Aonuma Shun coughed a few times, his expression dark as he glared at the doctor.
"Inoue… what kind of hospital are you running here?" he said coldly. "A jonin-level infiltrator walked right in and none of you noticed."
He tapped the bed in frustration.
"If my senses weren't sharp enough to catch that chakra spike, he might've ambushed me successfully. Do you realize you almost got me killed?"
The doctor who had been so arrogant toward Karin's mother earlier now looked completely different.
Dr. Inoue was kneeling on the floor, trembling, too afraid to meet Aonuma's furious gaze.
Seeing him like that only made Aonuma angrier.
Back when the leader of Kusagakure proposed building a large hospital, Aonuma had opposed the idea.
In his opinion, Kusagakure's medical ninja were nowhere near skilled enough to justify pouring that much funding into a huge facility.
But the village leader had insisted that medical ninjutsu would become increasingly important and needed long-term investment.
Aonuma's objections had been rejected.
Years had passed.
Plenty of money had been spent.
But real progress? None.
When Aonuma heard rumors that the hospital had developed a new "rapid healing method," he'd actually been excited.
He thought they had finally achieved a breakthrough.
Instead, the "innovation" turned out to be nothing more than using a living human as a healing battery.
Furious, Aonuma kicked the kneeling doctor aside.
Dr. Inoue rolled across the floor in humiliation.
"Enough," Aonuma snapped, immediately issuing orders.
"Two of you report this incident to the village leader."
"Five of you pursue the intruder."
"The rest stay here and guard me."
He would have preferred to join the chase himself.
But his leg injury made movement difficult.
Worse, he had to consider the possibility that the enemy might double back for a surprise attack.
A wounded leg was a serious handicap for any shinobi.
In his current condition, a direct fight would almost certainly end badly.
Outside the Hospital
In the chaos of the moment, Kakashi Hatake didn't think twice.
He grabbed Karin's mother around the waist with one arm, smashed through the wall, and sprinted away at top speed.
Only after confirming that no Kusagakure pursuers were immediately behind them did he finally stop.
He set her down gently.
She still looked completely stunned.
Kakashi quickly formed a hand seal and created two Shadow Clone Technique clones.
He sent them off to notify Aaron and the others.
At that moment, Kakashi felt grateful he had mastered high-speed movement techniques recently.
Without that speed boost, escaping while carrying another person would have been extremely difficult.
For a moment he hesitated.
Should he reveal the truth now?
Before he could decide, the woman spoke first.
"You're Kakato, aren't you?"
Kakashi blinked in surprise.
Ever since entering the hospital ward, he had never once used that Grass-ninja disguise.
How had she recognized him?
As if reading his thoughts, she smiled gently.
"It's an ability I was born with," she explained. "I can sense chakra. Yours is exactly the same as Kakato's."
Kakashi suddenly felt very awkward.
Apparently his elaborate disguise had been completely pointless.
With a sigh, he dropped the Transformation Technique and revealed his true appearance.
"My real identity is a shinobi from Konohagakure," he said honestly.
"I came to Kusagakure on a classified mission."
He looked directly at her.
"I can take you back to Konoha with me. Would you be willing to come?"
When she saw the transformation, from an ordinary young man into a white-haired teenage ninja wearing a mask; she froze for a moment.
"…You're younger than I expected," she said softly.
Black lines practically appeared over Kakashi's head.
That's the detail she focuses on?
She thought for a moment.
"Konoha… that's in the Land of Fire, right?" she murmured. "I think it used to be an ally of the old Uzushiogakure."
The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools had happened when she was still very young.
Many of her memories from that time had faded.
Even Konoha's alliance with her homeland was something she had only learned later while wandering.
Kakashi nodded.
"There's also another member of the Uzumaki clan living in Konoha," he added.
"She's actually my teacher's wife, Kushina Uzumaki."
"If you'd like, I can introduce you once we arrive."
He paused before continuing.
"And I can promise you this, no one in Konoha will treat you the way Kusagakure did."
She smiled faintly.
"You don't have to convince me so hard," she said.
"I'm willing to go."
She looked back toward the direction of the hospital.
"After all… how could things possibly get worse than this?"
Kakashi fell silent.
He couldn't find the right words to comfort her.
Seeing his awkward expression, she laughed lightly and reached out to ruffle his white hair.
"Kakato," she teased, "I'm not so fragile that I need comfort from a boy half my age."
"And any village that produces a ninja like you must be far better than this one."
Kakashi quickly moved her hand away from his hair.
For some reason, it felt like he had just been taken advantage of.
Their roles had completely flipped.
All I did was change my appearance, he thought.
Why is her attitude suddenly so different?
He sighed internally.
Women are impossible to understand.
He might be a prodigy capable of mastering ninjutsu, taijutsu, and even a bit of genjutsu…
But trying to analyze women?
That was clearly beyond his abilities.
Once her decision was confirmed, Kakashi immediately led her toward the outskirts of Kusagakure.
Fortunately, Aaron had already prepared contingency plans in case the operation was exposed early.
If that happened, they would simply notify Aaron and proceed directly to the final phase of the mission.
That final phase involved disguising themselves as shinobi from Iwagakure, attacking the ANBU headquarters, and destroying the fake archive room, plunging Kusagakure into chaos.
That was why Kakashi had dispatched shadow clones.
One clone quickly reached kenshi and Midori at the inn.
After hearing the report, kenshi immediately asked,
"Did you notify Captain Aaron?"
The clone nodded.
"Another clone went to destroy the seal he left behind. He should already know something went wrong."
kenshi visibly relaxed.
As long as Aaron knew the situation, things would be under control.
The real intelligence was with Aaron anyway.
Even in the worst-case scenario, he could escape with it.
Just as the clone finished explaining and prepared to disperse
Whoosh.
A sudden rush of air echoed in the room.
A new figure appeared instantly.
It was a Shadow Clone Technique of Aaron, dispatched after sensing the destruction of his prepared seal.
"What happened?" the clone asked calmly.
Kakashi repeated the entire situation.
Aaron made his decision immediately.
"Don't disperse yet," he said.
"We're going to hit Kusagakure's ANBU headquarters together."
He smiled confidently.
"Don't worry about the mission documents. I already swapped the real intelligence out earlier."
"All you need to do now is cause as much disruption as possible and stay alive."
Even though Kakashi had been exposed, he had at least disguised himself as a ninja from Iwagakure.
Whether Kusagakure believed it or not didn't matter.
The appearance alone might still serve the plan.
If they moved fast enough, there was still a chance to complete the operation.
Aaron's clone and the three others quickly used simple Transformation Technique disguises.
Then they headed straight toward the ANBU headquarters of Kusagakure.
This time
They intended to make a very big scene.
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