Chapter 4: The White Fang's Mission

In the Hatake family courtyard, Uchiha Feiyu was practicing his taijutsu with meticulous precision.

While it was called taijutsu, Uchiha Feiyu was actually still holding two kunai in his hands; if one were to call it swordsmanship, it could technically count.

Before one's taijutsu reaches a certain level, having a weapon in hand or not is a completely different matter; even in the Naruto World, there are few people who can shatter steel with their bare bodies.

Hatake Sakumo stood to the side like a javelin, pointing out Uchiha Feiyu's training movements.

Expecting the White Fang of the Leaf to teach him ninjutsu or swordsmanship was certainly impossible, and he wasn't the White Fang's apprentice, but having him correct his training methods was no difficult task.

"Raise your right arm a bit higher to protect your head!"

"Extend your left leg back slightly; it will make your stance more stable!"

"For this kunai thrust, you must hold back some of your strength so you can launch a faster follow-up attack if the opponent dodges!"

Even though Hatake Sakumo was not in a good state, guiding Uchiha Feiyu was absolutely more than enough; and truth be told, under Hatake Sakumo's guidance, Uchiha Feiyu could clearly feel his own progress—just two hours of instruction gave him a feeling of being reborn.

If he were to fight Kakashi again now, the outcome would be hard to say, and if the fight dragged on, Uchiha Feiyu would have an even greater chance of winning.

"You guy, didn't you say you didn't want to be a ninja? I see you're training quite diligently!"

Kakashi Hatake, who was also in the middle of training, looked at Uchiha Feiyu and said mockingly; Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes and retorted directly:

"I'm not stupid! Being a ninja or whatever, it's already a foregone conclusion anyway, and with the situation being so tense lately, a Ninja World War might break out any day; for the sake of my own life, I have to train hard!"

Uchiha Feiyu would never bet his life on that bunch of incompetent fools in the Konoha High Command; after all, regardless of the relationship with the Uchiha, Feiyu was currently an Uchiha!

One must take control of their own destiny, and to control one's destiny in this world, one must have strength; how can one gain strength?

One can only cultivate!

So, not wanting to be a ninja is true, and training hard is also true; the two are not contradictory.

However, upon hearing Uchiha Feiyu casually mention a Ninja World War, Kakashi Hatake was taken aback:

"Ninja World War? No way, right? It's only been a few years since the Second Ninja World War ended, hasn't it? Where did you hear such unreliable news?"

In the original Naruto, the timeline was a complete mess, but roughly speaking, there was at most a 7 to 8-year pause between the Second Ninja World War and the Third Shinobi World War.

This short amount of time was actually not enough for the ninja villages to recover from the previous war, which was exactly why Kakashi was surprised.

Even if the atmosphere in the Ninja World was a bit tense now, Kakashi still felt it was at most just some small friction between ninja villages, and at most, it would develop into some localized wars, but it was unlikely to turn into a full-scale war.

However, Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of the Leaf, fell silent for a moment, his expression becoming even gloomier and more exhausted, and he said with a hint of self-reproach in his tone:

"A Ninja World War? That's really hard to say... Kakashi, you should also learn from Feiyu recently and train well! A Ninja World War is not something impossible."

Uchiha Feiyu was stunned for a moment; one must know that the Third Shinobi World War had quite an element of surprise to it.

The current Five Great Shinobi Villages had not fully recovered their strength, and logically, they should have been able to maintain peace for at least another three to five years, but the sudden disappearance of the Third Kazekage and the suicide of the White Fang of the Leaf completely ignited the conflicts between the major ninja villages.

But whether it was the disappearance of the Third Kazekage or the suicide of the White Fang of the Leaf, both were low-probability events; in such a situation, how could Hatake Sakumo be so certain about the outbreak of war?

Could it be that his current mission was related to the Third Shinobi World War?

Thinking about it carefully, ordinary missions would never require a ninja of the White Fang of the Leaf's caliber to take action; a mission that could make the White Fang of the Leaf act, and even require the assistance of companions... could it be to investigate the situation in Sunagakure?

After the Third Kazekage disappeared, Sunagakure directly targeted Konoha; while there was certainly an element of framing and scapegoating involved, they must have found some connection.

The number of ninjas in the entire Ninja World who could silently kill the Third Kazekage in Sunagakure could be counted on less than five fingers; if the White Fang of the Leaf, who had a deep grudge against the Sand Ninja, were discovered in the Land of Wind at this time, this blame could very well be pinned on Konoha.

After Hatake Sakumo finished that sentence, he became somewhat dazed and distracted, naturally not realizing that Uchiha Feiyu had analyzed a whole heap of problems after hearing his words.

"Father... is a Ninja World War really going to happen?! It's only been seven years since the last war!"

"It's hard to say, Kakashi, work hard!"

Although Kakashi was young, he was slightly shocked in his heart after seeing the obvious change in his father's expression.

He didn't know what had happened in Sunagakure, but he knew that his father had experienced the Second Ninja World War and was definitely not someone who would speak nonsense.

If he said that a Ninja World War was very likely to break out, then the possibility of a Ninja World War happening later was over fifty percent!

After the topic of war was brought up, the atmosphere on the scene suddenly became serious; in this serious atmosphere, Uchiha Feiyu soon bid farewell to Kakashi and Hatake Sakumo.

However, before leaving, Uchiha Feiyu asked to borrow the White Fang Short Blade for a moment under the guise of curiosity.

Fortunately, although Hatake Sakumo was always called a man with the spirit of a samurai, he was still a ninja after all, and he had no obsession with his own weapon, so he gave the weapon to Uchiha Feiyu without much hesitation.

On the surface, Uchiha Feiyu examined the White Fang Short Blade back and forth, praising the blade's chakra conductivity and its sharpness and lightness, but in reality, he used his own Spirit-Binding and Soul-Commanding ability to leave a mark on the White Fang Short Blade.

There was no help for it; even if he knew Hatake Sakumo wouldn't live much longer, the soul of someone who died in this world would only remain on the corpse for at most ten minutes or so before heading to the Pure Land, and Uchiha Feiyu didn't think he could arrive exactly within ten minutes of Hatake Sakumo's death.

After being added with the Spirit-Binding and Soul-Commanding mark, this White Fang Short Blade could temporarily trap Hatake Sakumo's soul, leaving sufficient time for Uchiha Feiyu to summon the soul.

It could be said that the most important part of Uchiha Feiyu's visit to Hatake Sakumo was to leave the mark on the White Fang Short Blade; as for Hatake Sakumo's guidance, it was an unexpected bonus.

(End of chapter)