Chapter 219 Gunshots in the Sun (2-in-1)

Chapter 219 Gunshots in the Sun (2-in-1)

In just half a month, Hatake Sakumo was no longer Konoha's hero.

Half a month ago, when Sakumo Hatake was walking on the street, people would often stand up and salute him, and some were even excited to greet him as "Sakumo Hatake" in return.

But now, when Hatake Sakumo walked down the street again, he was greeted only with contemptuous eyes and cold ridicule.

"Ah, it's Sakumo-sama!"

On the roadside, a child saw Hatake Sakumo. When he excitedly wanted to go forward and say hello to Hatake Sakumo, he was grabbed by his father on the side.

"Shh... don't go there, Yamada!"

"He is no longer the hero of the village, 'White Fang', now he is the sinner of the village!"

"Sinner? Why? Did Sakumo-sama do anything to disgrace Konoha?"

The little boy raised his face to look at his father, his little face full of confusion.

"Yes, it was because of him that the village suffered a major setback, and now he is the sinner of the village!"

His father looked at Hatake Sakumo with hatred, and there was a trace of pleasure in his eyes that even he himself could not detect.

For people at the bottom, the most satisfying thing is to see someone who is more famous and richer than themselves being unlucky.

Not to mention that in this environment where everyone follows what they say, the people at the bottom who lack the ability to discern are most likely to be swayed by public opinion.

Just speaking from my heart, I saw that a big man whose life was far better than his own, a celebrity that everyone knew, the great hero of Konoha had fallen into the position that a thousand people were pointing at him.

It was enough to fill his heart, which had been smoothed by life, with joy.

"But even if he caused losses to the village, he also brought a lot of glory to the village, didn't he? Doesn't his previous contribution to the village count?"

The innocent words of the child left the man speechless, so he could only use the dignity of an adult to warn the child.

"...Everyone is saying this, which proves that there must be something wrong with this Hatake Sakumo, and it is a big problem. Do you understand, Yamada? And let me tell you, when you grow up, you must not imitate that Hatake Sakumo. Did you hear that?..."

As the man spoke, he was afraid that the child would ask any "weird" questions again, so he grabbed his sleeve and pulled him away.

"..."

Kakashi Hatake glanced at the father and son over there, and finally couldn't hold back the anger in his heart anymore. He gritted his teeth and wanted to rush forward.

Although the father and son did not speak loudly and were far away from Hatake and his son, how powerful were Hatake and his son?

This distance and this volume are nothing at all. The conversation between the father and son just now was like whispering in their ears. This made Kakashi, who had been patient for several days, no longer able to bear it, and thought Step forward and take care of the man.

But just as he was about to step forward, a big hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder.

"...Kakashi!"

Hatake Sakumo shook his head at his son, signaling him not to act rashly.

"But they are slandering you!"

Kakashi broke away from his father's hand excitedly and turned around to look at him.

"...They did not slander me. I did cause heavy losses to the village because of my own problems during the mission. I am indeed the sinner of the village."

Hatake Sakumo lowered his eyes and did not meet his son's eyes.

Although he did not take off his mask, Kakashi's burning anger could still be seen from the exposed eyes.

"I don't know what exactly happened during the mission that caused you to fail the mission in order to save your companions, but humans will make mistakes. My father's wrong behavior has brought losses to the village. I can accept the accusations from people."

"But what I can't accept is why someone who has never made any contribution to the village can openly stand up and accuse you!"

"And if you really think that your behavior, giving up the mission to save your companions, is right. Why don't you defend yourself in the face of these accusations?"

"Do you know what the people I met during my mission these days are saying about me? They no longer call me 'son of the White Fang', but instead call me the son of Konoha's sinner!"

Facing Kakashi's excited words, Hatake Sakumo was speechless.

What else could he say?

He is easy-going, but he is not a fool.

From the time he failed the mission and returned to the village until now, it has only been three days with full calculation. In the past three days, the news of his failed mission not only spread throughout the village, but all the details were also known to even the vendors on the street.

As an experienced Jonin, how could he not know that there must be someone behind all this?

Even that person's identity must not be simple, he must be at least the leader of the great ninja clan.

And combined with his previous conversations with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo in the Hokage's office, it was already clear who the person standing behind was.

After guessing the identity of the person behind it, and then thinking about the uproar in the village about Jiraiya's return to the village, and the resulting discussion about the Hokage successor, just thinking about it for a moment, you can understand why Sarutobi Hiruzen did this. What is it.

It was nothing more than a blow to his own reputation and being kicked off the list of Hokage candidates.

But how could he tell his son all this?

No matter how genius he is, he is still just a five-year-old child after all!

Not to mention that all the above are just my own conjectures without any evidence. Just saying that after telling him, Kakashi's current temper will definitely cause trouble in the city, and maybe the village's firepower will be focused on him. .

Since he is a child, what he needs to do most at the moment is to grow up safely. His father will naturally bear all the other storms.

"Kakashi, what's wrong is what's wrong. There's no point in quibbling in this case."

Hatake Sakumo shook his head and did not tell his son the various reasons behind it.

"……coward."

Kakashi looked at his father, whom he was once proud of, and after a moment of silence, he looked at him with disappointed eyes and left silently.

Hatake Sakumo sighed and didn't say much, but followed Kakashi closely on the way home.

In this way, the father and son walked in tandem, ignoring the voices of comments and pointing gestures on the street, returned to their door, and saw the crowd gathered in front of their home.

From the noisy discussion of the group of people, it is not difficult to see why they gathered here.

"Is this the result you want? Bear everything on your own?"

Kakashi looked at the crowd, turned to look at his father, then left and planned to go home through the side door.

Hatake Sakumo stared at the crowd silently for a while, sighed, and prepared to go home through the side door from behind the crowd.

But when he turned his head inadvertently, he suddenly discovered that his companion who had risked his life to save him during the mission, the culprit who caused the failure of his mission, was standing in the crowd, pointing excitedly at his The house is shouting something.

He listened carefully and finally heard the man's voice.

"...Hatake Sakumo, do you think you can get my gratitude for giving up the mission and saving me? You are wrong! On the contrary, I only have resentment towards you in my heart now!"

"I can sacrifice everything for the village, which of course includes my life. The scene before was the moment I dreamed of dedicating myself to the village, but it was because of you! My dream was shattered!"

"You are amazing and noble! You exchanged information about the safety of the village for me. Did you ask for my opinion? Have you ever thought about my feelings?"

"Do you know what they are calling me now? Do you know they are pointing the blame at me now?"

"It's good for you now. Now you have become a hero who is willing to give up his mission for his companions. You have gained the reputation of valuing your companions more than anything else. But have you ever thought about me?"

"Have you ever asked me about my wishes? It was you who ruined my chance to be a hero!"

boom!

The moment he heard these words, Hatake Sakumo's mind was like a thunderbolt from the blue. He was so shocked that his brain was unable to think for a while. He had to hold the shoulders of the people around him with his hands to barely stand up.

He never expected that the companion he had rescued at the cost of his mission failure would appear here at this time and make such accusations against him.

For the first time, Hatake Sakumo was shaken by the principles he adhered to. Are ninjas really just tools to complete tasks? Shouldn't they value their companions and not deserve to have bonds?

But it was White Fang after all. Soon, he reaffirmed his thoughts.

He was not wrong!

If ninjas are just tools to complete tasks, then why did Senju Hashirama go through so much trouble to join forces with his mortal enemy Madara Uchiha to quell the troubled times and establish Konoha?

Isn't it just to eliminate the image of children going to the battlefield at the age of three or four, and ninjas being dominated by hatred and missions?

So, if he is not wrong, who is?

Could it be this world?

Hatake Sakumo was immersed in his own world and did not notice that he had been noticed because he was holding someone else's shoulders to support himself.

"Huh? Are you... Hatake Sakumo?"

This man's voice was so sharp that everyone present heard his voice, including Hatake Sakumo's companions, and everyone looked in his direction.

"Huh? Hatake Sakumo?! You finally showed up!"

A look of surprise flashed in the eyes of the ninja who had been talking nonsense just now. He immediately pushed away the crowd and stood in front of Hatake Sakumo, pointing at his nose and starting to curse.

Hatake Sakumo finally woke up from his own world and looked at his companion who he once regarded as a junior with a completely unfamiliar look.

The man looked at Hatake Sakumo, perhaps because of his former fame and strength, or because he remembered Hatake Sakumo's gentle smile, and his heart skipped a beat.

But then he thought of Shimura Danzo's calm eyes and the root ninja who appeared at his door in the middle of the night, and he continued to speak according to his pre-thought with a heartache.

"What are you looking at? You put me in an unfaithful and unjust position for your own reputation. Do you think no one can see your little thoughts?"

Hatake Sakumo didn't speak, something suddenly occurred to his mind.

That is, the betrayal of his companion. Is it his own behavior, or is there someone behind the scenes?

The turmoil surrounding Jiraiya's return to the village, the discussion about the next Hokage heir, his mission, the coincidence of his companions being captured by the Seven Ninja Swords, the speed at which news of the mission's failure spread, and the companions who appear here now...

All these things really make people think a lot.

As the "Konoha White Fang" who often fights guerrillas alone behind the enemy's back, Hatake Sakumo is naturally not a reckless man who only knows how to use force. He vaguely saw some clues from this series of coincidences.

If he could laugh off the villagers' comments before and turn a deaf ear to them, then this backstabbing blow from his own personal rescue of his companions could be said to have truly shattered his psychological defense.

But what was broken was not his principle of putting companions first over tasks, but his love for Konoha and his belief in Konoha's "will of fire".

Hatake Sakumo is now nearly forty years old. As a person who was born in the Senju Hashirama era, grew up in the Senju Tobirama era, and became famous in the Sarutobi Hiruzen era, he was truly cultivated by Konoha after the village was founded. The first generation of ninjas came out.

His life can be said to have witnessed the founding, development, prosperity and decline of Konoha.

It was precisely because of this that he believed so much in Konoha's "Will of Fire" passed down from the Senju Hashirama.

Protecting his companions, cherishing the village, and caring for his descendants... If you look at his life in detail, it can be said that he followed the "will of fire" envisioned by Senju Hashirama.

In this case, Sarutobi Hiruzen's various behaviors were simply a shattering of his faith for him.

Is this kind of village still the beautiful and warm Konoha in my mind?

Hatake Sakumo looked at the crowded crowd in front of him, listening to their noisy words, his eyes were in a trance,

In a daze, he could no longer see clearly the faces of his companions and the crowd in front of him. His only memory of this noon was.

The sun was very bright and the figures were blurry.

——

Night, Hatake's study room.

"My dear, you should go to bed early."

After Hatake Nao said something to Hatake Sakumo, she slowly closed the door with a worried look on her face.

As a wife, although she knows the situation in the outside world, there is not much she can do.

She has long since retired from active ninja duty, and now all she can do is tolerate Hatake Sakumo with a gentle heart.

After seeing his wife leaving, Hatake Sakumo ignored the dinner on the table, pulled out the short sword from behind, and stared at the ninja sword that had been with him for half his life under the moonlight.

The extremely sharp ninja sword was polished, and the figure of Hatake Sakumo was clearly reflected in the moonlight.

"...A coward?"

Hatake Sakumo sighed, and finally waved the short sword in his hand.

Plop!

The blood slowly flowed on the ground, reflecting the bright moon.

——

Shaking the scarlet red wine in his hand, he looked up at the bright moonlight. Under the blowing of the evening breeze, Ghost Lantern Crescent Moon's eyes suddenly lost focus, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

After a moment of silence, he drank the red wine in his hand.

People with faith are respectable, and people with faith are also pathetic.

Although he single-handedly directed this tragedy, and would even intensify his use of his wife and son later on, this did not prevent him from paying high respect to Hatake Sakumo.

"Hatake Sakumo, have a nice journey!"