"Hanare?"
Kakashi repeated the name, then bent slightly in a respectful bow. "Greetings, Lady Hanare."
"My name is Hatake Kakashi."
Hanare still hadn't fully adjusted to her new status, so she was briefly stunned.
"Hatake… Kakashi. Hatake Sakumo is your…"
"My father."
After hearing Kakashi's answer, Hanare felt extremely complicated emotions. Strangely enough, she even felt a hint of pride.
Of course she had heard of the reputations of Hatake Sakumo and Hatake Kakashi. To Hanare, one was the legendary "White Fang of Konoha" who had once shaken the entire ninja world, and the other was hailed as the greatest genius of the ninja world.
As a ninja of the Land of Keys, she normally would never have had the chance to meet people of such stature.
Yet now, Kakashi was bowing to her with respect.
Although Hanare knew this was all because of the man standing beside her, as a woman… she could naturally accept and enjoy the status and position that came with her partner.
She smiled and nodded.
"There's no need for such formality."
After speaking, Hanare quietly stepped back behind Yuzuru.
Seeing how reserved the two of them were, Yuzuru wasn't surprised.
Because of the butterfly effect he had caused, Kakashi had followed Hatake Sakumo in defecting from Konoha much earlier. Naturally, the incident from the original story where Kakashi rescued Hanare had never happened.
So the two of them had never actually crossed paths before.
Uchiha Obito, however, wasn't as restrained as Kakashi. He immediately asked bluntly, "Brother Yuzuru, Sister Hanare is a ninja from the Land of Keys. How did she end up with you?"
Yuzuru glanced at Obito and said calmly, "The Land of Keys tried to spy on our village's intelligence. Hanare came to secretly warn us."
Obito's eyes lit up.
"Brother Yuzuru, does that mean we're going to attack the Land of Keys?"
"Can you send me this time? I've been stuck at the Ninja Academy teaching those little brats every day. I'm so bored I'm about to go crazy."
"If you give this mission to me, I'll make you the protagonist of my novel."
Hearing Obito's words, Yuzuru quickly waved his hand.
"Obito, the protagonist position belongs to you alone. Don't even consider giving it to me."
"Since you want to go, then in a few days you and Kakashi can come along with me."
"Then it's settled!" Obito clenched his fist excitedly. "I'll go prepare right now."
Kakashi bowed again.
"Then I'll take my leave as well."
After the two left, Hanare looked at Yuzuru with some worry.
"Lord Yuzuru… when you attack the Land of Keys, could you avoid harming my people?"
Yuzuru gently rubbed her head and comforted her.
"Don't worry. As long as they are willing to submit, I won't start killing for no reason."
————
One week later.
After all preparations were complete, Yuzuru used Kamui to bring Hanare, Obito, and Kakashi toward the Land of Keys.
As for the forces meant to control the Land of Keys, Yuzuru had already informed Pakura earlier and asked her to mobilize nearby Sunagakure ninjas to gather first at the border of the Land of Locks.
Kamui allowed them to travel extremely quickly. In less than a single day, they had already arrived near the border of the Land of Locks.
Not far from the border, the ninjas of Sunagakure had already assembled.
When they saw Yuzuru appear, one of the Sunagakure ninjas quickly walked forward.
"Lord Yuzuru, my name is Baki. I am a jōnin from Sunagakure."
"This time, the Kazekage has sent one thousand ninjas to follow your command!"
After seeing Baki, Yuzuru raised an eyebrow.
This man was quite famous.
In the original story, Baki was the teacher of Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. He was also the ninja responsible for executing the "Konoha Crush Plan" and someone deeply trusted by the Kazekage Rasa.
However, the reason he was most well known wasn't because of overwhelming strength.
However, his most famous trait wasn't his strength, but the fact that he was the culprit who killed Hayate Gekko in the early stages of the series
Although he didn't appear much afterward, the impression he left was still deep enough for Yuzuru to remember.
After briefly sizing Baki up, Yuzuru asked directly,
"Tell me the intelligence about the Land of Keys."
Baki immediately replied,
"The Land of Keys has a total of more than three hundred ninjas. Their strongest combat power consists of three jōnin."
"They are Hideki, Toshio, and Shoichi."
"According to our investigation, they have recently been contacting nearby nations, attempting to form an alliance to resist a possible future invasion."
"In their eyes, you are their hypothetical enemy."
After hearing the report, Yuzuru nodded calmly.
If not for Hanare, a force of this level wouldn't even be worth a personal visit from him.
To put it bluntly, even sending Obito alone would be enough to wipe out the Land of Keys.
"Let's go. Attack the Land of Keys!"
"Yes!"
With Yuzuru's command, Baki immediately waved the flag in his hand.
The next moment, the army of one thousand Sunagakure ninjas advanced in orderly formation toward their predetermined targets.
————
"Strange… how could this happen?"
After entering the territory of the Land of Keys, Baki frowned.
Everywhere they looked were corpses and collapsed ruins.
Many places were still burning, producing constant crackling sounds.
Everything seemed to indicate one thing—
A large-scale conflict had already erupted inside the Land of Keys.
Seeing that even Baki looked unaware of the situation, Hanare's face filled with anxiety.
When she left, the Land of Keys had still been peaceful.
Why had it become like this now?
Who attacked the Land of Keys?
Before Hanare could figure it out, Baki suddenly shouted,
"Enemy! Stay alert!"
Everyone turned to look.
In the distant village, more than two hundred giant stone soldiers appeared, each two to three meters tall.
Their bodies were entirely made of rock. Holding sharp blades and spears, they charged toward Baki and the others.
"Form up!"
With Baki's command, the Sunagakure ninja army attacked together.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutting Technique!"
Countless wind blades, as sharp as steel knives, engulfed the stone soldiers and carved deep gashes into their bodies.
Under the combined attack of a thousand ninjas, many of the stone soldiers were directly cut into fragments by the wind blades.
In just a moment, more than two hundred stone soldiers were reduced to scattered rubble.
"Phew… this feels a bit like puppet technique. I wonder who's controlling these stone soldiers from behind the scenes."
"With bodies that large, it would be troublesome if they reached us."
"Fortunately they're too slow and heavy. As long as we keep our distance, they're easy to deal with."
"The destruction inside the Land of Keys is probably caused by these things."
Just as the Sunagakure ninjas were discussing among themselves, another noise came from ahead.
The shattered stones that had been sliced apart by the wind blades suddenly began to float into the air.
Within a few seconds, they reassembled once again into towering stone soldiers.
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