High-Level Reactions · Sword Heart Enlightenment

Sakumo Hatake's death was like a massive boulder thrown into a seemingly tranquil lake.

This should have been a world-shaking event. In modern terms, it was equivalent to a five-star general of some country dying.

Yet his death somehow failed to stir up any significant ripples.

Kakashi's unusual departure from school and his reaction upon entering the house were quickly noticed by the ANBU that had been monitoring the White Fang residence.

Only after breaking down the door did they discover that White Fang was dead.

After repeated confirmation, the news was delivered to the Hokage's office and Root at the fastest possible speed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had been handling official affairs at the time. When he received the news, the hand holding the report suddenly trembled, and his beloved pipe fell to the floor with a clatter, scattering tobacco everywhere.

His first reaction was for his mind to go blank, followed by endless regret and a trace of panic.

"How could this happen..." he lamented inwardly.

He had overplayed his hand!

He had only wanted to suppress Sakumo Hatake's prestige, make him abandon any thoughts of becoming Hokage, then bring him under his command and turn him into a more obedient blade.

He had never intended to drive him to his death!

There were already few people in the Hidden Leaf Village who possessed both the strength and ability to hold down one side.

Now, Jiraiya had gone traveling, Orochimaru was obsessed with forbidden techniques, and Tsunade had left the village to clear her mind. The village's top combatants and commanders were already in short supply. With White Fang dead, if enemies attacked now, was this old man supposed to personally step in?

In contrast, Shimura Danzo's reaction was far colder.

Upon hearing the news, he merely snorted. Disdain flashed through his single eye. "A ninja must endure what ordinary people cannot. Unable to withstand mere gossip, he chose to take his own life. What a cowardly act. He was unworthy of the title 'White Fang of Konoha'!"

Through his crow Avatar, Uchiha Hara watched the commotion at the White Fang residence from afar, feeling rather moved as well.

He did not believe Sakumo Hatake had been a coward, but he deeply regretted his choice.

He recalled something a writer from his previous life had said: A man could be destroyed, but he could not be defeated.

Choosing death was easy. Choosing to persevere was difficult.

In reality, there were also those who could endure countless blows, lie low and wait for their chance, and ultimately rise again.

Sakumo Hatake was only thirty-two, in the prime of his life, while Sarutobi Hiruzen was already nearing fifty. If he could have endured for twenty years, there might not have been no chance to turn things around.

Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

Sakumo Hatake was dead, and because of his previous mission failure and the village's public opinion, he was even stripped of the right to enter the Memorial Stone.

His death was classified as "suicide due to overwhelming guilt over mission failure."

Once Sakumo Hatake died, the forces that had gathered around the name White Fang of Konoha immediately scattered like monkeys from a fallen tree.

None of his former subordinates or colleagues dared come to pay their respects, fearing they might invite trouble. As a five-year-old child, Kakashi did not even know how to arrange his father's funeral.

In the end, only a few distant branch-family members of the Hatake Clan helped out. They found a corner in an ordinary Konoha cemetery and hastily buried White Fang. The entire process was so deserted that it chilled the heart.

One person, however, watched the entire process with close attention. Naturally, that person was Uchiha Hara.

After confirming Sakumo Hatake's burial location, he waited until that moonless, windy night. Using Earth Release, he silently slipped into the cemetery as though merging with the ground itself, arriving without a sound before the newly made yet exceedingly simple grave.

"Sorry. I'll be borrowing your talent," he murmured inwardly, drawing upon the Demon Refining Pot's power to place Sakumo Hatake's corpse into the pot for refinement.

He had confirmed this long ago. Within twenty-four hours of death, a corpse could still yield something through refinement. Once more than twenty-four hours had passed, refining it would no longer produce Blood Essence or talents; only the material origin that the Demon Refining Pot absorbed in full would remain.

A moment later, a brand-new Blood Essence appeared within the Uchiha Demon Refining Pot.

Uchiha Hara did not refine it immediately. Instead, he returned home first, then entered the Demon Refining Pot and swallowed the Blood Essence.

Moments later, a brand-new realization surged into his mind, and the panel updated accordingly:

[Sword Heart Enlightenment (Purple)]: Gain a lucid sword heart, greatly enhancing spiritual perception. Allows vague perception of good and evil, willpower, and killing intent. Greatly enhances swordsmanship talent and the power of sword techniques.

"Purple talent!" Uchiha Hara's eyes widened. As expected, anyone capable of becoming a Kage-level powerhouse—and even surpassing the Legendary Sannin in both fame and strength—possessed extraordinary talent. White Fang of Konoha was no exception.

After experiencing the Sword Heart Enlightenment talent, realization flashed through his eyes.

"The reason White Fang of Konoha could see through a person's potential was precisely because of Sword Heart Enlightenment—the ability to sense the strength of another person's will!"

Those with firm willpower would not necessarily become strong, but the strong would certainly possess unwavering will.

Thus, judging someone's potential by sensing their will was indeed quite reliable.

Uchiha Hara was only glad that he had never appeared before Sakumo Hatake. Otherwise, one look from Sword Heart Enlightenment would have exposed how extraordinary he was.

At that point, what would be the point of lying low? He would have been exposed outright.

The Sword Heart Enlightenment talent could greatly enhance a person's aptitude for swordsmanship.

Combined with the terrifying comprehension of the Three-Aperture Exquisite Heart, he felt as though a completely new door had opened before him on the path of the sword.

The Uchiha Style Swordsmanship, which he had already mastered proficiently, now felt perfectly fluid and connected after only a few casual practice rounds in his hands, without the slightest hitch.

Countless inspirations burst forth in his mind. The essential principles of sword styles from across the Ninja World, along with profound concepts from martial arts novels in his previous life—such as overcoming techniques with no fixed technique and attacking what the enemy must defend—came flooding in. They allowed him to glimpse the possibility of elevating Uchiha Style Swordsmanship to an entirely new realm—a realm similar to the Dugu Nine Swords!

Furthermore, Sword Heart Enlightenment referred to a state of mind that pressed forward relentlessly and broke through obstacles, rather than a literal sword. Its scope was therefore quite broad; it was not as though something had to be shaped like a sword to count as a sword.

Holding a saber worked too. Treating a gun as a sword worked as well.

Not only that, Uchiha Hara even discovered that Sword Heart Enlightenment was equally effective for sensing and controlling energy.

When he tried to compress and condense Wind-natured chakra to an extreme degree, he could form invisible yet tangible Wind Release sword qi and fire it outward;

When he attached sharp, resilient Gold-natured chakra to Autumn Rain or Winter's Endurance, he could likewise form Gold Release sword qi. The blades immediately gleamed with an even colder light, their sharpness and toughness visibly enhanced!

One was long-range, the other close-combat; they complemented each other perfectly.

Even without the Sword Heart Enlightenment talent, these two types of chakra could be used this way. But with Sword Heart Enlightenment, the results were far stronger than before.

It was somewhat like adding another "sword qi" nature transformation on top of the original nature transformation.

He even applied this lucid heart to Wind God Body Flicker, instantly identifying and optimizing the subtle disharmony between chakra flow and air resistance. His speed rose by another level!

"This is only the auxiliary effect..." Uchiha Hara was inwardly shaken. Sword Heart Enlightenment should have been classified as a combat talent, yet its support capabilities were already this powerful.

He looked forward to the combat enhancement this talent would bring all the more, but a trace of doubt also arose within him. "I'm already this strong. Once I reach adulthood, how many people in this Ninja World will still let me test my sword to my heart's content?"

At that moment, he only wanted to sing: How lonely it is to be invincible!