The dinner had ended in laughter and full stomachs. Plates had been cleaned, and conversations turned to yawns. Slowly, the younger ones, Team 7, Ranmaru, and Karin, shuffled off to their rooms.
The strange part? None of them had said they were staying. But one by one, they had simply settled in like it was the most natural thing in the world. Naruto curled up on the couch like it was his own bed.
Sasuke quietly vanished into the guest room he'd claimed weeks ago. Even Ranmaru and Karin disappeared without a word. The house had become a home, and not a single one of them questioned it anymore.
Only Sakura lingered at the front door, quietly pulling on her sandals. She looked back at the warmth of the house, the hum of people moving, talking, and laughing inside. A place of comfort.
"Kakashi-sensei," she said as he passed by, heading toward the basement. "I'm going home tonight."
"Everything okay?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I just… I miss them." Sakura nodded.
"That's good. You should see them." He smiled gently.
Sakura stepped outside into the cool night air and took a deep breath. Her feet paused on the front step.
She remembered a time, not too long ago, when she used to find her parents annoying. Too nosy, too strict, too ordinary. She had rolled her eyes when they asked her to eat with them, brushed off her mother's concern when she stayed out late training.
But after staying in Kakashi's home, filled with orphans, war survivors, and those who had no family at all, she felt something shift.
Naruto had no one. Sasuke had only vengeance. Karin and Ranmaru… both abandoned by their pasts.
And she… she had parents who waited for her.
She smiled softly, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"I'm lucky," she whispered to herself. "I won't forget that again."
….
Kakashi descended the wooden steps to the hidden floor beneath the house, the air cooling as he entered the reinforced room. Shelves lined with scrolls, diagrams, and chakra sensors filled the space. In the center sat a large table with intricate blueprints, the heart of his experimental techniques.
He sat cross-legged at the table, spreading open the scroll containing his notes on the Genesis Seal. The red, spiky diamond engraved on his palm pulsed faintly, rotating when his chakra interacted with it.
The synthesis with Katsuyu's enzymes had gone perfectly. He'd gained rapid regeneration, vitality recovery, and chakra amplification. But that wasn't enough.
Tonight, he wanted to explore further, refine the conversion patterns, and potentially unlock more compatibility markers for rare bloodlines.
But before he could activate the chakra grid, a sharp pulse hit his senses.
He stilled.
A specific seal pattern, his seal, was broken. One he had placed around the training grounds behind the house.
It was a layered barrier, reinforced with formulaic sealing script he created with the Formula Reconstruction Technique. Only he, Tsunade, Anko, and Kurenai had clearance to detect it.
Someone had breached it.
Kakashi stood instantly, his Genesis Seal glowing faintly. His body vanished in a flicker of movement as he shot out of the basement.
….
Anko, Tsunade, and Kurenai reached the training ground moments after Kakashi. All three women looked alert, dressed in light nightwear but fully prepared for a fight. Each had felt the alert pulse from the barrier and had moved without hesitation.
They halted beside Kakashi, who stood calmly in the center of the circular field.
A faint, eerie white glow illuminated the area, specifically the center of the seal array.
There, tangled in writhing chakra chains laced with sealing tags, was a pale white creature with a grotesque, plant-like appearance. Its body was humanoid, but slightly twisted, almost unfinished. Black seal markings moved faintly across its skin like veins.
"A White Zetsu," Kakashi muttered. He didn't expect a white zetsu to come and spy on him at this time.
The creature hissed in pain, unable to move. The chakra chains didn't just bind, they suppressed it. Its chakra was sealed.
Even the technique known as Mayfly, a molecular-speed movement that allowed White Zetsu to vanish and move through terrain, was rendered useless. This trap had been specifically designed to counter infiltration techniques.
Kakashi didn't hesitate. He raised his hand. The red diamond of the Genesis Seal lit up, spinning rapidly. With a low hum, a black vortex swirled into existence, opening like a mouth beneath the creature.
"W-Wait! I can-!" The White Zetsu who felt the threat hastily spoke.
But the words were cut off as the seal devoured the Zetsu completely, body and chakra and all. The vortex snapped shut with a pulse of chakra that rippled across the clearing.
Silence.
Then Kakashi exhaled. He could feel it, the Zetsu's genetic structure merging with his own, processed safely through the Genesis Seal's biological filter. His body pulsed with new energy, vitality spiking, his cells feeling as if they were blooming with newfound strength.
He opened his eyes slowly, and now knew, like instinct, what he had gained, his Rapid Regeneration is even greater than before.
Chlorophyll-Based Chakra Conversion, a passive enhancement that allows sunlight to slowly replenish stamina.
Mayfly Technique, complete with terrain-phase movement.
Spore Clone Jutsu, allows him to seed clones into enemies to drain chakra silently, and also make white zetsu clones.
Camouflage and Transformation down to a cellular level, rendering him nearly undetectable.
Perfect infiltration. Perfect recovery. Perfect evolution.
'It's a pity it didn't have the wood style.' Kakashi thought, but he remembered only that the main white zetsu could use it, not these clones.
"Kakashi… what was that thing?" Tsunade stepped beside him with a frown on her face.
"A White Zetsu," he said quietly. "One of many. They're biologically engineered spies with absurd infiltration capabilities. They can copy appearances, blend with terrain, and steal chakra. They're extremely dangerous… especially in numbers."
"Are they connected to Orochimaru?" Kurenai narrowed her eyes as she instantly became suspicious of Orochimaru.
"No. They're from something… deeper. Something older. I've seen them before during the last war. They shouldn't be anywhere near Konoha." Kakashi shook his head and lied.
"So what, you're saying there's more?" Anko scowled, her hand on her kunai pouch.
"I'm sure of it," Kakashi said grimly. "That one was likely a scout. If it found its way here, even with our seals, then others are probably in the village already."
"Then we need to raise the alert quietly. If they're infiltrators, we can't let the civilians panic." Tsunade crossed her arms as concern flashed in her eyes.
"That seal of yours… it devoured that thing completely. And now you have its powers?" Kurenai turned to Kakashi and asked.
"Yes. The Genesis Seal perfectly assimilates biological traits, storing them in a stabilized chakra framework. I modified it using everything I learned from Katsuyu's regenerative enzymes. There's no rejection or overload." Kakashi nodded.
"And how many… could you take in?" Anko stepped closer, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"As many as my chakra reserves can handle. Each one pushes the limit, but the seal regulates itself, and my chakra is still growing, so it's safe." Kakashi said as he glanced at the spinning red mark on his palm.
"Even knowing all that… It's still terrifying. That kind of power in the wrong hands…" Tsunade exhaled slowly.
"It's not in the wrong hands," Kurenai said calmly. "It's in his hands."
Kakashi smiled at her and turned toward the shadows at the edge of the training ground.
"We need to start hunting them… quietly. If one Zetsu made it past our defenses, more could already be among us." Kakashi said in a low voice.
He definitely wanted to devour them all, but he also had to be wary of his 'best friend' Obito who is pretending to be Madara. And that plan should be executed as soon as possible.