Naruto was taken aback for a moment; Ayame's sudden reaction had both startled him and strangely warmed his heart. Following the advice Altay gave from his mind, he immediately made up an excuse.
"Hahahaha! I'm sorry, I learned so many things, and thinking so much gave me a headache. I didn't mean to worry you..."
Teuchi and Ayame breathed a sigh of relief at this explanation. Ayame, however, was still looking at the two of them with curious eyes.
"What were you two doing here?"
Naruto chimed in, making no effort to hide his childish excitement.
"Uncle Teuchi was telling me the stories of Konoha's strongest!"
Startled by what she heard, Ayame quickly looked at her father; there was a distinct displeasure on her face.
"DAD! You were here telling stories while I was washing dishes in the back?! Why didn't you call me!?"
Not knowing what to say in the face of this sweet reproach, Teuchi smiled apologetically.
"Hahaha... I'm sorry, sweetie, I completely forgot..."
Ayame puffed out her cheeks, crossed her arms over her chest, and swiftly turned her head away with a sulky demeanor.
"Hmph!"
Left helpless by his daughter's reaction, Teuchi softened his voice.
"Come on, Ayame, I'll tell you later too."
Without turning her head completely, Ayame opened one eye and looked at her father suspiciously.
"Promise?"
Teuchi nodded quickly and earnestly.
"Promise!"
Ayame let out a deep sigh and lowered her arms.
"I forgive you."
Teuchi breathed a sigh of relief and dropped his shoulders. Sitting in front of the counter, Naruto couldn't help but feel envious of this warm family scene. He silently thought to himself:
'I wish I had a father too...'
Noticing this sorrowful fluctuation in the boy's inner world, Altay sighed softly and spoke from his mind:
"Focus, kid. I'll tell you a story later too..."
Naruto was startled by this unexpected offer and asked with a smile in his mind.
'Really!?'
Altay paused for a moment.
"...Yes, but I can't tell you ninja stories. I can tell you stories about my own people and where I came from... Anyway, don't lose your focus now and ask the key question."
Naruto trembled slightly with happiness at those words. He took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and voiced the key question that would lead him to the White Fang.
"Uncle Teuchi! Do you know any strong swordsmen?"
Teuchi looked at Naruto in surprise at this unexpected question.
"Why do you ask?"
Opening his eyes wide, Naruto explained with great enthusiasm.
"Because it's so cool! Grandpa Hokage's masked bodyguards carry katanas on their backs! They look so charismatic and cool!"
While Teuchi laughed joyfully at this childish logic, the ANBU members on the rooftops were dumbfounded behind their masks. How had the topic come to them? Still, Naruto's innocent praise inevitably made their chests swell with pride. Teuchi suppressed his laughter and drifted into pleasant thoughts; a few names had come to his mind.
"Tobirama Senju-sama was a great swordsman."
Naruto's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Who else?"
Danzo Shimura came to Teuchi's mind, but he decided not to mention him. The dark aura that man exuded had always disturbed Teuchi, and he heard unpleasant rumors about him; it was best not to mention him to Naruto.
"Ah! There is also Kosuke Maruboshi. He learned his swordsmanship directly from Tobirama-sama..."
Teuchi briefly told Ayame and Naruto about Kosuke Maruboshi but didn't go too deep. The man had highly sensitive stories that shouldn't be shared without permission. Although Naruto and Ayame listened with great interest, Naruto still hadn't gotten the information he was truly looking for. With a final effort, he asked again.
"Who else! Is there anyone else, Uncle!?"
Ayame turned to her father with the same curiosity.
"Yeah, Dad! Is there anyone else?"
Smiling, Teuchi searched his mind once more. However, when the white-haired figure came to his mind, the smile on his face slowly faded, replaced by a sense of sorrow. As Naruto noticed this sudden change and was startled, little Ayame failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation.
"Come on, Dad! Tell us a story!"
Teuchi let out a deep sigh, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
"...There is one more person... He was the greatest swordsman Konoha had ever seen. He struck such fear into the ninja world with just his sword that all the Kages were wary of him... In fact, enemy ninjas who saw him on the battlefield were granted permission to abandon their missions... In the history of the villages, the only person other than the Kages to hold this privilege was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze-sama; but even he had created that fear thanks to the Second Hokage's special jutsu, the Hiraishin... This swordsman, however, had built that fear solely with his swordsmanship..."
While Naruto was frozen by what he heard, Ayame's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Dad, please tell us! What was his name?"
Naruto was just as curious and entirely attentive. However, seeing the sorrow on the face of Teuchi—who had been narrating cheerfully since the beginning of the story—made him feel strange. Teuchi had lost the vitality in his voice, speaking in a calm, almost whispering tone.
"His name was Sakumo Hatake... But in the ninja world, they called him by another name..."
Naruto and Ayame leaned a bit closer to the counter, looking at her father with wide eyes. Our ramen chef continued.
"...People called him... Konoha's White Fang."
Naruto held his breath in astonishment. He was both extremely curious and indescribably excited. After all the epics he had listened to, he was about to learn the story of a brand new hero; moreover, a hero that even his new Nii-san respected! However, little Naruto didn't yet know that because of this hero he was building up in his mind, he was about to experience one of the most important turning points of his life.
Teuchi looked at the two youngsters in front of him and took a deep breath. Frankly, he didn't feel like telling this story at all, because it wasn't a tale of heroism... it was a dark tragedy. At that moment, a heavy silence fell upon the ANBU squad waiting in the dark. Among them was a senior member who had once served directly under Sakumo's command. In those days, just like the rest of the village, they too had turned their backs on Sakumo. The rookies in the squad only knew a few pieces of hearsay; some labeled the White Fang a traitor, while others chose to remain neutral. Even though the Third Hokage had covered up the matter, there were still those within the organization who saw the incident as a great stain of shame. Moreover, with the frightening rumors circulating about his son, no one wanted to dig into this issue. However, those who personally knew Kakashi kept the subject closed out of respect for their commander anyway.
Teuchi calmly explained.
"Sakumo-sama was the most unparalleled swordsman Konoha history had ever seen, and there were probably few to none better than him in the entire ninja world. The moment he stepped onto the battlefield, enemy ninjas would involuntarily pause and feel the need to check whether Sakumo-sama was looking at them; because having his gaze upon you meant death itself."
As Ayame and Naruto were mesmerized by this description, Teuchi continued speaking.
"He was one of the key figures of the Second Ninja War. Believe me, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was the one holding the Sand front together single-handedly. In that war, he wiped the Sand Village's most dangerous unit, the Puppet Brigade, off the map all by himself. He was the one who took the lives of the son and daughter-in-law of Councilor Chiyo, who were genius puppet masters and some of the strongest figures in the Sand. He faced Chiyo and her brother, considered the two strongest names in the village after the Kazekage, and brought them both to their knees. He repelled the Sand's most powerful weapon... Sakumo-sama was like a one-man army on the field..."
While the two children listened to these epic achievements with shining eyes, a mental storm was brewing among the ANBU members on the rooftops. Those who joined the ANBU ranks were the brightest minds of the village. There was a massive contradiction between this glorious history Teuchi recounted and the bitter end they knew. How could such a strong, unshakable man be branded a traitor and take his own life? Teuchi only knew the matter through public rumors, but the senior ANBU member—who had fought shoulder to shoulder with Sakumo on the frontlines, been on his team, and served as his right hand—had witnessed far more. Sakumo's era of command was the golden age of the ANBU. He was not just a fair leader, but also a military genius who knew how to win wars with minimal casualties. On the Sand front, both before and after Tsunade entered the field, he maintained the lowest casualty rate. He knew exactly when to strike and when to retreat down to the second; he played with the enemy's mind. He was a true commander-in-chief. For the first time, right now on the roof of this ramen shop, the masked soldier was questioning the situation his former captain, Sakumo, had been plunged into with such clarity.
'...It's so strange... The Captain gave his all for this village. Even now, not a single ninja has emerged who could break his mission success record; only the Fourth Hokage came close to that score. Furthermore, even if that mission failed, ultimately it was just a mission. The number of missions the Captain failed throughout his career could be counted on two hands. And most of those were due to technical reasons like losing track of the target or the cancellation of orders. During his entire Jonin and ANBU career, the number of missions he genuinely botched was at most four, and all of them were deadly S-Rank missions. At that time, he was the village's war hero, the Commander-in-Chief of the ANBU, and the strongest candidate expected to become the new Hokage. A mission personally led by him couldn't be some ordinary job. Covert operations of that level aren't something a standard ANBU, or even ROOT, could easily handle... So how did such a highly classified and vital ANBU mission end up as gossip on the tongues of the entire village, from Konoha's top executives down to the street sweepers?!'
As the ANBU built this chain of logic, the fog in his mind cleared, replaced by deep astonishment. In those years, like everyone else, he too had been swept up in the mob mentality. Setting aside the fact that the Hokage didn't stand by the White Fang, he had both stripped him of his ANBU command and ordered him to take a "temporary" break from being a ninja; they had effectively forced the man into retirement. What's more, even the comrades whose lives he saved that day came out and accused him of cowardice, claiming they had been ready to sacrifice themselves for the village. Yet a flawless professional like the White Fang would never back down from a mission unless the situation had become absolutely impossible. Piecing all these fragments together in his mind, the ANBU's brows furrowed in deep suspicion behind his mask.
'There's a really foul stench to this whole affair...'
Down below, Teuchi took a deep breath and continued his story.
"Sakumo-sama was not just an invincible warrior; he was also an extremely just, honorable man who placed his comrades above all else. In those years, ninjas coming into this shop would recount how the White Fang pulled them back from the brink of death. Sometimes Sakumo-sama would come with his wife, sit right over there, and eat our ramen."
While the two children's eyes shone as if enchanted, Teuchi chuckled softly, reminiscing about the good old days of the past.
"He was also incredibly humble. Despite all that power, he never thought too highly of himself, always saying, 'I still have a long way to go.' Everyone was as sure as their own names that he would sit in the Hokage's seat one day... But he once said to me exactly this: 'It doesn't matter whether I become Hokage or not, Teuchi. Frankly, I'm not very interested in that seat. As long as I can help my village and my brothers-in-arms, titles have no importance whatsoever.'"
As Naruto was astonished by what he heard, Ayame clapped her hands in sheer admiration.
"Amazing! I really want to meet him!"
The sorrowful smile on Teuchi's face turned into a pained expression this time.
"Unfortunately, my dear... He is no longer with us."
The excitement on Ayame's face vanished instantly.
"Why? Wasn't he so strong? You said so yourself! Even all the Kages were wary of him! How did he die then?"
Naruto also paid close attention, waiting for the answer to this question. He had come here specifically to learn the truth about the White Fang anyway, but he still hadn't found the answer he was truly seeking. Not wanting to dig into the subject any further, Teuchi yawned exaggeratedly to deflect the situation and fixed his eyes on the night sky visible through the shop's awning.
"Yaaawwwn... It's gotten quite late. Anyway kids, don't upset yourselves by thinking about death right now. Sakumo-sama was one of the most unparalleled ninjas, even one of the most special human beings, you could ever come across in this life. The rest is history... It's too late now, Naruto. Please wait a bit; I will prepare a few packs of frozen ramen and a hot portion for you to take home."
If you'd like to read the ten chapters in advance, you can find them at p@@tre@@n. The link is in my profile.