In early summer of Konoha's forty-second year, the world should have been brimming with life.
But the air around the Hatake Residence was as cold as midwinter.
Liuyu stood in the shadows across the street, watching the quiet residence.
An invisible weight seemed to hang over the house.
Passersby instinctively quickened their pace, while the neighbors made a point of avoiding the front gate.
Even when children played, their parents would pull them away and quietly warn them, "Stay away from there."
Because the master of the house was Hatake Sakumo.
The White Fang of the Leaf.
A former hero, now a laughingstock.
Liuyu walked around the street twice and heard nothing but talk like this.
"Have you heard? Those Chunin he saved were discharged from the hospital yesterday.
They were at the tavern, crying about how Lord Sakumo had abandoned the mission without authorization and made them lose face in front of everyone..."
"Lord Hokage hasn't made a statement, but I heard that at the upper-level meeting, Advisor Koharu and Advisor Homura harshly criticized the ninja who took part in the mission."
"The failed mission delayed the trade agreement between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. The losses were at least thirty million ryo..."
"His son Kakashi hasn't been to the training grounds these past two days. He must've been dragged into it, too."
Uchiha Ryūha listened without expression.
He opened the system panel and looked at the quest list.
[Current Side Quest: White Fang's Swan Song] [Time Remaining: 84 days] [Target Status: On the verge of a mental breakdown; life energy steadily weakening.]
The status indicator for Hatake Sakumo had changed from its original green to a glaring orange-red.
And the color was deepening, like embers about to go out.
Uchiha Ryūha closed the panel.
He returned to the Uchiha Compound and waited until late at night in his room.
At one in the morning, when all was silent, he changed into a dark gray outfit and tucked Kyōka Suigetsu behind his waist. He carried only Kunai and smoke bombs in his ninja pouch.
He put on a black mask that left his eyes exposed.
He pushed open the window, and the night wind rushed in.
His Reiatsu perception spread silently, like quicksilver spilling across the ground.
Within a radius of three hundred meters, every trace of Chakra registered clearly in his mind.
Seven Anbu were scattered around the village, five of them near the Hokage Building.
Two were on the outskirts of the Uchiha Compound—men the Third Hokage had sent to watch him.
There were also three more, their Chakra hidden and chilling, lying in wait around the Hatake Residence.
Root.
Shimura Danzō really hadn't left this place alone.
Uchiha Ryūha adjusted his glasses, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
He took a deep breath and lightly touched the windowsill with the tips of his toes.
Flash Step.
His figure vanished from where he stood.
He covered the distance from the windowsill to a rooftop thirty meters away without leaving a trace, as if space itself had folded.
He landed on the roof tiles without making a sound.
His Reiatsu perception locked onto the three Root agents: one was at a second-floor window in the teahouse across the street.
Another was perched on the signpost at the street corner. The third was the most concealed, hiding in the attic of an empty warehouse next door to the Hatake Residence.
From those three angles, they had every entrance and exit to the Hatake Residence covered.
Shimura Danzō really was sparing no expense to watch a man who was as good as dead.
Uchiha Ryūha didn't linger.
He used Flash Step again.
This time, he moved fifty meters, landing on the back wall of a nearby house.
The family kept a dog, but it only twitched its ears, rolled over, and went back to sleep, completely unaware that anyone had passed by.
With his third Flash Step, he landed directly in the courtyard of the Hatake Residence.
His feet touched the gravel path without making a sound.
Almost as soon as he landed, Uchiha Ryūha's right hand settled on the hilt at his waist.
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
Hum—
An invisible wave spread outward from him.
It silently enveloped the entire Hatake Residence and everything within fifty meters of it.
This was "area-wide coverage."
It wasn't hypnosis targeting a single person, but the "covering" and "replacing" of perception throughout an entire area.
In the eyes of the Root ninja on the teahouse's second floor, everything at the Hatake Residence looked normal.
Moonlight fell quietly over the courtyard. The gravel path was empty.
He even yawned and wrote in his report scroll: "At midnight, no abnormalities at the target residence. The target has not left."
The Root ninja perched on the signpost at the street corner noticed nothing amiss, either.
The one in the warehouse attic next door had the sharpest senses of the three.
Eyes closed, he used a Chakra-sensing technique to cover the entire area.
Within his perceptual network, the Hatake Residence held only one faint, desolate trace of Chakra—that of Hatake Sakumo himself.
He frowned, feeling that something was off, but the results of his sensing were unmistakable.
Maybe he was just tired.
In truth, Uchiha Ryūha was standing in the center of the Hatake Residence's courtyard.
He looked up toward the dojo.
The paper doors were shut, but an oil lamp glowed inside.
Its dim, yellow light outlined the silhouette of someone kneeling within.
The figure didn't move, like a stone statue.
A short blade lay on the floor in front of him.
Even through the paper doors, Ryūha could feel the blade's icy aura.
It carried the killing intent of a weapon that had followed its master through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The White Fang Short Blade.
Its tip pointed toward the figure himself.
Uchiha Ryūha looked away and walked toward the dojo.
The gravel path made the faintest rustling sound beneath his feet, but under Kyōka Suigetsu's "coverage," that sound existed only in his own perception.
To the outside world, the courtyard remained utterly silent.
He reached the dojo and stopped.
The oil lamp behind the paper door revealed the upright outline of the kneeling figure, yet it also suggested an indescribable weariness and... resolve.
Uchiha Ryūha reached out to slide the door open.
Just then, a hoarse voice came from within:
"Since you're already here, come in."
The voice was calm, but beneath that calm lay a bottomless weariness.
Ryūha paused.
Had he been discovered?
Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of the Leaf—despite everything, he still had the keen senses of a top-tier ninja.
No wonder he was a Kage Level powerhouse.
Even Kyōka Suigetsu in its Shikai state couldn't quite fool him.
His Reiatsu was still too weak. With Reiatsu at a Jonin's level, he should've been able to deceive Sakumo.
Ryūha adjusted his glasses and slid open the paper door.
The sound of it sliding rang sharply through the silence.
The dojo came into view.
It was spacious, with dark wooden floors polished to a spotless shine.
A plaque bearing the character for "endure" hung on the wall, its strokes bold and powerful.
A weapon rack stood in the corner, empty.
At the center, Hatake Sakumo knelt.
He wore dark gray loungewear. His hair was slightly disheveled, and stubble covered his face.
The White Fang Short Blade lay on the floor in front of him.
Ryūha entered the dojo, and the paper door closed silently behind him.
The oil lamp flickered between them, casting wavering shadows.
The dojo was quiet enough to hear the faint crackle of the burning wick.
Hatake Sakumo raised his head and looked at Uchiha Ryūha.
His gaze first settled on Ryūha's face, then swept over his glasses and high-collared robe, finally coming to rest on Kyōka Suigetsu at his waist.
"Uchiha brat," Sakumo said, his voice hoarse.
"At this hour, dressed like that, sneaking into my home... What do you want?"
Ryūha stood where he was without approaching.
He kept three meters between them, a safe distance that let them speak without making Sakumo overly wary.
"I came to stop you from doing something foolish, Lord Sakumo," he said.
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