In silence, Kakashi and Kitagawa Gen set out together.

Why does my student seem more like a true shinobi than I do?

All along the way, Kakashi couldn’t help but dwell on the thought.

He had never seriously considered it before—what might happen if he continuously tossed explosive tags into the Kamui dimension?

But after Kitagawa Gen’s reminder, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it might actually be worth trying.

'Shameless as hell… but maybe not impossible.'

While Kakashi was mulling it over, Kitagawa Gen wasn’t thinking about such things. He was far more curious about who he might encounter this time.

'The members of Akatsuki are all formidable and terrifying. Back then, part of beating them was pure strength, but part of it came from intel. Now though…'

Now, after growing so much—especially in raw power—he figured that even without intel, it probably wouldn’t be much of a problem.

'Besides, I’ve gained quite a bit of an upgrade.'

[Name: Kitagawa Gen]

[Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (Development: 38%)]

[Dōjutsu: Tenseigan (Nascent Eye)]

[Special Techniques: Ice Release, Magnet Release, Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion]

[Special Ability: Origin of the God Tree (Third Stage)]

Looking over his status screen, Kitagawa Gen couldn’t help but let out a faint chuckle.

The Origin of the God Tree was actually somewhat similar to his bloodline, but unlike the uncertainty of his bloodline, this one was much more straightforward.

'The key is tailed beast chakra.'

As long as he injected tailed beast chakra into it, he could fuse with it and feed back into himself. This thing was ridiculously useful.

'Ōtsutsuki—thirty-eight percent already, huh?'

Aside from the progress in his bloodline, the real highlight was his eyes.

Through the Origin of the God Tree, he had actually gained some new ocular abilities.

'Chakra Edible Creation and Tengai Shinsei.'

Chakra Edible Creation was considered one of the Ōtsutsuki clan’s basic abilities—it allowed one to directly extract chakra to replenish or even enhance oneself.

'As for the second ability…'

The second was something he hadn’t expected at all.

This ability was essentially the same as the Rinnegan’s meteor summoning technique, only with a more concrete name.

'But without the infinite chakra from the Impure World Reincarnation and without Susanoo’s boost, how big a meteor could I actually summon?'

Kitagawa Gen wasn’t sure. Uchiha Madara had gone to great lengths to summon two, and he had no idea if he could reach that level.

Still, it wasn’t something he couldn’t try—maybe someday, he would.

'My abilities aren’t few now.'

By now, he had nearly mastered the smaller abilities, each one highly practical.

'But the most important thing is… this time I’ve sensed what they call planetary chakra.'

Planetary chakra was essentially planetary energy—the very essence of life for an entire world.

Once a planet lost its energy, it could never again give birth to life. Everything would become barren and desolate.

Kitagawa Gen was also deeply curious about what kind of secret this planet was hiding.

Even after surviving Ōtsutsuki Kaguya’s God Tree planting, it still managed to retain its vitality and life, despite some losses.

'Maybe there really is something unknown here.'

He thought about it for a while but found no answers, so he simply decided to stop dwelling on it.

[New Main Quest Acquired]

[Become the Strongest in the Shinobi World]

Seeing the quest, he fell silent for a moment.

The shinobi world was crawling with monsters—never mind Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama being revived, there were also terrifying beings like Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.

'Besides, even if you’re unmatched in the world, enemies can still come from the heavens.'

The main quest was as blunt as ever, but Kitagawa Gen was used to it. After all, having waited thirteen years for his newbie gift pack, he could stay calm about it.

They pressed onward, and after a few days finally arrived in the Land of Rain, reaching the small hut where Jiraiya had stayed last time.

“Why not just head straight to the Land of Grass? That would be easier.”

Placing the flowers in front of the door, the two stood in silence for a minute before Kitagawa Gen asked curiously.

“We’ll go there on the way back,” Kakashi said with a smile, adjusting the bamboo hat on his head.

“It’ll be better to take our time then. For now, we should deal with the matter at hand. After all, we have no idea what might happen on this trip.”

“You’re worried about running into enemies?”

Kitagawa Gen raised a brow, and Kakashi nodded without hesitation.

“That’s right. Every time we head out, trouble finds us. Who knows what we’ll run into? Best to settle things in the shinobi world first before worrying about anything else.”

“Fair enough… though we’ve been pretty lucky so far—things always turn out well.”

“If you consider running into a pile of rogue ninja every time ‘lucky,’ then sure, we’ve been very lucky.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes and patted Kitagawa Gen on the shoulder.

“Let’s go—it’s time we headed to Amegakure.”

“Alright.”

...

Inside Amegakure, Black Zetsu glanced at the White Zetsu that had already taken on the appearance of Hanzō of the Salamander and gave a nod.

“Not bad. Looks convincing.”

“Of course. But… are you sure this will really work?”

This White Zetsu asked with curiosity. He wasn’t like “Tobi”—in most respects, he was far inferior.

“It’ll be fine—good enough. You won’t need to say much when the time comes,” Black Zetsu replied calmly. He had made thorough preparations.

“Some things can be conveyed through others. There’s no need to get too close.”

Black Zetsu had no intention of letting Kitagawa Gen and the others come inside. He was particularly concerned about whether Kitagawa Gen might cause trouble.

Although the shinobi world now had an Ōtsutsuki Genshiki, he certainly hadn’t forgotten about that brat Kitagawa Gen.

At one point, he had even suspected the boy might have come from the moon.

But with Ōtsutsuki Genshiki occupying so much of his attention, he simply hadn’t had the time to dwell on the matter of that little pest.

“In any case, by the Chūnin Exams a year from now, we should have a pretty good idea about that kid’s situation.”

Black Zetsu muttered to himself, then ignored the White Zetsu currently disguised as Hanzō of the Salamander and instead turned to the half-bodied White Zetsu beside him.

“Are Nagato and Obito ready?”

“They’re already waiting at the border, hehe.”

The half-bodied White Zetsu replied with a grin, then added, “And we’ve been keeping their route under constant surveillance, reporting everything to Obito in real time.”

“Good.”

Black Zetsu nodded. Even if he wasn’t optimistic about this operation, he decided to go along with it.

Nagato wanted to give it his all—this was a good chance for Black Zetsu to gauge his current condition. That would be beneficial to both of them.

“I wonder just how much of these eyes’ power Nagato can really bring out.”

As Black Zetsu pondered this, the White Zetsu in Hanzō’s guise suddenly spoke.

“Hey, Black, they’ve arrived.”

“Then get ready—let’s begin.”

...

“How’s the situation over there?”

In the Land of Grass, Pain and Uchiha Obito stood together, while Kurotsuchi Raiga stood off to the side with a displeased expression.

He too had been defeated by Uchiha Obito and forced to join them, though he hadn’t done so willingly. Still, losing left him with nothing to argue about.

More importantly, Kisame was here as well—so Raiga couldn’t be bothered to say anything further.

“They’re already moving toward the Land of Grass. Don’t worry, White Zetsu has eyes on them the whole way.”

Obito replied evenly, then fixed his gaze on Pain.

“Honestly, you shouldn’t have given him that intel. It’ll only cause us trouble—and we might not even cross paths with them.”

“It doesn’t matter. What I’m more interested in is that ‘Zetsu.’ Has he been exposed?”

Nagato’s tone remained as cold as ever. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no desire to work alongside Uchiha Obito.

Nor did he need Obito’s understanding. As a god—and with all his bodies in action—he preferred to face his enemies head-on.

“Hmph. Relax. For now, it seems there’s no issue.”

Obito let out a cold snort. White Zetsu’s transformation was undetectable to an ordinary person, and with Black Zetsu’s cooperation, there was virtually no chance of being exposed.

At least for the moment, Kakashi and the others had already delivered the invitation and received intel from “Hanzō of the Salamander.”

They were now moving at full speed out of the Land of Rain and toward the Land of Grass—a move that, in Obito’s eyes, was really just about avoiding a direct encounter.

Still, he was far from pleased with Nagato’s decision, though he couldn’t be bothered to say anything more.

“We’ve got something.”

Just as Obito was stewing in irritation, a White Zetsu suddenly burst out of the ground, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

“What is it? Got intel? Hurry up already—this great lord’s getting sick of waiting.”

Kurotsuchi Raiga walked over, speaking irritably. Obito also cut straight to the point.

“Where are they now? Are they close?”

“Oh, them? They just used Flying Thunder God to teleport away.”

White Zetsu blinked as he said it, instantly making the group frown. Had they been found out?

“But… they’re not that far from here.”

White Zetsu quickly followed up.

“They’re now in a forest near Kusagakure. Not sure what they’re doing.”

“A forest near Kusagakure?”

Obito frowned. He had been to that area before, and something about it felt oddly familiar.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

White Zetsu nodded, then added after a moment’s thought, “And they went there directly—it’s like there’s a Flying Thunder God mark in that place.”

“Directly there… with a Flying Thunder God mark?”

The more Obito thought about it, the more wrong it felt. A strange sense of déjà vu began to creep into his mind. White Zetsu spoke again.

“Come to think of it, that place isn’t far from Kannabi Bridge.”

“…?!”

The instant he heard that, Obito knew exactly which cursed place it was.

Wasn’t that his so-called “grave”?

Kakashi, that bastard, had actually gone there?

What was this—trying to mock him?

“Good… this works. It’s a fitting place to settle things!”

Obito muttered to himself, though at that moment, he could feel his fists clenching tighter.

...

'This isn’t far from Kusagakure.'

In a place piled high with jagged rocks, Kakashi stood silently.

Kitagawa Gen didn’t disturb him, instead gazing into the distance, lost in thought.

'Maybe… once this is over, I could go take a look. If I’m remembering right…'

'Karin should still be there.'

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

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