Hatake Sakumo

Evening.

Obito was walking home.

Halfway there, he suddenly slapped himself.

"Damn it! Did I... get myself into trouble?"

That afternoon,

he had gotten carried away and said plenty in defense of Konoha's White Fang.

If word of that reached a certain scheming old bastard...

The realization sent a belated shiver through him. He hunched his shoulders and glanced around.

He kept expecting a Root ninja to spring from the shadows

and cut him down with a vicious grin.

He warned himself silently.

Obito, keep your head down from now on.

Until you're strong enough, don't go showing off again.

People really die in this world!!!

Well, I've had my moment. Now it's back to keeping my head down...

Outside a modest house,

a young silver-haired boy pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Father, I'm home."

A middle-aged man came out at the sound of his voice.

He, too, had flowing silver hair, tied into a ponytail behind his head.

Handsome and dignified, he nevertheless had a weariness around his eyes.

This was Konoha's White Fang, renowned throughout the Shinobi World.

He was also Kakashi Hatake's father, Hatake Sakumo.

At the sight of his son,

he forced a faint smile onto his bloodless face.

"How did you do at school today? You didn't embarrass your father, did you?"

Kakashi was silent for a long moment, pain flickering through his eyes.

His father, as Kakashi remembered him,

had only to stand there to resemble a blade drawn bare, too sharp to look at directly.

But the once-upright figure now seemed slightly hunched.

The spirited look in his eyes was gone.

In its place was a gloom he could not shake.

Kakashi spoke slowly.

"Father, someone at school brought up your failed mission today."

The smile froze on Sakumo's face.

"Did... did they?"

He hadn't expected the news to have reached the Ninja Academy...

His son didn't need to repeat what had been said.

Sakumo could more or less guess: accusations that he had broken the rules, abandoned his mission, and caused the village enormous losses.

...He had heard the same accusations countless times these past few days.

What hurt most was

that even the comrade he had saved now blamed him...

"Haa..."

Sakumo let out a long breath.

But the weight in his chest would not lift.

Had I... really been wrong?

Kakashi said quietly,

"Someone called you useless for failing the mission."

Of course.

Sakumo's eyes dimmed, and guilt pricked at him.

His mistake had affected his son.

As a father, he could hardly forgive himself for that.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi..."

"Father, please hear me out."

Kakashi interrupted him, his expression earnest.

"Someone else argued with him when he called you useless."

"He said that if a ninja who failed a mission was useless, then someone who didn't value his comrades was worse than useless."

"He also said that, to him, Konoha's White Fang was a true hero!"

Sakumo jolted, disbelief flashing in his eyes.

"Kakashi, you aren't lying to your father, are you?"

After all these days,

this was the first time he had heard anyone affirm what he had done.

Kakashi nodded firmly.

"Of course not. You should have met him, too."

"His name is Obito Uchiha... He's sort of my friend."

Sakumo spoke with mixed feelings.

"Son, you've made a good friend."

He had never imagined the first ray of light in the darkness

would come from a boy his son's age.

Sakumo hardly knew whether to laugh or cry.

After his son went to his room,

Sakumo's expression turned grave.

Only in the past few days had he begun to sense

that he might have unwittingly stood in someone's way. That was why he kept being targeted.

If he could not find a way out,

he could live with his own reputation being ruined. But Kakashi...

At that thought, his gaze grew intent.

The Hokage Office.

The Third sat behind his desk.

He picked up a cup of freshly brewed goji-berry tea and took a contented sip.

"Ahh~"

Hiruzen sighed wistfully.

When he was young, he had never believed any of it.

All that talk about middle age forcing a man to keep goji berries in his thermos.

But now that he was older,

he had official business to handle by day and a wife to attend to at home by night.

His energy simply wasn't what it used to be.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked at the door.

The Third hid his thermos and said evenly,

"Come in!"

When he saw who it was, the Third smiled.

"Kisuke, what brings you here today? You've actually come to see me of your own accord?"

"Come, sit down and tell me."

Kisuke Urahara was the teacher of Kakashi and Obito's class.

Kisuke nodded and sat across from the Third. After a moment's thought, he said,

"Third-sama, I think I may have found another promising student."

The Third looked surprised.

"Oh? Which youngster?"

"A student named Obito Uchiha," Kisuke replied.

"Today, he..."

Kisuke recounted everything Obito had done that day.

After listening, the Third's eyes sharpened slightly.

"If that's the case, this youngster from the Uchiha Clan does have potential."

"Kisuke, make sure you pay more attention to him from now on."

Whether Sakumo had been right or wrong was beside the point.

At such a young age, Obito had already grasped what it meant to protect others.

That was rare indeed.

After all, protection and passing on that spirit lay at the heart of the Will of Fire!

"I understand, Third-sama," Kisuke said with a nod.

Then

something occurred to him, and he looked puzzled.

"But..."

"Didn't you order the details of White Fang's failed mission kept secret? Why has the news still spread?"

Kisuke Urahara's position gave him access to things most people did not know.

That was precisely why he found it so hard to understand.

The Third rubbed his brow, looking troubled.

"On that point, I'm just as much in the dark as you are."

He stopped mid-sentence.

The Third had noticed a trace of suspicion in Kisuke's eyes.

He paused, then frowned deeply.

"You think I spread the news in secret?"

Kisuke gave an awkward laugh.

"No, no. I've never suspected you. It's just..."

He hesitated, then steeled himself and continued.

"It's just that lately, there's been a rumor among the ninja that White Fang was targeted because his fame overshadowed yours, so..."

The Third's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

He said nothing, only stared at Kisuke with a stormy expression.

"Gulp..."

Kisuke swallowed the rest of his sentence and rose with an awkward smile.

"Well, I only came to update you on how classes have been going lately."

"I just remembered I left dinner cooking at home, so perhaps I should..."

The Third waved him off irritably.

"Out. Go on, get out."

Kisuke fled through the door as though granted a reprieve.

After he left, the Third took out his pipe.

As smoke curled around him, he began to think.

Konoha's situation had grown treacherous and unpredictable of late.

Who was hiding in the shadows, stirring up this storm...?