Kakashi's Return

As Kurogiri headed towards the Land of Grass, Kakashi made his way back towards the village with a broken arm, hurrying as fast as he could. Despite his efforts, he couldn't help but dwell on the numerous losses he had experienced in his life.

The recent loss of his team was only the latest in a series of tragedies, including the death of his mentor, the Fourth Hokage, the death of his mentor's wife, the deaths of his original teammates during the war, and the suicide of his father.

The weight of these losses was crushing him, and he was struggling to find the motivation to continue to be an excellent ninja. Nevertheless, he persisted and hurried towards the village, determined to inform the Hokage about the latest encounter.

Kakashi felt that the least he could do for his fallen team members was to make sure the information about the unknown creatures and their connection to the original creature was conveyed to the Hokage.

Despite these thoughts running through his head, Kakashi managed to push them aside and rush straight into the Third Hokage's office. He swiftly kneeled before the Hokage and presented himself, holding his broken arm.

The Third Hokage was deeply concerned when he saw Kakashi return to the village alone and injured. "Kakashi! What happened to you, and where are your teammates?" he asked urgently as he rushed to help Kakashi to his feet. Kakashi's voice was low and devoid of emotion as he replied, "Hokage-sama, I failed the mission, and unfortunately, I am the only one left from the team."

Though the Third Hokage had a feeling about what had occurred, he couldn't believe that a single creature would be capable of taking down the entire team, even with the use of clones. He asked Kakashi for a detailed report of the events, urging him to share everything while it was still fresh in his memory before he went to the hospital.

Kakashi proceeded to recount his journey from leaving the village to finding the battle traces, trail and discovering the creature's hideout. He made a point to mention that they had first located a hill where the trail ended, but the hill later vanished, leaving behind a cave from which the creature had emerged, riding another creature with flames coming out of its legs. Kakashi highlighted how exceptionally fast the creature was, making it almost impossible to track with anything other than the sharingan. The Third Hokage was taken aback to hear that there was an additional unknown creature with an ability similar to swift release.

Kakashi continued his report, detailing the invisible creature that could only be seen with the sharingan. The Third Hokage was shocked, "Are you saying that the creature was only visible with your sharingan and not your regular eyes?" he asked, clearly alarmed. Kakashi confirmed that only the sharingan could distinguish the creature's outline as it appeared to be covered in transparent chakra. The memory of the sight visibly disturbed Kakashi, causing him to shudder as he finished his report.

As the Third Hokage watched Kakashi shudder, he dismissed him and called for a medical ninja to attend to his injuries. The weight of the implications of the latest encounter with the creature weighed heavily on his mind.

The Hokage was convinced that the original creature, Kurogiri, had created the two new creatures. Although he had no concrete proof, his years of experience as a ninja had taught him to trust his instincts. He was certain that if this was true, it would change the threat level from a village-level to an entire ninja world threat.

However, convincing others of this would be challenging since the ninja villages did not trust each other, and most would be inclined to view it as a ploy by Konoha. The Third Hokage let out a sigh and summoned the elders, clan heads, and all available Jonin to the Hokage Tower meeting room.

Since the squad sent with Kakashi consisted of all Jonin or special Jonin, with Kakashi being among the elite Jonin, the Third Hokage knew that it was urgent to notify the entire village.

He began the meeting by informing everyone about the recent mission that Kakashi had just returned from. The Hokage mentioned that there had been signs of the creature that many in the room had already seen earlier that day.

Many heads in the room nodded and remembered the sight of the creature twice the size of trees from a distance. The Third Hokage then proceeded to inform them about how Kakashi's team found traces of battle, followed the creature's scent, and discovered its hideout.

The entire room listened intently since the creature was a hot topic in the ninja world, particularly in Konoha.

The Third Hokage let out another sigh before telling the rest of the story about how Kakashi's team had confronted the creature after unearthing a hidden cave disguised by a fake hill.

The news that an entire hill had vanished to reveal a cave was alarming. As genjutsu could do something similar, the fact that the creature could be anywhere and disguise itself was terrifying as it increased the difficulty of locating it. The Third Hokage went on to describe how the creature had emerged from the cave riding on top of another creature as quickly as swift release. Moreover, it was only trackable with Kakashi's sharingan, leaving the audience stunned that there might be another creature capable of such speed.

Before they could process this new information, the Hokage revealed that there was another creature, large with tentacles, invisible to the ordinary eye, but its outline could be seen by those capable of seeing chakra, according to Kakashi's report. The audience was silenced once again, reacting to the realization that not one, but two new creatures with different abilities, existed.

At this critical point, a clan head from the Nara clan, known for their intelligence, asked if there was any information available about where these creatures originated. The Third Hokage knew that this would not reflect well on him since the original creature, Kurogiri, was his disciple's experiment.

He went on to explain that Orochimaru had created Kurogiri using the remains of the Black Beast from the Warring States period. Some of the clan leaders and members present who had survived that era recalled past encounters and were immediately terrified.

To make matters worse, the Hokage continued by saying that evidence suggested that Kurogiri had produced the two unknown creatures themselves. Thus, the danger had escalated from a village-level threat to an entire ninja world threat.

The meeting room fell silent once again upon learning that Orochimaru had created the creature and that it could reproduce on its own, which meant that an army of them could eventually emerge. Danzo took advantage of the silence and asked the Third Hokage how he would answer for his disciple's creation. However, the Third Hokage was not interested in playing Danzo's games and indicated that once they had resolved the current matter, he would step down as the Hokage.

Danzo was pleased to hear this and was already preparing to send his ROOT operatives after the creature. He saw capturing the creatures as an opportunity to expand his forces, believing that the creature's ability to produce more would replace any losses he sustained. The Third Hokage refocused the meeting on the task at hand by asking everyone to propose ideas for dealing with the creature.

Despite Danzo's offer, no one supported him, not even the other two elders who usually sided with him. The meeting agreed that this creature was much more dangerous than they originally thought and didn't want any more lives lost.

They decided to publish the new information in the Newest Bingo Book and use the Yamanaka clan technique to extract images of the creatures from Kakashi's memory. They also agreed to share all the information they had gathered so far, except for the creature's origins.

Everyone, including Danzo, knew that if Konoha's involvement with the creation of the creature was exposed, they would be swamped by enemies. With that in mind, the meeting was adjourned, and the group began to plan how to proceed with the situation at hand.

Alone with the Anbu, who always guarded him, the Third Hokage dismissed them and walked over to the window, watching as the villagers left the meeting. He shook his head, remembering his old friend's plan. He knew that the creature his former disciple had created could be the end of the ninja world, a world he had always tried to maintain peace in, whatever the cost. The Third blamed himself for not intervening earlier, before his student turned to darkness and created such a danger.

The future of the ninja world hung in the balance as Kurogiri continued to grow in power. Whether the information about this threat would reach the authorities in time was uncertain. If it didn't, the consequences would be dire. 

The impact of this event would ripple through the ninja world, affecting all those who lived within it. Only time could reveal how far and wide these ripples would spread.