A certain house in the corner of the village, much like the Uchiha Clan's compound, was cold and desolate.
Even the air carried a faint smell of dust, making it clear that no one had lived here for a long time, nor had anyone bothered to maintain it properly.
Kakashi led Sasuke straight through the empty hallway to a room with a plaque labeled 'Dojo' hanging above it.
Pushing open the dusty wooden door, the dojo was completely empty. Only the Hatake Clan's emblem hung on the center of the wall.
Kakashi walked to the wall, fumbled for a moment, and retrieved an ancient scroll from beneath a loose floor tile.
He gently blew the dust off the scroll.
"This is something my father left behind." Kakashi said with a complex gaze fixed on the scroll before handing it to Sasuke, "The Hatake Clan's Kenjutsu are all recorded here."
Sasuke didn't immediately take it.
Kakashi looked at him, a trace of resignation in his eyes, "You're right, Sasuke. I no longer have the right to wield these techniques."
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "But the Kenjutsu themselves aren't at fault. They shouldn't be buried like this."
Kakashi's gaze settled on Sasuke, his eyes carrying a solemn entrustment, "If possible..."
He paused, his tone sincere, "I hope you can help them flourish."
Sasuke silently watched him before finally reaching out and taking the weighty scroll.
Without responding, he walked to the center of the dojo, sat down cross-legged, and slowly unrolled the scroll.
Line after line of text came into view.
There were no flashy technique names or overly complex theories, only breakdowns of the most basic slashing motions and near-obsessive attention to detail.
Sasuke's eyes were quickly drawn to a section describing 'power transmission'.
[Gather Chakra at the soles, generate power from the ground, channel it through the twist of the waist and abdomen, transmit it to the shoulders, and finally converge at the wrists. Only when man and blade become one can the strongest strike be unleashed...]
'This shared remarkable similarities with the power application techniques Urahara Kisuke had taught me for Hakuda.'
Reading further:
[Lightning Release Chakra, with its violent properties, can be attached to the blade to increase sharpness or injected into the body to stimulate nerves and enhance striking speed...]
'Channeling Lightning Release Chakra into the blade or using it to strengthen oneself?'
A gleam flashed in Sasuke's eyes.
'These Kenjutsu, while seemingly plain and unadorned, had a core philosophy that unexpectedly aligned with my own combat style and power system.'
'They didn't pursue intricate variations but focused on delivering pure power in the most direct way possible through a strike.'
'This was exactly what I needed.'
Kakashi stood quietly to the side, watching the boy's focused profile, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
'Perhaps entrusting these techniques to him was the best outcome.'
After memorizing the entire contents of the scroll, Sasuke slowly rolled it back up.
He stood and walked over to Kakashi, returning the scroll to him.
"You said earlier that even the Sannin showed respect to the Kenjutsu of Konoha's White Fang." Sasuke's gaze settled on Kakashi, probing for deeper answers, "Such a powerful Shinobi, yet I've never heard his name mentioned in the village."
He paused before asking the most direct question, "Who did he die by? Whose hand killed him?"
This question instantly shattered the calm Kakashi had just regained.
His body stiffened slightly, and an indescribable pain flashed in his eyes.
'Yeah...who killed him?'
Kakashi asked himself in his heart.
'The people in the village had almost forgotten that name.'
'Once upon a time, 'Konoha's White Fang' was the village's pride, the guarantee of mission success rates, the hero all children admired.'
'But after that mission failed, the hero became a criminal.'
'Those companions he had once protected, those villagers who had once praised him, all used the harshest words to stab at the back of the man who should have been respected.'
'In the end, that man did not die by any enemy's hand.'
Kakashi slowly raised his head, avoiding Sasuke's probing gaze, his voice dry and hoarse.
"He didn't die by anyone's hand."
Kakashi's tone was light, yet carried a heavy sorrow.
"He abandoned the mission to save his companion's life, but it caused significant losses to the village."
"Thus, the very comrade he saved turned around and blamed him. Public opinion in the village began to condemn him."
"He was... killed by himself."
"Suicide?"
'What a utterly pointless way to die.'
'Abandoning a mission for a companion, only to be hounded to death by that same companion and the village he protected.'
"How foolish." Sasuke murmured in a low voice.
Kakashi's shoulders trembled slightly, but he didn't refute it.
Because, back then, he had thought the same.
However, after a moment of contemplation, Sasuke interrupted Kakashi's reminiscence.
"Something's not right."
Kakashi was taken aback, "What?"
"What you said doesn't add up."
Sasuke dissected the flaws in Kakashi's words, "A top-tier powerhouse who could command respect even from the Sannin… his very existence is the village's most important strategic resource."
"What kind of mission loss could possibly be greater for the village than losing such a top-tier powerhouse?"
This question exploded in Kakashi's mind.
He had never considered his father's situation from this angle before.
'Yeah...'
'Father is Konoha's top combat force. His very existence was the greatest deterrent to other Shinobi Villages.'
'Was the failure of one mission truly so important that it required driving a Kage-level powerhouse to his death?'
'The village's higher-ups, Sandaime Hokage... why did they allow the public opinion to ferment back then? Why didn't they step forward to explain?'
"And…" Sasuke's voice continued, almost as if talking to himself, yet also posing a question to Kakashi, "Saving a comrade… isn't that constantly touted in Konoha as the most praiseworthy 'Will of Fire'?"
A trace of unconcealed mockery curled at the corner of his mouth, "Why did it become an unforgivable sin in your father's case?"
Each of Sasuke's questions made Kakashi's face grow paler.
His mind was in chaos, and countless buried memories began to surge forth.
His father's desolate figure, the villagers' pointing and whispering, his companions' evasive eyes...
And the Sandaime Hokage's face, full of helplessness and regret.
'Why?'
'Why did it turn out like that?'
"Unless..."
Sasuke's voice sounded again, pulling Kakashi back from his chaotic memories.
He looked into Kakashi's dazed eye and slowly stated his speculation.
"Unless the mission itself wasn't an ordinary one."
"Or, the 'companion' your father saved had a not-so-simple identity."
"Or perhaps..."
Sasuke paused, his eyes turning cold, "Someone needed your father dead."
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