Leave, or get cut down

How could he put it?

It had all happened so suddenly!

This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

He had gotten angry and slapped his big brother straight from the heart, and that had completed the mission?

Sure, he had hit him, but could one slap really knock some sense into him?

I haven't even lectured him yet...

Ling Tian was dumbfounded.

Wasn't the system supposed to do nothing but hold him back?

"Could it be that you've realized I want to leave you, so now you're desperately trying to make me stay?"

Thanks to the system's shenanigans, his expression went blank just as he lowered his hand.

To everyone else, it looked as though he regretted hitting his brother.

To be fair, he really liked the idea of a carefree life of indulgence.

With his big brother handling the fighting, he could easily lead the Hatake Clan to greatness and glory in the Shinobi World.

Giving up that comfortable life to chase thrills across countless worlds wasn't Ling Tian's style.

Wouldn't a hundred beautiful, fair-skinned wives be wonderful?

Or am I worried that a few thousand handsome sons won't be filial enough?

So.

A life of indulgence was the dream, and the system was merely a means of getting there.

Wasn't the whole point of having a system to cut out more than half the struggle on the road to a carefree retirement?

So he would gladly accept the rewards.

But getting him to conquer countless worlds? Not a chance.

Unless marrying a wife earned him one of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and having a child earned him a Great Dao physique!

Holding his woman in his arms while smiling as his children went off to conquer countless worlds-that was something he could consider.

Ling Tian disparaged the system in his mind.

Meanwhile, on the scene.

Kakashi and the other three little brats were rather horrified to see someone dare to slap White Fang.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke and his four companions were scared out of their wits.

As for White Fang, he watched his younger brother, who had slapped him in uncontrollable fury the moment he finished speaking, only to stand frozen afterward, looking either happy or worried.

That unwittingly deepened his guilt.

Ling Tian's full-strength strike was nothing like the slaps he had given Kakashi.

Even without the system's physical training, his body, nourished by chakra since he was three, was still strong enough to kill a Kakashi with one punch.

Yet that slap hadn't caused White Fang any discomfort.

At that moment.

White Fang placed a hand on his younger brother's head and gently ruffled his hair, just as he had when Ling Tian was little. "I'm sorry. Your big brother has made you worry again."

Ever since childhood, this younger brother had never given him any cause for concern.

He, on the other hand, seemed to have never stopped making his brother worry.

White Fang was tall and powerfully built, with long silver-white hair tied into a small ponytail at the back, a resolute face, and sharp eyes.

He wasn't particularly handsome, but he certainly wasn't ugly.

Yet this rugged man approaching thirty was smiling with both helplessness and tenderness.

He had given a great deal to the village over his lifetime.

Even now, he didn't regret doing those things for the village.

But when it came to his younger brother, he had never fulfilled his responsibilities as an older brother.

As for Kakashi, he was simply a son who never stopped making people worry.

Ling Tian snapped out of his daze.

Just like yesterday, he fought back his tears and knocked his brother's hand away. "You're doing this again? Tell me, what do you mean by dragging me down? What were you trying to say?"

If he hadn't read the original story, he might not have understood what that meant.

At most, he might have thought his brother had worked things out. He certainly wouldn't have suspected suicide.

"Ah!" White Fang smiled bitterly. "Whatever I plan to do, it seems I can never hide it from you!"

Sometimes, he couldn't help wondering just how this younger brother of his had come into the world.

Was he frighteningly intelligent?

No, White Fang thought he was an outright prodigy.

After all, even now, he was only fifteen!

Ling Tian offered no comment. Seeing through you? Isn't that easy?

He had no idea what he had become in his big brother's eyes.

Now, he put on a cold sneer. "Sakumo Hatake, just yesterday, you said you'd listen to me from now on. So I want you to throw these people out. If they won't leave, kill them all. That'll give us a perfect excuse to leave the village."

Without waiting for his brother to speak, he added, "Kakashi, go get your father's Ninja Blade. Otherwise, get out along with them. Having a nephew like you is embarrassing."

White Fang: "..."

Konohamaru: "..."

Kakashi promptly ran back into the house.

He wasn't an idiot. Ling Tian hadn't kept any of those earlier words from him.

What his second uncle had just said, along with the meekness of Konohamaru and the others, the morning's lecture, and those slaps, was enough to convince him that his father wasn't a criminal.

That's great. Father hasn't wronged the village. The village has wronged him.

I'll never have to worry about being too ashamed to face my friends again.

Before long, four-year-old Kakashi came out carrying a white chakra short blade that was shorter than his arm.

His face was still swollen, but he was positively delighted.

He had never seen his father fight as a ninja before.

They should do exactly what his second uncle said and kill these people outright.

If not for them, he wouldn't have taken those slaps for nothing.

Of course, those thoughts were best kept to himself.

He obediently offered the blade to his father.

White Fang didn't take it.

But Ling Tian did.

Taking the short blade, Ling Tian snapped at his errand-boy nephew to leave, then held it before his big brother. "If they don't want to leave, cut them down. If you won't do it, I will."

The first half was fine, but at the second half, White Fang instinctively took the old friend that had accompanied him through more than a hundred battles.

With the blade in his hand, his entire presence changed.

The pressure of a Kage Level powerhouse bore straight down on the five people.

Konohamaru was still holding up. Quite apart from his strength as a Special Jonin, he had experienced war. A Kage Level powerhouse couldn't render him immobile through sheer presence alone.

But the four civilians collapsed to the ground the moment that pressure enveloped them.

Ling Tian wasn't surprised. After all, his big brother's presence wasn't merely imposing. It also carried the killing intent he had accumulated over years of bloody combat in the Shinobi World.

The fact that ordinary people hadn't fainted on the spot already showed considerable mental resilience.

He took it in stride, but the four little brats beside him had already donned appropriately dumbfounded expressions.

"Kakashi's father is so strong!"

Rin and Obito murmured in unison.

As far as Obito was concerned, he could brag about what he had witnessed today for the rest of his life.

As for Might Guy... "So this is Kakashi's father? He should be able to fight my father for three hundred rounds without losing. As my father's son, I need to keep working hard. I can't fall behind Kakashi and embarrass my father."

Beside him, Kakashi still had one hand pressed to his cheek. He had been feeling rather proud, but those words made him roll his dull, fishlike eyes.

"Are you leaving or not?"

Ling Tian leisurely looked at the four people before him as he spoke.

"Yes! We're leaving right now."

Konohamaru swallowed and hastily answered.

He was nearly at his limit, too.

One of his feet was still wrapped in bandages.

White Fang withdrew his pressure, and all five scrambled out of the Hatake Clan residence as though fleeing for their lives.

Only then did Ling Tian turn to the four little brats with a cheerful smile. "You two are Obito and Might Guy, right?"