Chapter 665: Kakashi the Scapegoat

On a beach, Kakashi squatted down and carefully examined the footprints. This was the location where Konoha's border troops reported finding enemy traces a few days ago. Fortunately, the weather has been nice and windy recently, otherwise the footprints would not have been able to remain.

Based on the footprints, Kakashi deduced that they were left by an adult male ninja, about 175 cm tall and weighing 65 kg, which was consistent with the ninja's thin physique.

The border of the Land of Fire is 500 kilometers away from the Land of Water. Although ninjas have the ability to walk on water, it is unrealistic to simply walk across the vast ocean. A small sailboat left on the beach also confirms this.

"Captain," a ninja wrapped in blue-gray clothes and wearing sunglasses came from a distance and whispered, "There is nothing on the sailboat that can prove the identity of the enemy. There are only some leftover canned food. Judging from the degree of corruption of the food, it was left here about five to seven days ago."

Kakashi frowned in thought, stood up and paced back and forth, and said: "This is very strange, it doesn't make sense at all."

Yuan Yelin asked: "What's so strange about this?"

"Since it's a mission to infiltrate behind enemy lines, there's no reason for the Water Country ninjas to leave behind the sailboat. They can just destroy the boat and walk on the water when they get close to the border. This would be the logical move," said Kakashi.

Then, he pointed at the footprints and said, "Students in the Ninja School all know how to hide their tracks. The ninjas in the Hidden Mist Village are all very skilled and difficult to deal with. Why did they leave footprints?"

The tightly wrapped ninja, Aburame Shisho of the Aburame clan, said: "Combined with the analysis of the records of the border troops, we have reason to believe that this group of enemies did it on purpose, or they don't care about being discovered at all."

"Things are getting complicated." Kakashi reached out and took out a small piece of dry food from his ninja bag and started eating. As he ate, he said, "The enemy seems to be deliberately luring us into a pursuit. There must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. They must have ulterior motives!"

"Could it be a messenger sent by the Mizukage?" Aburame Shisho asked uncertainly.

"Absolutely impossible!" Kakashi ruled out the other party's speculation: "Emissaries of the two countries must be informed in advance and must enter the border accompanied by guardians. The mission letter issued by the Hokage clearly states that this is an enemy who sneaked in without permission, and there has been no turmoil in the Water Country recently, so there is no reason for them to send envoys to communicate."

The fourth member of the team was a taciturn guy, even less talkative than Aburame Shisho. He was currently sitting astride a huge ninja dog and had no interest in checking for the enemy.

"Inuzuka Shuo, did you find anything?"

Kakashi asked, considering that his opponent's partner, the ninja dog, had a scent tracking ability that was unparalleled in the ninja world.

But the other party shook his head and said, "It's been too long. Based on just one footprint, the brown ball can't smell any human breath. But it told me that the salty smell here is very strong, so strong that it can't stand it."

Kakashi was lost in thought for a moment, then said, "Let's leave here first. The complexity of the mission is beyond our expectations, and we need to report to the village."

The other three team members naturally had no objections. The four of them immediately left the beach, found a relatively flat and secluded place, and began to prepare today's lunch.

According to regulations, ninjas should avoid making fires and cooking while on a mission, so as not to expose their positions and numbers. Kakashi originally planned to have everyone eat some dry food to make do, after all, the enemy is in the dark and they are in the light, so it is better to be cautious. But humans can barely survive on dry food, but the ninja dogs of the Inuzuka clan are quite picky, and they look listless after eating three meals of dry food. In desperation, Kakashi had to allow everyone to make some hot food today to replenish their energy.

Fortunately, the Fire Country has a high vegetation coverage rate and a low level of development, so it is not difficult to find wild animals, especially under the noses of ninja dogs. It is very easy to find some game to satisfy your hunger.

Inuzuka Shuo carefully stirred the food in the pot with a wooden stick. His partner Zongwan sat beside him, staring at him with his eyes wide open, almost drooling.

After a while, the meal was ready. Kakashi didn't care and just rolled the leaves into a bowl and wolfed it down. He said, "I'll go get Zhixiang to eat. You guys continue."

Even though they were in the Land of Fire, and even a few kilometers away was the Konoha Border Force station, they still did not dare to let down their guard. When they needed to rest, they would definitely send someone to be responsible for reconnaissance and vigilance to avoid unnecessary accidents.

When Kakashi found Aburame Shisho, he was lying on the ground concentrating on watching ants carry food. He was speechless and didn't understand what was so interesting about insects. "It's your turn to eat."

"Yeah." Aburame Shisho responded, still lying on the ground motionlessly looking at the ants, as if they were his whole world.

Only after the ants worked together to move the food did Aburame Shisho stand up contentedly, push his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and say, "Captain, don't take it too seriously. My insects are spread across several kilometers around us, and any movement will not be hidden from their perception."

The Aburame clan is a medium-sized ninja clan in Konoha Village. Although the number of clan members is small, all of them are good fighters. The insects that can attack and defend are their most trusted partners and are very popular among the ninjas in the village. After all, who doesn't like a ninja who can fight and scout?

From the configuration of Kakashi's team, we can see that Ye Shan cares for them. Inuzuka Shuo is proficient in the secret techniques of the Inuzuka clan, and his strength is definitely stronger than that of ordinary jonin; Aburame Shisho is good at driving parasitic bugs, and his reconnaissance and combat abilities have reached the level of jonin, and he can even handle the mission alone; Harano Rin is not to be mentioned, her strength is stronger than that of ordinary chunin, and her medical ninjutsu has reached the level of special jonin. A jonin team usually consists of two jonin and two chunin, but the members of Kakashi's team are so crazy that all members are elites. Even a blind person can see that Ye Shan is biased.

Ye Shan has always felt guilty about Kakashi. If he hadn't sent them to carry out the bridge bombing mission, Uchiha Obito wouldn't have died without a complete body, and Kakashi wouldn't have lost an eye and become an alien in everyone's eyes. Ye Shan felt no psychological pressure to take care of Kakashi within his authority. After all, Hatake Sakumo only had him as a son, and he was counting on him to expand the Hatake clan.

"It's better to be careful during the mission. Not long ago, Maeda's team lost a Chunin due to carelessness. It was said that it was because the sentry fell asleep at night. It can be seen that everyone's vigilance has dropped a lot." Kakashi took out the kettle, turned his back to Aburame Shisho, drank a sip of water and said.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of moving to eat, Kakashi did not force it and continued: "In fact, I have not had much contact with the Aburame clan. I only know that you are the only insect repellent clan in the village. How do you manage to repel insects?"

Aburame Shisho pushed up his sunglasses. This was his signature move. Kakashi had seen it countless times along the way. "Everyone in our clan has had bugs in their bodies since they were young. The captain can use the Sharingan to check. There is nothing taboo about it."

Kakashi hesitated for a moment, but curiosity finally got the better of him. He lifted the forehead protector over his left eye and said, "Excuse me."

As soon as the Sharingan appeared, the temperature around it seemed to drop a few degrees. No wonder people called it the Eye of Enchantment.

Under the dynamic observation of the Sharingan, Kakashi clearly saw densely packed black spots wriggling under Aburame Shisho's skin. The number was abnormally terrifying. Obviously, this was the opponent's foundation.

"Sigh~"

Even though he was mentally prepared, Kakashi still shuddered and quickly closed his left eye, not daring to look anymore, and almost vomited out the lunch he had just eaten.

"Captain, there's no need to make a fuss. The ninja world is full of wonders. Our clan has been living with insects for generations, and insects are our most trusted companions." Aburame Shisho said calmly, and a few pitch-black beetles crawled out from the back of his outstretched right hand, with their tiny antennae dancing flexibly, as if looking for something.

Several identical beetles flew down from the leaves and landed on the back of Aburame Shisho's hand, touching their antennae with the beetle that had just crawled out.

"This is a sensory beetle. They form a pair of male and female. When I use it, the male beetle leaves my body. Once it detects an enemy, it will inform the female beetle through some means. So far, there has never been a mistake."

Kakashi suddenly realized and cast his eyes on the gourd-shaped jar carried by Aburame Shisho. Seeing this, the latter explained: "This is a ninja tool used by the clan to store insects. Some insects with violent temperaments are not suitable for fostering in the body, so they can only be used by external breeding."

"By the way, Captain, what are you going to do next? Continue chasing the enemy or stay where you are and wait for reinforcements?" Aburame Shisho asked, teasing the beetle.

"The enemy's motives are unclear at this point. I feel we have an obligation to continue the pursuit and prevent the enemy from inflicting unnecessary losses," Kakashi replied.

Aburame Shisho was not surprised to hear this. He had heard about Kakashi's deeds a long time ago and knew that he was a mission-oriented guy who would do anything to complete the mission. But for the sake of his own safety, he still wanted to remind him: "According to the border troops' report, the invading enemy is the Anbu. The Anbu's style is too different. Although our team is quite powerful, should we inform the Hokage?"

The implication of his words was very clear. The actions of the Kirigakure Anbu were too cruel. We are all unprofessional ninjas and should be reported to the Hokage. It would be best if the equally cruel Root were sent to deal with it.

It’s not that Aburame Shisho is afraid of death. No ninja is afraid of death. Those who are afraid of death would have died long ago. It’s just that the matter is serious and concerns the safety of the village, so it should be left to professional ninjas.

But Kakashi didn't think so. After experiencing the shock of Uchiha Obito's death, he had matured a lot, but the competitive spirit in his bones could not be changed overnight: "I have already reported to the Hokage, but it may not be appropriate to just wait and do nothing. Our team has two extremely excellent perception ninjas with different perception methods. Let's try to find the enemy's traces first, and then formulate a battle plan based on the actual situation!"

Aburame Shisho pushed up his sunglasses and said coolly, "It is the duty of a ninja to obey orders. As your subordinate, I should obey. But for safety reasons, please consider it carefully. The story of insects tells us that it is hard to say who is the hunter and who is the prey in this land."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked hesitantly.

"Just a moment ago, the grasshopper was still eating ants and enjoying the feast, but a moment later it fell under the attack of the ants. It only took a few minutes for the attack and defense to be successful."

"The invasion of Kirigakure happened a few days ago. Captain, have you ever thought about why they did not take any action? And why did they deliberately expose their whereabouts? Obviously, they are fishing." Aburame Shisho said.

Kakashi was shocked, and immediately felt that what the other party said made sense, but then he thought again, there were no important ninjas in his team, so they would not become the target of Kirigakure: "We don't seem to be qualified, right?"

"That's a lot to say." Aburame Shisho's voice didn't seem to fluctuate, just like a robot: "Isn't the captain a good target?"

"Me?" Kakashi pointed at his nose and said, "I am just an ordinary ninja. Why is it worth Kirigakure to mobilize so many troops?"

Aburame Shisho shook his head and said, "It seems that the captain is too modest. You are the disciple of Hokage-sama and the only son of White Fang-sama. Just based on these two points, you will have many enemies in the ninja world. Apart from other things, the most hated ninja in the Hidden Mist Village is none other than Hokage-sama. After all, he has broken down their psychological defenses twice."

"..."

Kakashi thought about it carefully, and it was true. His father had made a great reputation, and this reputation was built on the corpses of ninjas from enemy villages. There were victims in almost every village. Not to mention his master, Baiyun Yeshan, who openly killed Yagura, the candidate for Mizukage of Kirigakure Village. During the Third Shinobi World War, he ordered the coalition forces of the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan to defeat Kirigakure's revenge plan. It can be said that he did all kinds of bad things. Especially Yagura, who can be regarded as the shame of Kirigakure. In his own country, his own Mizukage successor was killed, and his head was brought back to Konoha to commemorate the enemy, and his face was swollen! The key point is that Kirigakure still doesn't understand why Yeshan did this. The Konoha Jonin named Yamashiro Tatsu was not killed by Yagura at all!

Thinking of this, Kakashi felt as if there were pairs of eyes around him staring at him, making him feel uncomfortable. Speaking of which, Kakashi was really the scapegoat. His father died early and left no blessings; the Hokage was too busy every day, and he didn't learn anything, but for no reason he became a hated person. It was more unfair than Dou E.

Eat your rice? You all want me to die, right?

Kakashi shook his head, discarded the random thoughts in his mind, and said: "We just need to find the enemy's traces, and don't fight until it is absolutely necessary. Even if the Hokage sends reinforcements, we need to find the enemy and eliminate them as soon as possible."

Aburame Shisho shrugged and left without saying a word, apparently to eat.