A gentle drizzle fell.
Kakashi stood silently before his father’s grave, listless and dazed.
The White Fang’s suicide was too absurd, so hardly anyone came to bid him farewell; it was as if the whole Konoha Village had forgotten about this man.
“Hey, time to go.
You’ve been standing here for a long time.”
Chiba patted Kakashi on the shoulder.
A flicker of life returned to Kakashi’s eyes.
“Chiba, why…”
“Alright, alright.
Don’t ask so many whys.
A person needs to look forward.”
Chiba didn’t understand either.
Just that day, Kakashi had said the White Fang had pulled himself together, which gave him a scare.
But immediately after, rumors of his suicide spread, making him happy again.
If he didn’t have such great emotional control, he would have probably burst out laughing by now.
“But that day, Father clearly said he was fine.
Why did it turn out like this?”
Kakashi shouted angrily.
“Is that so?”
Chiba was extremely suspicious.
The White Fang wouldn’t lie to Kakashi, so something during the time Kakashi was away must have provoked the White Fang, causing things to revert to the original situation.
World timeline correction?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
If something like that existed, how could I ever rise to the top!
Chiba felt it was necessary to investigate thoroughly.
Walking shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi, he spoke as they walked.
“So during the time you were away from your father, did you investigate and find out anything?”
Kakashi nodded.
“I’ve basically cleared it up.
Early that morning, Uchiha Fugaku came to meet my father, and on that very day, my father’s reputation reversed immediately.”
When mentioning the reversal of reputation, Kakashi’s lifeless eyes couldn’t help but flicker slightly.
“Could this be the Uchiha’s doing?”
Chiba frowned, feeling that the truth wasn’t that simple.
“Uchiha Fugaku went to the Interrogation Department afterward.
From the searched memories, we learned that the Uchiha Clan merely supported my father in becoming Hokage!”
It was easy for Kakashi to gather information; others didn’t make things difficult for him.
Since the White Fang was dead, why would anyone care about a 7-year-old kid?
“In other words, after you got your father to snap out of it, no one was slandering him anymore; instead, people were supporting him to become Hokage?”
Chiba cursed inwardly, not knowing what to say.
How on earth did the plot get this crazy?
“Exactly.
That’s why I don’t understand why Father would still commit suicide then.”
Kakashi’s eyes were filled with confusion.
He felt he might never be able to understand his father at that moment for his whole life.
“Uh…”
Chiba scratched his head, completely baffled now.
Kakashi looked at Chiba, hoping he would guide him once again.
Chiba broke out in a cold sweat.
‘I can’t do this!
Who knows what that godlike father of yours was thinking?’
“Cough, cough, don’t look at me like that.
Your father’s suicide definitely had multiple causes.
I can analyze part of the reasons for you.”
Kakashi recalled that after telling his father what Chiba had taught him back then, his father’s state had indeed improved a lot.
He must truly understand his father.
At this thought, Kakashi couldn’t help but feel deeply ashamed.
Even someone who had only met his father a few times understood his father better than he did.
He was truly a failure as a son.
“Please help me analyze it.”
Kakashi bowed deeply to Chiba.
Chiba hurriedly helped him up.
Sure, sure, as long as he worked for him in the future.
“Your father was a person who spent his whole life carrying out the Samurai’s Way of Protection and the will of fire, right?”
Chiba asked Kakashi.
“Yes.”
Kakashi nodded without hesitation.
Chiba continued to ask.
“But for a person who stuck to his beliefs for 30 years to suddenly discover one day that the will of fire he upheld was fake…”
“The will of fire is fake?”
Kakashi muttered in disbelief.
“Yes!
The will of fire is a spirit of protecting others even if it means sacrificing oneself, yet the Village that inherited this spirit was questioning whether the mission is more important than comrades.
It was precisely because of this that Lord White Fang became so haggard.”
Chiba said confidently.
This was the result he had analyzed from multiple pieces of intelligence.
“So that’s why my father committed suicide…”
Kakashi muttered to himself, seemingly settling on a direction.
“No.”
Kakashi stared intensely at Chiba again, seemingly asking why then!
“I think Lord White Fang was always waiting for someone to stop the rumors to prove that his lifelong devotion was correct and that the will of fire was correct—whether it was the higher-ups, civilians, or even a child.”
Hearing this, Kakashi also realized the meaning behind the words Chiba had taught him back then.
“Thank you, Chiba.”
Chiba shook his head.
He felt unworthy of the thanks, because in his heart, he really hadn’t wanted the White Fang to live.
With the White Fang alive, Konoha would be far too strong.
The situation during the subsequent Third Shinobi World War would be much better, and a stronger Konoha facing the Nine-Tailed incident later would also fare much better.
Layer upon layer like this, Konoha would be immeasurably stronger than in the original story.
All he wanted was the exceptionally weak Konoha from the original story—a Konoha that couldn’t stop him no matter what he did.
“When you told me Lord White Fang snapped out of it, I guessed everything was fine.
But for this to happen afterward, some other accident must have occurred.”
Chiba shook his head.
He wasn’t God and didn’t know what the White Fang was thinking at the time.
Rather, a heartless person like him could never understand someone who would commit suicide.
Kakashi felt completely helpless.
If even Chiba couldn’t figure it out, how was he supposed to investigate in the future?
And Konoha!
How was he supposed to face it now?
Chiba patted Kakashi on the shoulder.
“Don’t fill your head with all these random thoughts.
When you can’t understand a person, why not try becoming like him first?
Go become a person as strong as the White Fang, Kakashi.
If you were also Konoha’s top candidate for Hokage, perhaps you’d be able to understand the White Fang.”
Chiba didn’t want Kakashi to sink into despair like in the original story, overthinking this and that—it was utterly boring.
It was better for him to properly raise his strength so he could serve as his enforcer in the future.
This was also the only combat power Chiba could recruit at the moment.
Even Guy was hard to recruit; he was far too grateful to the Third Hokage for giving him a chance.
“Top candidate?”
To be honest, Kakashi even felt a desire to leave Konoha, this place of sorrow, though he doubted Konoha would let him leave.
He would first raise his strength and figure out the truth about his father, then decide his attitude toward Konoha once he truly saw everything clearly.
“Thank you, Chiba.”
Kakashi thanked Chiba deeply once more before turning to leave.
Right now, there was only one thing on his mind: get stronger!
Stand at the same height as his father to understand him!
Chiba clapped his hands and thought to himself: helping Kakashi like this, he should take his side, right?
After all, he would have to face Obito’s divine strength and Minato’s divine strength next!