socalfunplaces Chapter 137 Countermeasures
Chapter 137 Countermeasures
Chapter 137 Countermeasures
As Taichi watched Yusuke's departing figure, he sighed at the unpredictability of life. Who would have thought that one of the key figures who caused Sakumo Hatake's New Year's collapse in the original work would now become his most steadfast supporter?
As Taichi walked home, he pondered his next move, now only one key figure remained—Kakashi.
It's been a long time since I've seen him. I wonder if he's in Konoha. If he is, did he say those hurtful things to his father?
Thinking about it, Taiichi felt a headache coming on. He was an outsider, yet he had to worry about the relationship between the father and son. But then he thought of the selfless help they had given him when he first learned swordsmanship; he thought of the guidance he received from Sakumo-senpai yesterday; and he thought of his friendship with Kakashi over the years.
Taiyi sighed and gave up struggling. What could he do? He was destined to be a busybody.
Just as Taiyi resigned himself to his fate, a familiar chakra fluctuation came from around the corner ahead.
Meanwhile, Kakashi, hands in his pockets, was wandering aimlessly down the street, his brows furrowed beneath his silver hair.
He had been wandering the streets all morning, and even though he wasn't paying attention, the vicious rumors kept reaching his ears, like the whispers of demons, constantly stimulating his nerves.
Although Hatake Sakumo didn't care about these rumors, as a son, how could he let these people slander his father at will?
But how to handle this matter was another problem. He racked his brains but couldn't come up with an effective solution. Kakashi thought of asking for help. The first people who came to his mind were Obito and Guy, who had helped fight yesterday. But he immediately rejected this idea. Not only were neither of them people with the brains to do this, but their small "bodies" were also not suitable for this task.
Thinking about his current teammates, Kakashi shook his head again, wondering if he was just unlucky. Since graduating, he'd already had two different teams, and he'd only known his current teammates for a few months. He couldn't trust them at all to do such private things.
Kakashi then thought of his other friend, Itachi, who was smart and strong enough to "conspire together on important matters".
But where could he be at this time? I heard that my father owed a lot to his help with this mission, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to complete the mission, and the consequences would have been even more serious.
While Kakashi was still thinking about Taiichi, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he rounded a corner.
"Kakashi!"
"Taiichi!"
Their simultaneous exclamations were clearly audible even on the bustling street, drawing curious glances from passersby.
Taiichi looked at the dark circles under Kakashi's eyes, which even his mask couldn't hide.
Kakashi noticed the dust on Taichi's body, which didn't seem to be from training.
"I was just looking for you." Kakashi broke the silence first, his voice unusually urgent. "About those rumors—"
"I know," Taichi interrupted Kakashi. "I went to your house yesterday and met Sakumo-senpai. I just went to see his teammate, the ninja he saved, Yusuke."
Kakashi's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected Taichi to care so much about his father. Thinking about the dust on Taichi's body, he guessed it was from running around for this matter. He couldn't help but feel happy that he had such good friends.
First it was Guy and Obito, and now it's Taichi; they're all selflessly helping me.
"Thank you!" Kakashi said with heartfelt gratitude.
Taiyi rubbed his ears, as if he had misheard, took two steps forward, grabbed his neck, and shook him vigorously twice.
"It's rare to hear you say 'thank you.' It's a pity Obito isn't here, otherwise he would definitely be surprised."
Kakashi struggled a couple of times but couldn't break free, so he could only let Taichi hold him like that.
"You know about Father's situation. Although he says he doesn't care about the rumors in the village, I'm still worried—"
"Actually, since you said that, I'm not worried about Sakumo-senpai anymore!" Taichi laughed heartily, realizing that he had been worrying for nothing. Kakashi is quite reliable now!
"But you're right, we need to stop the rumors circulating in the village. If they're allowed to continue like this, they won't hurt anyone, but they'll still disgust people."
"Taiyi, do you have any good ideas? I've been thinking for a long time, but I still can't come up with anything good!"
Taiichi, with Kakashi by his side, arrived at a secluded spot. They used their senses to check and make sure no one else was around.
"Do you know who is spreading rumors about your father?"
Kakashi shook his head blankly.
Do you know why those people spread those rumors?
Kakashi shook his head helplessly again.
"Have you thought about how to avoid retaliation from those guys? You know, the kind of people who are capable of doing something like this are not easy to deal with."
Kakashi has become a bit withdrawn. Did he really have to consider so many things just to stop rumors?
Taiichi chuckled inwardly as he looked at Kakashi's dejected expression. It was only because Kakashi was still young and inexperienced that he was so easily fooled.
It's rare to see Kakashi get his comeuppance; he's usually so arrogant. It's a shame I didn't have a camera, otherwise I could have recorded this scene; it would have been a great story to tell later.
Putting aside his wandering thoughts, Taiichi, combining his memories from his past life with his current investigation, explained the whole story to Kakashi.
Kakashi frowned upon hearing this and said in a low voice, "I had suspected that someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes, but I never expected it to be Root—but why would they do this?"
Taiichi sneered, tapping his finger on the tree trunk: "Because Sakumo-senpai's reputation is too high. Even the Sannin would give way to the title of 'Konoha's White Fang,' let alone some rats who can only hide underground."
Taiichi deliberately lowered his voice: "Besides, Danzo has always coveted the Hokage position. Why wouldn't he be happy to eliminate a rival so easily?"
"How dare he? Doesn't the Hokage know about this?" Kakashi asked incredulously, but when he looked up and saw Taichi's interested expression, he immediately realized that this was probably an action authorized by the Hokage.
"But Father has no intention of becoming Hokage!" Kakashi muttered, still unwilling to give up.
"Sakumo-senpai doesn't want to be Hokage, you believe that, and I believe that too, but do you think the Third Hokage and Danzo would believe that?" Taichi patted Kakashi's shoulder hard, as if to wake him from his unrealistic thoughts.
"Besides, when that time really comes, it's not something you can just decide to decline."
"Where's the evidence?" Kakashi's voice trembled slightly; everything Taiichi said was shattering his worldview.
"When I went to find Yusuke just now, I ran into two ninjas who wanted to drag him to point out Sakumo-senpai's faults. Guess who sent these two?" Taichi said with a mischievous grin.
Although those two were well hidden, Taiichi could immediately detect the deathly stillness unique to Root ninjas. "Besides, you've been wandering around the village for so long, didn't you notice the characteristics of those who spread rumors?"
After Taiichi's reminder, Kakashi carefully recalled his experiences over this period of time, and sure enough, he did remember some details.
The ruthlessness he inadvertently revealed, the stiffness he occasionally displayed in his actions—all of these were consistent with the characteristics of the Root members he knew.
Kakashi clenched his fists, his chest heaving violently, his worldview crumbling and being rebuilt.
After a long while, Kakashi finally calmed down. He buried the darkness behind this incident deep in his heart, and now the most important thing was how to quell the rumors in the village.
Faced with Kakashi's question, Taichi confidently laughed and said, "It takes only a mouth to spread a rumor, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute it. The rumor has already spread throughout the entire village, and we can't start from the source anymore. Now there's only one way—"
Taichi then kept Kakashi in suspense, waiting to see how he would react.
Kakashi, ever the opportunist, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll treat you to barbecue after we're done!"
"The best way to deal with rumors is to cover up the old ones with new ones, preferably even more sensational ones!"
Like a bolt of lightning ripped through the dark night sky, Kakashi instantly understood the brilliance of this method.
There's no need to defend yourself, because to those who believe the rumors, your explanation would just be a cover-up.
It doesn't need to be completely realistic, because the desired effect is a mix of truth and illusion.
When the village is filled with various rumors, the villagers will no longer focus on the Hatake Sakumo incident. After all, everyone's energy is limited. When one is focused on one thing, one will naturally have less energy for other things.
As for the people spreading the rumors, that's even less of a problem for Taichi and Kakashi. Shadow Clone Jutsu and Transformation Jutsu make them the perfect candidates, with absolutely no worries about the consequences. If they're discovered, they can simply dispel the Shadow Clone Jutsu without leaving a trace.
The two discussed their plan of action and fabricated some sensational rumors about Danzo before leaving the remote place in opposite directions.
As planned, Taiyi walked from east to west. After finding a secluded corner, he created two shadow clones and then used a transformation technique to turn the clones into two strangers.
"Go, spread the word about Danzo, the wider the better," Taiichi whispered.
The two shadow clones nodded, quickly walked out, and blended into the crowd on the street.
"Have you heard? Lord Zango, the advisor to the Konoha Advisory Council, is currently conducting human experiments—"
"Shh, keep your voice down! I heard it's a Wood Release experiment—"
"Wasn't that experiment banned?"
"I heard that he was willing to sacrifice the village's interests for his own ambitions—"
"Really? Isn't he an elder of Konoha?"
"I heard that Lord Danzo is still not ready to accept his age and wants to be elected the Fourth Hokage."
Taiichi's main body continued to wander through Konoha. After his chakra recovered, he created shadow clones again and repeated the above operation.
"I've heard that Lord Danzo sacrificed many of his comrades for his missions—"
"Yes, it's said that he can abandon even his own people without hesitation—"
"No wonder he was so opposed to Sakumo-senpai saving his comrades; it turns out he's that kind of person himself."
"I heard that this is why he wasn't chosen as Hokage by the Second Hokage back then."
"oh----"
Taiichi walked and stopped frequently, until he had circled most of Konoha before meeting up with Kakashi at the other end of the village.
Kakashi was already waiting there. Usually quite calm, he was pacing back and forth excitedly. When he saw Taichi approaching, a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes. Clearly, doing this was both new and exciting for him.
"How did it go? Was it successful?"
Taiichi shrugged and casually gave an OK sign.
He used Shadow Clone Technique six times during the entire trip, which means that there are currently twelve "Taiichi" in Konoha spreading rumors.
Kakashi's side has fewer, with a total of 8 "Kakashi"s currently working hard.
"Let's go! Let's have a good barbecue meal." Kakashi put his arm around Tai's neck. "I really have to thank you properly this time!"
"One barbecue meal isn't enough—we need at least two!" Taichi hooked his arm around Kakashi, and the two chatted and laughed as they walked toward the barbecue restaurant.
"No problem, you name the number of meals, that's it!"
Inside the barbecue restaurant, while waiting for the meat to be served, Taiyi quietly released a silencing barrier to prevent their voices from being heard.
"We probably won't see the results today, but I reckon we'll see some discussion about it on the streets tomorrow." Taiyi picked up a slice of golden-brown grilled meat, dipped it in the sauce, wrapped it in some vegetables, and popped it into his mouth. With each chew, the oil and aroma filled his mouth.
"Let's do it again tomorrow, shall we find some more people to join us?" Kakashi was eager to try, the fragrant grilled meat completely ignoring his interest.
"We need to do it again, not just tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow too. But don't add any more people. The fewer people who know about this, the better. Even if it's Sakumo-senpai, don't tell him." Taichi picked up another piece of grilled meat and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
"Don't rush things, or you'll easily expose your weaknesses. What we're doing now isn't anything serious, and if we're discovered, we won't have a good ending."
Kakashi nodded in realization. He had been a bit too hasty earlier. His father's rumors had been circulating in the village for several days before reaching their current scale. With only two people on his side, they were only able to make this progress thanks to cheating with Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Having figured this out, Kakashi stopped worrying and prepared to enjoy the delicious grilled meat. But when he looked at the grill in front of him, the once full plate was now empty except for a few small pieces of meat.
"Hey! Taiichi, that's so mean! I haven't even eaten a single piece yet!"
"You can only blame yourself for not concentrating on your meal. You deserve not to get any barbecue." Taiyi laughed arrogantly and stuffed the last few pieces of barbecue into his mouth without giving any face.
The smacking sounds of chewing stimulated Kakashi's taste buds. He casually dispelled the silencing barrier and shouted, "Waiter, another one, just like before!"
Seeing Kakashi's expression of having suffered a great loss, Taichi laughed and said, "Don't worry about it. When you're treating someone, you can't let them not eat their fill. This amount of meat wasn't enough for the two of us to begin with."
"You're something else!" Kakashi said sternly, then focused on the newly arrived grilled meat, no longer letting anything else distract him.
Taiichi was secretly pleased with Kakashi's performance.
From the moment Taiichi met Kakashi today, probably because of the rumors, he felt that Kakashi was like a bowstring stretched to its fullest extent.
If things continue like this, before the rumors subside, he himself will be the one to run into problems. After all, being constantly on edge will eventually lead to disaster.
That's why Taiichi kept teasing Kakashi earlier, in order to make him stop thinking about the rumors and relax.
It seems that the results are quite good.
Seeing Kakashi devouring the grilled meat on the plate, Taichi didn't think twice and immediately joined the battle. Soon, chopsticks were flying everywhere on the grill.
The battle only ended when the two finished off their third serving of barbecue.
The two, both heavily pregnant, looked at each other's awkward, reclining postures and burst into laughter. Their joyful laughter, like a tidal wave, completely washed away the worries that had been lingering in their hearts for some time.
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