"Long time no see. I'm back again."
Late at night, in Konoha's cemetery, Kai stood before the Fourth Hokage's gravestone, a faint smile flickering across his face.
He set down the tri-colored dango and a bottle of sake he had prepared in advance, then muttered to himself for a while.
This ritual had been going on for three years now.
Ever since his Flying Thunder God could cover more than two hundred meters, he'd begun openly avoiding ANBU patrols to come pay his respects.
Of course, calling it paying respects was generous—
this was closer to grave-robbing.
Because of corpse cooldown restrictions, he could only come once a year.
This was the third time.
After finishing what looked like a proper memorial, he lowered his head, pressed his palms together, and prayed like a devout youth.
"Brother Minato… you've got to give me something good this time, right?"
Three years.
And all he'd gotten were two trash-tier green traits.
For a Fourth Hokage, that was downright humiliating.
As he spoke, he quietly reached both hands forward when no one was looking.
A faint golden sheen gradually surfaced over his palms.
Light-Golden Body.
Six years had passed, and his control over this ability had improved dramatically.
He could even partially goldenize specific areas now.
But this time—
when his hands sank into the ground—
He froze.
He groped around.
Nothing.
He tried again at Kushina's grave beside it.
Still nothing.
…Where were the bodies?!
Kai was stunned.
The previous times, the corpses had clearly still been there.
So why had they suddenly vanished?
"Orochimaru?"
"That bastard came this early…?"
He sighed, shifting his gaze from Minato and Kushina's gravestones to the others nearby.
The First and Second Hokage weren't buried here—
there were markers, but he'd checked three years ago. Empty.
As for the other ninja…
Most of their remains had long since decayed beyond recognition. There was nothing left to loot.
On the outskirts—
Up in a tree—
Kakashi watched Kai's small figure, emotions stirring in his chest.
"Paying respects…?"
"Sensei… so you still have admirers like this."
"Maybe he really is an odd one among the Uchiha."
"If that's the case, then the way he treats Naruto actually makes a lot of sense."
At that moment, something deep in Kakashi's heart was quietly plucked.
Ever since the Nine-Tails incident, despite being Minato's student, he'd barely come to visit.
Almost unconsciously, his gaze shifted in another direction.
There, another small figure stood, his face carrying a trace of quiet resolve.
But when Kakashi looked closer, his eyes narrowed sharply.
"Rin's favorite flowers… freshly replaced?"
"But Rin's family has long since passed away. Who in the village would even know this?"
The shock in Kakashi's heart intensified.
He felt like he was on the verge of grasping something crucial—
Yet it stuck in his throat, just out of reach.
Unspoken. Unformed.
Even his chakra flow became slightly unstable.
Back in the cemetery.
Kai sensed the disturbance behind him and curved his eyes slightly.
"So he finally noticed Rin's side…"
He was actually quite curious—
what would happen if Kakashi and Obito met again ahead of schedule?
As for Obito, Kai felt no goodwill whatsoever.
Naruto didn't really have purely evil villains. Most were driven by warped ideals.
Even Itachi could be "washed" a little, depending on perspective.
But—
Not Obito.
Lashing out at others because of the death of a loved one was one thing.
But killing the very teacher and wife who had saved him time and again?
That was unforgivable.
And worst of all—
During the Nine-Tails incident, he'd even tried to kill newborn Naruto.
Those two points alone nailed Obito to the pillar of shame forever.
"Just wait. Once I copy Kamui from Kakashi, I'll start dumping shit in that dimension every single day."
Muttering to himself, Kai was about to get up and switch graves when—
A faint sound reached his ears.
Shasha shasha.
Outside the cemetery, a series of agile figures flashed past.
Fast.
Silent.
If not for the massive boosts to his senses from multiple trait fusions, he wouldn't have noticed at all.
He turned his head in confusion, murmuring,
"Over a dozen people? There shouldn't be anything around here—wait… Danzo? Root?!"
In an instant, realization struck.
Near the cemetery was one of Root's hidden bases—
the so-called "foundation" of Konoha.
He'd discovered this purely by accident three years ago.
Who would've thought Root had a base here?
"Moving out in force in the middle of the night… what are they up to?"
With doubt rising, crimson light and bulging veins appeared around his eyes almost simultaneously.
Sharingan plus Byakugan—
Also known as: Red-White Eyes.
Through this combined vision, he clearly saw animal-patterned masks painted with camouflage on their faces.
"Root… no doubt about it."
After confirming, Kai quietly followed them.
Late-night Root activity never meant anything good.
He was just tagging along to loot a couple of corpses—what was the problem with that?!
As they moved farther and farther away, the trees thinned… then gradually grew dense again.
They'd crossed from one side of the village to the other.
Compared to the unfamiliar cemetery area, this place was far more familiar to Kai.
The cliff.
More precisely, the dense forest above the cliff.
More and more Root ninja slipped into the forest, taking up concealed positions.
Kunai. Shuriken. Swords.
All held tightly.
Their gazes fixed on a single spot.
There—
An old man in a deep-purple kimono, gray-white hair wrapped in bandages, slowly stepped forward.
His pace was slow and heavy.
Each step was silent, yet crushed leaves beneath his feet.
Like a coiled serpent, exuding invisible pressure.
"Danzo… so it really is you, you old bastard."
At this point, the situation was obvious.
Danzo was about to screw someone over again.
But who?
Kai glanced around the forest and twitched his lips.
"Shisui… you really better remember what I told you."
Then again, expecting that was unrealistic.
Aside from Itachi, most Uchiha weren't exactly known for their brains.
Even Madara—after getting his heart ripped out by Obito—still got played again by Black Zetsu.
Powerful? Yes.
Smart? Not really.
"Looks like I might get exposed tonight…"
"My days of lying low might be coming to an end."
Taking a quiet breath, Kai prepared himself.
Shisui was pure, naive to the core.
Kai had hinted. He'd warned. He'd outright spelled it out.
But now that he'd run into this situation—
He didn't mind stepping in.
Preferably beating Danzo to death.
This was crucial to delaying the Uchiha massacre.
As for how Itachi would awaken his Mangekyō—
That could be figured out later.
But just as Kai was about to act—
The Danzo in front of him suddenly went poof, dispersing into the wind.
The next second, nearly all Root operatives reacted as if receiving a signal, instantly moving toward another location.
Watching the "clone" vanish, Kai frowned.
"So… the eyes are already gone?"
"This wasn't the eye-plucking site?"
Damn it.
Kishimoto, your flashbacks screwed me over.
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/SorenSwiftTL