"Naruto, is there something wrong with your brain?"
After listening to Naruto, Sasuke stayed silent for a long time before finally choking out that one sentence.
"What do you mean?" Naruto didn't understand why Sasuke insulted him for no reason.
Though, to be fair, Sasuke used to insult him for no reason all the time.
"Do you know how large Konoha's population is?"
"No."
'Then what the hell kind of Hokage are you trying to become?!' Sasuke felt exhausted.
Naruto wanted to become Hokage so badly, yet when asked, he knew nothing.
And he still wanted to become a Hokage even though he is like this?
"Anyway, it's a lot."
Seeing the slightly disdainful look in Sasuke's eyes, Naruto felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly added that.
'A lot… Fine. A lot, then.'
"If Konoha has a large population, then do you really think Koharu is the only old woman in the village? Even during wartime, it's impossible for everyone to die before reaching old age, let alone now, in peacetime." Sasuke bluntly pointed out the major flaw in Naruto's logic.
Though honestly, the two of them were about half right.
When Naruto found out Sasuke wanted to kill Koharu, what came to his mind wasn't that you shouldn't kill someone who appeared innocent on the surface without reason, nor was it any kind of debate about judging deeds rather than intentions.
The only thing he thought of was that Kakashi liked old women, so one should be saved for Kakashi-sensei.
Which made all the heartfelt and rational persuasion Sasuke had just given a wasted effort.
Sasuke—who in the original Naruto world had been one of the rare relatively normal people—was also gradually being influenced.
After hearing Naruto say Kakashi liked old women, Sasuke's first reaction wasn't to question whether Kakashi really did like old women, or where Naruto got that information.
Instead, he accepted that Kakashi did indeed like old women, and merely pointed out that Konoha had enough old women for Kakashi to choose from.
Though that didn't really seem to be Sasuke's fault.
After all, Kakashi was now the famous author of the Vigorous Paradise series and the Limited Tsukuyomi series, renowned throughout the shinobi world.
Compared to the original "Copy Ninja Kakashi," this counted as a second rise to fame.
And this time, his fame wasn't just spread among shinobi—everyone knew the name Kakashi!
The name "Kakashi" had already become a symbol in itself.
So when Naruto suggested that Kakashi liked old women, Sasuke didn't find it strange.
At the very least, old women were still women.
And even human at that.
That preference was already fairly tame.
"Sasuke, what you said makes a lot of sense. How didn't I think of that just now?" Naruto scratched his head in regret while deeply puzzled.
He clearly had the talent to become one of Konoha's great strategists, so why was he inferior to Sasuke even in this area? It was very strange.
"No, I overlooked one thing!" Naruto had only just admitted his own reasoning was flawed when Sasuke suddenly thought of something else and overturned his own argument too.
Before Naruto could ask, Sasuke began analyzing on his own.
"You mentioned just now that Kakashi voluntarily stayed behind with Granny Chiyo in Sunagakure. Because I didn't know enough, I didn't react right away. Granny Chiyo… isn't she the mother of the two Sunagakure jōnin that Kakashi's father, the White Fang, killed with Thousand Years of Death back then?"
"Yeah, that did happen. So what? Are you saying Kakashi-sensei wants to atone for it? That he wants to give Granny Chiyo a new child as repentance?" Naruto tilted his head and asked.
"Not repentance." Sasuke shook his head solemnly. "Excitement."
"Excitement?" Naruto blinked.
"Kakashi wrote in his books that married people have their own appeal. The real thrill comes when there's already a goalkeeper." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"One example was the Raikage coveting the Fourth Hokage's body. One major reason was that the Fourth Hokage was married—married to the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. From that point on, the Fourth Hokage not only had the label of the Yellow Flash, but also an extra layer to his identity: the spouse of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki."
"Conquering the Fourth Hokage was almost like conquering the Nine-Tails itself. This is the kind of thrilling feeling Kakashi referred to as NTR!"
At that point, Sasuke paused. "Maybe. I'm only saying maybe."
Maintaining a rigorous attitude, Sasuke added a layer of caution first. "Maybe the kind of women Kakashi likes is fundamentally different from what we'd assume…"
(Because neither of you even likes women in the first place!)
"What Kakashi likes are married young—… married old women, especially old women from the households of friends or acquaintances!"
"Th-that… isn't impossible, actually." Naruto never expected Sasuke to be even more brilliant than himself, to think on this level.
Granny Chiyo was an enemy who hated Kakashi's father.
Winning over someone like that would naturally be incredibly stimulating.
But what about Koharu Utatane? She was just an ordinary Konoha elder!
Maybe if Kakashi simply made the request, Koharu would jump straight into his blanket, giving him the classic "old lady climbing into your bed."
Wouldn't that just be what Kakashi said in his books—that taking a shot when there's no goalkeeper is boring?
"How about this, Naruto. Kakashi-sensei's web of relationships is hard to sort out. Even if we go ask around, we won't be able to get a complete picture anytime soon. So instead…"
"I'll go kill Koharu, that will definitely cause chaos. While things are in disorder, you sneak into the ANBU archives and look through the relevant records. Once all that information is gathered together, we're bound to find someone suitable." Sasuke laid out his plan.
Actually, Sasuke could've used his Mangekyō ability to peek directly into the archives.
He was doing this purely to keep Naruto from interfering with him.
His heart was already as hard as iron.
No matter what Koharu said, he wouldn't show mercy.
But if Naruto followed him, and heard the other party say something strange and suddenly changed his mind and tried to stop him, that would be troublesome.
"Got it. Leave it to me. This is my specialty!" Naruto patted his chest with great confidence.
After all, his career started with stealing the Scroll of Seals.
Stealing some files? Wouldn't that take only minutes?
The two split up.
Sasuke activated Heavenly Fox to search for Koharu Utatane's location, only to discover that Koharu Utatane was taking a bath again, so he immediately shut it off.
"That old hag is awfully fond of being clean," Sasuke cursed under his breath.
Still, that glance confirmed Koharu was at home, so he could just go there directly.
Only then did Sasuke suddenly remember his mission seemed to involve two people, and there was also someone named Homura Mitokado.
He almost forgot it.
High in the air, Sasuke activated Susanoo.
The massive avatar drew its bow and nocked an arrow, aiming in one direction.
Honestly, the two ocular abilities Sasuke awakened, which made his Sharingan somewhat resemble the Byakugan, weren't useless.
The training direction Makoto planned out for Hanabi was to make use of the Byakugan's long-distance vision and lock-on ability for ranged attacks.
Sasuke could do something similar here too.
Although he only had long-distance vision and not a true lock-on, Sasuke's Susanoo came with a bow and arrows built in, so he didn't need to go out of his way to train in ranged attacks.
Bang!
A purple arrow pierced straight through a small house and Sasuke began aiming in another direction.