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Chapter 25: Going after Hand (2)
🕑 Added 2025-06-12 20:18:46 +0000 UTCKakashi tracked the movements of twenty Hand shinobi lying in wait as they circled the two gangs who were going through a deal currently.
At their forefront stood an old woman, her cane tapping softly, her presence radiating a chilling authority.
'One of the Five Fingers judging from her chakra,' Kakashi thought, 'Her chakra—or chi, as they call it—rivals a jonin's. Not bad for a granny.'
His thoughts drifted to the Ancient One, 'What's with this world and scary old ladies leading the charge?'
At his side, Naruto, the kitsune familiar, fidgeted, its nine tails twitching with restless energy. Kakashi had considered sending the fox back to its spirit realm, knowing its physical strength was negligible.
Naruto's true power lay in casting illusions, mental wards, and foxfire— an ability it hadn't mastered yet. Its inexperience a liability in a fight against the Hand.
He'd told Naruto to return many times, but the kitsune's droopy eyes and sagging tails had stopped him cold. "My home's boring," it had whined, its voice a squeaky plea. "No one plays with me there!"
Kakashi, a notorious softy for animals—his ninken pack was proof—had caved under those puppy-dog eyes, a weakness even his Sharingan couldn't counter.
'Damn it, you're worse than Pakkun.' He'd let Naruto stay, ordering it to remain hidden. 'Stay out of trouble, fuzzball.' The kitsune's resemblance to his student Naruto only deepened his fondness.
Below, the gangs exchanged briefcases—drugs for weapons, their voices low and tense. Kakashi felt no sympathy.
Their dealings in drugs and human trafficking marked them as scum, no better than the bandits he'd dispatched in his world.
'Let the Hand take them out.' He'd use the chaos to his advantage, thinning the Hand's ranks before confronting Gao. There were no innocents here. Just predators eating predators.
His plan was simple: eliminate the Hand shinobi guarding escape routes first, then engage the main force. He body-flickered, his speed a blur even to the Hand's enhanced senses.
Four shinobi stationed at alley exits fell silently, kunai slicing their throats before they registered his presence.
With the sentries down, sixteen Hand shinobi clustered around Gao remained who had already dealt with the two gangs.
The two gangs deal had collapsed into a massacre, their bodies littered across the pavement
Kakashi perched on a fire escape, his hands weaving signs—Boar, Ram, Snake, Tiger.
'Time to thin the herd.' He inhaled deeply, chakra surging through his lungs, and exhaled a barrage of small, compressed blasts. "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
The jutsu, copied from Danzō during his brief Root stunt, tore through the air like invisible missiles.
'Me using Danzo's jutsu...Tenzo would be so proud and even a bit scared seeing me use his jutsu. But I wonder how did Danzo even get the hands on the Vaccum series jutsu. They were the creation of the Second Kazekage. Oh well, These are the strongest wind style jutsus that I have seen outside of Naruto's Rasenshuriken. Finally, I can use them freely without worrying about my chakra getting so low that I would have to be stuck in hospital bed for chakra exhaustion.'
The blasts ripped through seven Hand shinobi, their bodies crumpling as the vacuum spheres punched through flesh and bone.
Madame Gao, however, moved with unnatural grace, her cane twirling as she leaped and spun, dodging two bullets aimed her way. Her eyes, sharp and unyielding, locked onto Kakashi's position, unfazed by her underlings' deaths.
She smiled, her voice carrying across the alley, "Who might you be, young man? You can address me as Madame Gao."
Kakashi remained still, his tone dry. "Just a guy cleaning up the neighborhood. Nice cane, by the way. Compensating for old age?"
Gao's smile didn't falter, but her internal thoughts churned. 'What is this? His chi is off the charts, like he's been bathed in dragon bones and blood since birth.'
The Hand's obsession with immortality hinged on dragon relics, and Gao's senses screamed that Kakashi's power rivaled such artifacts.
'He shaped chi into wind bullets, a technique I've never seen.'
Her mind raced, calculating. 'Does he possess dragon remains? If so, I must claim them.'
Her composure masked a predator's hunger which in this was for the dragon bones. She tapped her cane rhythmically, a signal to her remaining shinobi to encircle the alley.
Gao's voice cut through the night again, her tone polite. "You're skilled, young man. Join us. The Hand offers power beyond your dreams—immortality, even."
Kakashi chuckled, his voice low. "Immortality's overrated. Pass. I knew a man once that tried to go for immortality, you know what he got in return? He lost the trust of his friends, student and his teacher who then hunted him down. In the end, he ended up killed by his protegé." Kakashi said
'Well, now that I think about it, was not Orochimaru the one that revived the four Hokages? Well, Did he truly get immortal?' Kakashi did not know the full story there since he was fighting Obito in the Kamui dimension when the four Hokages arrived on the battlefield.
Gao's smile tightened, her cane pausing mid-tap.
Kakashi heard Naruto whisper who had turned himself invisible with illusions, its voice serious. "Kakashi-sensei, that old lady's creepy. Can I at least scare her with an illusion? I'll make her see a giant ramen bowl chasing her!"
Kakashi shushed it, his tone firm but amused. "No illusions. You'd probably make her see a giant fox plushie and ruin my ambush."
The kitsune huffed, curling tighter. "You're no fun. I'm Naruto, terror of—ow!" It bumped its head on the vent, muttering, "Stupid roof…"
