----
He only wanted to quietly train to the Jonin level, but was forced to kill, disrupting his training rhythm, which left Shin speechless for a moment.
Should I destroy the body...
Probably too late.
Whoosh!
Without even checking Hayate Gekko's body, Shin leaped up, picked up his belongings, and quickly left the area.
He could guess that Hidden Leaf's ANBU were probably rushing to the scene, and Shin didn't want to encounter any ANBU ninjas.
Almost immediately after Shin left.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
Several ninja figures appeared at the previous battle site, all wearing various animal masks. They were Hidden Leaf's ANBU ninjas, directly under the Third Hokage, Hiruzen.
"Over there!"
One of the sensory ninjas' eyes flashed, and he spotted Hayate Gekko's body. He didn't approach directly but quickly threw a shuriken, pinning it to Hayate Gekko's body, confirming that the person was dead.
The other two ANBU approached from the sides.
"Dead."
One of them knelt down. After confirming Hayate Gekko's death, he flipped the body over, face up, and saw the Hidden Mist Village forehead protector worn on his forehead.
The three ANBU ninjas exchanged glances, a hint of surprise flashing in their eyes. They had initially thought a Hidden Leaf ninja had been attacked and killed, but it turned out to be an enemy ninja, seemingly a scout. They just didn't know who had killed him.
"This guy should be an elite Chunin from the Hidden Mist."
The one who knelt down quickly examined the body, a strange look flashing in his eyes. He turned to his companions and said, "It's only been less than a minute since you sensed the battle here, right?!"
"Hmm..."
The sensory ninja frowned. "To be able to deal with an elite scout from the Hidden Mist Village in such a short time, it should be one of our village's Jonin, but I have no impression of that chakra signature. And did they leave after killing the Hidden Mist ninja? It seems they didn't want to meet us."
The ninja examining the body also looked thoughtful, but then he suddenly froze, staring closely at the head wound on Hayate Gekko. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"This wound..."
"What's wrong?"
His two companions looked over.
The ANBU ninja examining the body hesitated for a few seconds before saying, somewhat uncertainly, "I've seen this kind of wound before... it should be a mark left by Lord Sakumo's blade style."
"Impossible!"
"Lord Sakumo already two years ago..."
The two ANBU ninjas beside him reacted almost identically.
The ninja examining the body also found it hard to believe, but after checking several times, he confirmed, "This wound was definitely caused by Lord Sakumo's blade style, but it shouldn't be Lord Sakumo's doing, otherwise, even this forehead protector should have been cut."
Hearing this assessment, the ANBU ninjas exchanged glances.
The Hatake Style Kenjutsu was a secret jutsu of the Hatake clan that was not taught to outsiders, just like the Nara clan's Shadow Secret Jutsu or the Yamanaka clan's Mind Secret Jutsu. After Sakumo Hatake's death, only a handful of people knew how to use it.
"...Let's organize this and report it to the Hokage."
"Okay."
After making their assessment, the ANBU ninjas quickly returned to the village.
The death of an enemy scout was not a major event in this tense situation, and it wasn't enough to wake Hiruzen in the middle of the night. So, it wasn't until the next morning, when Hiruzen arrived at the Hokage's office, that he learned of what had happened the previous night.
"An elite scout from the Hidden Mist Village, killed by the Hatake Style Kenjutsu, and the battle lasted no more than a minute?"
Upon hearing the ANBU's report, Hiruzen was somewhat surprised.
An elite scout from the Hidden Mist Village, capable of infiltrating near Hidden Leaf, would at least be an elite Chunin. To kill an elite Chunin in under a minute would require at least a Jonin, but the problem was that Hidden Leaf shouldn't have any Jonin who could use the Hatake Style Kenjutsu right now.
"Could it be him?"
Kakashi's figure flashed through Hiruzen's mind.
His heart was somewhat shaken for a moment.
Killing a Mist Village scout in under a minute... When had Kakashi grown to such an extent? He was still less than eight years old, wasn't he?!
Although he found it somewhat hard to believe, after careful thought, he couldn't find anyone else who fit the criteria. This made Hiruzen take a breath and say, "Where's Kakashi? Go find him. I have something to ask him."
"Yes."
The ANBU beside him responded and quickly disappeared.
A moment later.
Kakashi appeared outside the Hokage's office. After entering, he said to Hiruzen, "Hokage-sama, you called for me."
Hiruzen stood up, walked to Kakashi, and smiled kindly at him, his eyes filled with admiration. "Your training has progressed a lot recently, hasn't it? I didn't expect you to be able to master Sakumo's blade style to such an extent at your age."
"?"
Kakashi was startled.
Hiruzen patted Kakashi's shoulder and said, "Seeing you is like seeing Sakumo in his youth... Don't you have anything to report to me?"
Kakashi looked at Hiruzen in confusion, then hesitated. "Hokage-sama, what are you referring to?"
Hiruzen was slightly surprised, then smiled.
He hadn't expected the hot-headed Kakashi to learn to hide himself. It seemed he had finally grown up. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before Kakashi could truly take on the responsibilities of a Jonin. If he had known this, there would have been no need for Minato to teach Kakashi.
Thud!
Hiruzen raised his hand and threw a forehead protector towards Kakashi.
Kakashi caught it and saw that it was a Hidden Mist Village forehead protector. There were residual bloodstains on the top of the forehead protector, and a white line in the center, as if it had been cut by some sharp blade.
Kakashi was thrown a forehead protector by Hiruzen out of nowhere, and he became even more confused, falling into a state of bewilderment as he looked at Hiruzen.
"...Still haven't remembered?"
Hiruzen picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea.
It was good to know how to hide oneself, but since he already knew, what should be done now was to report the specific situation clearly to him, the Hokage.
Hearing Hiruzen's words, Kakashi's thoughts raced, but he couldn't recall anything related to this forehead protector. After a long hesitation, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Hokage-sama, what exactly is this forehead protector...?"
Hiruzen frowned slightly, surprised that Kakashi was still trying to conceal it. He then said indifferently, "You should explain the specifics of last night's battle to me."
"Last night?"
Kakashi was stunned for a moment, then immediately said with a serious expression, "Hokage-sama, I was at home all last night and didn't fight any battles..."
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