The fourth day, outside the Hatake Compound.
The sunlight was glaring, yet it could not reach people's hearts.
After several days of public outrage fermenting, along with mounting casualties at the front lines.
More relatives of the fallen and ordinary citizens gathered outside Hatake Sakumo's gate.
There were grieving relatives in mourning clothes, indignant villagers, and passersby looking for excitement, their dark mass filling the entire street.
Cries, curses, and demands for answers crashed against the tightly shut courtyard gates like waves.
Just then, the crowd automatically made way.
A ninja in a wheelchair was slowly pushed to the very front.
Bandages still wrapped his body, and his face was pale, but his eyes were especially grim.
Someone recognized him—it was the intelligence officer Hatake Sakumo had rescued during that border mission.
Whispers rose from the crowd.
"It's the one who was saved..."
"He's here. What is he going to say?"
The ninja in the wheelchair raised his head and looked at the tightly shut gate.
His voice was hoarse, yet every person could hear it clearly:
"Everyone, I am the intelligence officer Lord Sakumo saved on the front lines. I should have been here all along.
But these past few days, I have been unable to sleep, and I simply cannot get past this in my heart. That is why I came today, to give everyone an explanation."
Then he turned toward the gate. "Captain Sakumo... I know you're in there."
The courtyard gate remained shut.
He took a deep breath, and his voice began to tremble:
"You saved my life, but... but Lord Sakumo, you really should not have saved me!"
The crowd erupted in uproar.
The ninja in the wheelchair's eyes reddened, and his voice rose higher and higher:
"I told you to leave! I told you