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As evening drew near, Kakashi made his way to the Leaf Village cemetery.
Buried here were countless people who had given their lives for the village, his own father among them. And just the night before, many more had fallen in battle, fighting to protect that same village.
Those who had died without any remaining family were interred here directly. Those who still had relatives, or who held some degree of standing—men like Fugaku Uchiha—would likely be laid to rest here as well, though perhaps only after some time had passed.
Fugaku, however, was hardly an ordinary man. When the moment came for his burial, the ceremony would almost certainly be conducted on a grand scale.
This time, Kakashi hadn't come seeking his father. Instead, he had stopped before the grave of Rin Nohara. His hands were buried in his pockets, his gaze fixed on the characters carved into the stone. Even though he visited nearly every few days, traces of moss had already crept onto the headstone. He reached out and wiped the moss away with his fingers, his mouth opening slightly as if to speak—but no words came. All he could do was let out a heavy, weary sigh.
"I figured you'd be here."
Hearing someone speak, Kakashi quickly turned his head and saw Jiraiya standing behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked, surprised.
Jiraiya sighed. "After all the people who died yesterday, I had to come take a look, didn't I?" Noticing Kakashi's skeptical expression and seeing that his words weren't entirely convincing, Jiraiya spread his hands and admitted, "Alright, fine. I stopped by the medical unit earlier. I was hoping they'd treat my wounds, but instead they handed me a few bodies and told me to bring them over here. I assume they'll be buried tomorrow?"
Kakashi nodded. "Last night, a lot of people died. Uchiha shinobi who were killed, ordinary villagers... and many ninja who died trying to save the villagers. Just yesterday morning, they were still alive..."
"Which is why avenging them is the responsibility of those who remain," Jiraiya said, tilting his head to look up at the sky. "Is that what you're thinking too, deep down?"
Kakashi's mouth opened slightly, but he hesitated, words failing him.
"War is detestable," Jiraiya continued, "because the wounds it inflicts leave scars on people's hearts. Scars so deep that some carry them all the way to the grave."
"So... how do you view war, then?" Kakashi asked.
Jiraiya looked directly at him. "We can't change whether war breaks out or not. What we can do is work to guide the world toward peace. But to achieve that goal, we have to be prepared to lay down our lives at any moment."
"It sounds incredibly difficult." Kakashi's gaze drifted back to Rin's gravestone.
"That's the grand perspective, at least," Jiraiya said. "But personally, as an ordinary shinobi, I believe our duty is to protect the safety of our loved ones and our friends."
"But..." Kakashi's voice faltered, his expression twisting with inner conflict. After a long pause, he finally asked, "What if the person who starts the war is a friend?"
"Do you want to join him in starting that war?" Jiraiya asked.
Kakashi shook his head firmly.
"Then he's not your friend. The only bond you share is the memories you once had together." Jiraiya turned away. "How much longer are you planning to stay here?"
"Ah, I'm coming. I'm on duty tonight." Kakashi turned as well and fell into step behind Jiraiya.
"Oh, I've got something good for you. By the way, have you come of age?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No."
"Good, good..." Jiraiya pulled a book from inside his vest and discreetly slipped it to Kakashi.
"This is..."
"Ahem. Whatever you do, don't read it in front of other people. It's very... stimulating." Jiraiya cleared his throat lightly.
Kakashi looked up at him and only then noticed an unnatural red mark on Jiraiya's face, as though someone had struck him.
"Is it really that good of a book?"
"Absolutely. It's just a shame so few people truly appreciate it. I was originally planning to give a copy to Midorima—after all, he's helped the Leaf Village quite a bit. But in the end..." Jiraiya trailed off, ultimately letting out another sigh.
Kakashi flipped the book open and barely glanced at a couple of lines before feeling his ears begin to burn with embarrassment.
"Lord Jiraiya..."
"Hmm?"
"You... didn't happen to get hit by someone, did you? Midorima wouldn't have hit you, so the one who did must have been..."
"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" Jiraiya cut him off immediately. "Don't go making wild guesses. There's no way the Mizukage could beat me up. Absolutely not."
If that's not what happened, then why are you so flustered?
Kakashi tucked the book into his vest, muttering the thought silently to himself.
"Kakashi," Jiraiya said, his voice suddenly turning serious.
"What is it?"
"'Madara Uchiha'... you've figured out who it really is, haven't you?"
"He should be dead," Kakashi said quietly, his hand rising to cover his right eye.
"But your Sharingan is gone now, isn't it?"
Kakashi nodded.
Jiraiya clicked his tongue softly. It was clear that Kakashi already knew the answer in his mind; he just hadn't accepted it emotionally yet.
Well, anyone who went through something like this would probably feel the same way, wouldn't they?
All Jiraiya could do now was hope that Kakashi would make his choice quickly.
Once the two of them had departed the cemetery, Kabuto and Tayuya, who had been hiding behind two separate gravestones, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey, why did you bring me here to hide?" Tayuya demanded angrily.
Initially, the two of them had hidden in a narrow alleyway, but the patrolling shinobi had never let up. Kabuto had taken it upon himself to lead Tayuya across nearly half the Leaf Village, only for them to end up in the cemetery.
"I didn't have much choice, not with all those patrols everywhere," Kabuto said, equally frustrated.
"So what do we do now?" Tayuya asked.
"We find a shinobi who bears the Cursed Seal of Heaven," Kabuto replied, patiently repeating his objective.
"Do you actually know who has it?" Tayuya countered.
"The only one I know for certain is Sasuke," Kabuto said.
"Him? That can't be—" Tayuya caught herself mid-sentence, realizing her wording was clumsy, and quickly corrected herself. "I mean, it's probably nearly impossible for us to get anywhere near him right now, isn't it?"
The whole reason they'd ended up in the cemetery was to evade the constant patrols, and the Uchiha district right now was precisely the main gathering point for shinobi. An absurd number of ninja were stationed there, some out in the open and many more concealed in the shadows. From what she'd observed, there were at least a hundred shinobi positioned in the vicinity of the Uchiha compound.
"Then there's no other way," Kabuto said, shaking his head.
"You're not lying to me, are you? I still can't believe Lord Orochimaru is dead."
"It's not that he's alive. It's that he can be revived—two entirely different concepts. As for whether the method is reliable... I can only say that it was recorded in Orochimaru's own notes. For now, let's just consider it... feasible," Kabuto said.
"I'm not entirely certain whether Lord Orochimaru placed the Cursed Seal of Heaven on anyone else before he met us," Tayuya said slowly. "But there is one person I know for sure has it."
"Who?"
"Midorima."
"Him?!" Kabuto exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah. Let's go find him right now and tell him about your method. He'll definitely—no, he might help us," Tayuya said.
"Uh... I think rather than finding him, you'd better put some serious thought into how you're going to convince him," Kabuto said with an awkward laugh. "I just get the feeling he's not particularly eager to see Orochimaru again. And don't look at me like that—in my heart, Lord Midorima is more important than Lord Orochimaru."