(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 30 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)
****************
Konoha.
The conversation that night remained undisclosed, and Tsunade never mentioned it again.
However, she couldn't forget Colt's murmur. It just weighed heavily on her mind.
The Great Village of Konoha abolishing the four other villages.
It was like a seed planted in Tsunade's heart, impossible to uproot so easily.
And with that, came a question.
If - and she meant if - her grandfather had united with Uchiha Madara to unify the ninja world, would there have been so many conflicts in the future?
Thinking about this, Tsunade shook her head, somewhat amused by her own childish thoughts.
On the surface, this could indeed maintain peace for a while.
But what about after they died? Without a strong leader to keep things in check, the false peace would eventually crumble, and the ninja world would be torn apart again.
"I hope that the kid was just joking," Tsunade sighed and continued her work as a human stamp.
The activities of the Akatsuki organization became more frequent, and she sent invitations to share intelligence with the other three countries, except for the Sand.
But so far, no replies have been received.
At such a critical moment, there was no time to think about what would happen after Colt became Hokage.
Meanwhile, Kakashi's surgery to transplant Hashirama's cells was successful.
He was finally discharged from the hospital after adapting to his new body for a few days.
Feeling the power constantly emerging within him, Kakashi now wanted to test his limits.
However, only Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Colt were capable of pushing him to his fullest in the entire village.
Tsunade was busy with her Hokage duties, and Kakashi was hesitant to go all out against the village leader.
Jiraiya was out gathering intelligence. He couldn't find him even if he wanted to.
After considering his options, only Colt remained.
After searching for a while, he found Colt accompanying Ino at the Yamanaka flower shop.
"Ah, Colt sorry to bother you, but are you up for a spar?"
Colt was also curious about Kakashi's current strength and readily agreed to spar.
"Looks like the surgery was quite successful," Colt observed.
"It's thanks to this Sharingan. Otherwise, my body wouldn't have been able to withstand that overwhelming force," Kakashi replied, recalling the experience with lingering fear.
Even a small amount of Hashirama's cells were full of violent energy. He had almost felt like a great tree was about to burst out of his body.
"Wasn't it all worth it?" Colt smiled.
"Enough talk. Let me see the brand new Kakashi-sensei."
The two arrived at the training ground.
Taking his stance, Kakashi attacked first.
[Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique]!
Now empowered, he had become more daring, even releasing two Great Fireballs at once.
"The momentum is strong, but it's still a bit pointless," Colt commented.
He formed a seal with one hand, summoning two water dragons that swallowed the Great Fireballs.
Kakashi's eyes lit up.
"[Chidori Stream]!"
A large amount of electricity emerged from his body and spread towards Colt along the remains of the Water Dragon Jutsu.
Boom!
Without any movement, Colt simply burst out his chakra, repelling all the water around him.
"Come on, try out your Mangekyō," Colt challenged, raising his right hand.
A huge spiraling shuriken formed instantly, emitting a sharp humming sound.
"Hey, hey, isn't this too much?" Kakashi's scalp tingled, remembering the horror of the last person hit by the [Rasenshuriken].
"Only by experiencing moments of life and death can you better stimulate your potential," Colt smirked and threw the [Rasenshuriken].
Watching the spiraling shuriken grow in size as it approached, Kakashi gritted his teeth and activated [Kamui].
This time, unlike Deidara's arm, the speed and rotation were incomparable.
With a spatial distortion, all attacks vanished.
"Your accuracy and precision have greatly improved, Kakashi-sensei. Congratulations," Colt nodded, satisfied with the test results.
Kakashi's chakra reserves had increased about threefold. The side effects of using [Kamui] were also much less severe, and transporting a [Rasenshuriken] barely winded him.
Meanwhile…
Inside the Kamui dimension, Obito sat quietly on the ground, holding a tattered photo.
In the picture, a girl with face paint was smiling brightly.
"Rin... I want to create a world where we both can exist and live peacefully," Obito caressed the photo gently
But then, the space distorted.
Suddenly, a huge [Rasenshuriken] slammed into the unsuspecting Obito.
"Aaaaaargh! Kakashi, you son of a-!"
Back to the spar.
To thank Colt for helping with the test, Kakashi took him to a BBQ restaurant.
They also discussed matters about Sasuke.
After hearing about Sasuke's strength, Kakashi fell silent.
Wasn't Sasuke's betrayal of the village a denial of his own strength as a teacher?
It now appeared that Sasuke's choice was the right one from a strength perspective.
At least Kakashi couldn't have produced an elite jonin in just three years.
Colt was about to comfort him when he suddenly felt a change in his chakra.
Someone was requesting a summoning from him.
Without hesitation, he bit his finger and slapped it on the ground.
"[Summoning Jutsu]!"
A puff of smoke cleared, revealing the unconscious Yugito lying on the floor.
"Is that the Two-Tails Jinchūriki?" Kakashi's eyes widened. Why did he summon her?
"No, she's not the Two-Tails Jinchūriki anymore," Colt could see at a glance that the Two-Tails had been extracted from Yugito's body.
He used both hands to perform a healing technique on the grievous wound on Yugito's abdomen, and the bleeding stopped.
He hadn't expected Yugito to think of such a way to escape.
But how did she know he would actually summon her and not just refuse? She must have gambled it.
It didn't matter anyway.
"I'll go to the Hokage's office first. Enjoy your meal," Colt said, leaving Kakashi as he transported himself and Yugito to Tsunade using the [Flying Thunder God Technique].
Colt's sudden appearance startled everyone in the room. Upon seeing Yugito, they all became uneasy.
"Colt, what are you doing? Why did you bring the Two-Tails Jinchūriki here?" Tsunade's expression was solemn.
Colt rolled his eyes. Was he really seen as that belligerent?
"Tsunade-sama, the Two-Tails has been extracted from her body. It was done by the Akatsuki," Colt explained calmly.