The Big Brother Who Understood

After saying goodbye to Shikaku, Tsukimi strolled home. As he walked, he pieced together the White Fang Incident from what he knew of the original story.

Many people blamed the tragedy on the villagers' accusations and the Third Hokage's cold hypocrisy. After all, the Konoha villagers' "Will of the Tyrant" was an old tradition. But that wasn't what had happened.

First was the most widespread rumor: that the villagers had hounded White Fang to his death.

That was impossible from the outset.

A ninja of Hatake Sakumo's caliber took on highly dangerous, top-secret missions. This one had been a strategic operation at the border, concerning the Land of Fire's deployments and Konoha's control of its defensive line. It was classified from start to finish. With Konoha's strict mission secrecy, how could news of a loss at that level have reached ordinary villagers?

If Konoha couldn't keep even that secret, it might as well have given up! The other Four Great Ninja Villages would have destroyed it long ago.

In the original story, Minato had discussed White Fang's tragedy with Obito on the way to Kannabi Bridge. His wording had been precise: the people who condemned White Fang were never the villagers, but some of the village's ninja.

If the affair had become common knowledge, with the whole village denouncing him, how could Obito—who had known Kakashi since childhood—have heard nothing about it? In Obito's memory, Hatake Sakumo had always been a hero who sacrificed himself for Konoha. That was the strongest evidence of all.

Konoha's villagers could be an unruly bunch, but they had been unfairly blamed for the White Fang Incident. Every accusation had come from within the ninja ranks.

Next came the misunderstanding of the Third Hokage, along with the rumor that White Fang had been targeted for