"Hatake Xianyu, what are you trying to do? This is the Leaf Village! Are you planning to kill someone in the village?"
The woman still refused to back down.
Of course. This was the Leaf Village. Nobody believed anyone would dare kill someone here.
Even White Fang wouldn't dare, let alone Ling Tian, who wasn't White Fang, but merely his younger brother.
Ling Tian clenched his fists, breathing heavily as he stared fixedly at the shrew.
The killing intent he unconsciously released made all of them swallow.
To be fair, Ling Tian had never killed anyone in either of his two lives.
But the presence of a powerful man, coupled with his intense desire to kill and his piercing gaze, was more than enough to intimidate a few civilians.
It was like having someone in a position of immense power stare at you with murder in his eyes. Who wouldn't be scared...?
At that moment, Sarutobi Shinnosuke sensed something was wrong and tried to sound casual. "Hatake Xianyu, what are you trying to do? We're in the village. Are you planning to kill the village's civilians here?"
Ling Tian gave a vicious grin and ignored him, addressing the shrew instead. "You said you had a husband and a son, didn't you? Let's make a bet. Let's see whether the person who gave you the courage to come to the Hatake Clan can keep your whole family alive past tomorrow."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke said, "Do you realize what you're saying? Is the Hatake Clan planning to betray the village?"
He regretted those words the instant they left his mouth, but there was no taking them back.
"Betray the village?" Ling Tian sneered. "Is that your goal? To force us to defect?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
When did I ever tell you to defect?
All of this was only supposed to undermine White Fang's prestige.
Nobody's forcing you to betray the village!
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's scalp prickled.
If he actually drove White Fang into defecting, his father might have to resign to take responsibility.
He couldn't be blamed for worrying. White Fang's standing in the village was simply too high.
Even if the Hokage stood above everyone, both civilians and ninja respected White Fang far more than they respected his father!
After all, one had killed countless enemies on the battlefield and proved his ability through action.
The other sat comfortably in his office. His title of Strongest Hokage merely gave people some inexplicable confidence, like a mascot.
The first step in making the Land of Fire the greatest nation.
Start by hyping up the Third as the strongest.
Then the Land of Fire was amazing, the Leaf Village was amazing, the Hokage was amazing, and as a villager of the greatest nation, I was amazing too.
The deadliest brainwashing was the kind nobody noticed.
Damn politics!
Ling Tian didn't know what the other man was thinking, nor did he care to figure it out.
He walked up to the shrew, step by step, and asked in a very calm voice, "Scared?"
The middle-aged woman was trembling all over. "Lord Hatake..."
"Don't call me lord. Your lord isn't here."
Ling Tian interrupted her, his voice indifferent. "Everyone has to answer for their actions. If you do something wrong or say something wrong, you have to pay the price. Do you think there's anything wrong with that?"
"Lord Hatake, I was wrong."
Civilians might be ignorant, but whether the village would choose White Fang or their family was a question with an obvious answer.
Ling Tian smiled faintly, looking at her gently. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance. Go home and make yourself something nice to eat. Then think about how you're going to answer to me. Will you bear the consequences yourself, or will your whole family bear them with you? That's your choice."
The woman beneath his gaze turned to the man beside her. "My lord, you have to save me! I don't want to die! I don't want my husband and son to die! You have to save my family!"
"..."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke felt exhausted.
He really didn't want to bother with this idiot, but now he had no choice.
All he could say was, "Hatake Xianyu,
this is the village, not a battlefield." "Shut up!" Ling Tian snapped. "If you can't give me a satisfactory answer, I'll tell the entire village everything that happened here today. If the villagers still think my older brother was wrong after that, we'll leave this village."
"..."
Ling Tian pointed at the gate. "Get out."
"..."
"Not leaving, huh? Kakashi, go tell your father to pack his things. I refuse to believe nobody else would take us in."
"..."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke was on the verge of tears.
Creeeak...
Fortunately, White Fang opened the door just then.
White Fang stepped outside and glanced at everyone present. His expression dimmed slightly when he saw Kakashi, but he immediately returned to normal and looked away.
He walked up to his younger brother and smiled. "I've caused you trouble again, Xianyu."
Looking at his older brother's forced smile, Ling Tian felt a bitter pang. Then he shot his nephew a fierce glare.
Useless brat!
Not just spoiled and wasteful, then. He had the makings of an ungrateful little bastard too.
White Fang had come out, yet Konohamaru and the others, who had been clamoring for him to appear, all fell silent.
The arguments they had prepared before coming were no longer usable.
If they said anything too shameless, these brothers might defect on the spot!
White Fang looked at them and gave a bitter smile. "I'm no longer a threat. Why are you still doing this?"
Ling Tian swept another glance over them and said coldly, "The Third probably didn't send them. Our Hokage isn't that stupid. It was probably one of the Advisors!"
Seeing Konohamaru's expression change, Ling Tian continued, "Looks like I was right. Of course, my older brother no longer poses a threat to the Hokage position. Why would the Hokage keep pressuring him?"
As he spoke, he looked at his older brother. "Seems someone doesn't want you enjoying retirement at home. They want to finish you off!"
There was something he left unsaid.
In the original story, the Third had probably known about this but allowed it to happen. Perhaps he had intended to let Danzo apply pressure, then step in again to win over White Fang, who no longer threatened his Hokage position.
Unfortunately, he had taken it too far. He hadn't expected White Fang to be so fragile at the time that he would kill himself outright.
And this eldest son of the Hokage didn't seem to have appeared afterward either.
Ling Tian looked at Konohamaru's shifting expression and said, "After this incident, I imagine your father is already disappointed in you. If you still can't give me the answer I demanded by tomorrow..."
He paused, then continued, "Believe me, if we want to leave, nobody can stop us."
Konohamaru's emotions churned.
Yes, Danzo had sent him here today.
The reason was to undermine White Fang's prestige and ensure he was no longer any threat.
He hadn't given it much thought and had come straight over.
After all, suppressing White Fang would also raise his own profile.
It would show the villagers that the Hokage's eldest son believed in completing a mission even at the cost of his own life.
But now, that didn't seem to be the case. Danzo had merely used him.
He had no idea that his father, the Hokage, had known about it the moment Danzo approached him.
Konohamaru regretted it.
But just then, White Fang interrupted his younger brother. "Don't worry. It'll be all right. I won't drag you into this."
Ling Tian looked at him. "What did you say?"
White Fang glanced at Kakashi. "I won't drag you into this."
Smack!
"Ding: Woke White Fang up with a slap. Mission complete." "Rewards: one Diamond Calabash Brothers template, one summon, Little Right. Personal template unlocked early."
I made a readers' group: 960901820
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