Chapter 11: The Return! The White Fang of Konoha!

Hiruzen Sarutobi sprang to his feet with a start, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
Who could be so brazen?
Letting a jinchuriki learn ninjutsu before even entering the Academy?
Can he even extract chakra yet?
Are they not afraid of unleashing the Nine-Tails again?
“Who’s meddling at a time like this? Who’s teaching Naruto ninjutsu? I’ll kill him myself!”
For a fleeting moment, the ANBU felt as though he was once again standing before the unyielding hero of the past.
“It… it was Jounin Orochimaru…”
Bowing his head, the ANBU reported, “Jounin Orochimaru said he developed a special ninjutsu that requires testing, but it’s extremely chakra-consuming and he can’t handle it alone. So he needs the jinchuriki’s support. That ‘Cold-blooded’ fellow is also on site, supervising.”
“You little brats! Always stirring up trouble!”
Sarutobi’s roar thundered for miles.

…

“There lies the Cloud Ninja encampment.”
Standing amidst dense woods, Orochimaru raised his hand, pointing toward a clearing not far ahead.
There, a sizable camp sprawled out, enough to house over a thousand men.
“This is the confidence of a great nation’s shinobi, and the advantage of the martial faction’s brutish ways,” Orochimaru sneered. “They marched right across the Land of the Moon and the entirety of the Land of Hot Water, settling in the Land of Fire as if the world belonged to them. If the Leaf did something like this, we’d be beset by all sides. But who among these savages of the Cloud would dare challenge them?”
They stood at the border of the Land of Fire, sunlight filtering through the treetops to dapple their figures.
Kakashi stood slightly behind Orochimaru, his gaze fixed on the Cloud’s encampment below.
“The old man sent us here, claiming our strength would guarantee success, that with us negotiating, even the brutes of the Cloud would see reason.”
Orochimaru’s smile was cold and sharp.
“Nice words. But all because I’ve been working with the jinchuriki, I’ve touched his sore spot? After all these years as Hokage, how can he still be so small-minded?”
Kakashi coughed softly and murmured, “Perhaps Lord Hokage meant only what he said—nothing more?”
Orochimaru shot him a sidelong glance and shifted the subject.
“As for persuading the Cloud to negotiate… I’m not much of a diplomat. I do know many ways to make people listen, but I doubt they’d understand. So, I plan to use a universal method—one that always gets results.”
He pointed toward the Cloud camp. “Hatake, you’re up.”
“Me? Alone?”
“Of course. Who else do we have here?”

“But—me, alone, against nearly eight hundred Cloud shinobi? Is this a joke? And before we left, didn’t you say you’d take the lead—”
“Only one data collector is necessary,” Orochimaru interjected. “Your teacher Minato alone struck terror into the hearts of enemy shinobi. On the battlefield, your father slaughtered so many Sand ninja that they turned and fled at the mere sight. You, taught by both these titans—and now with Naruto’s support—do you really not dare face them head-on? Is this the full measure of Hatake Kakashi?”
Though Kakashi was a seasoned jonin, his youth still burned hot.
Orochimaru’s goading irked him more than he’d admit.
“Teaching me how to act? I’ll show you just what I’m made of, Orochimaru!”
So he thought to himself.
He immediately activated the power core at his chest, then drew the finely crafted mechanical dagger from his belt.
After a slight hesitation, he also took from his back the short blade left to him by his father.
A flash of white light, and Kakashi vanished, silent as a ghost, into the Cloud camp.

Orochimaru’s eyes widened with excitement as he watched Kakashi’s movements.
He’d had little direct contact with Sakumo Hatake; the famed swordsmanship and taijutsu of the Hatake were legends he’d rarely witnessed.
But today, through Kakashi, the White Fang of the Leaf, once the terror of nations, returned to the battlefield.
Kakashi never spoke of his father’s legacy, yet his swordsmanship was flawless, the ancient blade kept immaculate.
Clearly, he practiced the Hatake arts daily; clearly, he cherished the short sword, tending to it with the utmost care.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
A Cloud genin shouted, pointing at Kakashi.
But all he saw was a glaring streak of white across his vision.
He couldn’t even discern what kind of enemy approached, or what techniques were used.
With a harsh sound, a blur flashed by, and the genin toppled to the ground, howling in pain.
A single cut to a vital spot, blood pouring forth.
Even after swallowing a blood-staunching pill, it was useless.
In mere seconds, the genin was dead.
And in that short time, over a dozen genin had fallen in the same way, rolling like gourds to the earth.

“Who dares cause havoc in the heart of the Cloud encampment!”
A squad of Cloud chunin appeared, blocking Kakashi’s path.
Stronger and more experienced than the genin, at least they could track Kakashi’s movements.

“Lightning Style: Lightning Whip!”
The chunin formed hand seals together, lightning arcing from their hands as one, lashing out toward Kakashi.

Furious energy snarled and sparked through the air.
Any ordinary shinobi—even a jonin—would have been hard pressed to withstand such an attack.
But their opponent was Kakashi.
With a snap, their combined jutsu smashed into a tall pillar of iron sand.
Kakashi had raised it with mechanical chakra, using it as a stand-in for the Body Replacement Technique.

“Pathetic tricks.”
Even without his left eye, Kakashi saw their flaws.
He pressed the transformation button on the mechanical dagger, flicked his wrist, and the blade became a short sword, which shattered into fragments.
But under his control, the shards coalesced into a long whip, its reach multiplied several times over.

Swish, swish, swish—
Metal stormed the air, and the Cloud chunin fell where they stood.

Seeing Kakashi’s overwhelming force, the chunin grouped up by the dozens, forming a killing formation.
They circled Kakashi, rapidly weaving hand seals, unleashing ninjutsu in unison.
Dense mist rose instantly.
Thunder crashed above, and countless bolts of lightning rained into the fog where Kakashi stood.
Combined with the mist, the lightning formed a seething, storm-charged cloud—like a cluster bomb, its power immense.

But Kakashi merely tapped his foot, flashed white, and appeared behind one squad of chunin.
“This technique—I return it to you!”
He aimed the mechanical dagger at them, pressed the jet button, and swung.
Superheated steam fanned out in a wide arc.
At the nozzle, a cluster of lightning-nature chakra, sealed with mechanical energy, was released at the same moment.
The steam instantly transformed into a torrent of searing electric light, crashing down upon the Cloud shinobi.
Amid a chorus of agonized screams, not a single enemy remained alive before him.