"It feels like Konoha has been incredibly peaceful lately, almost like something's missing…"
Inside a small, earthen building, Kakashi and Tenzo leaned against opposite sides of a window, each cradling a cup of hot tea. They gave off the air of people who'd prematurely entered retirement.
Kakashi's observation was apt; life had indeed been calm and uneventful recently.
"Ever since Habara brought back that group of refugees from the Land of Wind, there hasn't really been anything noteworthy happening in the village. The Uchiha are behaving, and there's been no progress in tracking down Orochimaru-sama…" Tenzo also felt the tangible sense that the war was truly over. Lately, Konoha had been enjoying sunny days and a distinct lack of incidents.
"By the way, what's the word on the Three-Tails situation?" Tenzo, after racking his brain, finally remembered another "major" event.
"It's still being discussed, but the Hokage has already decided to return the Three-Tails to Kirigakure. However, the Hokage refused Kirigakure's request to send ninjas to the Land of Fire. He plans to dispatch our own ninjas to transport the Three-Tails back to the Land of Water… It's the expected course of action: protect our own intelligence while seizing the opportunity to gather information on the other side. Standard procedure," Kakashi explained.
Konoha had just gone through Orochimaru's rebellion. If possible, the Third Hokage certainly didn't want ninjas from other countries setting foot in the Land of Fire… Even though Konoha had already lost a considerable amount of face, it was best to avoid losing any more.
"Where's Habara now?" Tenzo abruptly changed the subject.
A certain underlying logic prompted Tenzo to ask this question, and the same logic compelled Kakashi to answer, "He's reportedly at the Nameless Mountain. It seems he's immersed in secluded training."
"Training? That's unusual."
"It is."
Why were these two making the same sort of comment?
"Kakashi."
Suddenly, Kakashi heard Kushina Uzumaki's voice, employing her "short-range communication roar" method.
"Yes, Kushina-sama?"
Kakashi immediately responded. While inwardly wondering if Naruto had wet himself again, he quickly made his way towards Kushina Uzumaki's office.
This secret suspicion of his truly captured the hardships of being the eldest son figure. After Kakashi left, Tenzo immediately reached out and opened the window beside him… He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but Tenzo always felt like Kakashi carried a faint aroma of… shit.
A graceful youth, radiating an air of purity.
When Kakashi finally met with Kushina, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief… Naruto was sleeping soundly, with no imminent risk of incontinence.
Kushina simply assigned Kakashi a mission.
Half a day later, Kakashi left Konoha, carrying a large "octopus pot" on his back. His destination was the Nameless Mountain, and his mission was to retrieve the Tailed Beast.
Although the distance between Konoha and the Nameless Mountain wasn't vast, such an important escort mission shouldn't, in theory, be undertaken by Kakashi alone. What if something unexpected happened?
However, Kakashi wasn't entirely alone on this mission. While he was going there by himself, he wouldn't be returning alone… Habara was currently "hibernating" at the Nameless Mountain. Kakashi's job was to wake Habara up, and then the two of them would escort the Three-Tails back to Konoha.
Habara had been skipping out on his duties for nearly two months now; he couldn't be allowed to continue slacking off like this.
Without incident, Kakashi arrived at the cave where the Three-Tails was hidden, carrying the specially designed container. The sight that greeted him instantly stunned him… Sitting in the center of the sealing array was someone he didn't recognize.
What kind of person could infiltrate this place so silently? Was the Three-Tails still here? Kakashi instinctively prepared to attack, but then he realized that this person looked somewhat familiar.
A head of gray hair extended outwards, seemingly without end, and the thick gray beard on his face reached down to his lower abdomen. Although most of the person's face was obscured, Kakashi thought the forehead looked familiar.
"Uh, Habara?"
For Kakashi to recognize Habara even in this state, it could only mean he either loved Habara deeply or hated him intensely.
"Kakashi, why the questioning tone?"
Habara hadn't intended to act out some scene of "who awoke first from the great dream?" He'd sensed Kakashi's arrival, but simply hadn't bothered to acknowledge him immediately.
"Do you… realize what you look like right now? What happened? You've only been here a month; it looks like you've aged thirty years." It was no wonder Kakashi felt this way; Habara currently looked like he'd aged prematurely.
"It's just that I couldn't control the chakra in my body at first. This hairy appearance probably represents vigorous vitality… Look at this gray beard. Doesn't it make me look like a 'sage'?"
Habara joked as he stood up. He first stretched his body, and then began to stroke his beard.
Kakashi: "…"
There was a hidden sage in the mountains and wilds, and, it had to be said, Habara with his full beard did look quite "sage-like."
Kakashi truly felt that Habara was a bit different from before. This difference definitely wasn't referring to Habara's current physical appearance. Kakashi felt it was a deeper, more fundamental change, but he couldn't quite articulate this ethereal feeling.
After repeatedly releasing and drawing in chakra, in a continuous cycle, Habara had finally stabilized the massive chakra within him. This also meant he'd completely taken the power of the Dragon Vein for himself.
Kakashi asked, "Habara, have you finished your training? You know your leave has long since expired. You should be returning to the village now."
Stop slacking off; it's time to get back to work.
Habara nodded. "Kakashi, show me a Fire Release ninjutsu."
Kakashi was about to form hand seals, intending to burn off Habara's excessive hair, but he quickly realized Habara was asking him to teach him a Fire Release technique, not to attack him with fire.
He'd almost misunderstood.
Kakashi understood what Habara had been training in. So, he taught Habara an iconic C-rank Fire Release technique.
After listening to Kakashi's explanation, Habara nodded and immediately began practicing.
"Serpent - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Tiger…"
Habara formed the hand seals at a snail's pace of one seal per second, a sight that Kakashi couldn't bear to watch.
"What use is forming seals at this speed in a real battle?"
"What use are hand seals in a real battle?"
Kakashi: "I… you… @#@￥"
He was furious! It was one thing to kill someone, but to add insult to injury like this?
After completing the hand seals, Habara spat out a large fireball. The Fire Release technique he was currently using was none other than the Uchiha clan's Great Fireball Technique. It was unknown whether Kakashi had paid any royalty fees when he learned this technique, but Habara certainly wouldn't be paying Kakashi any royalty fees.
Thanks to his enormous chakra reserves and relatively efficient fire-attribute chakra conversion, Habara easily mastered this C-rank Fire Release technique… While trying to control his own chakra earlier, Habara had figured he might as well learn the fire-attribute nature transformation, since he had nothing better to do.
It had been about two years since Habara began learning fire-attribute nature transformation, and by utilizing the experience-stacking method of the Shadow Clone Technique, he'd finally mastered a new chakra nature.
Successfully executing the technique on the first try, this fire release learning ability was comparable to Itachi Uchiha's at the age of six. But even so, Habara nodded in satisfaction.
Next, Habara turned his gaze towards Kakashi with a somewhat surprised expression. "Kakashi, you might have some character flaws. It wasn't enough to get a Sharingan, you had to learn the Uchiha clan's signature ninjutsu too… Killing people and then twisting the knife, how cruel."
Kakashi: "?"
Although the Great Fireball Technique wasn't difficult to learn, that didn't mean it was weak. On the contrary, it was a very practical ninjutsu. It was easy to learn, powerful, and highly cost-effective. Although Fire Release was sometimes called the "merciful release," that was mostly a joke. If a Great Fireball were to hit a target squarely, the person struck would be unlikely to survive.
Otherwise, why would every Uchiha ninja know the Great Fireball Technique?
So, who was really twisting the knife here? Okay, fine, neither of them should be pointing fingers.