Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Rescue Crisis

In an empty alley, Kakashi trailed behind Uchiha Li, his mind elsewhere.

He was still torn over Terra.

On the one hand, he had no desire to join some unfamiliar organization, even if Uchiha Li was already inside it.

On the other, he was deeply troubled by the intelligence they possessed...

Terra seemed to have formidable information-gathering capabilities, and that information might hold the truth behind the deaths of his friends Obito and Rin, as well as the death of his father, a matter he had long suspected.

"Kakashi, stop thinking about that for now. Look at what is in front of us!"

Just as Kakashi was caught in his struggle, the alley that had been empty a moment ago began to change.

Uchiha Li patted Kakashi on the shoulder, pulling him back from his thoughts.

Almost at the same time, the doors of the towers and buildings all around them opened.

Then tens of thousands of people poured out from within.

Ordinarily, seeing people would be a cause for joy, yet the scene before them was unsettling in the extreme.

The crowd moved with perfect uniformity. Every face shone with joy and fervor.

They raised both hands over their heads, waving them with force as they shouted in voices of every pitch and cadence, crying out words like "Sara" and "queen."

The vast crowd began to gather toward the central square, and everything looked uncannily real.

And yet, though it should have been a festive scene, it was chilling to behold.

Because none of them were alive.

"What on earth is going on? They're all puppets."

Kakashi stared at the scene before him, and gooseflesh rose on his skin.

A scale of human puppets like this could not have been made overnight.

More importantly, what had happened to the living people of Loran? Where had they all gone?

Uchiha Li looked around calmly and said, "Follow them. We'll know once we see where they're going."

He understood exactly what was happening, but this was not the time to say it outright.

Kakashi answered, and the two of them quickened their pace to follow the puppet procession.

Once they drew near, they could see everything much more clearly.

The densely packed crowd was made entirely of wooden puppets, each limb bound by transparent chakra threads.

In truth, the sky over Loran had already been linked together by countless threads so fine and numerous that they were almost impossible to see.

And under the control of those threads, the puppets were performing this spectacle like actors in a farce.

Soon, the two of them followed behind the puppets and arrived at the central square of Loran.

At that moment, all ten thousand puppets came to a stop, then lifted their heads in unison to look upward.

The silence was absolute, lifeless and oppressive.

Then a beautifully dressed young woman emerged from the palace, followed by her attendants.

At that signal, the puppets were given their command and once again began to cheer, igniting the atmosphere in the square.

With her attendants leading the way, Sara stepped onto a platform atop the tower and waved both hands toward the crowd below, answering the people’s enthusiasm.

Seeing this, Kakashi frowned. "What is this supposed to be? A play?"

Uchiha Li shook his head. "No. Sara probably cannot see the puppets below. To her, those are only her people."

"You mean..."

Kakashi's pupils contracted as he quickly understood.

Uchiha Li was about to answer when he suddenly noticed something wrong on the platform and hurried over.

He had been so busy talking with Kakashi that he had nearly forgotten what happened in the original story.

Sara's appearance here had all been arranged by Mukade, for the purpose of putting her to death.

The instant Uchiha Li leaped forward, the supposedly solid platform began to collapse.

The collapse happened with alarming speed. Panicked, Sara tried to retreat.

But in that moment, one of the attendants behind her took advantage of the chaos and shoved her hard.

"Aah!"

Sara let out a scream. Faced with such a terrifying fall, she shut her eyes in fear.

Just as she was about to crash to the ground and be shattered to pieces, Uchiha Li finally arrived.

He caught Sara in his arms and, with a few more leaps, returned to where they had been standing.

He released her, and Kakashi stepped forward, asking, "You seemed to know she would fall."

From his perspective, what had just happened looked like nothing more than an accident.

Sara had simply wandered too close to the edge of the platform, and the old structure had happened to give way.

But Uchiha Li clearly knew something in advance.

He did not answer, instead motioning for Kakashi to check on Sara.

With the advantage of foresight, he could be fairly certain that something unpleasant was about to happen.

Thinking of that, and before Kakashi could react, Uchiha Li silently took a step back.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be helping me? Why are you backing off?"

Seeing Uchiha Li act like that, Kakashi felt baffled.

Uchiha Li pointed at the floor and said quietly, "Look below."

Kakashi was completely lost, but he still lowered his head.

At that moment, Sara, who had been tightly squeezing her eyes shut in fear, suddenly opened them.

The first thing she saw was Kakashi standing before her in a mask and cloak. Her expression instantly turned to panic.

"Pervert! What do you think you're doing, you rude man?"

Terrified, Sara raised her right hand and struck Kakashi hard across the face.

Two crisp slaps rang out as both sides of Kakashi's face were hit.

Fortunately, the mask was made of sturdy material and did not break.

But for the sake of the wearer's comfort, Uchiha Li had made it quite thin, so Kakashi took the full force of both blows.

During that moment, Sara kept kicking back against the floor, retreating in alarm.

Kakashi held his face through the mask, utterly bewildered.

He did not understand why he, who had only wanted to check on her, had been accused of being a pervert.

Not only had he been called a pervert, he had also been hit with two solid slaps.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have reacted instantly, but in that situation he had truly not seen it coming.

"Hahaha..."

Seeing this, Uchiha Li could not help but laugh.

He had known this would happen, which was why he had deliberately stepped back.

In the original story, Naruto had saved Sara when she fell, only to be slapped by the frightened girl in return.

But now they were wearing masks and cloaks, and they did not look like "good people" by any stretch.

In such circumstances, Sara's fear made her reaction almost inevitable.

Kakashi's chest rose and fell sharply as he glared at Uchiha Li.

After a brief moment of thought, he understood as well, and turned back to Sara with irritation. "Why did you hit me? The one who frightened you was clearly him!"

Though the slaps had landed through the mask, they still felt as though they had struck his heart.

Sara had knelt to the side on the ground. Hearing this, she finally realized her mistake and murmured, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

She glanced at Kakashi timidly, then turned to look at the source of that laughter, Uchiha Li.

With gratitude on her face, Sara said, "Thank you for saving me. I am Sara, queen of Loran. And you are?"