Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy Chapter 62: Kakashi’s Change

The ninja world's bingo book system.

According to the agreents signed between the villages, once a shinobi was designated as a missing-nin, no matter how many accomplishnts or how much fa they once possessed, all ties between that person and their original hidden village were officially severed.

Because powerful shinobi naturally possessed strength far beyond ordinary people.

To any organization pursuing peace and stability, such individuals were inherently dangerous.

And besides—

There had never been a shortage of people unwilling to quietly follow rules.

Every village understood that perfectly.

Espionage.

Murder.

Rebellion.

Attempted coups.

None of these were rare occurrences within the ninja world.

Every hidden village had seen such things countless tis.

Thus, for a ninja world that at least outwardly pursued stability, the missing-nin system had been almost unanimously accepted once proposed.

To put it simply—

If soone committed acts harmful to their village's interests…

Or if the village rely decided they had—

Then after weighing the pros and cons, the village would publicly announce them as missing-nin and formally sever all association.

And once other hidden villages received the notice, they would automatically treat anything that shinobi did afterward as unrelated to the original village.

After all—

Speaking honestly, what village didn't have a few unstable troublemakers?

Shinobi were people who carried their lives on the edge of blades.

Using personal strength to pursue one's own desires was perfectly normal.

If villages continued blaming hidden villages for every act committed by officially declared missing-nin—

Then eventually every single village would beco stained by endless grudges and retaliation.

Thus, it beca far easier for everyone to simply accept the system as common law.

That was the true reason the missing-nin chanism existed.

And naturally—

A major portion of ANBU duties involved hunting down their own village's defectors to prevent confidential information or secret techniques from leaking.

Likewise, capturing missing-nin from enemy villages could potentially provide intelligence impossible to obtain through ordinary channels.

Of course—

This was also considered a gray industry.

Much like bounty hunting.

Everyone did it.

Nobody openly admitted it.

Missing-nin were also divided into threat levels.

Exactly like mission rankings.

From D-rank all the way to S-rank.

And S-rank missing-nin represented individuals whose strength had reached at least elite Jōnin level—

Or even threatened Kage-level combatants.

True monsters among criminals.

The mont such individuals were confird, every major village needed imdiate notification.

"Asuma, you'll head toward the Land of Wind and Sunagakure."

"Yes, sir."

"Chōza, you'll go to the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure."

"Got it."

"Shibi, you'll handle the Land of Earth and Iwagakure."

"Be careful. Ever since the war ended, those old fossils there have treated Konoha like a thorn in their side."

"... Understood."

As the Third Hokage assigned missions one after another, the Jōnin dispatched toward the great nations and the Chūnin responsible for smaller countries gradually left the office.

Finally, Hiruzen picked up the final assignnt scroll.

"... As for the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water, unlike the other great nations, I intend to send—"

"Wait."

Danzō abruptly interrupted.

After listening to the entire eting while realizing nobody had assigned him anything, the Hokage Advisor could no longer remain seated quietly.

Normally, Hiruzen would first discuss such matters with him and the advisors beforehand.

So why had he suddenly changed his behavior today?

"As for Kirigakure, I have the perfect candidate."

Danzō calmly spoke while looking toward Hiruzen and everyone else with complete professionalism.

"The Hidden Mist Village has continuously insisted their missing Mizukage was manipulated by Shisui Uchiha and demanded compensation from Konoha."

"Now that the missing Shisui has officially beco a missing-nin himself, then—"

"Kakashi."

The Third Hokage completely ignored Danzō's analysis and calmly continued speaking.

"You'll handle it."

"You—!"

Danzō's face instantly alternated between green and pale from rage after being interrupted again.

Yet before he could explode, the silent figure leaning against the wall outside finally stepped into the office.

Kakashi Hatake.

And the mont Danzō—who had not seen Kakashi in over a year—looked at his current appearance, he froze briefly.

Because for a mont—

He felt as though he had seen soone long dead return from the grave.

Kakashi still covered most of his face beneath his forehead protector and mask.

And his eyes carried even more exhaustion than before.

But the once-neatly maintained silver hair everyone rembered had beco wildly uneven now.

Almost like soone traveling back to the village suddenly realized their hair had grown too long—

Then casually drew a blade and hacked off most of it without caring.

The shortened hair looked almost ridiculous.

Yet not a single person present laughed upon seeing him.

Instead—

The instant Kakashi stepped into the office, those with sharper senses imdiately felt as though an impossibly sharp blade had been unsheathed.

A chilling aura unconsciously radiated from him.

A white armband embroidered with a red triangle wrapped around his right shoulder.

A short blade and a long sword rested across his back.

Compared to a year earlier, he seed like an entirely different person.

Overflowing with killing intent.

Quite a few people present recognized the origin of that outfit.

Their expressions subtly changed.

From the mont he entered, Kakashi neither spoke nor wasted even a glance toward "irrelevant" figures such as Danzō.

He walked directly before the Third Hokage.

After offering a simple nod of acknowledgnt, he accepted the mission scroll.

Then unconsciously glanced toward the bingo book notice displaying the face of a man both familiar…

And strangely unfamiliar.

"No need to stare at the bingo book this ti."

Seeing Kakashi's drastically changed appearance, the Third Hokage felt deep satisfaction rising within his heart.

He even stood and patted Kakashi's shoulder warmly.

"You spent over a year taking nothing but combat and assassination missions."

"So this ti I'm assigning you sothing different."

"You only need to communicate properly with Kirigakure."

"... Hokage-sama."

Kakashi finally spoke.

"I doubt words alone will convince them so easily."

"The village suffered massive internal chaos and even lost their Mizukage."

"That Elder Genji finally found a culprit…"

"And Konoha also conveniently beca their scapegoat."

"There's definitely going to be a long negotiation."

Kakashi's normally lazy eyes regained a trace of seriousness.

"How far am I allowed to go?"

The Third Hokage's smile nearly reached the wrinkles on his face upon hearing the question.

The contrast between him and the increasingly dark-faced Danzō nearby could not have been greater.

"You decide for yourself!"

Hiruzen waved his hand grandly.

"Yes."

Kakashi answered softly.

Then he turned and left the office directly.

As he passed the hallway, he glanced toward Might Guy, who imdiately flashed an enormous white-toothed grin at him.

Kakashi simply nodded once before vanishing instantly through Body Flicker.

"Cough cough… Why does Kakashi-senpai suddenly feel so terrifying now…?"

Moonlight Hayate looked toward the disappearing figure before nervously asking Guy.

"Guy-senpai, do you know sothing?"

"This guy…"

Guy clenched his fists emotionally.

"He was still the sa old Kakashi before."

"But around a year ago, he suddenly started taking huge numbers of extrely high-difficulty missions outside the village."

"He specifically targeted missing-nin and terrorist organizations."

"Honestly, even I hadn't seen him properly for ages."

"I only finally ran into him in the village again today…"

As he spoke, Guy suddenly began trembling intensely.

Nearby, Hayate imdiately panicked.

This I know!

Quickly, he reached into his clothes searching for dicine—

Only for Guy to suddenly roar loudly while shaking with excitent:

"TOO YOUTHFUL!"

"TOO PASSIONATE!"

"I can already tell Kakashi's beco much stronger!"

"I absolutely cannot let my eternal rival surpass !"

"YOSH!"

"Hayate!"

"First let's go unleash our youthful passion in the bathroom at full power!"

"And then train EVEN HARDER!"

Poor sickly Hayate had only just taken out his precious dicine—

When Guy already grabbed him directly.

The deep green blur transford into a hurricane as both figures vanished instantly from the hallway.

Only Hayate's desperate voice remained echoing through the air afterward:

"Guy-senpai… the Hokage-sama hasn't dismissed us yet…"

anwhile—

Inside the now-quiet Hokage office—

Everyone remaining could only deeply admire Might Guy's incredible ability to "read the atmosphere" and his "masterful" exit strategy.

Naturally, none of them felt capable of copying it.

Thus, they could only respectfully excuse themselves and leave properly.

In the end—

Only the Third Hokage…

Danzō…

The two advisors who had sat there watching the entire performance from beginning to end…

And Nara Shikaku, who now wore a helpless expression while preparing to leave and close the door behind him…

Remained inside the office.

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