"You're just trash—a piece of garbage who doesn't value his missions!"
Outside the door, seeing that Sakumo didn't dare come out, Ib Rujin shouted even more frantically.
Only this way could he avoid being made a scapegoat by the higher-ups. Only this way would his child not have to bear the label of a failure's offspring. Only this way could he keep his Jōnin position...
Only this way...
Focused solely on amplifying the commotion, Ib Rujin let out a miserable scream as he was sent flying.
When he clutched his face and looked up to see who had dared strike him, two small figures appeared in his line of sight.
Feng Bai rubbed his throbbing fist, a fierce glint in his eyes.
I acted impulsively and forgot to coat my fist with chakra. Well, Kakashi can't be the one to strike—otherwise this situation would become impossible to explain.
Kakashi stood nearby, full of worry. He should have been the one to act, but Feng Bai had noticed his movement and thrown the first punch, taking responsibility upon himself.
"Who are you to dare hit me?!" Ib Rujin, who didn't recognize Feng Bai at all, spat on the ground and stood up.
Then he spotted Kakashi standing beside Feng Bai.
"Well, well—if it isn't the son of that waste. What's this? Too cowardly to act yourself, so you incited someone else to attack me?" Ib Rujin naturally assumed Feng Bai had been manipulated by Kakashi.
"No—" Kakashi started to respond, but Feng Bai roughly cut him off.
"Shut up, Kakashi! I wanted to punch him myself. Just looking at his disgusting face pisses me off. Uncle Sakumo sacrificed everything to save you, and not only are you ungrateful, you're here spouting nonsense! I'm hitting exactly this kind of person!"
Feng Bai stepped forward, tilting his head up to glare at Ib Rujin.
"Hmph, is that so? As expected, the friend of a waste's son is also waste. You're all birds of a feather—" Ib Rujin glared back defiantly, his hand instinctively reaching toward his ninja tool pouch.
Swish! Swish!
Before Ib Rujin could act, two masked ANBU suddenly appeared. One seized his hand as it reached for the pouch, while the other pressed a kunai against his back.
"Stop, Ib Rujin. Are you really going to attack a child?" one ANBU whispered in his ear.
"Ha! Everyone, come look! The higher-ups are so biased toward Sakumo that they're even deploying ANBU!" Ib Rujin's intention was to force the ANBU to appear so he could show the villagers this scene, cementing the fact that the leadership was protecting Sakumo. But when he turned to look, he discovered that the previously watching crowd had suddenly vanished.
Not only that, but the surroundings had become eerily quiet in an instant.
"Tch... So that's how it is..." Sensing the cold atmosphere, several ninjas dressed differently from the nearby ANBU appeared around them, surrounding Ib Rujin.
It seems the onlooking villagers have been driven away by genjutsu. This aura is similar to those who interrogated me before—are these Danzō's subordinates?
"Ib Rujin, you're currently suspended from duty. Who authorized you to appear freely on Konoha's streets and spread classified mission details to ordinary villagers?" Yamanaka Zen, wielding a ninja blade and flanked by Root ninjas, approached him.
"I was wrong." Ib Rujin admitted his fault straightforwardly.
His purpose had already been achieved. Everything that followed had nothing to do with him.
Things had escalated to this point—the higher-ups would have to take disciplinary action against Sakumo. More importantly...
A cold smile appeared at the corner of Ib Rujin's mouth.
He knew that with Sakumo Hatake's personality, being accused to his face would make him voluntarily take responsibility for this mission's failure—he might even commit suicide...
I've won.
Standing nearby, Feng Bai saw this bastard still daring to smirk and angrily threw another punch. This time he didn't forget to coat his fist with chakra, directly sending the unprepared Ib Rujin spinning in place.
"You... you people..." Having been brutally punched again, Ib Rujin saw stars, wondering why the ANBU hadn't stopped this kid. He discovered that all the ANBU present had unanimously chosen to turn their heads away.
Not only that, but the two ANBU who had previously appeared to stop him had vanished entirely, replaced by Yamanaka Zen's Root ninjas, who restrained him with even greater force.
"That's for betraying your benefactor! That's for spouting nonsense! That's for being ungrateful! That's for spreading lies! That's for..." After throwing many punches, Feng Bai finally stopped, panting heavily.
When someone tried to approach and heal his fist, Feng Bai waved them off, instead channeling chakra according to Yakushi Nonō's teachings and attempting to use medical ninjutsu.
Young Master Feng Bai's ninjutsu has improved further, though his temperament is nothing like Lord Danzō's—far too impulsive.
Yamanaka Zen stood nearby watching the green light in Feng Bai's hand, showing an expression of approval.
"Take him away." Signaling his subordinates to escort Ib Rujin, whose face was now swollen like a pig's head, Yamanaka Zen left the space entirely to Feng Bai and Kakashi.
Creak.
With the sound of the door hinge, Sakumo Hatake opened the door, his face full of exhaustion but forcing a smile: "Feng Bai's here—please come in."
It had been a long time since Feng Bai visited Kakashi's home. He had no time to savor the nostalgia, instead looking nervously at Sakumo before him.
No matter what, Sakumo was the one who brought him from that godforsaken Kirigakure to Konoha. He absolutely couldn't let him die so mysteriously as in the original story.
Through Ib Rujin's actions, he could roughly see that Sakumo Hatake's death was entirely due to his inability to overcome his own guilt. When someone is determined to die, no amount of persuasion can bring them back.
The current Sakumo looked more than ten years older, and though he was still forcing a smile, it couldn't hide the defeat on his face.
At a time like this, direct persuasion wouldn't work.
"Uncle Sakumo, I want to eat your cooking."
Feng Bai didn't mention what had just happened, but instead clutched his stomach and said he was hungry.
"Eh, alright, haha, Uncle will go cook for you." Sakumo was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up, instinctively searching for his pink apron.
...
"I see, so young Feng Bai took action?" The ANBU sent by Hiruzen reported the situation at the scene.
"This child's temperament is completely different from Danzō's." Smiling and shaking his head, Hiruzen didn't dare relax at all. Although Ib Rujin had been detained, the rumors he had spread were already circulating throughout the village. The two advisors would definitely use this as an excuse to force him to give them an explanation.
This is going to be difficult...
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