Chapter 575: The Heart of Steel Orientation Test
The bookmarked section of "Gyūbi's Night" began a new story arc.
Since Gyūbi was the son of a Tailed Beast and a human, he had no preference whatsoever. He wasn't bound by traditional human morals or ethics.
The phrase "not leaving even a female dog within ten miles" wasn't enough to describe Gyūbi.
Only the phrase "the all-penetrating Ah San from another world" could truly describe the existence that was Gyūbi. (Ah san means Indian here)
Today, the legendary ninja Gyūbi transformed into Konoha's White Fang.
After becoming the White Fang, Chiyo, as the White Fang's sworn enemy, was automatically refreshed right outside Gyūbi's front door.
Facing Chiyo's revenge, Gyūbi originally planned to throw the door wide open, let Chiyo come inside, and fully enjoy this old beauty.
But to his surprise, after transforming into the White Fang...
He completely lost interest in Chiyo!!
Though slightly disappointed, Gyūbi quickly got over it.
After all, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
The reason Gyūbi was so shocked was because, from his point of view, the legends claimed that Konoha's White Fang secretly loved Chiyo, which was why he had deliberately killed her son and daughter-in-law.
[I won't allow your children with another man to exist in this ninja world!]
What a domineering CEO.
Yet after becoming the White Fang himself today, he discovered he wasn't interested in Chiyo at all.
Once again proving that rumors in the ninja world weren't necessarily true. One had to experience things personally before drawing conclusions, rather than blindly believing what everyone else said.
Just as Kakashi silently gave this part of the story a mental thumbs-up, an uneasy feeling suddenly crept into his heart.
When he kept reading, sure enough...
Something went wrong.
Seeing that her enemy refused to come out of the house, Chiyo decided to publicly expose all of the White Fang's dark past.
The truth was that White Fang didn't merely dislike Chiyo.
He simply didn't like women at all.
Even more shamelessly, back then, determining a man's orientation in the ninja world had been extremely simple.
You only had to look at the number of "Heart of Steel" stacks he had.
More or less, it was always accurate.
However, the naturally cultured bond-type ninja, Konoha's White Fang, deliberately muddied the waters by inventing the "One Thousand Years of Death".
He constantly used the One Thousand Years of Death on other ninjas, making it impossible for people to determine a man's orientation through the Heart of Steel test anymore.
That allowed Konoha's White Fang to hide among everyone else unnoticed.
Chiyo's son was one of the victims.
Back then, White Fang had only just developed the One Thousand Years of Death when her son was attacked.
At that time, the Heart of Steel orientation test had not yet been abolished. After Chiyo's daughter-in-law saw that her husband had obtained "Your Heart Has Hardened," she immediately fell into despair, believing her husband was a bond-type ninja.
Her son couldn't explain himself no matter how hard he tried.
To prove he was telling the truth, he had no choice but to bring his wife onto the battlefield and personally seek revenge against Konoha's White Fang.
The result was...
The White Fang used the "One Thousand-Year Gōrōshi" on both husband and wife!
Only in her final moments did Chiyo's daughter-in-law finally realize that her husband hadn't lied to her.
He really was a normal man.
Unfortunately...
It was already too late.
The two of them were brutally murdered by the inherently evil Konoha White Fang.
It was precisely because this loving couple had died that Sunagakure's autopsy discovered both of them had accumulated Heart of Steel stacks simultaneously.
Only then did they realize they had fallen victim to a vicious enemy ninjutsu.
From that day onward, the Heart of Steel orientation test disappeared forever.
And Konoha's White Fang finally achieved his evil objective.
From then on, he could continue disguising himself as someone who wasn't a bond-type ninja.
But Heaven's justice never fails.
The heavens spare no one.
To hide his true orientation, Konoha's White Fang had committed such unforgivable acts, killing a loving couple and causing countless ninjas throughout the ninja world to accumulate Heart of Steel stacks.
In the end...
Retribution finally came.
Once, White Fang and his teammates traveled to the Land of Hot Water for a mission.
(Asuma: "Why is it the Land of Hot Water again?")
At that time, the Land of Hot Water wasn't yet the gathering place of bond-type ninjas.
It was simply a famous tourist destination known for its hot springs.
While White Fang and his teammates were soaking in the hot springs as part of their approach toward the mission target, White Fang suddenly noticed...
One of his teammates had accumulated quite a few Heart of Steel stacks!
Immediately, White Fang developed impure thoughts toward his well-built teammate.
He had never used the One Thousand Years of Death on this teammate.
That meant...
His teammate absolutely had to be a bond-type ninja.
This alone showed just how evil Konoha's White Fang truly was.
Other people could no longer use the Heart of Steel test to determine whether someone was a bond-type ninja.
But White Fang himself still could.
He only had to remember exactly how many people he had used his technique on.
Just like remembering how many slices of bread he'd eaten.
Later, during the mission, for the sake of this teammate's safety, White Fang abandoned the mission and saved him.
For the famous Konoha White Fang, abandoning a mission wasn't actually a big deal.
Especially if it was to save a teammate.
But White Fang expected repayment for his kindness.
He believed that since he had saved his teammate's life, his teammate would naturally offer himself in return.
On the way back to the village after the failed mission, White Fang quietly slipped into his teammate's tent in the middle of the night.
His teammate woke up in shock and was utterly horrified.
It turned out...
His teammate wasn't a bond-type ninja at all.
The Heart of Steel stacks White Fang had seen were actually just a medical condition.
His teammate had previously gone to a medical ninja for treatment.
But the medical ninja had said: "Your 'Heart of Steel' stacks are a little high, but your 'Intelligence Window' makes up for that deficiency very well, so you don't need treatment."
The teammate was terrified of surgery.
So he chose not to receive treatment.
He never imagined that this decision would cause White Fang to mistake him for a bond-type ninja...
And even attack him because of it.
The teammate felt nothing but anger and disgust.
He had never imagined that White Fang had abandoned an important mission just to save him...
For his body!
But he couldn't openly tell anyone what had happened.
If he did, his own reputation would be ruined as well.
So on the journey back to Konoha, he could only keep criticizing White Fang for abandoning the mission.
Meanwhile, White Fang lived in constant fear that his teammate would expose the fact that he was a bond-type ninja.
After all...
To prevent others from discovering he was a bond-type ninja, White Fang had gone so far as to invent the One Thousand Years of Death and single-handedly destroy the ninja world's Heart of Steel orientation test.
Yet he had never expected that, through one careless mistake, he would expose himself to his own teammate.
In the end, unable to bear the immense psychological pressure...
White Fang chose to commit suicide.
"But what I never expected was that White Fang only faked his death! He secretly remained hidden somewhere in the ninja world, still waiting for opportunities to attack other people's "Heart of Steel"!
"For the sake of the ninja world!"
"For my son and daughter-in-law who died!"
"Konoha White Fang, get out here!"
"If you've got the guts to stack Heart of Steel, then you've got the guts to come out and face me!"
Since Gyūbi refused to open the door, Chiyo stood outside like a storyteller, vividly recounting the entire tale.
Setting aside the fact that Konoha's White Fang was Kakashi's father...
The logic in this story actually felt more believable than what had really happened.
And that was exactly the terrifying part.
The story was so convincing...
It was believable enough to pass for the truth.
"Who the hell wrote this?"
Cold sweat poured down Kakashi's face.
(End of this chapter)