Chapter 181 – The True Power of Kakashi
"So that's them? People I've met before… So that strange chakra from earlier came from him," Hatake Yusuke murmured to himself with a faint smile.
"That's… the Fourth Kazekage? And… that man?" Grandma Chiyo's eyes widened in disbelief.
Yusuke, however, wasn't too surprised. Though Orochimaru had killed Rasa, it wasn't hard to believe that Sasori of the Red Sand still maintained some sort of connection with Orochimaru.
Especially considering how much more dangerous Rasa was when fighting in the desert.
"Oh? So it really is him..." Kakashi muttered, slightly stunned.
"Who is he?" Sai asked, confused.
"A rogue ninja from Konoha... Hiruko," Kakashi replied, his voice heavy with disdain.
He hadn't forgotten what Hiruko had done to him in the past.
"You already figured out the situation, didn't you, big brother?" Kakashi glanced over at Yusuke.
"I killed him back then, burned his corpse to ashes. I did feel a strange chakra pulse afterward, but didn't think much of it. It must have activated after I left," Yusuke explained casually.
"Indeed. The leader once considered recruiting him into Akatsuki. But by the time we found him, he was already dead. His body wasn't entirely destroyed, though, so I asked the leader to repair it," Sasori said.
"I see... In that case, you'd better be careful. Hiruko possessed multiple Kekkei Genkai," Yusuke warned flatly.
He knew how dangerous Rinnegan-based recovery abilities could be. And while this Hiruko didn't have as many Kekkei Genkai as the one from the original timeline, having Rasa on his side made him extremely dangerous.
If neither Yusuke nor Kakashi stepped in, this battle wouldn't be easy.
"Kakashi, show a bit of what you've got, will you?" Yusuke said lazily.
This kind of fight didn't excite him. Watching was more than enough.
Kakashi nodded without a word. Truth be told, he wanted to beat Hiruko down himself—even if the man had become nothing more than a puppet. It was a good way to vent the pain of the past.
Sasori seemed slightly relieved upon hearing Yusuke's intention to stay out of it. With Yusuke's overwhelming power and strong allies by his side, Sasori knew the odds weren't in his favor. But if Yusuke truly didn't interfere, there might still be a chance.
At least, that's what he hoped.
The battle erupted immediately.
Gaara and Temari stared at the reanimated form of their father, a mix of emotions swirling in their eyes. Chiyo, too, looked visibly uncomfortable—after all, the Kage had been turned into puppets. She couldn't help but feel ashamed.
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
Gaara struck first, launching waves of sand toward his puppet-father.
But Sasori, controlling Rasa, blocked the attack effortlessly with golden sand.
Temari followed up with Wind Release: Cyclone Scythe, but Hiruko moved fast. He extended a strange arm covered in seals and absorbed the wind jutsu entirely.
"What?" Temari's eyes widened. She quickly launched another jutsu—but once again, it was absorbed before it could hit.
Kakashi, observing this, discarded the idea of ninjutsu. He closed the distance in a flash and attacked with swift taijutsu strikes.
But he immediately noticed something strange—Hiruko's puppet body was hardened and coated in poison. Even close-range combat was risky.
'This is annoying. I might be better off going straight for the real body,' Kakashi thought, but then hesitated.
After all, this was a good training opportunity for Naruto, Sakura, and Neji.
So for a while, Kakashi went with the flow. He joined the fray only when necessary—helping Sakura here, assisting Neji there, occasionally aiding Gaara against Rasa.
Eventually, Grandma Chiyo began to falter. Her age had finally caught up with her, and her movements were slowing down.
"That's enough, Kakashi. Stop playing around and finish this," Yusuke said, clearly bored.
He had already lost interest in this battlefield. He would much rather return and report to Tsunade.
Hearing that, Kakashi unsheathed his sword—Ame-no-Habakiri.
"Armament Haki—Single Sword Style: White Dragon of the Peach Blossom."
A terrifying slash of white energy tore through the air toward Hiruko's puppet body.
Rasa immediately encased himself and Sasori in layers of golden sand. Hiruko tried to absorb the slash, unaware that this wasn't chakra—but a physical slash imbued with Armament Haki.
He activated Steel Release in defense, but it was no use. The sword cut through his puppet limbs with ease and kept going toward Rasa. Fortunately, the golden sand blocked the remaining force.
"Storm Release: Storm Demon Dragon!"
As a puppet, Hiruko didn't feel pain and immediately counterattacked.
But Kakashi only swung once—and the entire jutsu shattered like glass.
"One swing… and Hiruko's jutsu is gone?" Everyone present began reevaluating Kakashi's strength.
The two Hatake brothers were truly beyond comprehension—an older brother who was a monster, and a younger brother who was a genius. Their father, Sakumo Hatake, was none other than the legendary White Fang.
Kakashi didn't give Hiruko a chance to recover.
"Single Sword Style: Thousand-Faced Wind!"
He slashed again—and Hiruko's puppet body was instantly sliced into dozens of clean pieces, as though struck from every direction at once.
"He's grown stronger," Yusuke muttered with a nod. He acknowledged his younger brother's growth.
While Kakashi's style wasn't as flashy, Yusuke could see his swordsmanship had evolved drastically.
"Damn it! Gold Dust Funeral!"
A massive wave of golden sand surged toward Kakashi, engulfing him in seconds.
"Hah… Heaven Severing Slash!"
A memory of Yusuke's sword technique flickered in Kakashi's mind. His eyes gleamed. Though he had many ways to escape, something inside pushed him to replicate that technique.
A mighty slash of energy tore through the golden sand. The ground split open in its wake, creating a deep canyon that stretched for kilometers across the desert.
Sasori's puppet body was completely destroyed. Though his chakra core was still intact, his body was shattered beyond repair.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Even Naruto and Sakura stood frozen. Up until now, Kakashi had always seemed like a laid-back pervert with his nose buried in romance novels.
Even after witnessing Yusuke's far more devastating attacks, they couldn't hide their shock at the sheer destructive power of Kakashi's slash.
Sasori stared, eyes filled with fear… and greed.
'If I could turn him into a puppet… just how powerful would he be?'
But Kakashi wasn't satisfied with the result.
He compared it to Yusuke's technique from before—his brother hadn't even used Haki, and yet the force was vastly superior. Kakashi had used both Haki and chakra… and still fell short.
'It's strange… We're twins, yet the gap between us is this wide…' Kakashi thought silently, his expression unreadable.
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