"What a huge loss, not much money, and we encountered such powerful enemies, really..."
In the Land of Waves, Takemi supported the still somewhat unsteady Kakashi as they walked towards the town.
Although they were ambushed by Itachi and Jūzō, their mission could be considered complete.
After all, the mission difficulty had exceeded its expected scope, and they didn't have Naruto with them.
Naturally, they had the right to end the mission early, and Kakashi's current condition was clearly not suitable for continuing. He now needed rest and treatment.
Perhaps because he wasn't in Konoha, or perhaps because his teammates weren't around, Itachi seemed to hold back slightly this time.
Tsukuyomi's damage to Kakashi wasn't as severe as Takemi remembered. Although still half-crippled, Kakashi wasn't nearly incapacitated like in his memory.
"Although I expected this mission to have problems, I didn't expect us to be this unlucky."
Kakashi rubbed his messy white hair and said weakly, "To think we'd encounter these two rogue ninjas, Jūzō and Itachi, right from the start. Especially Itachi's eyes, they are truly difficult to deal with."
"Indeed, I've heard Guy-sensei evaluate you the same way."
Hearing this, Takemi couldn't help but smile before continuing, "That's why Guy-sensei has been training himself not to look at your eyes, judging your attacks solely by your movements. Shouldn't you also learn from him?"
"Guy..."
Kakashi pursed his lips. He wasn't surprised at all that Guy would come up with such a fighting technique, but he did have an idea in his mind.
Perhaps, this really is a good countermeasure?
However, for him, this was more of an alternative solution, as after experiencing Itachi's Tsukuyomi this time, he also had other ways to cope with it.
Most importantly, he felt that after this experience, his eyes seemed to have undergone some peculiar changes.
"But speaking of which, what was that Lightning Release of yours?"
Shaking his head, Kakashi stopped dwelling on these matters. He planned to examine himself thoroughly after returning.
What he was more curious about now was Takemi's Lightning Release. That jutsu had truly left a deep impression on him.
"Kakashi-sensei, didn't I already tell you my idea?"
Takemi shrugged, but after thinking for a moment, he continued to explain, "But speaking of which, it's strange. Although I've always felt that controlling Lightning Release chakra didn't seem as difficult as imagined, I also know that achieving extreme shape and nature transformations is very difficult."
"I don't know why, but during the fight with Jūzō, I seemed to understand how to do it. Although I'm still not skilled, I actually succeeded on the first try."
As he spoke, Takemi deliberately raised his hand, and the Chakra within his body began to surge.
In an instant, a surge of purple electricity condensed in his hand. This current quickly covered his palm, transforming into the shape of a blade.
"Is that so..."
Looking at the Purple Electricity in Takemi's hand, Kakashi's eyelids twitched.
He could naturally feel the power of this jutsu and understood its value even more.
Even he could see that this jutsu didn't seem entirely stable, as there were always some arcs of electricity jumping erratically.
But the problem was, Takemi succeeded with such a high-difficulty jutsu almost on the first try.
This kind of talent...
After a while, Kakashi finally spoke with a mix of helplessness and seriousness, "In extremely dangerous situations, ninjas have a certain probability of achieving incredible breakthroughs. You most likely encountered such a situation. I have to say, you're really lucky."
"Is that so?" Takemi nodded.
This was the result he wanted, after all, the Ōtsutsuki bloodline was truly too outrageous.
"However, this also demonstrates your talent."
Just as he was thinking, Kakashi spoke again, "Without enough talent, it's hard to achieve any breakthroughs in such extreme situations. Your talent in Lightning Release is probably far greater than mine..."
"Huh?"
However, just when Kakashi finished speaking, a voice suddenly rang out above them.
"Talent greater than yours? Kakashi, that's truly rare, and the way you look is even rarer."
This voice instantly made both Takemi and Kakashi freeze. The two of them immediately looked up.
They saw a white-haired man with a large 'Oil' character written on his headband, looking at them with a smile.
Seeing him, both of them simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, because this person was none other than Jiraiya.
"The current progress is too slow, and we have too few people."
In the Land of Water, inside the Kirigakure office, the masked Obito was contemplating something.
Currently, the situation in Kirigakure was not optimistic. There was an air of rebellion everywhere in the village.
However, he didn't care. What he was most concerned about was the situation of the Akatsuki.
It was just that the formation speed of the Akatsuki was much slower than he had imagined. At least, the available personnel were still insufficient.
"Besides that, there's that guy Nagato..."
At this stage, Nagato still needed to continuously help the Gedo statue slowly recover.
There was one thing he couldn't quite understand. How much power did Madara drain to make the Gedo statue look like that?
"How much longer will it take before I can finally build the world that I envision?"
Thinking of this series of troublesome matters, Obito couldn't help but murmur. Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from the ground.
"Obito, there's news."
"Hmm?"
Obito frowned and glared at the black and white creature before speaking.
"Don't forget, I am Uchiha Madara now!"
"Hehe..."
White Zetsu let out an indifferent strange laugh before saying somewhat excitedly, "We just got news that Itachi and Jūzō encountered an acquaintance of yours while on a mission. Guess who?"
"Hmph, I have no interest in playing guessing games with you." Obito gave him a cold glance.
Fortunately, Black Zetsu took over the conversation at this point. "It was Kakashi. Itachi and Jūzō encountered his team."
"Kakashi?"
Hearing this name, Obito paused, then let out a cold snort and spoke disdainfully, "It was that failure? But that failure is in the Anbu. Itachi would have trouble encountering them. Nothing happened, right?"
"No, he's not in the Anbu anymore."
White Zetsu chuckled at this point and spoke again, "And he even has a student! Only one student!"
"That failure left the Anbu and has a student?" Obito was somewhat puzzled.
If that were the case, then upon encountering Itachi and Jūzō, heshould definitely have met his demise.
"What exactly happened?"
"According to reports, it was Kakashi's student who discovered Itachi, allowing them to contact Konoha for reinforcements in advance." Black Zetsu thought for a moment and spoke up.
"I have to say, this disciple of Kakashi is a genius. He's only 13 or 14 but he blocked Jūzō and even saved Kakashi."
"Finally, Itachi retreated because his Mangekyō Sharingan was overused and Jūzō lost his fighting capability."
Of course, neither he nor Obito believed Itachi's nonsense. Others didn't know, but they were very clear that Itachi was a double agent.
"Kakashi's disciple?" Obito frowned.
This slightly piqued his interest, but that was all. After all, he was no longer the Obito of the past.
"Speaking of which, it's really interesting..."
But just then, White Zetsu, perhaps deliberately trying to provoke him, suddenly laughed carelessly. "Anyone Kakashi wanted to protect before ended up finished."
"But this time, he actively wanted to protect this kid, and nothing happened. It's truly incredible."
"Do you think he's finally had a change of luck?"
This short sentence, however, made Obito's eyes change.