Toki met his classmate, Anko Mitarashi, here.
Before Anko noticed Toki, a surge of strength erupted from somewhere within his body, allowing him to jump off Kushina's back.
However, his legs went soft the moment he landed, and he nearly fell over, but thankfully Kushina reached out to steady him.
Kushina noticed the girl walking towards them and made to release him: "Don't want to lose face in front of your classmate?"
Toki gripped her hand tightly, trying his best to appear more presentable: "Ahem, big sister, give me some face."
As soon as he finished speaking, Anko had already reached the two of them, but since both her hands were full, she simply nodded instead of greeting them verbally.
"Toki, what a coincidence, to meet you here."
"Anko, hello." Toki couldn't raise either of his hands, so he could only nod in return.
Kushina understood Toki's condition, so she took the initiative to speak: "Hello, I am Toki's older sister, Uzumaki Kushina."
"Hello, big sister, I am Anko Mitarashi, Toki's classmate." Anko pointed to an empty table in the shop and continued, "Would you like to sit down and eat something together?"
Kushina turned to look at Toki, questioning him with her eyes.
After receiving an affirmative answer, she subtly helped Toki walk towards the empty table.
After sitting down, Toki sighed slightly, his two legs, which had reached their limit, began to tremble uncontrollably once hidden under the table.
But thankfully, it didn't last too long, and they calmed down after only a short conversation.
Just then, the chatter from the next table gradually grew louder, starting to affect their conversation.
"Did you hear? Sakumo Hatake made a mistake on a mission, causing the Village to suffer huge losses…"
"Really? Sakumo Hatake would actually make a mistake?"
"It's said that he didn't make a mistake, but rather Sakumo Hatake voluntarily abandoned the mission. Hey, the news isn't confirmed, don't spread it around."
"How is that possible? That's Sakumo Hatake!"
…
Anko Mitarashi had intended to go over and remind them to keep their voices down, but after hearing the topic of their discussion, her body took it upon itself to sit back down.
Toki slightly turned his body, angling his ears towards the crowd to hear more clearly.
"The 'White Fang' they're talking about must be the 'Konoha White Fang'."
Kushina nodded: "There's no other White Fang in Konoha Village. It's hard to imagine… that adult would actually abandon a mission voluntarily. Is there some unspoken difficulty in this?"
Anko swallowed the dumpling in her mouth and said: "But no matter what, it's already a fact that Sakumo Hatake abandoning the mission caused the Village to suffer losses."
"By the way, I have a question." Toki suddenly interrupted them, then asked, "Who exactly is the White Fang?"
As soon as he finished speaking, both Kushina and Anko looked at him with strange expressions.
Toki felt a chill down his spine from their stares and quickly said: "It's not that I don't know the reputation of the Konoha White Fang; I want to ask… what is the White Fang's specific identity?"
Anko nodded, but before he could sigh in relief, she continued: "I know, that's why we're looking at you like this."
Toki couldn't hold back: "Then tell me, who exactly is the White Fang?!"
Anko and Kushina exchanged glances, as if confirming that Toki was truly not joking.
"The White Fang… is Kakashi's father."
"Huh?" Toki was stunned for a moment, "Is it Sakumo Hatake?"
He had seen that person before: short silver hair, a short sword on his back, a very cheerful and easygoing personality, and he even developed a mischievous taijutsu like the "One Thousand Years of Death."
The first time he saw the "One Thousand Years of Death," Toki finally knew the "culprit" from his previous life who made him cover his backside when going up stairs.
Kushina continued: "You and Kakashi are so close, I thought you already knew."
Toki shook his head: "No, I've never heard Kakashi mention it. Even when I met Sakumo Hatake last time, Kakashi just calmly introduced him to us as, 'This is my father, Sakumo Hatake.' That was all."
Hearing this, Kushina suddenly understood: "So it's the same as Lady Tsunade."
Upon hearing Tsunade's name, Anko instantly became interested and quickly pressed: "Can you elaborate?"
"Of course, no problem. This is a story Mito Grandma told me." Kushina crossed her arms, adopting a reminiscent pose.
"When Lady Tsunade was little, people would always say, 'Look, that's the First Hokage-sama's granddaughter' when they mentioned her. Over time, people always used 'Hokage's granddaughter' to refer to Lady Tsunade, but they forgot that Lady Tsunade has a name."
"I think it's probably the same for Kakashi. He doesn't want to be 'the White Fang's son' but wants to become Kakashi Hatake, so he never boasts about his father's glory."
Toki fully agreed, praising: "But Kakashi has already done very well. There are so many people in this world who only indulge in past glory and waste their time."
Kushina raised her hand and tapped him on the head: "You absolutely must not let those guys from Uchiha or Hyuga hear that."
Toki clutched his head, weakly replying: "Oh."
Just then, a dispute suddenly broke out at the next table, and the loud noise reached their ears.
"What did you say! I won't allow you to insult Sakumo Hatake like that!"
A Konoha Ninja grabbed another Konoha Ninja by the collar, raised his fist, and was about to strike.
Fortunately, the people around them reacted quickly and separated the two in time.
The Konoha Ninja who almost took a punch had a stern expression: "I don't care for what reason Sakumo Hatake did it, even if it was to save his comrades, abandoning the mission is wrong!"
"A Ninja must prioritize the mission. This is the first rule written in the ninja code. Moreover, Sakumo Hatake's choice has caused huge losses to the Village. No matter how much he has done in the past, this time, he was wrong, and that's that!"
The Konoha Ninja who had just been so aggressive lost the confidence to continue arguing after this rebuttal.
Toki wanted to say something, but similarly, he couldn't come up with anything coherent at that moment.
Kushina reached out and patted his shoulder: "Let's go back first. We'll tell Lady Tsunade about this and let her decide."
No matter how much they argued here, they were ultimately insignificant. The only one who could put an end to all the rumors spreading throughout the Village was probably Hokage-sama.
The "Konoha White Fang" held prestige in the Village second only to the Hokage; he even had half of the Hokage's sleeve on his shoulder, but now, all that past prestige would become an accomplice to his downfall.
The higher one stands, the harder one falls.
Toki didn't hesitate, immediately said goodbye to Anko, and didn't care about losing face in front of his classmate, urging Kushina to carry him back quickly.