Half an hour later, Training Ground 13.
It was New Konoha's largest training field; normally it held three thousand trainees, yet when the whole Village's Ninja had to be mustered it could accommodate every one of them.
Kakashi's face was calm.
He led a squad of Anbu and stood quietly, watching the countless independent Ninja gather.
"Time's up—no more waiting!"
"Move out!"
With that said,
he took the Anbu straight toward Old Konoha, the various Ninja teams following behind under their captains.
As they passed the Village gate they saw the Uchiha and Nara clans, as well as former Konoha civilians queued for screening.
Everyone's eyes were complicated.
After all, only two years earlier they had all belonged to the same Village.
But now?
Two years later, everything had changed; different choices had long since altered their standings.
Indeed!
Though New Konoha seemed peaceful on the surface, it was still divided into clear strata.
Newcomers and old residents enjoyed treatment that simply couldn't be compared.
This was normal!
Old Konoha had been Hashirama's creation; he'd wanted everyone to be one big family, so newcomers and veterans were treated the same.
New Konoha was different!
It was a Village built by Uchiha Jin, so the rules followed his ideas.
Uchiha Jin was a realist, and thanks to his previous life's education he knew hierarchy was unavoidable—forced equality helped no one.
On the contrary,
the very existence of ranks gave people ambition to climb, making them more willing to strive for the Village and their families.
What he needed to ensure, then, was mobility between levels!
Give everyone a clear path for promotion; whether they could walk it was up to them… Twenty minutes later.
With the arrival of the Anbu and the independent Ninja, Kakashi began assigning tasks in earnest.
Though he had never served as a frontline commander, he had followed Minato during the Third Great War, so deploying troops posed no problem.
In the end,
by about one-thirty in the morning, the encirclement of Old Konoha was complete.
Boom!
Kakashi was studying the defense map in a makeshift tent when explosions rang out; stepping outside he saw fighting to the west.
"First Battalion, Platoons Ten through Twenty—move to support!"
"Platoon Nine, observe on site; identify the enemy and report back immediately!"
"From the independent Ninja—dispatch thirty squads!"
Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he issued the orders.
He wasn't flustered.
The entire First Anbu Battalion was mobile, and he still held fifty regular independent squads in reserve; whatever happened he could reinforce at once.
A minor incident like this didn't worry him.
Right after,
eleven Anbu squads plus fifty independent units sped toward the clash.
About ten minutes later,
Platoon Nine of the First Anbu Battalion returned.
"Commander Kakashi, it's Root!"
"…"
At those words Kakashi's gaze turned ice-cold.
Without waiting for the rest of the report, he drew the short white blade and streaked toward the fight like a flash of light.
"Commander Kakashi, Danzo isn't there!"
"You're the commander—you can't go to the front—"
"Let me finish!"
The captain of Platoon Nine stood dumbstruck, watching Kakashi charge off.
We're finished!
If the frontline commander ran off, who would handle an emergency?
The thought made his scalp tingle.
Meanwhile,
Kakashi, deaf to the protests, surged ahead; in three minutes he reached the battlefield, killing intent blazing.
Lightning Chakra coursed through his right arm, turning into white bolts as it passed through the White-Fang Chakra short sword.
He moved at blinding speed.
After two years of grueling training—and with Uchiha Jin's help—he was no longer the Kakashi of the original tale; he now showed hints of Sakumo Hatake's brilliance.
Even against Root's elite, every slash claimed a life.
With Kakashi's arrival the fight ended in under a minute.
More than thirty Root corpses littered the ground; six were taken alive.
Four refused to cooperate, but two were willing.
The pair hadn't been indoctrinated long; their faces twisted in conflict. "We want to help New Konoha, but we're cursed—we can't speak about Root."
To this,
the other four Root Ninja instantly cursed them.
"Scum!"
"Betray Danzo-sama and you'll die horribly!"
"Danzo-sama won't forgive you!"
"…"
Kakashi's eyes flickered.
After brief thought he ordered, "All Yamanaka step forward—try to extract memories from these four."
Five Yamanaka Ninja stepped out and pressed their hands to the prisoners' heads amid venomous glares.
'Secret Art: Mind Body Transmission!'
The four screamed as the six Yamanaka broke into sweat.
After a while,
the curse seals detonated, turning the captives' brains to mush.
The six Yamanaka rose, shaking their heads in defeat.
"No good."
"Root's Paralysis Seal is too strong; we can't break it."
"We caught fragments, but they're too scattered to piece together quickly."
To that,
Kakashi showed no surprise—he had expected it.
In truth,
he had simply used the chance to kill the four and grab whatever intel he could; failure was acceptable.
Even scaring the remaining two was profit enough.
He turned to them. "Since you're willing to cooperate, New Konoha will guarantee your safety as best we can."
"I won't ask anything that triggers the seal."
"First question: how many has Root evacuated?"
The two Root Ninja were terrified.
They had joined recently, received little brainwashing, and were far from elite.
Stammering, they forced out, "We're the last batch!"
"Do you know your relocation site?" Kakashi pressed.
They hesitated. "We can't name it, but we do know where it is."