As far as Kakashi was concerned, if Sasuke could be changed by Naruto, then there was no reason to claim Naruto himself was impossible to change.
Naruto simply carried two layers of destiny—the Child of Prophecy and Asura's reincarnation—which made changing him far more difficult.
And if anyone had a chance of succeeding, there were two obvious candidates.
One was Itachi, who had repeatedly changed Sasuke's path.
The other was Sasuke himself, who was a chakra reincarnation just like Naruto.
Watching hope gradually return to Kakashi's face, Itachi did not have the heart to crush it.
Besides, he genuinely agreed that Konoha's bullying problem needed to be addressed.
"Kakashi, if we follow this new approach of yours, there is actually a much simpler way to solve everything at once."
Itachi spoke slowly.
"We could use Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan—Kotoamatsukami. It could subtly alter Naruto's will without him even realizing—"
"No! Absolutely not!"
Kakashi's expression changed instantly, and he cut Itachi off.
"Why?"
Itachi looked at him calmly.
"In the eyes of Konoha's future Hokage, is Naruto more important than the village itself?"
"It's not that I value Naruto above Konoha."
Kakashi shook his head.
"You still haven't understood what Naruto's status as the Child of Prophecy means.
"Naruto represents Heaven's Will.
"Kotoamatsukami might be able to distort Naruto's will, but it can't distort Heaven's Will itself."
Itachi listened without interrupting.
"According to a theory Makoto once explained to me, when two abilities both operate on the level of rules, the stronger rule simply overwhelms and replaces the weaker one.
"So Shisui's Mangekyō won't work.
"Until the Boruto era arrives, Naruto probably can't be directly altered by any rule-based ability."
Kakashi grew increasingly serious as he tried to explain.
"Our only chance is to change him through concrete actions.
"We have to go around Heaven's Will rather than attack it directly.
"If we can change Naruto that way, then Naruto himself might turn around and change Heaven's Will."
Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's the same principle Jiraiya-sama used against Ōtsutsuki Urashiki when he traveled through time.
"He didn't try to beat Urashiki by competing with his time-space abilities.
"He simply summoned the inside of a toad's stomach, filled it with poison, and let Urashiki breathe it in.
"Same thing with Obito's supposedly unbeatable Kamui intangibility.
"You don't need to defeat Kamui.
"Just poison his food.
"He still has to eat."
Kakashi finally finished his explanation.
"We need that kind of workaround.
"We're not trying to beat Urashiki or Obito at time-space ninjutsu itself."
"I understand."
Itachi nodded slightly.
"But if that's the case, we'll have to take an enormous detour. It sounds troublesome."
"Makoto once said that sometimes the longest way around is actually the shortest road…"
Kakashi trailed off.
Then he noticed the thoughtful look on Itachi's face.
His expression abruptly changed.
"Itachi."
"Yes?"
"My method genuinely has a chance of working."
Kakashi stared at him intensely.
"So whatever you do, do not use the first method."
Itachi immediately understood what Kakashi was worried about.
Kakashi was afraid he would suddenly decide to "bear the sins of the village alone for the sake of Konoha's future"—
And then personally eliminate everyone carrying the Will of Bullying.
There was a reason Kakashi thought Itachi might do it again.
Someone who had once exterminated his own clan suddenly deciding to exterminate most of the village was hardly an impossible leap.
Kakashi was genuinely worried Itachi might rediscover the old feeling and decide to "carry the burden" one more time.
And to be fair…
Wiping out the village's bullies would actually be much easier than exterminating the Uchiha clan.
Most people carrying the Will of Bullying were ordinary civilians who could not use ninjutsu.
Even among shinobi, many were Academy students or genin.
For Itachi, dealing with people like that would barely count as combat.
"I…"
Itachi was rendered speechless.
He wanted to say he had changed.
He really had.
But who would believe him now?
Even if he said it, Kakashi certainly wouldn't.
"…Forget it."
Itachi sighed.
"Kakashi, I'll stay with you for a while.
"Whatever you need me to do, I'll help."
If Kakashi was this suspicious of him, then the easiest solution was simply to remain within Kakashi's sight.
Surely that would make everyone feel safer.
"Good."
Kakashi visibly relaxed.
Afterward, the two found Kisame.
Itachi explained that he would be accompanying Kakashi for some time.
Kisame nodded in understanding.
Then, acting strangely furtive, he slipped something into Itachi's hand before leaving.
Kakashi did not pay much attention.
He assumed it was simply some mission-related item from whatever Itachi and Kisame had been doing in Kirigakure.
It wasn't until Kakashi brought Itachi back to the beach and Itachi casually placed the object on a table that Kakashi noticed something was off.
It was a book.
Its title was: Gyūbi's Nights.
The instant Kakashi saw that title, his years of battlefield experience, worldly suffering, and extensive literary expertise all began screaming the same thing.
Suspicious.
Extremely suspicious!
This was absolutely the same general category of book as Make-Out Paradise.
Which raised another question.
Why had Kisame given Itachi a book like this?
Wasn't Kisame supposed to be an honest man?
Neither Kisame nor Itachi looked remotely like the type to read this kind of material.
Could those two actually be like Kakashi himself—
Cold and aloof on the outside, deeply questionable on the inside?
Kakashi judged others by himself for a moment.
Then decided that was probably unlikely.
A short while later, Itachi announced that he wanted to speak with Naruto and learn more about his current mindset.
Once Itachi left, Kakashi quietly picked up the book.
He opened to the beginning.
And immediately understood.
First of all—
Yes.
It was absolutely a questionable novel.
Second, its premise was essentially a shameless parody of a popular Land of Snow film series called Martin Morning.
Martin Morning followed Martin, the son of Sunagakure's Maki.
Every morning, Martin woke up transformed into a different famous shinobi and temporarily gained that person's unique abilities.
He would then go to the Ninja Academy and get dragged into all kinds of bizarre but lighthearted adventures.
Gyūbi's Nights, however, took place in an alternate world from Limited Tsukuyomi.
In this parallel world, Kumogakure's Eight-Tails, Gyūki, and Killer B somehow had a child together.
They named him Gyūbi.
Like Martin, Gyūbi could gain the abilities of a different shinobi every day.
The difference was how those powers were used.
Martin received his abilities in the morning and brought them innocently to school, resulting in cheerful little stories that made people smile.
Gyūbi received his abilities every evening before the night's party began—
And invariably used them for extremely questionable purposes.
"Hm?"
Kakashi suddenly made a puzzled sound.
There was a bookmark inside the book.
Strange.
By this point, Kakashi had already completely forgotten his earlier question about why Kisame had secretly handed Itachi a dirty book.
The premise had hooked him completely.
He had never encountered this particular style of smut before.
It was fascinating.
So what was the bookmark for?
Kakashi hesitated.
Then pulled it out and tossed it aside.
He deliberately chose not to flip straight to the marked page.
He liked this book far too much already.
Why ruin it by skipping ahead and spoiling himself?
If there really was something important at the bookmarked section, he would naturally discover it once he reached that point.
And so Kakashi happily settled in for an afternoon of reading.
Several hours later, he finally reached the page the bookmark had marked.
And there was no need to ask how he knew.
It wasn't because Kakashi had memorized the page number.
It was because, for some inexplicable reason—
Hatake Kakashi's name suddenly appeared in the story.