Punching Imin Rujin

"You're trash, trash who doesn't value missions!"

Outside the door, seeing that Sakumo did not dare to come out, Imin Rujin shouted even more gleefully.

Only this way could he avoid being purged by the higher-ups and offered up as a scapegoat. Only this way would his child not have to bear the label of a failure. Only this way could he keep his position as a jonin...

Only this way...

Focused solely on widening the impact, Imin Rujin let out a scream and was sent flying.

When he raised his head while clutching his face, ready to see who had been so audacious, two small figures appeared in his sight.

Kazashiro rubbed his faintly aching fist, a vicious glint in his eyes.

He had gone ahead and hit the man, forgetting to cover his fist in Chakra. Besides, Kakashi could not make a move, or things would become impossible to explain.

Kakashi, standing beside him, wore a worried expression. He should have been the one to act, but after noticing his movement, Kazashiro had swung his fist first and taken the responsibility for him.

"Who are you? How dare you hit me?!" Imin Rujin, who did not recognize Kazashiro at all, spat on the ground and got to his feet.

Then he saw Kakashi standing beside Kazashiro.

"Well, if it isn't the trash's son. What, too scared to do it yourself, so you egged someone else on to attack me?" Imin Rujin naturally classified Kazashiro as someone Kakashi had incited.

"No—" Kakashi had just been about to admit it when Kazashiro rudely cut him off.

"Shut up, Kakashi. I wanted to punch you. Just looking at that ugly face of yours pisses me off. Uncle Sakumo gave everything to save you, and not only are you ungrateful, you're even here spouting nonsense. You're exactly the kind of person I want to punch!"

Kazashiro stepped forward and looked up at Imin Rujin.

"Hmph, is that so? As expected, the trash's son only has trash friends. You're all cut from the same cl—" Unwilling to be outdone, Imin Rujin glared back and instinctively reached for his ninja tool pouch.

Swish! Swish!

Before Imin Rujin could do anything, two masked Anbu suddenly appeared. One seized the hand he had extended toward his ninja tool pouch, while the other drew a kunai and pressed it against his back.

"Stop, Imin Rujin. Are you planning to attack a child?" one of the Anbu whispered into Imin Rujin's ear.

"Heh, everyone, come take a look! The higher-ups have even deployed the Anbu just to shield Sakumo!" Imin Rujin had intended to force the Anbu to show themselves, so he could display this scene to the villagers and confirm the higher-ups' favoritism toward Sakumo. But when he turned around, he discovered that the onlookers who had been gathered there had suddenly vanished.

Not only that, the surroundings had become frighteningly silent in an instant.

"Tch... so that's how it is..." Sensing the chill in the air, several ninja dressed differently from the Anbu around him appeared on all sides, surrounding Imin Rujin.

It seemed the watching villagers had been driven away with an Illusion Technique. This presence was very similar to those who had interrogated him before. Were they Danzo's subordinates?

"Imin Rujin, you are currently suspended. Who allowed you to appear on Konoha's streets at will and spread confidential mission information to ordinary villagers?" Yamanaka Zen, holding a ninja sword, approached him amid a cluster of Root ninja.

"I was wrong." Imin Rujin admitted his mistake cleanly and decisively.

In any case, his goal had already been achieved. Whatever happened next had nothing to do with him.

With things having reached this point, the higher-ups had to punish Sakumo. More importantly...

A cold smile appeared at the corner of Imin Rujin's mouth.

He knew that with Hatake Sakumo's personality, after being accused to his face, Sakumo would certainly take the initiative to bear responsibility for the mission's failure. He might even commit suicide...

I won.

Seeing that this bastard still dared to sneer, Kazashiro angrily threw another punch. This time, he did not forget to cover his fist in Chakra, sending the unprepared Imin Rujin spinning in place.

"You, you..." After taking another vicious punch, Imin Rujin saw stars. Wondering why the Anbu had not stopped this brat, he discovered that every Anbu present had coincidentally chosen to turn away and look elsewhere.

Moreover, the two Anbu who had appeared earlier to stop him had vanished outright, replaced by the Root ninja Yamanaka Zen had brought, who restrained him with even greater force.

"I'll teach you to repay kindness with hatred. I'll teach you to spout nonsense. I'll teach you to be ungrateful. I'll teach you to talk nonsense. I'll teach you..." After throwing a great many punches, Kazashiro finally stopped, panting heavily.

When someone stepped forward to treat his fist, Kazashiro waved them away. Following the method Yakushi Nonō had taught him, he circulated his Chakra and attempted to use Medical Ninjutsu.

Young Master Kazashiro's ninjutsu had improved even further, though his temperament was nothing like Lord Danzo's. He was a little too impulsive.

Yamanaka Zen stood nearby, watching the green glow in Kazashiro's hand with an approving look.

"Take him away." Signaling his subordinates to remove Imin Rujin, whose face was swollen like a pig's head, Yamanaka Zen left the space entirely to Kazashiro and Kakashi.

Creak.

With the sound of turning hinges, Hatake Sakumo opened the door. His face was full of exhaustion, but he forced out a smile. "Kazashiro is here. Come in."

Back in Kakashi's home after so long, Kazashiro had no time to reminisce. He looked nervously at Sakumo before him.

No matter what, Sakumo was the one who had brought him from the godforsaken Kirigakure to Konoha. No matter what he said, he could not let Sakumo die an unclear death like in the original story.

From Imin Rujin's affair, he had roughly realized that Hatake Sakumo's death had been entirely because Sakumo could not get past his own guilt. When a person was determined to die, no amount of persuasion could bring them back.

The current Sakumo looked more than ten years older. Though he still forced a smile, he could not hide the deathly pallor on his face.

At a time like this, he could not try to persuade him directly.

"Uncle Sakumo, I want to eat the food you make."

Kazashiro did not mention what had just happened. Instead, he held his stomach and said he was hungry.

"Uh, alright. Hehe, Uncle will go cook for you." Sakumo froze for a moment, then immediately got up and instinctively began looking for his pink apron.

"So that's how it is. That child Kazashiro made a move?" The Anbu Hiruzen had sent out reported the situation at the scene.

"This child's temperament is completely different from Danzo's." Smiling and shaking his head, Hiruzen did not dare relax in the slightest. Although Imin Rujin had already been detained, the rumors he had spread were beginning to circulate throughout the village. The two advisors would certainly use this as an excuse to force him to give them an explanation.

This was troublesome...