Funeral

Inside the dense forest, Yemo was training his control over his Chakra.

For Yemo, training in Chakra control like climbing trees and wading through water was too rudimentary; he learned those easily. He needed to become more proficient in controlling his Chakra.

This training method is called Chakra thread training. First, you need to condense your Chakra into a thin thread, which requires more precise control over your Chakra. Then, you need to stretch the Chakra. The longer the Chakra thread, the more Chakra you need, and naturally, the higher the requirements for Chakra control. Otherwise, your Chakra will be gone in an instant.

Chakra threads are just the first step. When you can control the Chakra threads perfectly, you can proceed to the next stage of training, which is equivalent to a Ninjutsu practice. Of course, Yemo didn't even achieve that at the beginning, so we won't talk about what happens next.

Chakra gathered between his right fingers. It was indeed difficult to gather the surging Chakra in his body into a thin thread. Yemo exerted a lot of effort before a small thread of Chakra emerged between his fingers.

Chakra has a so-called time-limited property, which mostly refers to the time limit of Chakra attached to the body or weapon. Generally speaking, for example, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode of the Kumogakure Village has a layer of high-intensity Chakra attached to the outside. This layer of Chakra is not the original Chakra, but the constantly regenerated Chakra that replaces the original Chakra.

Therefore, any Chakra, once extracted and left unattended, will disappear after a period of time. Of course, even if the Chakra Threads emanating from Yemo's middle finger last for several days and nights, Yemo's Chakra would still be sufficient.

Of course, Yemo's Chakra precision training was not limited to this. As Yemo gathered his Chakra, the thin Chakra thread between his Yemo grew longer and longer, one meter, two meters, three meters... It only stopped when the Chakra thread extended to ten meters.

The reason it couldn't continue wasn't that Yemo's Chakra reserves were insufficient, but rather that this distance was Yemo's limit. If it were delayed any longer, the Chakra would become uncontrollable, and the entire Chakra thread would disappear.

Moreover, the amount of Chakra required for this Yemo is terrifying; a massive amount of Chakra is being consumed within his body every second.

The rapid depletion of Chakra further proves Yemo's low control over Chakra, and also shows that Yemo's ability to maintain such a long Chakra thread is not due to precise control, but rather to the support of his own surging Chakra.

The puppeteers of Sunagakure control their puppets using Chakra Threads. Their control over these Chakra Threads can extend up to a hundred meters. If they were to consume the same amount of Chakra as Yemo, they wouldn't even last a minute.

This is what Yemo is worried about. For the same Ninjutsu, others need 30% of their Chakra, but Yemo Chakra 45%. Although the extra 15% is nothing to Yemo, who has a huge amount of Chakra, it is insignificant.

This small weakness of Yemo is nothing to worry about when dealing with ordinary ninjas, but when facing some powerful ninjas, it will lead to Yemo's defeat or even death.

What Yemo needs to do now is to improve his precise control over Chakra, thereby reducing the amount of Chakra he needs to extract.

Training time passes quickly, and a day goes by in no time. Of course, Yemo's training results in a day are also quite good. Yemo saved about 10% of his Chakra by maintaining his Chakra Threads. Don't underestimate this 10%. This means that Yemo will save 10% of the Chakra he needs to use Ninjutsu in the future. In other words, Yemo used to be able to Chakra a hundred large-scale Ninjutsu in a row, but now Yemo can cast a dozen or so more.

Not only that, the distance of Yemo's Chakra threads has also more than doubled, extending to over twenty meters. For an ordinary person, such progress in a single day is already terrifying, but Yemo still feels it's a bit slow. At this rate, when will Yemo be able to reach the level he envisions?

On this day, Yemo did not cultivate. Early in the morning, he wore a black outfit with a white lily on his chest, because today was the funeral of Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo.

As one of Konoha's top fighters, Hatake Sakumo's death spread throughout the entire Konoha within days, despite the Konoha High Command's best efforts to cover it up.

Hatake Sakumo's suicide was like a small stone thrown into the calm of Konoha, stirring up ripples. The self-blame that had once echoed throughout the village for Hatake Sakumo came to an abrupt end. Respect for the dead is paramount; Hatake Sakumo had committed suicide under the weight of their words, so who would dare to say anything at this moment?

It seemed even the old man knew of Hatake Sakumo's death. The weather was gloomy today, with a light drizzle falling from the sky, creating a desolate and sorrowful atmosphere.

Walking down the street, you can see many pedestrians dressed in black, like Yemo, with small white flowers pinned to their chests. Their destination is the cemetery.

When Yemo arrived at the cemetery, it was already packed with a dense crowd. As far as the eye could see, the crowd was a dark mass. The Konoha High Command leadership had not originally intended to hold a grand funeral for Hatake Sakumo. It was not that they denied Hatake Sakumo's achievements, but rather that his death was a disgrace to Konoha. They had driven a great contributor to Konoha to his death with their words.

Many people came spontaneously. Among them were former comrades of Hatake Sakumo, members of the Hatake Clan, ordinary villagers, and passersby like Yemo. However, most of the people had blamed Hatake Sakumo for abandoning the mission because of his comrades, which caused the village to suffer great losses.

But it was only after Hatake Sakumo's suicide that the villagers who had previously criticized Hatake Sakumo, as well as Hatake Sakumo companions he had saved, realized they were wrong. They had driven a man to his death with their words, someone who had done nothing wrong. Their arrival was not only to mourn Hatake Sakumo, but also to repent for their own sins. They were the ones who had driven Hatake Sakumo to his death with their words; it could be said that they were all the murderers of Hatake Sakumo.

Yemo also belonged to the group of people who felt regret, but unlike them, Yemo regretted that he hadn't made a decision sooner, instead of hesitating in front of the Hatake Clan that night. Perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way, and he wouldn't be at this funeral.

Hatake Sakumo's funeral was also of the highest caliber, presided over by the Third Hokage himself, with all the other Konoha High Command in attendance. Yemo also spotted Orochimaru and Jiraiya among the crowd.

With the information from Yemo, the war between Konoha and Kumogakure has ended peacefully, and the two sides have once again signed that alliance that is not even as strong as a thin thread. However, Teacher Orochimaru and Jiraiya were able to return so quickly, probably to attend Hatake Sakumo's funeral.

The entire funeral was solemn and dignified, with a heavy atmosphere. Thousands of people stood silently, all dressed in black, a dark and oppressive mass.

Finally, the Third Hokage, who was in charge of the funeral, stepped to the front of the stage and spoke in a solemn and dignified tone, delivering a long speech of nearly a thousand words.

Yemo didn't remember the specific details very clearly, but it mainly introduced Hatake Sakumo's identity, his significant contributions to the village, and the positive evaluations of him by others. In short, it was all praise. There was only one sentence that Yemo remembered very clearly.

"The death of Hatake Sakumo was a tragedy for the entire village. He lived a glorious life, but his death was filled with desolation. His death taught us the power of gossip, made us reflect on our mistakes, and made us realize that our companions are the most important thing to us."

Upon hearing the Third's words, everyone in the crowd lowered their faces in shame; it was their words that had killed Hatake Sakumo.

"Where leaves dance, fire will rise again! Farewell, Hatake Sakumo!"

Finally, the Third concluded the funeral with these words.