Naruto: Manipulation

Konoha Village.

The memorial stone in the back mountain.

Kakashi Hatake had been visiting frequently lately.

Whenever something significant—whether happy or painful—occurred in his life, he would come here to pay his respects to the graves of his fallen comrades.

This place was his solace.

Or rather, many of his attachments lay here.

His teacher and friends had long been buried beneath these stones.

"I'll be away on a long mission for a while. I probably won't be able to visit until the village starts forgetting the Uchiha tragedy and things settle down again."

"Aside from seeing Yamato today, nothing particularly good happened. I'm also a bit busy—I still need to visit my father's grave later."

Kakashi placed two bouquets of white flowers in front of his teammates' graves and solemnly bid them farewell.

"Obito, Rin, see you later."

With that, Kakashi turned to leave but suddenly noticed something unusual—there was a bouquet of flowers placed in front of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju's, grave. The tombstone itself had been cleaned meticulously.

It was… strange.

But not entirely impossible.

In this era, Konoha's shinobi no longer idolized the First Hokage the way past generations had. Hashirama Senju, the founder of Konoha, was now a distant legend, and many of those who had once revered him had long passed away.

Most of the time…

His tomb was cleaned as part of routine maintenance.

After all, Hashirama's only living relative was Tsunade, who was still traveling abroad.

Kakashi didn't dwell on it too much. He assumed that the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, might have visited and continued on his way, leaving the memorial site.

"Time to visit him next."

Shaking off his lingering thoughts, Kakashi headed toward his father's resting place.

Even though the Legendary Sannin had attended his father's funeral—and Tsunade had insisted that Sakumo Hatake be buried at the memorial stone—others strongly opposed the decision.

With Tsunade having left Konoha to continue her travels, and a young Kakashi unable to resist the village's authority, Sakumo's remains were ultimately relocated to a secluded corner of a public cemetery.

It was a disgraceful fate.

As a child, Kakashi had been deeply hurt by this. But as he grew older and saw more and more people around him perish, he no longer had the energy to care.

Too many had died.

Everyone who once mattered to him was gone.

Besides, no matter how strong Kakashi had become, he could not change the minds of the village leaders. Perhaps his father wouldn't have wanted to be buried at the memorial stone anyway.

His father's ideals had always been at odds with the shinobi of Konoha.

Perhaps only that idiot, Obito, would have supported him.

As Kakashi reminisced about the past, he arrived at the small, isolated corner of the cemetery—only to find a fresh bouquet of white flowers placed in front of his father's grave.

Even the overgrown weeds had been carefully removed.

"Someone else came to visit?"

Kakashi was surprised.

He knew his father had few friends, and even fewer who would take the time to pay respects.

Perhaps…

Only Lady Tsunade.

Kakashi recalled the white flowers at the First Hokage's grave as well.

Could it be that Tsunade had returned to the village?

Had the Uchiha massacre finally drawn her back after all these years?

If so…

It wasn't really his concern.

Kakashi left the cemetery and returned to the village's commercial district, planning to pick up a few things before heading back to his duties in the Anbu. The workload had increased significantly—Konoha's forces were on high alert, fearing external infiltration.

Before the Uchiha clan's destruction, the Barrier Team had reported multiple disturbances in the village's security barrier, though no source had ever been identified. Now, in these tense times, patrols had been reinforced once again.

Konoha's Sweet Shop.

Kakashi's aimless steps led him here.

Before the village had been thrown into turmoil, people used to line up here for sweets. But now, even the queue had grown shorter.

A group of Kakashi's former classmates had gathered, chatting during a brief break. Their conversation naturally turned to the Uchiha massacre.

"Unbelievable… that an entire clan was wiped out by a thirteen-year-old Chunin…"

"Did our class have any Uchiha?"

"You guys already forgot? Kakashi's teammate, Obito Uchiha… but he died in the war, didn't he?"

A spiky-haired young man in a green bodysuit spoke lazily, then quickly noticed Kakashi. He waved enthusiastically.

"Hey, Kakashi, over here!"

"…"

Kakashi barely acknowledged him.

Instead, his mind drifted back to the two white bouquets he had seen earlier. Without much thought, he asked, "Have any of you seen Lady Tsunade?"

"Haven't seen her…"

"Wait, has Lady Tsunade returned?"

His classmates exchanged surprised glances.

"What's wrong, Kakashi?"

The green-clad youth, closest to Kakashi, studied him curiously.

"You've seemed more and more down lately."

Then, as if struck by a brilliant idea, he clenched his fists and shouted, "How about we have a youthful duel right now?!"

"I'm leaving."

Kakashi refused without hesitation and turned to go.

He had no interest in wasting time with them.

However…

Just as he was about to leave, something caught his eye.

A lone figure sat beneath a tree outside the sweet shop, their presence out of place in Konoha.

The person wore a wide-brimmed hat that obscured their features. Beside them sat an unopened bottle of sugarcane juice. In their hand, they held a brush, carefully writing something onto a scroll.

They looked…

Like a shinobi.

That kind of scroll was only used by ninjas.

But if they were from the village…

Why hadn't anyone else noticed them?

Their attire didn't resemble Konoha's standard uniform.

In these tense times, wasn't such an unfamiliar presence cause for concern?

A flicker of suspicion crossed Kakashi's mind as he approached, intending to question the stranger.

But before he could speak, the person swiftly rolled up their scroll and strode toward the market district—heading straight for one of Konoha's special Jonin, Anko Mitarashi.

Anko wasn't particularly well-known in the village.

She had a fondness for sweets and a rather short temper.

But that was normal.

Her background was what made her truly stand out.

Anko's former teacher was the infamous rogue ninja, Orochimaru. His defection had left her in an awkward position, and she had since dedicated herself to hunting him down. Outside of that goal, her main hobby was indulging in sweets.

At first, Kakashi thought the stranger might be an acquaintance of Anko's.

But then…

He saw her expression twist into pure shock.

And she silently followed the mysterious figure away.

That was… suspicious.

Something wasn't right.

"This… feels off."

Curiosity flared in Kakashi's mind. He instinctively began trailing them, trying to deduce the identity of the man in the wide-brimmed hat.

"Who… is he?"

Then—

A gust of wind blew.

The hat tilted slightly, revealing a glimpse of the man's face.

Kakashi saw his eyes.

Slitted pupils.

He had seen them before.

Back when he had been assigned to track down Konoha's most infamous rogue ninja—when his very presence had paralyzed Kakashi with sheer killing intent.

Kakashi's body stiffened.

His hand instinctively gripped his kunai.

He knew who this was.

Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had returned to Konoha.

Kakashi quickly left an Anbu marker requesting reinforcements and began tailing Orochimaru and Anko.

He had no idea…

That his every move had already been noticed.

From the shadows, a black-and-white figure emerged from the ground.

"So, Lord Shigen has found Orochimaru's cursed mark host…"

White Zetsu chuckled.

"He has indeed learned deception. He used the Transformation Jutsu to impersonate Orochimaru. That girl fell for it completely."

"But he already slipped up."

Black Zetsu sneered.

"He doesn't even know the girl's name. She's bound to realize something's wrong soon."

But it didn't matter.

Because by then, it would already be too late.

----------

Powerstones?

For 20 advance chapters: patreon.com/michaeltranslates