Chapter 219 Gunshots in the Sunlight (Two in One)

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

Half a month ago, when Hatake Sakumo was walking on the street, people often stood up to salute him, and some were even excited to greet him as Hatake Sakumo 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 shot who lived a much better life than myself, 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, right? Doesn't his previous contribution to the village count?"

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

"...Everyone says 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, 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 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 brought losses to the village. I can accept the accusations from people."

"But what I can't accept is why even 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 on my mission these days are saying about me? They no longer call me 'son of 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 someone must be behind all this?

Even that person's identity must not be simple, he must be at least the leader of the Great Ninja Clan.

Combined with his previous conversations with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura 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 guesses, and there is no evidence at all. If I tell him, Kakashi will definitely make a big fuss with his current temper, and he may even focus the firepower of the village on him.

Since he is a child, what he needs to do most now is to grow up safely and steadily. All other storms will naturally be borne by his father.

"Kakashi, wrong is wrong. There is no point in quibbling in this situation."

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

"... Coward."

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

Hatake Sakumo sighed and did not say much. Instead, he followed Kakashi closely and walked home.

In this way, the father and son, one in front and one behind, ignored the voices of discussion and gestures on the street, returned to their doorstep, and saw the crowd gathered at their doorstep.

It was not difficult to tell from the noisy discussions of the group of people why they gathered here.

"Is this the result you want? You have to bear everything yourself?"

Kakashi looked at the crowd, turned his head to look at his father, and 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 behind the crowd.

But he turned his head inadvertently, and suddenly found that his companion who had risked his life to save him in the previous mission, that is, the culprit who caused his failure in this mission, was standing in the crowd, pointing at his home and shouting something excitedly.

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

"...Hatake Sakumo, do you think you can get my gratitude by giving up the mission to save me? You are wrong! On the contrary, I only have resentment towards you now!"

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

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

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

"Now you are good, now you have become a hero who gave up the mission for his companions, and you have gained the reputation of valuing your companions above all else, but have you ever thought about me?"

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

Boom!

The moment he heard this, Hatake Sakumo's mind was like a bolt from the blue, which shocked his brain so much that he couldn't think for a while, and 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 saved at the cost of everything, even at the cost of mission failure, would appear here at this time and accuse him like this.

For the first time, Hatake Sakumo was shaken by the principles he insisted on. Are ninjas really just tools to complete tasks? Shouldn't they really value their companions and have no bonds?

But after all, he was White Fang, and soon he reaffirmed his thoughts.

He was not wrong!

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

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

So, if he was not wrong, who was wrong?

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's shoulders to support himself.

"Hmm? You are...Hatake Sakumo?"

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

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

The ninja who was just talking nonsense had a flash of surprise in his eyes, and immediately pushed the crowd away and stood in front of Hatake Sakumo, pointing at his nose and started to curse.

Hatake Sakumo 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 with his eyes, perhaps because of his former fame and strength, or because he remembered Hatake Sakumo's gentle smile, and his heart couldn't help but jump.

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-conceived ideas.

"What are you looking at? For your own reputation, you put me in a position of disloyalty and injustice. Do you think no one can see your little trick?"

Hatake Sakumo didn't say anything. He suddenly thought of something in his mind.

That is, his companion's betrayal, was it his own behavior, or was there someone behind the scenes directing him?

The turmoil of Jiraiya's return to the village, the discussion about the next Hokage successor, his own mission, the coincidence of his companion being caught by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the speed of the spread of the news of the mission failure, and the companion who appeared here now...

All these things really make people think a lot.

As a "Konoha White Fang" who often fights guerrilla warfare alone behind the enemy, Hatake Sakumo is naturally not a reckless man who only uses force. He vaguely saw some clues from this series of coincidences.

If he could laugh off the villagers' discussions before, then this backstab from his companion who he personally saved can be said to have truly broken his psychological defenses.

However, what was broken was not his principle that companions are more important than tasks, but his love for Konoha and his belief in Konoha's "Will of Fire".

Hatake Sakumo is now nearly 40 years old. As a person who was born in the era of Senju Hashirama, grew up in the era of Senju Tobirama, and became famous in the era of Sarutobi Hiruzen, he is the first generation of ninjas trained by Konoha after the village was founded.

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

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

Protecting companions, cherishing the village, caring for the younger generation... Counting his life, it can be said that he was moving forward according to the "will of fire" envisioned by Hashirama Senju.

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

Is this 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 dazed,

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

The sun was very big and the figures were blurred.

——

Night, Hatake's study.

"Dear, you should rest early."

After saying this to Hatake Sakumo, Nao Hatake slowly closed the door with a worried look on her face.

As a wife, although she knew the situation outside, she could not do much.

She had long retired from the active service of ninjas, and now all she could do was to tolerate Hatake Sakumo with a gentle heart.

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

The sharp ninja sword that was polished clearly reflected Hatake Sakumo's figure 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, looking up at the bright moonlight, Ghost Lantern Crescent's eyes were out of focus under the evening breeze, and I don'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 directed this tragedy and would even use his wife and son more and more in the future, this did not prevent him from paying high respect to Hatake Sakumo.

"Hatake Sakumo, rest in peace!"