White Fang Is Dead, or Did He Commit Suicide?

Kakashi's face showed jealousy for the first time.

Although his heart had already grown cold, after hearing what this Kakashi from the Other World said, he went completely crazy.

"So you're saying Hatake Sakumo and your mother are both alive?"

"What kind of joke are you making?"

Kakashi couldn't believe it.

You grew up under the protection of both your parents, and you call your life ordinary?

Do you know how many people here would kill for a life that perfect?

And you still think it's ordinary?

Kakashi's mentality collapsed, and his usual calm expression vanished.

If you took everyone present except Sakura and added up all the good things in the lives of the three of them and Zabuza, wouldn't they still fall short of Kakashi's?

At that moment, Kakashi suddenly had the urge to take the other man's place.

My parents are both dead, while yours are both alive.

Seriously, bro? You're not actually doing this, are you?

"I really envy your peaceful world without war..."

Kakashi said this for the first time.

Although he found it hard to believe, the other man's world was clearly far more perfect than the one he lived in now.

"You don't have to envy us. This world will soon welcome peace as well. From then on, there will be no more wars."

Yet Kakashi immediately rejected this again and again.

"That won't be necessary!"

Sakura looked puzzled.

"Teacher Kakashi, you said you envy them for having no war. Why are you resisting the peace they'll bring?"

Kakashi looked deeply into Sakura's eyes and shook his head.

"Sakura, you're still young. Peace is easy to talk about, but what about the price of putting it into practice? How much blood will be spilled, and how many people will die? I have nothing left to lose..."

A man who was always shouting about youth and passion flashed through Kakashi's mind.

If war comes, then...

Kakashi looked at Kakashi, curious about what had happened to his counterpart in this world. How had he ended up looking so depressed all the time?

"What do you mean when you say you have nothing left to lose, while both your parents are alive?"

"Tell me about your life. It feels like your experiences are much more complicated than mine."

"My life?"

Hearing this, Kakashi raised his head toward the endless starry sky and sank into his thoughts.

"If I had to describe my life in two words, they would be tragic..."

Kakashi's voice returned to the calmness it had shown at the beginning.

"Tragic?"

Obito was puzzled, but then he understood.

"Your world really does seem to be good at manufacturing tragedies."

Kakashi's expression darkened, but he did not argue.

"Although your father wasn't very strong, he should have been strong enough to protect your family, right? Why do you describe your life as tragic?"

Kakashi frowned. Soon, a bold guess rose in his mind.

"Your father in this world isn't dead too, is he?!"

To be fair, every notable figure in the Hidden Leaf Village was gone in this world. It wasn't impossible that his own father had died too, right?

Besides, with the way his father had been, constantly talking about brothers and comrades, would he really have been able to thrive in this world where missions came first?

Still, that should be impossible. This world's history from twenty years ago was almost the same as that of the Empire. With his father's swordsmanship, how could he possibly have died?

Who could kill him? And who would even be capable of killing him?

"I was a tragedy from the moment I was born."

"I've never seen my mother. At least, from the time I could remember things, I never heard or saw anything about her."

"Since I was little, my father raised me by himself. My talent should have been the same as Kakashi's, but sadly, people can have completely different fates."

As Kakashi spoke, a self-mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Even though it was hidden beneath his mask, it was still obvious.

"But when I was five, the Second Shinobi World War broke out. My father abandoned a mission to save his comrades."

When Kakashi reached this point, everyone's hearts lurched.

In an era when the rules were considered more important than life, he had chosen his comrades and abandoned the mission?

What happened afterward?

Was he expelled from the Hidden Leaf Village?

"After the war ended, word spread that my father's mission had failed because he had saved his comrades. This caused the Hidden Leaf Village enormous losses. Countless people in the village began blaming my father. In the end, even the comrades he had saved began to misunderstand him and blame him, saying he shouldn't have abandoned the mission to save them."

"A true man should fear no mere slander. The White Fang of Konoha cultivated his swordsmanship to the extreme, and his heart had long since become as firm as stone. That shouldn't have much to do with the tragedy you mentioned, should it?"

Kakashi's heart began to race. Although this was his father from another world, still...

When he put himself in the other man's shoes, it truly was difficult to bear and deeply frustrating.

Kakashi froze when he heard this, then continued in a daze. "My father couldn't bear everyone's rejection and accusations. In the end, he chose to... commit suicide!"

Kakashi: "???"

Obito: "?!!"

"You're saying that a supreme grandmaster of the sword, a peak swordsman who was ruthless toward his enemies and could cut without a drop of blood touching his blade, killed himself because of a few people's insults?! How is that possible?!"

Before Kakashi could speak, Obito was the first to lose control.

A powerhouse like that should have a will as firm as iron. How could he choose suicide just because the villagers didn't acknowledge him? Even if his own family rejected him, he still couldn't possibly take that path!

To drive a supreme grandmaster of the sword to suicide—no, seriously, what was wrong with the people in your village? Were their mouths enchanted?

Kakashi didn't know why the two of them were reacting so strongly. He tried to explain, "That's right. My father knew that his mistake in judgment had caused the mission to fail and brought losses to the village. He was overwhelmed with guilt, and in the end, he chose to pay for his guilt with his life."

Kakashi and Obito exchanged a glance. Obito cautiously asked, "When you say 'enormous losses,' do you mean that hundreds, or even thousands, of people in the village died because of the failed mission?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"No. My father's failed mission did not result in any casualties."

"Then do you mean that the mission's failure changed the course of the war, causing you to lose a great deal of land and supplies?"

"Uh... it wasn't that serious. The Hidden Leaf Village didn't lose, but the incident did extend the timeline of the war. That was a real consequence."

The two of them were both speechless.

"So you mean that it caused neither casualties nor the loss of territory, and that even the economic losses weren't particularly serious?"

Kakashi thought about it, then nodded.

"Yes."

Even so, he couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

"I think he really did make a mistake. A ninja should put the mission first and only consider his comrades afterward."

"Was he very weak at the time?"

Even with his IQ of 249, Kakashi couldn't figure out why. Could the fathers from the two worlds really have had different talents?

Was this world's father too weak, causing the higher-ups to despise him for violating the rules before killing him on some pretext and disguising it as suicide?

Otherwise, how could such a powerful man abandon his child and the outstanding contributions he could make in the future, only to kill himself?

One had to understand that for ninjas, without powerful perseverance, even possessing great talent made it difficult to become strong!