White Fang

A few days later, late at night.

Baiye's Reiatsu detection picked up a faint disturbance.

Hatake Sakumo's soul fluctuations were growing chaotic—that steady, heavy feeling was being torn apart from within by something.

Baiye opened his eyes.

The time had come.

He activated Transparent Release.

The Gekko Clan's Kekkei Genkai turned the body transparent and concealed its presence. Baiye was far more gifted than Hayate—he could hide not only his body, but also his clothes, his sword, and even suppress the Chakra he emitted to the utmost.

The price was the backlash from his Kekkei Genkai illness. The erosion that had been suppressed inside him began to spread again, and a familiar pain set every nerve in his body alight. But Baiye only gritted his teeth and pressed on.

He raced through the night without a sound, leaped over the wall, and landed in the Hatake Clan's courtyard. He focused his Reiatsu detection to its limit—the people from Root were still on the perimeter and had not come closer.

He was Konoha's White Fang, after all. Even with public opinion holding him in a bind, he was no less formidable for it. The Root operatives could only watch from a distance, not daring to approach.

Baiye slid the door open.

Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the room.

Hatake Sakumo knelt on the tatami. His complexion was terrible, worse even than Baiye's, who had turned pale after using Transparent Release. A small bottle lay beside Sakumo.

It was empty.

Sakumo watched Baiye gradually emerge from the air, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

"I didn't expect it to be you." His voice was calm, as calm as if he were remarking on the fine weather. "You're even more impressive than I imagined."

Baiye said nothing.

"So, what are you here for?"

"To save you."

Sakumo glanced down at the empty bottle beside him, then looked up again.

"You're too late." There was no mockery in his tone; he was simply stating a fact. "And I'll do everything I can to stop you."

Baiye put his hand on his sword hilt.

"Then try."

Shunpo.

Baiye vanished from where he stood. The next instant, his sword was out of its sheath, heading straight for Sakumo's sword hand.

Sakumo didn't move.

Only when the blade was less than half a foot away did he turn aside, drawing the short sword at his waist and precisely blocking Baiye's slash.

"Clang!"

The clash of metal was especially piercing in the dead of night.

Baiye didn't stop. A second slash, a third, a fourth—flashes of steel wove into a net beneath the moonlight, each strike faster than the last.

Sakumo blocked them all. His strength was fading—the poison was ravaging his body—but the combat instincts etched into his bones still pressed Baiye so hard he could barely breathe. His swordsmanship was sharp and precise, without a single wasted movement, every strike thrusting from the deadliest angle.

Baiye was retreating.

A cut opened across his shoulder. Sakumo's blade was so fast that it still felt cool as it sliced into him. Only when blood seeped out and soaked his collar did the pain belatedly catch up. He didn't look down, only clenched his teeth and focused his Reiatsu to its limit.

He sensed every movement Sakumo made, every faint twitch of his muscles.

Not enough.

Sakumo's blade came again.

Baiye didn't dodge. His Reiatsu burst forth in an instant—and he caught the trajectory of the flashing blade.

Baiye's blade changed course and slashed open Sakumo's wrist.

The short sword fell to the floor.

Sakumo swayed. The poison was eating away at the last of his strength.

Baiye gave him no chance to catch his breath. He raised his left hand and pointed his index finger at Sakumo.

"Bakudō number thirty, Beak-Piercing Triple Flash."

Three streams of invisible Reiatsu shot from Baiye's finger, pinning Sakumo's body in a triangle. They weren't meant to restrain his movements—they locked down the flow of his Chakra to keep the poison from spreading farther.

Sakumo's body finally gave out, and he fell forward.

Baiye caught him.

The green light of Medical Ninjutsu shone for a long time.

Baiye pressed one hand against Sakumo's back. Pale green light seeped into his body, stabilizing the blood vessels and organs ravaged by the poison. Beneath that pale green light, another, colder and fainter layer of light seeped in as well—Responded, invisible to everyone.

The poison was stripped away bit by bit, contained, and expelled.

The sky outside the window began to pale.

Baiye withdrew his hand, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

Two streams of warm liquid slid from the corners of his eyes. He thought it was sweat and raised a hand to wipe it away—it was red. Overusing his Reiatsu had made his eyes bleed, and his head throbbed as if someone were pounding outward against the inside of his skull with a blunt object.

But he didn't fall.

He looked down at the blood on his fingers and wiped it off on his trousers. His hand wasn't shaking.

"I won," he said. His tone was calm, not boasting, just stating a fact.

Sakumo lay on the tatami, staring at the ceiling. The poison had been cleared away, but he didn't move.

"I know roughly what happened." Baiye opened his eyes, bloody tears leaving two tracks down his face. "I'll turn you into an ordinary person. Only I can restore you. They won't keep pressuring you."

Sakumo turned his head and looked at him.

"You can wait," Baiye said. "Wait for a Konoha that truly possesses the Will of Fire."

"...Will there be one?" Sakumo's voice was quiet.

Baiye thought of the man who had said, "Even if everyone in the village says he was wrong."

"It's worth a gamble." He paused. "At least Kakashi won't lose his father."

Sakumo was silent for a long time.

"Why did you save me?" he asked.

Baiye stood up and put his sword away.

"Because you shouldn't die." He walked to the doorway and stopped. "At least, you shouldn't die such a pointless death."

He slid the door open and went out.

Moonlight fell on his pale face. He coughed a few times, but a barely noticeable smile touched the corner of his mouth.

At least this one wouldn't die.

Not long after Baiye left, the door slid open again.

Kakashi stood in the doorway.

His mission had ended early. He had dragged his exhausted body home and found the light still on in his father's room. He slid the door open—

The shattered floor. Sword marks on the wall. The short sword on the floor. And a familiar empty bottle that should have contained poison.

Kakashi's pupils contracted.

"Dad!"

He rushed over and knelt in front of Sakumo, his hands trembling.

"What is this? What happened?"

Sakumo looked at his son. Ten-year-old Kakashi's face still bore the exhaustion of a completed mission, but the fear in his eyes pained Sakumo more than any enemy.

"I'm sorry." Sakumo's voice was low. "The poison... I drank it myself."

Kakashi's lips trembled.

"Someone saved me," Sakumo said. "But I... can't be a ninja anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Chakra... I can't refine it anymore."

Kakashi opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He stared at his father's face—the face that had once struck fear into enemies at the mere mention of it. Now it held only exhaustion, but also a strange... relief.

"Who was it?" Kakashi's voice was a little hoarse. "Who saved you?"

Sakumo didn't answer.

Kakashi lowered his head and saw a trace on the floor—not a sword mark, but a remnant of some kind of Chakra he didn't recognize. It was faint, nearly faded away.

But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had sensed that presence somewhere before.

Kakashi knelt before his father, looking down at his trembling hands. He clenched his teeth, trying to stop them from shaking, but he couldn't, just as he could never do anything right in front of his father.

"...I'm just glad you're all right."

Sakumo's hand rested on his head. That hand, which had once wielded the White Fang short sword, could now do no more than catch an apple. But it was still warm as it rested on Kakashi's head.

Outside the window, the moon was about to set.

Kakashi raised his head and looked out the window.

He didn't know who had saved his father.

But he would find out.

He had memorized the presence of that Chakra.