Chapter 357: This Is True Love
Using the assumption that "Kakashi is in love with my grandmother", the masked man replayed everything from the past in his mind, and suddenly, everything became clear.
Why didn't Kakashi like the adorable Rin?
No one in this world should be able to resist Rin.
Originally, the masked man had thought Kakashi was secretly in love with him.
That his earlier attitude had just been tsundere behavior.
After being "won over" by him, Kakashi had softened, and when he died, Kakashi had cried in deep sorrow.
But now, thinking about it again, it wasn't like that at all.
Kakashi had been grieving because he failed to keep his promise to his grandmother!
No wonder the way Kakashi looked at him in the beginning made him uncomfortable, it had a kind of condescending feeling.
(Like a jōnin looking down on a chūnin.)
Kakashi had always been viewing him from the perspective of an elder.
"Damn it, Kakashi! I treated you as a friend, but you wanted to be my grandfather!"
The masked man slammed his fist into the ground in fury.
After calming himself down a bit, he returned outside.
He wanted to hear what else Kakashi might say that he didn't know.
"Kakashi-sensei, we understand you. This is what they call true love in books, right? Ignoring appearance, ignoring age, ignoring gossip, ignoring life and death… it's so touching."
"Don't worry, Kakashi. We'll help you keep this secret."
After hearing Kakashi's story, Naruto and Sasuke made their promises one after the other.
"No need."
Kakashi shook his head and refused.
He had already decided to bear this burden of disgrace. There was no point in hiding it anymore.
The whole reason he was doing this was to provide a believable explanation, so that the masked man would learn of it.
If Naruto and Sasuke kept it a secret, then all his effort would be wasted.
Although, to be fair, Kakashi didn't really believe Naruto could keep a secret anyway.
"I kept this matter hidden before so that Obito wouldn't be put in a difficult position. But now that Obito is already… sigh, there's no need for me to suppress my feelings anymore. I will announce to the entire ninja world my love for Tsuru."
"Chiyo, Koharu… they are all just shadows of Tsuru."
As Kakashi spoke, tears streamed down his face once again.
Sometimes, having too vivid an imagination wasn't a good thing.
As he spoke, he couldn't help but picture inappropriate scenes in his mind involving himself and those elderly women.
"…"
The masked man fell silent again.
Doing all this to avoid putting him in a difficult position, how considerate.
Should I be thanking you, Kakashi?
"Kakashi-sensei, don't worry. Sasuke is Orochimaru's disciple. He can talk to him and have him use Impure World Reincarnation to bring the old lady back."
"Then you two can be together. So don't rush to announce this to the entire ninja world just yet."
Naruto hurriedly explained their plan.
In his mind, Kakashi had been stirred by memories of his former love, which was why he wanted to make a public declaration.
"What? Orochimaru? Impure World Reincarnation?, No!"
Kakashi's expression shifted constantly. Even with only his eyes visible above his mask, they told a vivid story.
"Absolutely not. Impure World Reincarnation subjects are controlled by the caster. What if that evil Orochimaru lusts after Tsuru's beauty? Wouldn't she fall into his clutches? Absolutely not!"
"…"
"Kakashi, you don't need to worry. Orochimaru is a woman now. Even if she wanted to lust after an old lady's beauty, she doesn't have the necessary equipment."
Sasuke took a deep breath and calmly tried to reason with him.
"Sasuke, you've trained under Orochimaru for so long, and you still don't understand him? If he wants that kind of equipment, he can just transplant it at any time."
Kakashi shook his head.
Sasuke's expression stiffened. That was… actually true.
"Kakashi-sensei, this is actually a secret I should keep for Pervy Sage. But to put your mind at ease, I have to tell you. Please don't tell anyone else."
"In fact, that guy Orochimaru is secretly in love with Pervy Sage!"
"And Pervy Sage also likes Orochimaru's flexible, smooth body."
"?"
"Doesn't Jiraiya-sama like Tsunade-sama?"
Kakashi was stunned.
He was acting, but Naruto and Sasuke weren't.
They were speaking sincerely.
So what exactly was going on with Jiraiya?
Naruto looked troubled.
"It's not that he likes Granny Tsunade. Just like you, Kakashi-sensei, that was only a disguise."
"Shiromo-nii told me about some events from what was originally supposed to happen in the future. Originally, Orochimaru would be killed by Sasuke. After Orochimaru died, Pervy Sage was heartbroken…"
"After Orochimaru's death, Pervy Sage developed self-destructive tendencies. He deliberately took on the most dangerous intelligence-gathering mission. After obtaining the information, he didn't use Reverse Summoning to escape, he chose to die in battle and go to the Pure Land to accompany Orochimaru."
"There's such a thing?"
Kakashi never expected that while he was here tarnishing his own reputation, he'd end up hearing extra stories.
"Wait, that doesn't add up. Based on some of the things Shiromo mentioned during the Chūnin Exams, isn't Orochimaru still alive twenty years later?"
Kakashi suddenly realized something.
"Orochimaru has the Cursed Seal and reincarnation techniques. He can revive himself from death at any time."
Sasuke gave a straightforward explanation.
"So Jiraiya-sama died for nothing?"
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
Dying for love was one thing, but discovering afterward that the other person hadn't actually died… that was something else entirely.
"Not exactly for nothing. Shiromo-nii told me that Pervy Sage had self-destructive tendencies and wanted to die for love, but failed."
"After being gravely injured and sinking into the sea, he was saved by a deep-sea summoning creature called Little Sponge and spent a long time recovering."
"After finally healing, he said goodbye to the deep-sea summon and swam up to the surface, only to hear someone say, 'This is six hundred billion explosive tags prepared for you.'"
"Then he was blown up again, severely injured, and sank back into the deep sea, where he was saved by another deep-sea summon called Little Octopus."
"After recovering once more, he swam to the surface again."
"The moment he reached it, he heard, 'I've already transferred the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb to the surface.'"
"Then he basically did die for nothing."
Sasuke was speechless.
"…Jiraiya-sama really had a tragic fate."
Kakashi sighed.
By this point, the masked man had already left.
But he didn't go back. The moment he heard that Kakashi and the others were planning to use Impure World Reincarnation on his grandmother, he immediately realized the problem and rushed toward the Konoha cemetery.
He had to relocate his grandmother's grave.
Otherwise, it would be defiled by Kakashi and that cursed Team 7.
"What?! It's already gone?!"
The masked man found his grandmother's grave, only to discover that it had already been emptied.
Looking more closely, it wasn't just his grandmother. The entire cemetery, even the nearby memorial monument, showed signs that the soil and bricks had been disturbed wherever remains had once been buried.
He checked a few at random to confirm.
Sure enough, everything was gone!
Were there grave robbers in Konoha?
(End of this chapter)