The Otsutsuki Road from Kirigakure

At this moment, Hatake Sakumo was no longer able to listen to Kakuzu's words. This was the first time that he had suffered such a huge loss while leading a team on a mission.

The death of his two teammates almost drove Hatake Sakumo, who deeply believed in the will of fire that protected his companions and the village, mad...!

The second fight between Kakuzu and Hatake Sakumo has begun.

After being beaten up by Seiji, Kakuzu had restored his five hearts during this period of time, and his fighting power returned to its peak.

But on the other hand, Hatake Sakumo had spent the entire day running and fighting. The little strength and chakra he had recovered during the brief respite at night had been almost used up by the hunt for all the remaining Kumogakure ANBU.

So, as the fight went on, Hatake Sakumo soon realized the seriousness of the problem. There would be no problem for him to escape, but what about his teammates?

Although his teammates did not die in Kakuzu's attack just now, they were seriously injured. If they do not receive timely treatment, their lives may be in danger.

However, no matter how difficult it is, Hatake Sakumo is not ready to give up. He has already lost two teammates, and he will bring this last one back to Konoha intact no matter what!

But then again, escaping from Kakuzu with his injured teammates was actually an extremely difficult task for Hatake Sakumo, whose combat power was now greatly reduced.

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The battle was still going on, but Hatake Sakumo's heart had gradually sunk to the bottom. He no longer held out any hope of evacuating smoothly with his teammates.

As time went by, his fighting power was constantly decreasing, while Kakuzu, who had five hearts, became more and more courageous. Moreover, in terms of tolerance for error, Kakuzu could make four mistakes, but he only had one chance to make a mistake.

Now the only thing that Hatake Sakumo can be sure of is Kakuzu's target, and it seems that he is only coming for the intelligence scroll. If he gives the intelligence scroll to Kakuzu, then his teammates will probably have hope of survival.

However, this also means that their mission has failed, and Konoha Village will suffer huge "losses" as a result!

However, giving up on companions who still had hope of survival was also contrary to the will of fire that he believed in. The previous "Konoha spy" and the two dead teammates did not give him any chance to save them, but he had a chance to save the last teammate!

So, which is more important, the mission or the companion? That's the question...!

Hatake Sakumo is faced with a difficult decision...!

However, the time left for him is running out...!

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After struggling for a while, Hatake Sakumo finally followed his inner thoughts. He chose to give up the mission to save his teammates and protect his companions!

And this is also the core of the will of fire that he believes in!

Hatake Sakumo suddenly took out the intelligence scroll containing the secrets of the Hidden Cloud Village, and using the sword-drawing technique and the blessing of Lightning Release Chakra, he threw it in the opposite direction of their evacuation. Then he flashed to the side of his injured teammate, carried him on his back, and evacuated quickly without looking back.

Kakuzu was stunned. He had no idea what Hatake Sakumo was up to.

But he couldn't just ignore the scroll thrown out by Hatake Sakumo, because if he wanted to get most of the subsequent rewards from Seiji, he needed to get the intelligence scroll containing the secrets of the Hidden Cloud Village.

So, after thinking for a moment, Kakuzu immediately decided to give up chasing after Hatake Sakumo and get the scroll whose authenticity he didn't know first.

If this scroll is fake, then just continue the pursuit. Judging from Hatake Sakumo's current condition, delaying for a while won't be a big deal. He is almost at the end of his strength. With a burden on him, Hatake Sakumo's speed is definitely not going to be very fast.

And if this scroll is real, then Seiji's commission will be completed, and Kakuzu can go home. The recent fight with Hatake Sakumo and the previous fight made Kakuzu deeply aware that Hatake Sakumo is the type of ninja who can restrain him the most.

As a ninja who was a ninja turret, he feared the most the assassin-type ninja like Hatake Sakumo who would flee thousands of miles away if he missed a strike. Moreover, his most relied-upon defense, "Earth Style: Earth Spear", was restrained to the extreme by Hatake Sakumo's Lightning Style Ninja Taijutsu.

If Kakuzu wanted to win, perhaps his only chance would be when his first heart was destroyed, and when Hatake Sakumo thought the situation was settled and let down his guard, he could suddenly attack him with a ruthless attack. But unfortunately, the information about his "immortality" had already been obtained by Hatake Sakumo.

Of course the intelligence scroll thrown by Hatake Sakumo was real. Since he had made up his mind to give up the mission and protect his companions, he would certainly not use a fake intelligence scroll to fool Kakuzu. Otherwise, he would end up making things worse and provoke Kakuzu's anger, and he would really not be able to evacuate his teammates, and there would be no way to end it.

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After dealing with Kakuzu, Hatake Sakumo did not relax his vigilance, but instead increased his speed. A large amount of Lightning Chakra flowed wildly in his body, constantly stimulating his cells and body to remain active. Like a white thunder, he quickly flew towards the direction of the Land of Fire.

Continuously using Lightning Release to stimulate the body's cells for a long time and keep the body in an active state made Hatake Sakumo's meridians ache slightly, and all the cells in the body seemed to be wailing. However, he had no other choice. In order to save his teammates and protect his companions, he could only do this...!

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The border between the Kingdom of Soup and the Kingdom of Fire.

A small team of Kirigakure ANBU was waiting.

"Captain! The Anbu team responsible for communicating with Kakuzu is calling!" One of the ninjas in charge of using the chakra radio to communicate said, "Kakuzu has completed the task of the Mizukage and has given up on chasing Hatake Sakumo."

After hearing this, the Anbu captain nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Hatake Sakumo's current strength is only one tenth of what it was before. It is expected that they will arrive at the Tanghuo border at 10 a.m. tomorrow. They have already asked Lord Mizukage for instructions, and Lord Mizukage has ordered our team to try to intercept them, but if it is impossible, we must give up immediately!" continued the ninja in charge of communications.

"I understand. Then prepare for a fight!" The expression of the Anbu captain became serious, because the one they were going to kill was the "Konoha White Fang" who was very famous in the ninja world. Even if White Fang's strength was only one tenth of what it was before, he was not someone that any ninja could challenge.

This small team of elite Anbu was just an unintentional act of Qingsi. It would be best if he could kill Hatake Sakumo, but it doesn't matter if he can't. After all, there is still Danzo Shimura waiting for him in Konoha Village!

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The next morning, when Hatake Sakumo, who had been galloping all the way, reached the border between the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Fire, he was ambushed by the Kirigakure Anbu squad that had been waiting for a long time.

However, Hatake Sakumo still relied on his explosive forbidden technique and forcefully used the Lightning Release Ninjutsu that was beyond his endurance limit. With his powerful strength, he led his injured teammates out of the siege.

Fortunately, Hatake Sakumo only wanted to get back to Konoha Village as soon as possible so that his companions could receive timely treatment. Therefore, although he did not hold back at all, he only defeated the Kirigakure Anbu team that came to kill him, and then quickly left the battlefield with his injured teammates. He did not kill the Kirigakure Anbu team members who were injured by him.

Moreover, Hatake Sakumo had no idea that these assassins who disguised their identities were from the Hidden Mist Village.

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After returning to Konoha, Hatake Sakumo immediately took his only remaining teammate to the Konoha Hospital, and finally saved his life. However, he only saved his life, and he could no longer continue to be a ninja.

But there was no way around it. Although Tsunade, the strongest medical ninja in Konoha or the ninja world, was still in Konoha Village, she suffered from hemophobia and could no longer take action.

However, at this time, Hatake Sakumo would never have imagined that a fatal crisis was looming towards him.

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On the third day after Hatake Sakumo returned to Konoha Village, things began to ferment...!

Under the manipulation of Danzo Shimura, a rumor began to spread secretly that "Konoha White Fang" Hatake Sakumo, who chose to give up the mission in order to save his injured teammates while performing an important mission, causing Konoha Village to suffer huge losses, and spread throughout the entire Konoha Village in a very short time.

At the beginning, things were going normally. The main point that everyone talked about was that Hatake Sakumo was forced to give up the mission in order to save his companions. After learning the course and end of the mission from the rescued teammate, everyone praised Hatake Sakumo's behavior.

However, after the Root Ninjas, under the orders of Danzo Shimura, secretly guided public opinion, the whole thing began to go wrong.

"Completing the mission is the meaning of the ninja profession...!", "The mission is supreme for the ninja...!", "For the mission, the ninja should not be afraid of sacrifice...!", these remarks were spread more and more in the village under the guidance of the root ninja.

Especially when the "companion" rescued by Hatake Sakumo, under the coercion and inducement of Shimura Danzo, began to accuse Hatake Sakumo of giving up the mission in order to save him, which led to huge losses for Konoha Village, both the Konoha ninjas and the Konoha villagers, their criticism of Hatake Sakumo finally reached a climax!

The Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen certainly knew that this was the work of his good friend, Danzo Shimura, but deep down in his heart he was also wary of Hatake Sakumo's great prestige and strength. Danzo Shimura's suppression of Hatake Sakumo's reputation was very much in line with his wishes.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen chose to stand idly by and acquiesced to Shimura Danzo's actions.

However, this time, the Konoha high-ranking officials are destined to be in trouble...!

Originally, in their opinion, as long as they destroyed Hatake Sakumo's reputation and cut off his possibility of becoming the Fourth Hokage, that would be enough. Hatake Sakumo would then be able to become Konoha's sharpest "White Fang" with peace of mind.

And when the limelight of this incident has passed, it might not be impossible to let him take up the post of Minister of the Anbu again.

However, the Konoha high-ups who were used to playing power games had no idea how desperate a person who originally had firm beliefs in his heart would be, and what drastic things he would do, after his faith collapsed!

The accusations from his companions and the misunderstandings from the villagers put Sakumo Hatake under tremendous psychological pressure. In the end, even his son Kakashi Hatake, who was known as a genius ninja and became a Chunin at the age of six, was guided by the rumors and did not agree with his behavior of giving up the mission from the bottom of his heart.

However, Konoha's top brass seemed indifferent in the face of all this...!

This became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Hatake Sakumo's belief in the will of fire was completely shattered by Shimura Danzo's rumor attack...!

His actions that followed the Will of Fire to protect his companions and the village have now been arbitrarily labeled as mistakes. The Konoha high-ranking officials, who should have implemented the Will of Fire like him, seem to have turned a blind eye to all this...!

At this moment, Hatake Sakumo seemed to see through everything. The big tree of Konoha had already rotted from the root...!

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A week later, Hatake Sakumo, whose faith in the Will of Fire was trampled upon by the Konoha high-ups and was deemed worthless, finally picked up the White Fang dagger that had accompanied him in battles for countless years in his own home, ending his magnificent life...!

A generation of Kage-level strongman, a legendary figure in the ninja world, the former pride of Konoha Village, Hatake Sakumo, who was known as the "White Fang of Konoha", did not die on the battlefield, but died due to the conspiracy and intrigue of people from his fellow villagers...!