White Fang Was Coming Back to the Village

"Lord Orochimaru..."

Just then, the clamor of the other diners interrupted his thoughts. Ling Tian looked toward the noise and saw the effeminate Orochimaru walking slowly toward him.

Once Orochimaru drew near, Ling Tian looked at him calmly, remaining seated as he said lightly, "Snake Lord, I heard you accomplished quite a bit this time. Even the Demigod of the Ninja World gave you the title of Sannin. Congratulations!"

"Are you mocking me?"

Orochimaru approached and looked down at the handsome young man more than twelve years his junior, his brows creasing on his delicate face.

The title of Sannin sounded impressive, but it also represented a fact: even with Tsunade and Jiraiya fighting alongside him, Orochimaru had been unable to defeat Hanzo of the Salamander.

To him, that was a disgrace.

Even if Hanzō was known as the Demigod of the Ninja World.

Ling Tian smiled. "How would I dare? You're Lord Sannin now, Snake Lord. I have to make an appointment just to have a meal with you, wait three days for you to find the time, then wait half the day for you to show up."

Orochimaru's expression settled. Only after he sat down opposite Ling Tian did he say cryptically, "I was injured and spent the past few days recovering. Just now, I heard something that interested me and got held up."

Seeing him stare at him with a faint, ambiguous smile, Ling Tian frowned. "Does it have something to do with me?"

Something about my big brother?

Although he had asked the question, he already knew the answer. Other than White Fang, there was probably nothing that could make Orochimaru act like this in front of him.

"Big Brother White Fang failed his mission..."

Orochimaru paused, then continued, "I just heard it from our teacher. He'll be returning to the village shortly."

"Why do you keep staring at me? So he failed. What, does failing a mission have such a huge impact?"

"..."

Did failing a mission have such a huge impact?

Did it?

Orochimaru froze.

The Sannin had been responsible for the Rain Shinobi Village Battlefield. Although the Leaf Village had won the war, the three of them had failed their mission, because they had lost and had not taken down Hanzō.

The Leaf Village had won because its resources ran deeper than Amegakure's.

They had survived only because Hanzō feared that, if he killed them, Hiruzen Sarutobi would send vast numbers of Leaf Ninja flooding onto the battlefield against Amegakure.

That was all!

Meanwhile, on the Sand Shinobi Battlefield, where White Fang, the Ino-Shika-Cho, and the others had been deployed, they had not only won head-on, but White Fang had also slain the leading figures of Sunagakure's generation: Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law, Sasori's parents.

Despite those thoughts, Orochimaru still said evenly, "Idle Fish Lord, this time is different. Big Brother White Fang's target was the Third Kazekage."

"So what?"

Ling Tian spoke calmly again. "If his target was a Kage, isn't failing the mission perfectly normal? Even your teacher, esteemed Hokage that he is, failed in the past, didn't he?"

"If I remember correctly, the Third Hokage only became Hokage because they failed to protect the Second Hokage!"

Orochimaru was taken aback by Ling Tian's words. After a long pause, he said, "That's different. Big Brother White Fang had a one-hundred-percent mission success rate. The letter said he abandoned the mission to save a comrade."

"So a comrade's life means nothing to them?

Was his mission success rate too high, and that's why he was wrong?

Had even the Third Hokage not completed as many missions as he had, and that's why he was wrong?

Was he wrong because he failed to assassinate a Kage alone? Then why not have someone else try it and see how hard it is to assassinate the leader of a village?"

Ling Tian's four questions left Orochimaru smiling wryly.

"Idle Fish Lord, my expectations were too high. But as you said, failure is normal. Why are you getting so worked up?"

That's right. Wasn't failure perfectly normal?

Never mind the Kage of the five shinobi villages-even against Hanzo of the Salamander from Amegakure, assassination was out of the question. The Sannin could not even beat him in a fight. Had Hanzō not feared the Leaf Village backing them, whether they could have returned alive was anyone's guess.

"I told you,

call me Ling Tian. I don't like the name Xianyu." Orochimaru: "..."

Ling Tian said indignantly, "And I'm not getting worked up. Think about it. If even you think my big brother was wrong not to kill the Third Kazekage, what about everyone else? What will they think?"

Because of Ling Tian, Orochimaru had always addressed White Fang-a ninth-year student of the Leaf Village, only one year older than himself-as Big Brother White Fang. Even though Ling Tian was thirteen years younger than Orochimaru, the two had always treated each other as peers.

Tsunade and Jiraiya, on the other hand, both called him Senior White Fang.

For the well-connected Sannin to address someone nearly their own age as their senior was incredible. Yet that was White Fang's standing, a standing he had carved out with a single ninja blade in the Leaf Village, where connections were what allowed people to rise.

And yet such a man had died in the power struggles of the Leaf Village's rotten leadership.

At those words, Orochimaru froze again, then his expression instantly darkened. "It was because of that letter."

"Has it already started? Can you tell me what happened?"

Watching Orochimaru's shifting expression, Ling Tian understood. First impressions had taken hold. If even Orochimaru, who leaned toward their side, reacted this way, what about everyone else?

Yes, in other people's minds, how could a Kage possibly lie? And in the minds of these disciples, how could their teacher, a Kage, possibly plot to kill a man who had rendered great service?

Orochimaru looked deeply troubled, then began recounting everything, sentence by sentence.

"Our teacher summoned me to the Hokage Building this morning. The three advisors, Jiraiya, Tsunade, the heads of the major clans, and a delegation of jonin were also there. The subject was Big Brother White Fang's failed mission.

The letter said the reason for the failure was that Big Brother White Fang had voluntarily abandoned his mission to save an injured comrade, giving up an opportunity others had provided him to kill the Third Kazekage."

Ling Tian scoffed. "Someone provided an opportunity to kill a Kage? I'd like to ask who-or which people-could possibly have that much influence."

Orochimaru said, "No one said, and no one asked."

"Then it's a baseless accusation."

Without any explanation of how or why, it was nothing but a baseless accusation.

Ling Tian continued, "Also, I want to know how many teammates he had, how strong they were, and their names."

At those words, Orochimaru's breathing grew heavy.

Ling Tian smiled. "Can't tell me?"

"He only had one teammate, and that man's strength was only at the special jonin level."

Orochimaru smiled as he spoke, but there was bitterness in that smile.

A special jonin had somehow been involved in a mission to assassinate the Third Kazekage, and had even been teamed up with Konoha's White Fang.

And by sheer coincidence, that very teammate had been injured. For his sake, White Fang, a man obsessed with missions, had actually abandoned his mission of his own accord.

Anyone could have seen something was wrong, yet Orochimaru had believed it. No one at that meeting had raised an objection, either.

"What's his name? He's only a special jonin, yet he somehow got involved in a battle between Kage-level fighters?"

"His name is Sarutobi Shinnosuke. His strength is average, and he specializes in fire-style ninjutsu. He's..."

Orochimaru closed his eyes. Only after struggling for a while did he say, "He's our teacher's eldest son."

Orochimaru was not the only one who knew the identity of White Fang's teammate. Many others knew as well...