Chapter 198: Misunderstanding! The Weak One… Is You

Kakashi’s problem, of course, wasn’t just a headache for the village — the one it truly troubled most… was his teacher. Namikaze Minato. Lately, Minato was incredibly busy. In the original timeline, around this point, he should still be running all over the battlefield, acting as a one-man firefighting squad. But now that the war had ended early, in theory, he should’ve been able to relax. Reality, however, had other plans. The Chūnin Exams needed him to put out fires; and just as the exams wrapped up, various missions came flooding in, all requiring his attention… By comparison, Kakashi was rather idle. Recently, there hadn’t been many missions suitable for his squad, so Obito and Rin had been sticking to their studies in the village — while Kakashi, on the other hand, had no idea what to do, sinking into a period of life confusion. S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And when people get lost in confusion, their minds start wandering. For example… Joining the Anbu. When Kyoichi came out of the Hokage building, he immediately spotted someone not often seen around. Kushina… “Kyoichi…” “I can probably guess why you’re here. Though, it’s a bit odd. I’m honestly curious — why do all of you seem to think coming to me will help?” Kyoichi let out a helpless sigh. Kakashi’s situation, if you really looked at it, wasn’t that big of a deal. A genius was still a genius — wherever he went. Besides… It wasn’t like he hadn’t reflected on himself. He had. He’d just come up empty-handed, and so he was defaulting to a lone-wolf path. The issue was entirely one of mindset. “Uh, I…” Kushina, who was usually forthright and direct, found herself momentarily at a loss thanks to Kyoichi’s blunt opener. Now that he mentioned it… Why did it kind of feel like… everything could be solved by going to Kyoichi? She fell into thought. By the time she snapped out of it, Kanda Kyoichi was nowhere to be seen. Kushina’s brow twitched; her blood pressure instantly shot up. She rolled up her sleeves, fully intending to swing by Kyoichi’s house that afternoon and have a little “discussion” with Tsunade about monster strength techniques. But… After thinking it over, she realized Tsunade was right upstairs. Might as well go up and “discuss” right now. Hidden in the shadows nearby, Kyoichi watched her head back into the building and let out a small sigh, rubbing his forehead. It wasn’t that he disliked Kushina — it was just… Her personality was a bit too straightforward. Helping Kakashi wasn’t something that could be cleared up with a few sentences. If they tried to explain everything back and forth, they’d just waste time. Might as well skip the explanations. Let Tsunade handle it; she and Kushina got along better anyway. With a small shrug, Kyoichi pulled out a sword he hadn’t used in quite some time. It was time to unsheathe it! … Outside the village… Kakashi, as usual, was practicing his swordsmanship. He’d already found the general direction he wanted to take with his shinobi sword techniques and was now slowly adjusting and refining his previous blade style. But… Something about it still didn’t feel right. “Young man, do you know why your sword feels off, no matter what you do?” “Why? Wait — who are you?!” Kakashi instinctively answered, but his alertness quickly shot up. He turned sharply toward the man stepping out from the trees. The man’s appearance and attire were completely unfamiliar. Dressed like a samurai, it was obvious at a glance that this man wasn’t from Konoha. If anything, he looked more like one of the samurai from the Land of Iron — and rumor had it those samurai didn’t practice ninjutsu at all… But then… Why would a samurai appear in Konoha? Kakashi’s mind started to race. He wondered if it was someone in disguise, but when he reached out with his sensory perception, he couldn’t detect any sign of a Transformation Jutsu. Kakashi grew alert. No matter how you looked at it — this man was stronger than him. “Your sword’s too slow.” “…What?” Kakashi frowned. Among his peers, his taijutsu was considered top-tier, and even among chunin-level fighters, few could match him. He’d also put in a lot of work on his sword-drawing speed. Slow? He didn’t buy that! “Heh, come on then, take a swing at me.” “This place isn’t exactly close to Konoha. If you get hit by my blade, you might not make it back in time for medical treatment,” Kakashi warned in good faith. But the man just shook his head, gesturing for him to attack. Fine, then — no holding back! … Disguising himself as a samurai was just a random whim on Kyoichi’s part. To teach Kakashi a lesson, he didn’t plan on using ninjutsu — just pure swordsmanship. Wake him up with the blade! A man’s lesson didn’t need flowery words. Kyoichi drew a sword. It was an ordinary blade — one that had once belonged to his father, now rusted from disuse. But that didn’t matter. As long as it worked, it was enough. “I’m drawing my sword.” “You’re just like your sword — slow, indecisive, all bark and no bite. You look tough, but at the core, you’re fragile.” “…!” Kakashi’s anger spiked. This bastard… Fine! I’ll show you! He drew his blade and suddenly lunged forward, lightning crackling across the steel, his body moving like a gusting wind. This was a strike Kakashi had honed himself. Kyoichi almost laughed. Iaido, huh? He knew this stuff inside and out — not just well-practiced, but deeply familiar with its weaknesses. Fast — yes. But… It’s the same as when Kakashi used Chidori. At that kind of speed… Can you really control it? He simply sidestepped gently, and without even drawing his blade from the scabbard, gave Kakashi’s sword a light tap, knocking its trajectory aside and letting it pass harmlessly by. Kakashi sucked in a deep breath but didn’t lose heart, spinning around for another strike. Yet — clang! This time his sword was directly deflected, veering wildly off-course. Kakashi’s eyes widened slightly. “Can you swing any faster?” “…Again!” Kakashi refused to back down. He grabbed his sword and charged again, this time faster — stimulating his body’s cells with Lightning Release chakra. Kyoichi closed his eyes. At this speed, you couldn’t rely on sight alone. You had to feel it, sense the flow. And conveniently… That was his specialty. Smack — With a sharp crack, Kyoichi’s sheathed sword struck down on the back of Kakashi’s hand. Kakashi fell silent. “A sword is like its wielder. Your sword is like this — and it shows what you are, too. You look powerful, but at the core, your sword is weak, fragile. Any sword style in your hands will become timid.” Kyoichi spoke calmly. “Maybe you should stop practicing swordsmanship. Don’t you ninja have some kind of ninjutsu you can fall back on?” “…!” Kakashi ignored the taunt, his heart filling instead with gnawing confusion. Why? There shouldn’t have been anything wrong with his technique — and yet in the end, he couldn’t even touch him. The key point was… The man’s speed wasn’t even that fast. He was slow… Slow enough that even without using Body Flicker or Lightning Release acceleration, Kakashi was objectively faster. Yet this man could still strike him. If this samurai wanted to kill him, Kakashi would already be a corpse. A figure flickered through Kakashi’s mind. He didn’t voice his suspicion. The man in front of him wasn’t showing any hostility — and there was something hidden in his words. The real point wasn’t who this person was, but what his words meant. Fragile? Me? “Have you ever eaten daikon radish?” “…Yeah.” Kakashi nodded, puzzled. “Daikon looks tough on the outside, but once it’s been simmered, it becomes soft and mushy. Some people’s fragility doesn’t show in daily life — but when the critical moment comes, that’s when it’s revealed.” “…!” Kakashi’s blood pressure spiked. The man hadn’t named names, but every sentence felt like it was stabbing right into his sore spots, making him itch to just draw his sword and cut him down. “Ever eaten an egg?” “…Yeah.” Kakashi ground his teeth. He could tell this wasn’t going somewhere pleasant — but… He weirdly wanted to hear it. “An uncooked egg is fragile — it can break at the slightest touch. But once it’s cooked, it becomes much tougher, even harder than a mushy daikon. And when it goes bad, it’s far more rancid and destructive than any rotted radish.” Kyoichi continued. Kakashi was left speechless. Daikon… was probably referring to his father. But the egg… Who was that? His teacher? No way… Minato-sensei couldn’t possibly be an “egg.” Someone connected to him, who looked fragile at first glance… Obito? Kakashi’s blood pressure climbed higher. Saying Sakumo was fragile, he had no argument — his father had indeed taken his own life. But saying he wasn’t even as good as Obito… Who was this insulting? “You don’t believe it? Fair enough — who would believe that someone who usually seems weaker could, in a critical moment, unleash a power beyond your own? That ‘egg’ — it’s your teammate, right?” “…!” Kakashi fell silent, then nodded slightly. Kyoichi smiled faintly. “Then it seems you don’t understand your teammate at all. You don’t even know what kind of person is standing behind you — that’s a failure. When I was a samurai, I made sure to thoroughly understand everyone who had my back.” Kyoichi kept up his blunt critique. When it came to dealing with Kakashi, there was no point in coddling him. Before, he hadn’t had time to engage — but now was the perfect opportunity to have a proper talk about… What it meant to be a failure. “And the daikon?” “…!” Kakashi inwardly cursed. He knew the man was deliberately baiting him, but still, he forced out a strained reply: “My father…” “Sounds like you have quite a bit of resentment there. Care to tell me more — what kind of person was he, in your eyes?” Kyoichi prompted. “…He… was weak. And unfit to be a ninja.” For some reason… In front of this “stranger,” Kakashi couldn’t help but blurt out his true feelings, explaining what Sakumo was like in his mind, and how he saw his father’s situation. Kyoichi listened, his fingers lightly brushing the scabbard. Not surprising at all. In Kakashi’s eyes, Sakumo had died because of weakness — hence the “daikon” label. He paused for a moment. “You might be misunderstanding something. Actually, the daikon I was talking about… is you.” “…Huh?” “Your father was a great ninja. He chose to save his comrades, and he took responsibility for his own mistakes. He died to the weight of public opinion — but I don’t believe mere gossip could crush a samurai like him.” Kyoichi said quietly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, bristling. “Why?” “He saved his teammates because his principles led him to that choice. But at the same time, because of that choice, there were enormous consequences — others lost their comrades. People have to take responsibility for their choices. There may have been many reasons behind your father’s death, but the biggest one… was himself.” If Sakumo hadn’t wanted to die, no one could have forced him to. Kyoichi stopped here — then let out a sudden sigh. “What’s truly lamentable is that good people pay the price for their choices, while bad people don’t. If your father had been ruthless enough, he wouldn’t have died.” Like Danzo. Kyoichi added silently in his heart. Directly or indirectly, the number of people who’d died by Danzo’s hand far exceeded the casualties of Sakumo’s one mission gone wrong. Not to mention all the S-rank missions Sakumo had completed, the countless comrades he’d saved. Do good people deserve to always have a gun to their head? Kyoichi refused to accept that. Which was why… He would personally make sure Danzo was dealt with.