Chapter 566: The Theory of the Will of Bullying

At last, the movie reached the scene where Orochi-Maruko was immobilized by Uchiha Shō's genjutsu, and Shinoya emerged from the bushes wearing a lecherous grin that made him look like a particularly pleased toad.

The instant he appeared, everyone understood exactly where the scene was heading.

Sakura and Ino did not spare even a second to mourn Orochi-Maruko's impending misfortune.

Their minds immediately jumped back to Lee's strange reaction when Sakura had suggested keeping Guy sedated.

"Tenten."

Ino slowly turned toward her with a resentful look.

"You guys already watched this movie, didn't you?"

She and Sakura had gone out of their way to explain the previous film because they were worried Tenten wouldn't understand the plot.

Turns out they had wasted all that effort.

Not only had Tenten and the others already seen the previous movie—

They had already watched this one too.

"I just didn't want to spoil anything for you!"

Tenten immediately tried to defend herself.

Then, before either of them could respond, she hurriedly changed the subject by launching into plot analysis.

"Besides, haven't you noticed something?

"A lot of these characters seem really familiar.

"Don't you think Uchiha Natsusuke might actually be based on Sasuke?

"And maybe Orochi-Maruko is Orochimaru?"

"No way."

Sakura instantly rejected the idea.

"Orochi-Maruko is a woman."

The moment she imagined Orochimaru and Sasuke caught up in the teacher-disciple romance playing out on screen, Sakura visibly shuddered.

"But I heard Orochimaru is a woman now."

Tenten innocently shrugged.

"And look at the clues.

"Orochi-Maruko founded the Ancient Tomb Sect, while Orochimaru is basically the source of all the Edo Tensei shinobi running around these days.

"And Orochi-Maruko's nickname is the Little Dragon Maiden.

"Dragon.

"You know what that represents, right?

"Ryūchi Cave."

"…"

Sakura felt as though her entire worldview had just been struck by lightning.

She could no longer concentrate on the movie at all.

It was like she had suddenly attained enlightenment.

At last, she understood why Sasuke had been so comfortable staying in Amegakure that he seemed to have forgotten Konoha entirely.

No wonder Naruto had already come all the way to Kirigakure while Sasuke still refused to move.

So Naruto and Sasuke really didn't have that kind of suspicious bond after all—

Wait.

Didn't they?

Anyway!

Apparently Naruto wasn't Sasuke's only questionable connection.

There was Orochimaru too!

Sakura suddenly remembered that sometime after the Konoha Crush during the Chūnin Exams, she had vaguely heard Orochimaru say something about giving Sasuke a daughter.

So there really had been signs even back then!

She had simply been too slow to notice!

…

While Sakura was having her revelation in the cinema, Kakashi finally learned what Shira and Might Guy had supposedly "figured out."

Shira had discovered that the trace amounts of Kakashi's "breath" he had inhaled contained residual natural energy.

And those traces of natural energy produced an unusually strong amplification effect on his Seven Heavens Breathing Method.

That raised an obvious question in Shira's mind.

Why had Kakashi never let Guy train in senjutsu?

Shira already knew that the reason Gaara had excluded him from Sunagakure's initial Sage Mode candidate list was precisely because of Might Guy's precedent.

Guy was already an extreme taijutsu specialist.

So the assumption had been that there was no need for someone like that to pursue Sage Mode too.

Kakashi was stunned.

Then he started feeling guilty.

He had always treated taijutsu and senjutsu as two separate methods of dealing with the Ōtsutsuki.

Since Guy had already specialized so heavily in taijutsu, Kakashi had assumed there was no point in making him study senjutsu as well.

He had never imagined that combining senjutsu with certain specialized taijutsu systems could create a qualitative leap in power.

Guy, still lying there under anesthesia, somehow managed to convey the sentiment:

Exactly. That's what I was thinking too.

Shira immediately began preparing to train in Sage Mode.

Guy, being thoroughly sedated, could not move at all.

So the job fell to Lee instead.

That worked out rather well.

Given Shira's current level, he was nowhere near strong enough to properly spar with Guy anyway.

Lee, on the other hand, was about the right level for him.

So with Guy enthusiastically encouraging him from the ground, Lee also prepared to begin Sage Mode training.

…

Although when it came to talent, Lee was even more extreme than Guy.

Guy at least knew a few techniques outside pure taijutsu.

Lee genuinely had almost nothing else.

After that entire chain of events, Kakashi finally regained some peace and quiet.

At last.

He could go back to enjoying his vacation.

So Kakashi returned to his previous routine—

Reading a novel while simultaneously monitoring Obito inside Engraved Tsukuyomi.

Unfortunately, the peace did not last long.

Kakashi had barely lain down when Kimimaro appeared outside his tent and handed him something.

"This is a confidential assignment from the Second Hokage."

Kimimaro explained calmly.

"He said every generation of Hokage has responsibilities unique to that generation.

"Lady Tsunade's task is to complete Konoha's economic and political reforms.

"And since you have been designated as Konoha's next Hokage, you have a duty to complete this mission."

With that, Kimimaro left.

"?"

Kakashi stared at the scroll in his hands and immediately felt his headache getting worse.

What did he mean, designated next Hokage?

Wasn't Kakashi just an overworked assistant?

How had helping Tsunade with paperwork somehow turned into him actually becoming Hokage?

And this mission…

Kakashi didn't even need to open the scroll to know it was going to be troublesome.

If it were anything simple, why wouldn't Tobirama just hand it directly to Tsunade and have her deal with it alongside everything else?

Why specifically leave it to the so-called next generation of Hokage?

That could only mean that, in Tobirama's judgment, even if they started working on the problem immediately, it might take an entire generation before they had any chance of solving it.

Filled with dread, Kakashi slowly opened the scroll.

One glance at the contents confirmed his fears.

Just reading it made an invisible pressure settle over him.

The problem Tobirama wanted him to solve was—

Bullying in Konoha.

Was that even something Kakashi could solve?

Most of Konoha's current reforms ultimately dealt with problems that could, if necessary, be beaten into submission.

But bullying?

How exactly were they supposed to use force against that?

Kill everyone?

Enforce absurdly harsh laws?

Neither would work.

If someone stopped bullying people just because they were afraid of dying, then what was even the point of living?

That was the Will of Bullying!

And as the nominal author of several books, Kakashi had spoken with Makoto often enough to hear plenty of strange theories from him.

Makoto had once said:

The theory of bullying was to the shinobi world what the theory of Heaven's Will was to the newer Romance of the Three Kingdoms adaptations.

Once you accepted the premise, countless otherwise inexplicable events suddenly made sense.

Kakashi had never understood the second half of that comparison.

But he understood the general point.

He looked toward the beach.

Guy was still lying there under anesthesia, loudly directing Lee through some ridiculous public training exercise despite being unable to move himself.

That sight suddenly reminded Kakashi of the first time he had met Might Duy and his son.

Both Duy and Guy had been bullied.

Yet they always responded with smiles.

Their reactions were so cheerful that outsiders might easily assume the innocent father and son simply didn't understand how vicious those insults actually were.

But Kakashi knew better.

He was Guy's closest friend.

He had spent years quietly watching him.

Guy understood perfectly well.

"Wait."

Kakashi suddenly froze.

Something clicked in his mind.

He lowered his gaze toward the display showing Obito inside Engraved Tsukuyomi.

And then his eyes widened.

Of course!

"Makoto was right…"

Kakashi's expression slowly turned sorrowful.

"The bullying theory really can explain mysteries nobody understood before.

"Obito…

"So that's why you…"

At last, Kakashi understood why Obito had turned evil.

Might Duy and Guy had understood that people were mocking them.

They simply chose to smile and pretend it didn't matter.

Obito was different.

Kakashi had always said Obito was a lot like Naruto, and that comparison had never been baseless.

As the Uchiha clan's resident idiot, Obito genuinely did not understand when people were being sarcastic or subtly cruel to him.

He might even have been more naïve than Naruto.

In Obito's eyes, Konoha had always been a warm, wholesome village filled with kindhearted people.

That was why he had happily gone around helping every old lady and every villager he encountered.

Then came the day Obito personally witnessed Kakashi killing Rin.

At that moment, Uchiha Idiot Level Two finally evolved.

Maybe not into a genius—

But at least into Uchiha Idiot Level Three.

His intelligence increased just enough for him to look back on his childhood and suddenly realize that because he had been too dense to understand what people were really saying, he had spent his entire life inside a beautified version of reality.

That was why Obito always insisted that his desire for Infinite Tsukuyomi was not merely because of Rin.

He claimed he had finally seen the darkness of the shinobi world.

And apparently—

He had not been exaggerating.

That truly was the exact moment when he finally became smart enough to notice it.

Obito's entire worldview had collapsed.

The Konoha he once believed was kind and beautiful had actually been filled with bullying all along.

And once he lost the ability to tell sincerity from cruelty, naturally even Minato and Kushina must have been bullying him too.

So when the Nine-Tails attack came—Obito showed them neither mercy nor humanity.

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