelligence he'd managed to obtain at all.
Makoto had more than one reason for asking about Kakashi. Besides Kakashi being the Fourth Hokage's disciple, the most critical point was this:
Kakashi appeared to be serving in ANBU now.
The Uchiha had no one in ANBU. And ANBU information was sealed so tightly that even Makoto found it painfully difficult to pry loose anything meaningful.
But no matter how hard it was, he had to try.
Because he genuinely wanted the clan and the village to move toward harmony.
And one of the simplest ways to do that was to get closer and closer to Konoha's true core—then find a way to place their own people inside it.
Makoto's approach wasn't without results. If Hikaru were here, he'd know Makoto was probably on the right track.
After all, in the future, both Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi would enter ANBU in succession.
If Makoto wanted someone in, then he first needed a clearer picture of ANBU's internal situation.
He paid an enormous price to buy a few vague, half-confirmed scraps.
One of the most interesting was this:
There was an ANBU ninja with silver hair, skilled in Lightning Release, and possessing a Sharingan.
Everything pointed to one person—Hatake Kakashi.
Makoto had been excited when he learned that.
First, Kakashi's public identity was significant: the Fourth Hokage's disciple.
Second, Kakashi had deep ties to the Uchiha—he literally carried an Uchiha Sharingan.
And at the same time, his granddaughter happened to be from the same year as Kakashi.
If they could build a relationship… then many things could turn out well.
But now Sora's answer felt… off.
Kakashi was a genius, yes—Makoto had heard that for years.
But Kakashi's captain had only ever been one man in the public eye: Minato Namikaze.
So when did Kakashi gain another "captain"?
"You said… Hikaru…" Makoto hesitated, then asked carefully, "Who is that kid?"
"He was my desk-mate," Sora said, a faint smile appearing. "He went to war at eight. He's Kakashi's captain now, and Kakashi respects him a lot."
"Left at eight… Kakashi's captain…" Makoto's eyes narrowed slightly. "Then how do you know this?"
"It was an accident," Sora replied, noticing the change in her grandfather's expression. She didn't understand why it mattered so much, but she continued.
"One day during training, Kakashi came to deliver an order from the Hokage to Hikaru."
"He either didn't notice I was there—or it was just instinct."
"He called Hikaru 'Captain.'"
"And after that, in any setting… he always called Hikaru 'Captain.'"
Instinct… and afterward, always?
Makoto's heartbeat abruptly accelerated.
Someone who could be Kakashi's captain was not ordinary—no matter how you framed it.
He forced himself to calm down.
He knew he'd brushed up against a secret he wasn't supposed to touch.
But secrets were also opportunities.
Opportunities that might help the Uchiha—if handled correctly.
Before anything else, he needed to investigate this "desk-mate" his granddaughter mentioned.
He needed to find out what kind of person Hikaru really was.
"This damn place—why is the sandstorm so insane?"
Inside the Land of Wind, Hikaru and Kakashi trudged forward under pounding wind and sand. Hikaru finally couldn't take it anymore and grumbled as he walked.
He'd known the Land of Wind had terrible geography. He'd even prepared.
At first, he thought: The wind's strong. I'll endure it.
But now he realized he'd underestimated nature's ability to be miserable.
Endless yellow dunes.
A sun rising and falling over a long, yellow horizon.
Hikaru felt his head swelling with irritation.
And, strangely, he found himself genuinely respecting the people of Sunagakure.
Living in a place this barren—where even birds wouldn't bother dropping by—and still managing to develop into one of the Five Great Villages…
Even if Suna was considered the weakest among them, that still meant the people who endured here were formidable.
It also made him understand why a village like this would crave expansion so desperately.
To be honest, if Hikaru had been born here, he'd want the village to expand too—anything to escape this "not fit for humans" environment.
This place couldn't be farmed. That likely meant the whole Land of Wind—Sunagakure included—had to buy food from outside.
No stable agriculture meant a dead end.
In war, cut those supply routes and it wouldn't matter how many rations they stored—they'd eventually collapse.
And from what Hikaru remembered, the Land of Wind didn't have much in the way of export goods either.
No money.
No money meant fewer ninjas.
Too many ninjas meant unbearable consumption.
He couldn't help thinking maliciously:
"I remember the manga saying Suna followed an 'elite ninja system'… maybe it's just because they're broke."
Hikaru didn't like Suna.
In his five years in ANBU—nearly six now—he'd fought far more enemies from Suna than from anywhere else.
And if nothing else… Sasori alone was enough to make him remember forever.
"Captain, we're deep in the Land of Wind now," Kakashi said quietly. "It won't be long before we reach Sunagakure."
"I know…" Hikaru nodded lightly—then frowned.
Because his sensing picked up a chakra signature rapidly closing in on them.
His curiosity rose immediately.
In the swirling sand under harsh midday sunlight, Pakura walked alone, heading toward the direction of the Land of Rivers.
She had received a mission.
A mission she had no way to refuse.
A mission that might bring peace to the village.
So she would go—without hesitation.
The Third Great Ninja War was over, and Sunagakure had suffered the shame of being the first to surrender.
That surrender preserved their strength and spared them deeper entanglement with Konoha…
But it also made many villages hate them.
Because those villages believed: if Suna hadn't been so useless—if Suna had dragged Konoha down harder—Konoha would never have had the strength to "shine" the way it did.
Even if it was a costly victory, Konoha still held the title of winner.
And reputation was a village's credibility.
A village that fought four fronts and still stood? That kind of credibility was the sort everyone envied.
So even if Konoha was weaker now, it still enjoyed the mission share the entire shinobi world grudgingly coveted.
Suna's surrender angered the other three great villages.
But Cloud and Stone were locked in confrontation. And Suna's geography made it a valuable swing factor—too close, too intertwined in interests.
They wouldn't turn around and "punish" Suna recklessly.
They also feared that if Suna was pushed too far, it might snap and align with one side—creating a disastrous advantage.
Mist was different.
Kirigakure was isolated in the Land of Water, far away, and had no such entanglements.
And the village's founding included many bloodline clans who had been driven away—"pushed into the sea"—by Madara Uchiha when Konoha was built.
Their hatred toward Konoha was obvious.
Now Suna didn't just surrender—it signed some "alliance agreement" with Konoha.
Mist couldn't safely pick a fight with Konoha directly.
So Suna became the target.
Even if it was far, even if the cost wasn't small—harassing Suna's mission ninjas, lowering mission success rates…
That meant dragging down Suna's economy, and crushing its already fragile credibility.
Why wouldn't Mist do it?
So even before the war ended, Mist had already begun raids and sabotage.
And even after the war ended, it still didn't stop.
Suna couldn't just take it.
They organized counterstrikes.
Pakura was one of the front-line hunters.
Her Scorch Release didn't just perform brilliantly on battlefields—it was terrifyingly effective in these missions too.
She reduced many losses for the village.
But compared to the village's overall bleeding… her brilliance still felt like a drop in a desert.
Worse, Iwagakure seemed to notice changes in Kumogakure.
Though Cloud and Stone still glared at each other, the Fourth Raikage appeared focused on consolidating internal power.
Tension remained, but the chance of all-out war was shrinking.
So Ōnoki shifted his gaze toward Suna.
Between Stone and Sand were the Lands of Birds and Bears—effectively shared mission warehouses, resources both sides competed for.
Now Suna was wobbling.
Why shouldn't Iwa seize those regions fully and claim their mission share?
"Suna really is suffering on all sides…"
Pakura sighed. These were words the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had told her personally.
And because Pakura knew Sunagakure's current situation—and because the Kazekage needed to guard the village's mission share and might have to face Iwa directly—
They couldn't keep wasting strength on Mist anymore.
So Pakura's mission was to serve as a negotiation representative.
She had to persuade Kirigakure to stop.
"Hmm?"
As she walked, Pakura suddenly frowned.
In the distance… someone was coming.
Living in sand for so long, she had learned to treat wind and sand as a "friend."
It helped her detect movement, shapes, disturbances.
"Village shinobi?"
She considered briefly and moved toward them.
If it was Suna's people, she could escort them.
If it was Mist raiders—or Stone—
She would not let them go.
Pakura was fast—an elite shinobi through and through.
In only moments, she could see three figures far off, like ants against the dunes.
Still too far to see clearly.
So she continued forward.
But the closer she got, the more wrong it felt.
The two in front wore black combat uniforms and masks.
ANBU.
And behind them, a figure with head lowered, hands bound…
Wearing Sunagakure clothing.
"ANBU… and a Sand ninja?"
Pakura's eyes sharpened dangerously.
And as she drew nearer, she recognized the uniforms.
They weren't Suna's.
They were Konoha's ANBU.
Konoha had captured a Sand shinobi.
Even if their direction seemed to be toward Sunagakure, that proved nothing.
Now that she'd encountered them, she had to find out what was happening.
Besides, Sunagakure's current suffering wasn't unrelated to Konoha.
Yes—Suna had attacked Konoha first.
But that was the village's decision, not Pakura's.
"First, confirm the situation."
"I need to know what these people are doing."
Her speed exploded.
The sandstorm became her cover.
As she closed the distance, her chakra began to surge.
Her hands formed seals.
Finally—when she was within a hundred meters—
Her seals completed.
Behind her, four eerie, floating fire-orbs silently formed.
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