Naruto SI: Kaito Red Lightnin Chapter 179
Tsunade ignored him and turned her attention back to Kaito. "You should've at least told me someone was coming after Naruto. I could've planned something better to cover it up."
Kaito sighed. "I'm guessing you guys sensed the Nine Tails' chakra, huh?"
Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. I had to order a full evacuation. Then I had to spin it as a surprise emergency drill. Some villagers bought it… others didn't."
Kaito rubbed the back of his neck. "If I'd known it would come to that, I would've thrown up a barrier around the training ground, ya know..."
Tsunade exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well, sensei stormed into my office after we got back. Demanded to know what happened. He also asked me to remove his restraints."
Kaito's eyes narrowed slightly. "You removed the chakra suppression seals on him?"
Jiraiya spoke up. "Yeah. I had to agree with Sensei on this one. If something like that happens again, he's a strong ally to have on our side."
Tsunade nodded. "I told him I'd think about it. And honestly... I do agree with him."
Kaito just gave a quiet nod, Just then, a soft knock echoed from the hospital room door. Tsunade turned her head toward it. "Come in," she called.
…
The door to the room slid open, revealing Kakashi. He stood there with his usual sheepish eye smile, rubbing the back of his head.
"Uh… am I here at a bad time?" he asked.
Kushina smiled brightly and waved him in. "Come in, come in, Kakashi! It's been a while, ya know!"
Tsunade glanced over and waved him off. "No, it's fine. I'm just about done here."
She turned toward Boruto, walking over to the bed he was sitting on. "You're next, brat," she said, motioning him to stay still.
"Lady Kushina, Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya," Kakashi said respectfully, giving each of them a nod as he stepped inside, holding a bag of fruits.
Kushina accepted the bag with a grin. "You just get back from a mission?" she asked.
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I arrived a few hours ago. Heard what happened, so I thought I'd stop by."
He walked over to where Kaito was lying in bed.
Kaito lifted his good arm lazily and gave a small wave. "Hey there, Kakashi."
Hotaru smiled too. "It's been a while, Kakashi-senpai."
Kakashi nodded to both of them. "Hey, Hotaru. Good to see you doing fine. Kaito…"
Kaito chuckled lightly, waving his bandaged arm. "As fine as I can be, ya know."
Meanwhile, Tsunade removed her glowing hand from Boruto's right arm. "Right. Your arm's completely healed. All that's left is removing the cast, and you're free to go today."
Boruto nodded eagerly. "Eh—thank you!"
Kakashi glanced between Boruto and Kaito, raising an eyebrow. "So… what exactly happened?"
Jiraiya, who had been slouching against the window, muttered loud enough for the whole room to hear, "Apparently it's classified. Only for the Hokage's ears… and her chosen successor. Even I don't have clearance, apparently," he said mockingly, with a dramatic wave of his hand.
Kakashi blinked and tilted his head, confused, looking between Jiraiya and Kaito.
Kaito just smiled and said, "Just ignore him, ya know. He's salty."
Jiraiya pushed himself off the wall dramatically and shouted, "Damn right I'm salty!"
He struck a ridiculous pose, hand on his hip and chest puffed out. "I'm the great Jiraiya—Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku! One of the Legendary Sannin! Villains quake at my presence, women swoon at my devastating good looks—and you've got the nerve to say I don't have the authority?!"
Hotaru giggled softly behind her hand, and even Kakashi's visible eye crinkled with amusement.
Boruto stared at Jiraiya, his face blank, giving him a look that clearly said, Is this guy for real?
Not noticing—or not caring—Jiraiya puffed out his chest even more.
"And that's not all! I'm also the bestselling author across the Shinobi Nations! Highly respected! Even some daimyo offered their daughters' hands in marriage to me! I was offered the Hokage position three times—even before Tsunade got the seat! And you dare say I don't have the authority?!"
Tsunade, deadpan, reached out and caught him by the sleeve mid-rant.
"Alright, drama king. You're coming with me," she said, tugging him toward the corridor. "I don't need you disturbing the patients."
"Hey! I'm not finished!!" Jiraiya flailed helplessly as she dragged him along.
"Save it for your memoirs," Tsunade said dryly. Then she nodded at Boruto. "Boruto, come on. I'll have Shizune remove that cast. And you," she added, pointing sternly at Kaito, "I'll come back later—and I want a full, detailed report on what happened. Got it?"
Kaito just watched them go, shaking his head slightly.
He turned to Kakashi with a small shrug. "Just like I said—salty, ya know."
Kakashi chuckled, eye smiling. Then he tilted his head slightly. "So... what actually happened?"
Kaito nodded. "Right, but before I explain..." He turned his head slightly toward the corridor and called out,
"Itachi, Tenzo—mind joining us?"
Almost instantly, Itachi and Tenzo appeared beside Kakashi, both in their ANBU gear.
Kushina stood up from her chair and smiled. "Alright, I'll leave you guys to it, ya know. I'll go get Naru-chan."
She looked over at Hotaru.
"Hotaru-chan, mind feeding Kai-kun? He must be starving."
Hotaru's face turned pink as she nodded quickly. "R-Right!"
Kaito scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Ehh, that's okay. I can manage. I'm not that hungry anyway," he said quickly.
But at that exact moment, his stomach let out a loud growl.
Kushina laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "I know you better than you know yourself, Kai-kun," she teased with a wink. With that, she headed off after the two Legendary Sannin.
Hotaru stood up from her seat and moved to grab the bento box.
Kaito scratched the back of his head, giving her an awkward smile. "Eh, Hotaru, it's fine. I can eat on my own, ya know."
Hotaru, now sitting in the chair next to his bed, opened the bento carefully. "No. Your hand's hurt. I'm not letting you hurt yourself again," she said firmly, nodding toward his freshly bandaged arm.
Without waiting for an argument, she lifted a spoonful of rice and ebi tempura toward him.
Kaito sighed quietly, slumping a little. "Alright, alright..." he muttered, and let her feed him.
Kakashi coughed into his hand to get their attention, his visible eye curving into a smile. "As cute as this is... mind telling us what actually happened?"
That comment made Hotaru's cheeks flush a deep red, and Kaito shot Kakashi an unimpressed look as he chewed his food.
Tenzo, now without his ANBU mask, leaned against the wall casually. "You look like you got wrecked," he said bluntly. "But it's good to see you awake, Kaito. I'd like to know what happened too. I only heard bits from Itachi—something about an attack on Naruto?"
Kakashi's expression shifted slightly, his eye narrowing. "Was it the masked man?"
Kaito shook his head. "No, it wasn't him. And I don't think he's from the same organization either," he said seriously.
"The guy's name was Urashiki. Yeah, he was after the Nine Tails sealed inside Naruto."
He paused for a second before continuing. "I got information a few weeks back—rumors that someone was targeting the Nine Tails. At the time, the source wasn't exactly reliable... but looks like the intel was real after all."
Itachi nodded slightly. "So that's why you had Karin-chan move over to Hotaru's house. You were preparing for an attack." Then his eyes narrowed slightly. "But why didn't you inform Lady Tsunade?"
Kaito sighed and looked away. "Because the source was pretty shaky. I wasn't even sure it was genuine. I didn't want to give Lady Tsunade more stress if it turned out to be nothing. I've already caused her enough trouble with the whole Land of Water incident. Figured... I could handle it myself."
Kakashi gave a small nod, understanding. "I'm guessing things didn't exactly go according to plan, huh?"
Kaito shook his head, letting out a small sigh. "Yeah, pretty much. The guy had this weird time-space ninjutsu... it let him relive events so he could dodge or avoid attacks. And he had this chakra fishing rod thing that could pull chakra right out of you."
He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly."I'm pretty sure he was just toying with me the whole time. If he'd been serious from the beginning... I think I'd be dead."
Hotaru stiffened, her hand faltering slightly as she fed him another bite.
Itachi's eyes sharpened. "That strong?" he asked quietly, his voice low.
Kakashi crossed his arms, face serious.
Kaito nodded. "Yeah. Even when I was using Sage Mode... I wasn't a match for him. Like I said, he was just playing around. I managed to take advantage of that and set up my tandem explosive seals. It was enough to disrupt his space-time jutsu... but he survived it."
Itachi's eyes narrowed further. "So that was the explosion."
Kakashi's eye narrowed too. "He survived that?"
Kaito gave a tired nod. "Yeah. He got serious after that. Used his space-time ninjutsu to appear behind me and..." he lifted his hand to the right side of his chest, pressing lightly against it, "...stabbed me clean through. Then he rip my chakra out."
Hotaru looked down sadly as she carefully lifted another spoonful of food toward him.
Kaito continued, his voice steady. "It must've looked like he killed me. That's what triggered Naruto... he lost control and tapped into the Nine Tails' chakra."
He gave a small chuckle, though there wasn't much humor in it. "Good thing I had Lady Katsuyu with me. And a backup chakra seal on my body. Otherwise... I really would've died that day, ya know."
Tenzo leaned forward slightly. "If he was stronger than you... how did you beat him? Was it Naruto? When he tapped into the Nine Tails?"
Kaito shook his head. "No. Even when Naruto tapped into four tails' worth of chakra, he was no match for Urashiki. But at the same time Urashiki couldn't steal the Nine Tails' chakra directly because of the seal—he needed Naruto to draw it out himself first. Luckily, Boruto's master was there. He held off Urashiki just long enough for me to heal myself using senjutsu and suppress the Nine Tails' chakra."
He exhaled quietly and added, "Honestly, it was a good thing Naruto tapped into the Nine Tails' power. I don't think we could've defeated Urashiki otherwise. I had to borrow some of that chakra and use it in my rasengan."
"Even with all that… I don't think I actually killed him." Kaito's eyes narrowed slightly as his voice dropped. 'I'm sure that Urashiki is dead… but the one from this timeline… he'll definitely show up in the future.'
Hotaru, still holding the spoon mid-air, gaped at him. "You think he's still alive, Kai-kun?" she asked, her voice shaking a little.
Itachi opened his eyes slightly, his tone serious. "Are you sure, Kaito? I arrived just after your Rasengan exploded. Are you certain he survived?"
Kaito nodded slowly. "Yeah. I have a feeling we'll face him again. But... not anytime soon. It'll be sometime in the future."
Hotaru's expression grew even more worried, lowering the spoon carefully into the bento box.
Tenzo crossed his arms, his whole body tense.
Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought, his visible eye narrowed seriously.
Itachi spoke up again, calm but direct. "Do you think you'll be able to take him on the next time he shows up?"
Kaito gave a small, confident nod."Yeah. Now that I have a rough idea of how strong he is, I'm pretty confident I'll be ready by then."
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "You won't be facing someone that strong alone next time. We'll be there to back you up."
Hotaru nodded seriously. "That's right."
Tenzo grunted quietly and nodded as well, arms still folded.
Even Itachi closed his eyes and gave a firm nod of agreement.
Kaito grinned, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Thanks, guys. I'd really appreciate the help, ya know."
He sat up a little more, looking around at them. "So... what happened after I got knocked out?" Kaito asked, genuinely curious.
Itachi leaned forward. "But by the time I got there, you'd already taken care of the enemy, Kushina-sama asked me to check on you. ... and you were unconscious. I carried you to where Lady Tsunade—she was treating Lady Kushina. Not long after, Hotaru arrived with her father. The three of us—me, Hotaru, and Lady Tsunade, escorted all of you to the hospital. Meanwhile, Lady Tsunade sent Jiraiya-sama, my father, and Hiashi-sama to sweep the area in case the enemy had survived."
Kaito nodded. "Right... sorry for all the trouble—and thank you."
Kakashi gave a soft nod and stepped back. "I'll leave you to rest. Don't overwork yourself, Kaito. I'll drop by again tomorrow." With that, he turned and walked toward the door.
Tenzo gave a nod as well. "We've got to get back on duty. See you later, Kaito, Hotaru-san."
As he followed Kakashi, Itachi gave Hotaru a look. "Take care of him, Hotaru. Make sure he doesn't push himself. I don't trust him to rest properly."
He gave the two of them a final nod, then body flickered out of the room alongside Tenzo.
Kaito called after them, "I'll be discharged tomorrow—come by the house, yeah?"
Kakashi waved as he exited. "Yeah, sure," he said, closing the door behind him.
Hotaru turned back to Kaito, scooping up the last spoonful of rice. "Here you go, Kai-kun. Last bite."
Kaito accepted it with a smile, chewing and swallowing. "Thanks, Hotaru. You're a lifesaver, ya know."
Hotaru blushed faintly. "Umm... d-do you want some dessert? I made them myself."
Kaito's grin widened. "You made them? Then how could I say no, huh?"
Hotaru smiled softly and passed him the dessert container. "It's your favourite—Daifuku mochi. Mango, strawberry, and chocolate. Though Naruto-kun might've already eaten all the chocolate ones..."
Kaito laughed as he took the box. "Thanks so much, Hotaru. You're the best, ya know."
Hotaru turned red at the praise and ducked her head shyly.
Kaito took a bite of the mochi, chewed, and swallowed with a satisfied hum. "These are really good, Hotaru."
Hotaru smiled brightly. "I'm glad you like them."
Hotaru smiled and nodded. "Glad you like them."
Kaito finished another mochi, then paused.
"By the way… have you seen Boruto's master around? There's something I need to ask him."
Hotaru blinked. "No, I haven't. Do you want me to check with my Byakugan?"
Kaito nodded. "Yeah, if you don't mind. It's important."
Hotaru gave a small nod, her eyes sharpening as she activated her Byakugan. After a moment, she pointed upward.
"He's on the roof. Do you want me to go get him?"
Kaito shook his head. "Nah, you've done enough already, Hotaru. I'll go up to the roof myself."
Hotaru looked at him, clearly shocked. "But you're still injured! And you just woke up. You really shouldn't be straining yourself, Kai-kun."
Kaito waved her off with a smile. "Don't worry so much, Hotaru-chan. I just need to ask him a few questions. I'll be back in a few minutes."
He swung his legs off the bed and stood up slowly. The moment he did, he winced slightly and held a hand to his chest where the wound still throbbed faintly.
Hotaru quickly stood and walked over to him. "At least let me come with you."
But Kaito shook his head again. "I don't want Mom to worry. If she sees both of us gone, she'll flip. Just let her know I went up to talk to Boruto's master, alright?"
He gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I promise."
Hotaru looked at him with a worried expression, then sighed and nodded. "Okay… but please don't push yourself."
Kaito smiled warmly. "Thank you, Hotaru-chan. You're the best."
Then, without thinking, he pulled her into a quick hug.
Hotaru's entire face turned crimson as her hands froze mid-air.
"U-Uhh…" she mumbled, heart racing.
Kaito pulled back and grinned before heading to the door. "Be right back!" he called over his shoulder as he left the room.
…
A while later, Kaito opened the rooftop door and stepped outside. The hospital rooftop was lined with drying sheets, fluttering softly in the breeze—standard for hospitals in the village.
He looked around until he spotted Sasuke standing near the fence, gazing out over the village. His eyes were fixed in the direction of the Uchiha compound.
Kaito slowly walked over. "You well enough to be up and moving around?" he asked. "You took quite the beating from Urashiki during the fight."
Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah. I recover fast," he said simply. "I see you're awake though. Should you be up here? You were out cold for almost three days."
Kaito shrugged. "I feel fine. Just exhausted. I came to talk to you about something."
Sasuke turned back to look over the village. "What is it?"
Kaito paused beside him, then asked, "Did we actually defeat Urashiki? Or did he manage to escape?"
Sasuke shook his head. "No. You killed him with that Rasengan. I saw it clearly with my Rinnegan."
Kaito nodded slowly, taking that in. "Right… and that mark. Did he leave it on anyone before he died?"
Sasuke turned his head slightly to look at Kaito. "No. If he had, I would've seen it. There's no trace of anything. Why? Did he put one on you? Or Naruto?"
Kaito shook his head. "No. I asked Hotaru to check all of us—me, Naruto, even my mom. Nothing."
Sasuke gave a small nod and turned his attention back to the Uchiha compound, his expression unreadable.
They stood in silence for a moment, the sheets fluttering gently around them.
Then, a little nervously, Kaito spoke again. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Sasuke. It's about—"
But Sasuke cut him off. "I'm sorry, Kaito," he said quietly. "But I can't help you with that."
Kaito blinked. "But I haven't even—"
"You were going to ask me to heal Kushina-san with my Rinnegan," Sasuke said, still not looking at him.
Kaito looked down, then nodded. "Yeah…"
Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. "The Rinnegan doesn't have the ability to heal. It can restore damaged corpses and even bring people back from the dead… but it can't heal injuries. Unless Kushina-san dies... I can't help. I'm sorry."
Kaito frowned, his thoughts spinning.'Wait… is he right? I know Nagato used the Rinnegan to revive his paths, but they were already dead. And he brought back everyone he killed during the attack on Konoha... but now that I think about it, I don't remember anyone ever using the Rinnegan to heal someone who's alive.'
He exhaled slowly and gave a small nod. "I see..."
They stood there in silence for a few moments, the sound of the wind rustling the drying sheets around them.
Kaito's eyes dropped to the floor. 'Then… my only hope is the seal.'
He looked up again. "Then… can you at least tell me what's wrong with Itachi?"
Sasuke finally turned to face him.
Kaito continued, a bit quieter now. "Ever since he awakened his Mangekyō… it's subtle, but I can feel something's off. His chakra… there's a strain. And lately, he's started coughing."
Sasuke's eyes widened, then he nodded slowly. "That must be his illness. It's what killed him in my timeline. I don't think it's a direct side effect of awakening the Mangekyō, but the more he used it, the worse it got."
He paused for a moment, then continued. "I don't know exactly what it is… but in my time, Itachi used to take a special medicine from the Howling-Wolf Village. It was called Kotarō—also known as Saigenzai. He got it from a man named Rengyōdō. But it didn't cure him… it only prolonged his life. Until…"
Sasuke trailed off, falling silent.
After a brief pause, he spoke again. "The medicine had heavy side effects. And using his Mangekyō only made things worse. But..." he looked at Kaito seriously, "if you tell Lady Tsunade about this, she might be able to find a cure."
Kaito nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'll talk to her."
Then he asked, "What about Kimimaro? I've sensed something's wrong with him too."
Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know much about him. I only saw him briefly before he died. But I do know he was Orochimaru's preferred vessel… if it weren't for his illness."
Kaito stood there quietly, thinking. Just then, the rooftop door creaked open, and Boruto stepped out. "There you two are," he said as he walked toward them.
Kaito turned to Sasuke and nodded. "Thanks for telling me all that. I'll talk to Lady Tsunade. Hopefully, we can save Itachi before it gets worse."
He gave them a small nod and started walking back toward the door.
Boruto glanced at Sasuke, then back at Kaito. "Why does he look kinda sad? Did something happen?"
Sasuke shook his head, his voice quiet as he turned back to face the Uchiha district. "No… nothing."
As Kaito walked down the stairs, he ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. 'Well… Sasuke was no help at all. I just hope the seal works—on Mom, and lady Tsunade can help Itachi… and Kimimaro.'
He stepped onto the floor where his hospital room was, lost in thought.
If you wish to support this story, please join me at patreon.com/Tilct
please contribute some power stone'