Moreover, aside from the Third Raikage's Lightning Release Armor, there didn't seem to be any particularly famous jutsu there. More importantly, Minato Namikaze wasn't there.
Akashō slightly lifted his umbrella, hiding his eyes in the shadow of the oil-paper canopy as he squinted at the sun in the sky.
"He actually dared to make a move. As expected, a brainless fool."
Akashō suddenly tugged both hands, and four figures wrapped in black robes and wearing masks were instantly dragged out from the roadside forest, tumbling onto the ground.
"What is this!?"
They clawed desperately at their own necks, but couldn't touch anything. All they could feel was their breathing becoming more and more difficult, while rings of blood beads began to flow from around their necks.
In the next second, Akashō clenched his spread fingers sharply. Three of them were instantly decapitated, and the spraying blood looked blindingly vivid under the daylight.
The only one who didn't lose his head was casually hooked forward by Akashō and dragged in front of him.
"Root?"
The man's face was flushed red from suffocation, unable to utter a single word. Seeing this, Akashō slightly loosened his fingers, allowing him to barely catch his breath.
"Kill me. I won't tell you anything."
"Heh."
Akashō shook his head with a faint smile.
"Looks like I should pay a visit to the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques sometime."
Suddenly, Akashō waved his hand, and a curved line of blood spread from one side of the man's ear to the other.
As blood sprayed, the man's jaw dropped to the ground with a thud, revealing a tongue engraved with a string of curse seals.
The intense pain forced the man's eyes wide open, cold sweat already covering his forehead. Yet aside from a slight trembling of his body, there was no struggle or scream.
"Oh? Pretty tough."
Akashō smiled faintly and stepped on the man's forehead, forcing him to tilt his head back. "A curse mark used to bind the tongue… truly a dark and cruel place."
"Well, whatever. His brain's probably already been scrubbed clean. I won't get anything out of him."
Akashō raised one hand, forming a finger-gun, and aimed it at the man's face.
"Bullet thread."
The cold voice slipped from his slightly upturned lips. A faint tearing sound rang out as a finger-width hole was instantly pierced through from the man's face to the back of his head.
His body stopped trembling and collapsed limply to the ground.
Meanwhile, Akashō's Observation Haki had been covering a radius of several hundred meters the entire time.
"Danzo will definitely know who killed these people, but it's better not to expose myself in front of too many others."
Akashō didn't bother with the corpses and quickly left the area.
...
The next day, Akashō arrived at Minato Namikaze's house, planning to chat with Kushina and, incidentally, pry out some sealing techniques from her. But just as he reached a tall tree nearby, he suddenly stopped.
"Hey, I've been back in the Hidden Leaf Village for almost two months now. You haven't even shown your face once. Did I offend you or something?"
After a long moment of stillness, the dense foliage of the nearby tree rustled slightly, and a silver-haired boy wearing a mask jumped down.
After a brief silence, Kakashi asked, "How did you find me?"
"Your breathing's too messy."
Akashō answered casually, and Kakashi fell silent again.
What's wrong with this kid? Not even a greeting, and he's not surprised at my current height like everyone else. He just feels… lifeless.
Akashō narrowed his eyes in thought. Could it be someone in his family died?
That didn't seem right either. Kakashi's last family member—his father—had already died long ago. Who else could it be?
"What, did you get dumped?"
Kakashi glanced at Akashō's curious expression and shook his head. "I'm still on duty."
With that, Kakashi disappeared back into the tree.
That cold, huh.
Akashō clicked his tongue, not thinking much of it, and turned to knock on Minato Namikaze's door.
To his surprise, Minato—who usually buried himself in work at the Hokage's office—was actually home this time.
"Heh, Kushina's pregnant, after all. No matter how busy I am, I still have to make time to stay with her, right?"
As if seeing through Akashō's confusion, Minato explained with a wry smile.
"Oh, I see."
Then Akashō casually brought up Kakashi, causing Minato's expression to immediately darken.
"This… is actually my fault. As their teacher, I failed to protect them."
Hearing this, Akashō raised an eyebrow. "What, something happened to Rin Nohara?"
Minato nodded and explained the whole situation.
After the team had split up earlier, Kakashi and Rin went to reinforce the Lightning–Fire battlefield. However, Rin was captured by the Hidden Mist Village and had the Three-Tails sealed inside her, along with a curse mark that prevented her from revealing it.
Their plan was to let Kakashi rescue her and bring her back to the Hidden Leaf Village camp, where the seal would be undone—turning the Three-Tails into a war weapon that would wreak havoc inside the camp.
Unfortunately, in the end, Rin chose to run into Kakashi's Chidori and took her own life.