Hatake Sakumo returned. Wounded.
All five of them.
The worst injured was already with the medics. Hatake Sakumo leaned against a wall, his own injuries being tended to. His face was pale, etched with deep exhaustion. His brow was a hard, tight line.
Kakashi rushed to his side. "Father? What happened?"
Sakumo seemed lost in thought, gaze distant. He didn't answer.
"Father?" Kakashi asked again, sharper.
"…It's nothing," Sakumo finally said, his voice hoarse. He waved the medic away and gathered several shinobi in the command room. He didn't summon Qianyu, but Qianyu went in anyway. He already knew the gist. Sakumo wouldn't mind an extra set of ears.
Nara Shinsuke leaned forward, anxious. "Lord Sakumo? What happened? An ambush?"
Sakumo shook his head slowly. The weariness in his voice was a physical weight. "No. I… I abandoned the mission."
The room went still.
Abandoned?
Impossible.
What mission could be so difficult that Konoha's White Fang himself would call it off?
Sakumo's explanation was low and grim. "The mission was going smoothly. We were inches from seizing the Iwa scroll. Then… they captured Tsugihisa. Those Iwa bastards used him to set a trap."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "To ensure his safety, I had to abandon the primary objective and go for the rescue. But the trap… it was a double-layered setup. The explosive tags detonated. Tsugihisa still took the full force of the blast. He's in critical condition."
Tsugihisa. The sensor-nin he'd taken on the mission.
Silence. Heavy and complete.
So that was it.
Qianyu watched the faces in the room. Right now, they looked… normal. Understanding. A comrade in danger, a choice to save him. No one here thought Sakumo had made the wrong call. This meeting was just a debrief, an explanation for the mission's failure.
Seeing Sakumo's utter fatigue, the others offered their respects and filed out. For now, the incident was just that—an incident. A topic of mild curiosity among those who saw the wounded team return.
But Kakashi was worried. He could feel the strange, heavy cloud around his father's spirit.
Just as the event was fading from daily chatter, an ANBU agent arrived.
Summons. For Sakumo and his four teammates. To return to Konoha immediately.
Qianyu heard. He knew. The inquiry from the higher-ups had begun.
Sakumo and his team departed.
Days bled into weeks.
Kakashi's focus was shot. During training, his strikes were off, his footwork sloppy. He kept making basic mistakes.
"Stop," Qianyu said, his voice cutting through Kakashi's frustrated movements. "You're just wasting energy. Go."
Kakashi looked up, confused.
"You're worried about your father," Qianyu stated flatly. "So go back to the village. See him."
"But—"
"No 'buts.' He's your father. Your only family. You're his. Nothing else matters more than that. Understood?"
Kakashi took a deep, steadying breath. Nodded. "Yes, sensei. I'll return to the village immediately. I'll find you again after."
He packed fast and left, a blur of silver heading for home.
Qianyu watched him go, then returned to his room. He picked up a pen. There was only one person he wrote to.
Uzumaki Kushina.
He knew how this would play out. Hatake Sakumo, who abandoned a mission to save a comrade, would become the village's favorite target. The whispers would start. Then the shouts.
And the final blow, the one that would shatter his faith in the Will of Fire… that would come from the man he saved. From Tsugihisa himself.
The scorn of comrades. The condemnation of the elders. The blame from the very life he'd prioritized.
Sakumo, who believed he was upholding the village's core ideal, was about to be broken.
Qianyu's letter to Kushina was simple: keep an ear to the ground. Listen for the rumors about Sakumo. And watch Tsugihisa. Closely.
Send word at the first sign.
He sealed the letter, summoned a messenger snake, and sent it on its way.
The next day, alone again, Qianyu resumed his search for Karin's mother.
Three months vanished.
Doubt began to creep in. Had he been wrong? Was Karin's mother even in the Land of Grass?
Without Kakashi, his search was faster, more ruthless. He covered every patch of the map he'd missed before. Villages, hamlets, remote cabins.
Not a single trace of red hair.
He pressed a hand over his right eye. A low murmur escaped him. "Then… it comes down to this eye. And taking Kushina away from Konoha."
Defecting now was the worst possible move. A Sharingan user and an Uzumaki with her unique vitality? In a world teetering on the edge of chaos, they'd be prime targets. He wasn't strong enough to face every threat, not while protecting Kushina. And the steady flow of Witness Points from Konoha would dry up.
He straightened his shoulders, pushing the thoughts aside. One more sweep. Just one more.
A snake slithered up his leg. A letter was tied to its belly.
Qianyu unfurled the scroll. His eyes narrowed.
For these three months, minus the travel time for the snakes, his correspondence with Kushina had been near-constant. Several messenger snakes had died from the strain.
Because the rumors in Konoha… they were evolving. Mutating.
It started subtly. Whispers about Sakumo's failed mission. Then, almost overnight, everyone seemed to know. The mission was to intercept a vital strategic document from the enemy. Success would have given Konoha a decisive advantage. Saved countless lives.
And Sakumo had been inches away from grabbing the scroll. But he chose one man instead.
First came the questions. The quiet, insidious "Was it worth it?"
Then the accusations. Loud, public condemnation. Sakumo should bear full responsibility for the strategic setback, for every life that might now be lost because of his choice.
The Konoha Council had already acted. All of Hatake Sakumo's official duties and titles were stripped. Command in the Land of Grass fell temporarily to Nara Shinsuke.
The storm had begun.
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