That day, when Natsuki returned home from school, he saw Tenten standing blankly in the yard.
So, she had already finished the mission and returned.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Tenten turned her head to look, and then threw herself into Natsuki's arms. She didn't cry or make a fuss, just stayed quietly like that.
"What's wrong?" Natsuki felt a little heartache.
"Natsuki, I feel bad inside." Tenten's voice was low.
"What happened? Will you tell me?"
"Yes, our mission this time was to wipe out bandits. It was my first time killing someone."
"What kind of bandits were they?"
"They were a group of villains. They killed many villagers, including many women and children. They really deserved to die. I saw the villagers crying their hearts out while holding the bodies of their loved ones, and I felt very bad."
"So that's what happened."
Natsuki understood, but he didn't know how to comfort her. He could only silently hold Tenten, giving her warmth with his embrace.
After a long while, Tenten finally recovered and became a little more lively. She even took the initiative to kiss Natsuki: "Don't worry, I'm not that fragile. From the moment I chose to be a Ninja, I knew I would experience this. I just felt for the first time how fragile life is, but some people are still trampling on life."
Seeing Tenten recover, Natsuki finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Tenten would have a psychological shadow just now.
Thinking about it, she was still a child at twelve years old. Suddenly seeing dead people, and even personally killing people, the impact on her mental health was not ordinary.
But Fugaku Uchiha dared to take his four-year-old son to the battlefield. He was simply not human.
What's this about understanding how to think like a Hokage from a young age? How could he not think when stimulated like this?
Natsuki didn't care about others, as long as Tenten was fine.
"Oh, right, Teacher Kai also asked about you fainting from pain before. I said you overdid your training, and I even asked Teacher Kai to lecture you when he had time. Teacher Kai agreed, so tomorrow when you see Teacher Kai, don't give it away." Tenten suddenly said.
"...Okay, thank you to my dearest girlfriend for covering for me."
Natsuki was quite helpless. Sure enough, secrets were hard to hide. However, "Teacher Kai wants to see me tomorrow? Is there something?"
Tenten hummed: "Our class just finished a mission and is resting for two days. Teacher Kai said that Kakashi-senpai is in the village recently, so he wants to take the opportunity to introduce you to Kakashi-senpai. The Hatake Swordmanship you've been thinking about is within reach."
Oh? Tomorrow?
Natsuki's eyes lit up. Teacher Kai really kept his promise.
This was good. He was just wondering how to continue improving, and Hatake Swordmanship was beckoning. As for whether Kakashi would teach him, that was uncertain. He could only try and see.
"Natsuki, can you tell me about Hatake Swordmanship? Or rather, Sakumo Hatake-senpai?" Tenten's curiosity was piqued.
She had wanted to ask for a long time, but before she was either on missions or training. When she returned home, she just felt mentally exhausted, so she didn't ask. Now was a good time to ask.
Natsuki immediately recalled the plot: "Sakumo Hatake-senpai, speaking of him, is quite regrettable. It is said that Sakumo Hatake-senpai was the captain of the Ambu directly under the Hokage and often had to do some dangerous missions. But Sakumo Hatake-senpai was powerful. Doing S-Rank missions was easy for him. Especially his swordmanship made all the villages tremble with fear. The enemies affectionately called him Konoha White Fang."
Affectionately...affectionately?
Can you be more ridiculous?
Tenten suppressed the urge to complain. She felt her boyfriend sometimes liked to spout nonsense when telling stories.
"Ahem! In short, Hatake Swordmanship is truly very powerful. At that time, the name of Konoha White Fang even surpassed One of the Sannin. Some people even said that if Sakumo Hatake-senpai hadn't committed suicide, the Fourth Hokage might have been him!"
"Ah! White Fang-senpai... committed suicide? He was so powerful, why..."
"Well, it's actually quite complicated. It seems it was a mission where White Fang-senpai gave up the mission to save his comrades. After returning to the village, he was criticized, and even the comrade he saved joined in the criticism of White Fang-senpai. White Fang-senpai couldn't bear it and..."
"How could that happen!"
Tenten covered her mouth, obviously in disbelief.
She couldn't understand how such a powerful person, who survived dangerous battlefields and missions, died by suicide. It was truly difficult to comprehend. Perhaps that's why Natsuki said it was quite complicated. The situation at the time was not something that could be understood now. The reason for White Fang-senpai's suicide might not have been that simple.
However, Tenten was still a little indignant.
White Fang-senpai chose to save his comrades and abandon the mission. Perhaps he deserved to be criticized, but the person who was saved was the only one who had no right to blame White Fang-senpai. Wasn't that a white-eyed wolf!
Perhaps, White Fang-senpai committed suicide because he felt betrayed?
Tenten just felt a headache. She really couldn't figure it out...
Natsuki advised, "Don't think about it. We don't understand the situation of that era, so we shouldn't speculate wildly. You'd best not spread this around either. Let's just talk about it privately among ourselves. It wouldn't be good if others found out."
Tenten nodded, then remembered Kakashi: "So, Kakashi-senpai, how has he been?"
Natsuki sighed, "Kakashi-senpai was still young at the time, so he was naturally hit hard, even lost his way for a while, thinking that missions were above all else. So during missions, he often put the mission first, rarely considering the casualties of his comrades, which gave him a bad reputation. No one wanted to team up with him. It was only because Teacher Kai kept bothering him that Kakashi-senpai didn't turn dark. Later, it seems something else happened, and Kakashi-senpai wasn't so extreme anymore, but he seems to have accidentally broken Sakumo Hatake-senpai's sword, and after that, he never used the Hatake Swordmanship again..."
Tenten listened with red-rimmed eyes: "Kakashi-senpai, he's really too pitiful, boohoohoo!"
Uh, there's no need for that. Kakashi has moved on... right?
Indeed, Kakashi no longer grieved over his father's death because Uchiha Obito and Rin Nohara made him understand the preciousness of comrades and the wisdom of his father's choice.
However, it's a huge waste that he didn't continue to inherit the Hatake Swordmanship!
That's why Natsuki intends to inherit it!
"So how is Kakashi-senpai doing now?" Tenten pressed.
"Uh, he seems quite listless. He's in his thirties or forties and doesn't look for a partner, spends all day reading perverted books, with dull, lifeless eyes, completely lacking vitality... Um, Tenten, we shouldn't meddle in other people's business. Kakashi-senpai isn't that fragile, it's not our place to save him, and you shouldn't pity him in front of him. It's best not to mention the story I told either..."
"Natsuki! We must find a way to inherit the Hatake Swordmanship!"
"Uh, oh! That was my goal all along!"
Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief. While he told the story, he didn't want Tenten to meddle. Kakashi, an Elite Jonin, couldn't figure it out himself, so it wasn't anyone else's place to pity or counsel him.
It will be fine when he meets Obito again later, so there's no need to worry.