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"During your school days, your theoretical grades were always excellent."
"I think you should be familiar with the Will of Fire!"
Satoru Hyūga stared straight at him, wearing a faint smile on his face.
"Of course, the Will of Fire was passed down by the First Hokage when the village was founded. It is the bond that holds the village and its villagers together."
"So... what do you think led Lord Sakumo to choose suicide in the end? Or rather, after all this time of thinking, do you have any conclusions?"
Kakashi didn't expect Satoru Hyūga to not answer his question directly but instead start asking him back.
After a brief pause.
He tentatively said,
"Is it because of the priority between companions and missions?"
For a long time after his father's death, he had been struggling with whether missions were more important or companions were more important.
In the end, he came to the conclusion that if one couldn't even complete a mission, they were just a useless person.
This conclusion directly influenced his way of handling things and was also the reason he had such a poor reputation in the village.
"That's just the surface."
Satoru Hyūga said indifferently.
"Do you think a ninja like Lord Sakumo would commit suicide because of such a shallow question?"
Kakashi fell silent.
Indeed, this question might be quite complicated for someone his age.
But for his father, a ninja respected by countless people as Lord White Fang, to choose suicide because of such a question?
It was really hard to believe.
"Then what on earth..."
"You've already said it yourself."
Satoru Hyūga gave him a contemptuous look.
"The Will of Fire is the bond that holds the village and its villagers together. Then Lord Sakumo gave up the mission to protect his companions and the villagers of the village. Isn't this exactly an interpretation of the Will of Fire?"
Yes...
His father, who chose to protect his companions, was exactly what the Will of Fire advocated.
Where the leaves of Konoha dance, the fire burns ever brightly.
The light of the fire will illuminate the village and allow new leaves to sprout.
But why... did those ninjas and villagers who inherited the Will of Fire treat his father like that?
Even the ninja he saved...
Kakashi felt his brain was blocked. No matter how hard he thought, he just couldn't figure it out.
"Still can't figure it out?"
Satoru Hyūga rolled his eyes again.
"What killed Senior Sakumo was precisely the so - called Will of Fire!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Kakashi instinctively retorted.
The Will of Fire had been deeply ingrained in his mind through years of indoctrination.
Hearing Satoru Hyūga "slandering" the Will of Fire, his first reaction was to refute.
"Since the Will of Fire teaches ninjas to protect their companions and the village, then it doesn't make sense at all for Senior Sakumo, who implemented the Will of Fire, to be treated like that."
"There is only one truth!"
"The Will of Fire is wrong."
"It was wrong from the start! It's just a political ninjutsu fabricated by those in power to maintain their rule."
Each word from Satoru Hyūga was like a sledgehammer, constantly pounding on Kakashi's fragile mind, which was already on the verge of collapse.
"Maybe... maybe it's because of my father's choice that caused great losses to the village..."
He opened his mouth bitterly, his voice hoarse.
He wanted to fight back against Satoru Hyūga.
"Losses?"
Satoru Hyūga almost burst out laughing.
He stared coldly at Kakashi.
"What losses? The loss of important intelligence? Or did it make the village bear huge financial losses? Or..."
"Was it fabricated by those people up there?"
Kakashi felt like he was about to break apart.
He stood there with his mouth agape.
His last desperate counterattack was mercilessly shattered.
Yeah, how could I have overlooked this?
Losses?
What losses?
From the very beginning, the rumors only mentioned huge losses, but what exactly were they?
No one could say clearly.
Even my father himself never told me what the losses were.
Just based on a groundless rumor...
Damn it...
Before he knew it, Kakashi had gritted his teeth tightly, and tears were streaming down beside his eyes.
Father, were you wronged...
Why! Why!...
Such thoughts kept popping up in his mind.
"Wake up... Kakashi, I don't want you to keep going down this wrong path."
Satoru Hyūga suddenly let out a long sigh.
"The Will of Fire, from the very beginning, has been a tool to maintain rule. How to explain it and how to define it are all in the hands of those people up there!"
Looking at Kakashi with a tear - streaked face, Satoru Hyūga couldn't help clicking his tongue a few times.
Poor kid!
Born in the world's biggest indoctrination center, he was indoctrinated from a young age, and his respected father was driven to death by the third - generation leader of the cult - like group and his minions.
So tragic...
"But... but, why? Why did they treat father like this? Father clearly was..."
Kakashi sobbed while asking through his tears.
"You yourself said that everyone knows the name of Lord White Fang, Master Sakumo. Without any accidents, he would have been the Fourth Hokage."
"This status alone determined his tragedy."
"This is politics, kid..."
Satoru Hyūga mercilessly tore off Kakashi's last fig leaf.
Is it political struggle?
Kakashi staggered a few steps, as if all his strength had been drained.
What was my father's will...
He finally understood. Was his father just a victim of the power struggle?
He silently resisted with his own death.
That smiling father had actually been suffering like this all along...
"I understand."
It took him a long time to calm down his turbulent emotions.
He gently wiped the tears from his face.
His eyes were deep, and there seemed to be something brewing in his pupils, like a dark abyss.
Without showing a trace of emotion, he bowed slightly to Satoru Hyūga.
"Thank you for letting me realize the truth of this world."
The voice was as cold as a machine.
Without a trace of emotion.
Satoru Hyūga glanced at him and said indifferently.
"I don't know what you're planning to do. Seek revenge? Or leave? But I have to remind you not to let your impulses blind you."
"I understand."
Kakashi said calmly.
He turned around and walked straight out of the tent.
Different from when he came, right now, he seemed to have lost his soul...
Satoru Hyūga stared blankly at his back.
"Poor fella!"
Feel the pain, experience the pain, accept the pain. Without experiencing pain, one won't see the true face of this ugly world!
And then...
Bow down at my feet!
Kakashi, don't blame me.
Only by facing pain can a person grow.
Satoru Hyūga sighed inwardly.
Most people in the ninja world are a bit twisted, having some wacky ideas.
Sakumo Hatake was too unyielding. Couldn't he see what the high - ups were thinking?
Satoru Hyūga didn't believe it.
Maybe it was precisely because he saw through it that the beliefs he had always held collapsed in the cruel reality, so he committed suicide.
He used death to interpret his will and resisted silently.
Kakashi was like a young man who hadn't been tempered by society.
He was slovenly and had dead - fish eyes, always spouting all kinds of big truths that he misinterpreted.
A good thrashing would do him good.
Once he recognized the reality and learned the truth, he would grow up.
Kakashi, don't blame me.
This is the inevitable path from a child to an adult.
After all, he was the most outstanding genius in the original work and the future Sixth Hokage.
Satoru Hyūga didn't intend to give up on such a talented person.
Satoru Hyūga thought of those in high positions again and squinted his eyes slightly.
Many people in the village had already compared him to the young Lord White Fang, but he was even more outstanding.
Those high - and - mighty guys are probably up to some tricks, aren't they?
After incorporating the Hyūga clan, he would surely have to deal with those people.
However... Kakashi should already be on my side.
With my coaching, he was like a sharp blade, stabbing straight into the hearts of those hypocritical high - ranking officials.