White Fang's death, faith shattered

Kakashi did not turn around.

His fingers settled on the edge of the scroll, slowly pushing aside the half-sheet of paper. Lamplight illuminated the first annotation.

Guide public opinion on the mission's failure. Prevent individual ninja judgment from taking precedence over village regulations.

Below it was Root's execution signature, with a forwarding stamp from the Hokage Building's Internal Affairs Office beside it.

Kakashi's breathing faltered for half a beat.

Sasuke emerged from the inner room, another cup of tea in his hand. "Keep reading. Getting murderous over the heading alone is such a waste."

Kakashi turned his Sharingan toward him. "Where did you get this?"

Sasuke set the cup on the corner of the desk. "What you should be asking now is whether it's real."

Kakashi slammed a hand onto the scroll. "Answer me."

Outside, two ANBU sensed the disturbance and were about to approach when Sasuke raised a hand and tapped the window frame.

"Everyone outside, take three steps back. This is the Clan Head's Study. Cross the line without permission, and I'll have the Konoha Military Police Force arrest you for breaking into an evidence storage area at night."

The sounds outside ceased.

Kakashi stared at Sasuke. "You knew I'd come in."

"The Hokage ordered you to watch me. Of course you had to look." Sasuke sat down at the desk. "A competent ANBU wouldn't ignore classified material on a desk. A dutiful son certainly wouldn't ignore the cause of his father's death."

Kakashi's hand froze on the scroll, creasing the paper beneath it.

He continued reading.

Root rumor template: White Fang sabotaged the mission, subjecting the village to diplomatic pressure.

Dissemination channels: mission teammates' families, neighborhood merchants, casual conversations among Ninja Academy instructors.

Hokage Building's position: no public support, no proactive clarification. Further decisions pending developments in public opinion.

On the last page was an approval to withhold survivor benefits. The date for their eventual release was blank.

Beneath Kakashi's mask, his clenched teeth made a faint sound.

"This is impossible."

Sasuke lifted his teacup, lightly tapping the lid against its rim. "How much filth have you seen in ANBU? Why start believing their hands are clean just because it's your own father?"

Kakashi rolled up the scroll, then unrolled it again, as though searching the seams of the paper for signs of forgery.

"Lord Hokage wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't what?" Sasuke interrupted. "Wouldn't tacitly approve the rumors? Wouldn't let a decorated hero die to preserve the system? Wouldn't raise that hero's son as a tool after his death?"

Kakashi raised his head, the crimson in his Sharingan spinning faster. "Shut up."

Sasuke did not stop. "Your father saved his comrades and violated the mission. Konoha couldn't let that become an example, so they needed people to condemn him. Danzo acted, and the Hokage Building refused to clear his name. Once White Fang was dead, they brought you into the system and told you to obey the rules and believe in the will of fire."

The water in the teacup rippled.

Kakashi's chakra spread through the study with oppressive force, making the window paper tremble against its frame.

"You're trying to provoke me."

"I'm reminding you." Sasuke pushed a transfer record toward him. "The payments to the families spreading the rumors came from Root's Outer Accounts Office. Approved by Shimura Danzō. Forwarded through Internal Affairs at the Hokage Building. You can check the original files. The reference numbers are still there."

Kakashi did not take it.

Sasuke placed the paper beside the scroll. "How many years have you spent carrying out missions for your father's killers? After wearing that ANBU mask for so long, does the face beneath it still remember who it is?"

Those words struck hard. Kakashi's hand left the scroll. He took a step back and collided with the bookshelf, knocking several old clan genealogies to the floor.

The ANBU outside the door finally could not hold back. "Captain?"

Kakashi did not respond.

Sasuke looked toward the door. "Stay there. Another half step, and you'll hear something you shouldn't."

The people outside stopped.

Kakashi looked down at the genealogies on the floor, his voice squeezed out from behind his mask. "What do you want me to do?"

"First, admit you hate them."

Kakashi looked up. "I asked what you want."

Sasuke stood and walked up to him. "I want the Hokage Building's ANBU Passage Map, the Internal Affairs Sealed Records List for the past three years, and the Root Shared Mission Records. Also, show me everything the Third Hokage asks you to report about me before you send it."

Kakashi gave a short laugh without a trace of amusement.

"You laid out my father's death just for those things?"

"To wake you up." Sasuke stared at him. "Once you're awake, we can discuss the price."

Kakashi snatched up the scroll. "If this is fake, I'll kill you."

"And if it's real?"

Kakashi did not answer.

Sasuke walked behind the desk, opened a hidden compartment, and took out a small Image Scroll.

"This contains a memory fragment preserved by the Yamanaka Clan back then. After your father died, Danzo told a Root meeting that Hatake Sakumo had taught Konoha ninja the rules with his life. Do you want to watch it now, or go check the files first?"

Kakashi's hand stopped in midair.

Sasuke pushed the Image Scroll in front of him. "If you still watch me for the Third Hokage after seeing this, I'll admit you're ruthless enough. If you want to kill Danzo afterward, I'll give you a way. If you want to confront the Third Hokage, I suggest you secure the evidence first."

Kakashi did not reach for it.

The lamp's wick burned shorter, and the flame tilted to one side.

"Why me?" he asked.

Sasuke answered immediately. "Because the Third Hokage trusts you. Because you have a Sharingan. Because your father died under the same set of rules. Because you're hurting enough to sink your teeth into your enemies and never let go."

Kakashi's shoulders sank a little.

At last, he picked up the Image Scroll and pressed its seal.

An image projected onto the wall: a Root basement, a younger Danzo seated behind a desk, several ninja before him taking notes with their heads lowered.

Danzo's voice emerged from the scroll.

"Hatake Sakumo's death will teach every ninja that the mission comes before personal judgment. Don't stop the rumors. End them too soon, and they won't have enough effect."

Another voice asked, "What about Lord Hokage?"

Danzo replied, "Hiruzen will remain silent. Silence is what he does best."

The image ended.

Kakashi stood motionless. Yet his chakra withdrew little by little, so completely that it was frightening.

Sasuke did not rush him.

After a long while, Kakashi put the Image Scroll back on the desk and rolled up the file.

"Lord Hokage ordered me to report every four hours."

Sasuke looked at him. "What will you write?"

Kakashi took a blank sheet from his ninja tool pouch and set his pen to it.

After returning to the clan compound, Sasuke Uchiha sorted the evidence. His emotional state is stable, with no unusual contact. Security in the compound is tight. No signs of intended defection have been detected so far.

Once he finished, he handed the paper to Sasuke.

"Is this enough?"

Sasuke glanced over it. "Too clean. Add that Sasuke is dissatisfied with the ANBU deployment and Fugaku is resistant. That'll reassure the Third Hokage. He'll think you're still watching for cracks on his behalf."

Kakashi was silent for a moment, then wrote as instructed.

Sasuke returned the paper to him. "From now on, you're still the Third Hokage's eyes. But whatever you see comes through me first."

Kakashi removed the mask from the side of his face and placed it on the desk.

He did not kneel quickly. The movement was like pulling an old bone from his body-painful, but necessary.

The wooden floor gave a faint sound as one knee touched down.

"I, Kakashi Hatake, will follow Sasuke Uchiha's orders. But I have one condition."

Sasuke looked down at him. "Name it."

"Hand Danzo over to me alive, just once."

"Agreed." There was no warmth in Sasuke's eyes. "But until he's been wrung dry, you don't act on your own."

Kakashi looked up. "Does that include the Third Hokage?"

Sasuke put the scrolls into the hidden compartment. "The Third Hokage can't die yet. Alive, he can stamp approvals, take the blame, and field questions from the Daimyo's Residence for me."

At the words "take the blame," Kakashi's gaze shifted slightly.

Sasuke added, "If you want revenge, learn not to let your enemies die too quickly."

The ANBU outside called again. "Captain, a message from the Hokage Building. They demand an immediate report on Sasuke's movements."

Kakashi stood and put his mask back on.

"I'll go report."

Sasuke handed him a slip of paper. "While you're at it, write down the location of the ANBU Internal Affairs Archive for me. Not now. Once you're back at the Hokage Building, slip it into your report using your personal code."

Kakashi took the slip, his fingertips pausing for a moment. "You even know my code?"

Sasuke looked out the window. "I know plenty more that you'd like to know."

Kakashi opened the window and left.

The ANBU outside followed him. No one knew that allegiance had just changed hands inside the study. Sasuke returned to the desk, opened the first false report Kakashi had left behind, and revised two phrases.

Fugaku entered through the side door and glanced at the impression the ANBU mask had left on the desk. "He's sided with you?"

"Not quite." Sasuke dried the ink over the heat. "The truth has merely sunk its teeth into him."

Fugaku frowned. "Can someone like that be trusted?"

"Hatred is more reliable than loyalty." Sasuke rolled up the report. "Loyalty can be held hostage by morality. Hatred only looks for an outlet."

Fugaku fell silent for a moment. "What are you going to have him do?"

Sasuke looked toward the Hokage Building. "Secure the ANBU Internal Affairs Archive. It holds old files the Third Hokage wouldn't dare make public, along with records of the last people Danzo contacted before fleeing."

Outside the window, Kakashi's messenger hawk flew toward the Hokage Building.

But just as the hawk crossed the boundary of the clan compound, a black crow swooped diagonally out of the darkness, a small strip of bloodstained white cloth hanging from its claws.

The white cloth fell in front of Sasuke's window. A crooked line of writing marked its surface.

Hatake Sakumo wasn't the first. The Death Report for the Fourth Hokage's Team is still locked inside the ANBU Internal Affairs Archive.