Chapter 150: Fighting for Ideals

"Shouldn't a ninja prioritize the mission? Isn't the mission the most important thing?" Walking out of the Hokage building, Kakashi recalled the expression of his office superior, Nagatomo Toda, and felt a hint of confusion.

He said Nagatomo Toda had completed the mission and was a qualified ninja, but Nagatomo Toda wasn't happy; there was a trace of anger in the way he looked at Kakashi.

If they hadn't been in the Hokage's office, Kakashi felt Nagatomo Toda might have said something.

But Kakashi didn't understand why Nagatomo Toda was angry at him. His teammates died, but not by Kakashi's hand—they were killed by the enemy. He had only expressed his own opinion.

"Could it be that a disciple's life and death are more important than completing the mission?" Kakashi thought to himself.

If Nagatomo Toda really thought that way, then Kakashi felt it was just as well that Nagatomo Toda wasn't serving as a supervising instructor. A ninja with that kind of thinking wasn't truly qualified.

"A qualified ninja should complete the mission at any cost, even if it means the death of teammates..." That night, back home, Kakashi murmured as he gazed at the pitch-black house.

Once, Kakashi had a father he was proud of.

His father's name was Sakumo Hatake. He was very strong, had made great achievements in the Second Shinobi World War, killed many ninja from enemy villages, and was revered as the White Fang of Konoha.

Kakashi admired his strong and dependable father, always training hard with his father as his goal. He graduated from the Ninja Academy at five and became a chūnin at six, all in pursuit of his father's footsteps.

But one incident when he was seven changed Sakumo Hatake's image in Kakashi's eyes.

During a major mission, Sakumo Hatake saved his teammates, which caused the mission to fail and inflicted great losses on Konoha. The village was full of criticism, and even the teammate he saved stepped forward to accuse Sakumo Hatake of doing wrong.

Soon, one day after Kakashi finished training and returned home, he found a corpse lying in a pool of blood. The White Fang short blade that had killed countless ninja had finally ended its master's life.

From then on, Sakumo Hatake was no longer the strongest or most qualified ninja in Kakashi's heart.

As a ninja, Sakumo Hatake was unqualified. He acted on emotion for his teammates and caused Konoha to suffer great losses. As a father, abandoning a seven-year-old child was also unqualified.

He no longer took pride in his father, nor did he take pride in anyone else.

Kakashi opened the door and first cleaned the house from top to bottom. Having not been home for over a month, quite a bit of dust had accumulated.

With the convenient ninjutsu of Shadow Clones, even one person could quickly clean the entire house. Kakashi finished the cleaning soon, and the house returned to its usual cleanliness.

"Should I train next?" After cleaning, with nothing else to do, Kakashi thought. He had already eaten dinner on the way home, so there was no need to cook.

In the end, Kakashi did nothing and lay in the yard, looking at the moon.

"Kakashi, are you home?"

Just then, a familiar female voice came from outside.

"Maybe he went back to do another mission. Rin, let's just the two of us go have fun." Immediately after, an excited male voice came from beside her.

Kakashi walked out slowly, his expression indifferent, and said, "Is there something?"

"Damn, so he didn't go on a mission after all." Obito muttered quietly, feeling very disappointed.

"Barring any unexpected developments, I won't have to do any missions for quite a while." Kakashi said.

He also guessed that there might be no teams left for him to join, so he would have to wait for the new graduates.

"Since this mission took so long, there's nothing wrong with resting a bit more, right?" Rin Nohara said with a gentle smile.

She didn't know that Kakashi's "quite a while" could be as long as four or five months.

"That's not the reason." Kakashi shook his head and said.

"Then what's the reason? Kakashi, you can't slack off." Obito really wanted Kakashi to take on more missions.

"There's no team for now. My teammate died, and the captain isn't planning to continue as a supervising instructor for the time being." Kakashi didn't hide it and said calmly.

"Your teammate died? Ah, this..." Hearing Kakashi say those words so lightly, Obito was deeply shocked.

Having seen them only a month ago, Obito hadn't even forgotten what Kakashi's two teammates looked like. Yet two living people had died just like that. Obito instantly felt the cruelty of being a ninja.

"I'm sorry." Obito apologized to Kakashi, feeling that Kakashi must be in pain right now.

Hearing Kakashi's words, Rin Nohara was also stunned, then quickly spoke to comfort Kakashi.

"You two misunderstand something. I'm not too sad. Even though my teammates died, they didn't die in vain—the mission wasn't a failure." Kakashi said.

"Kakashi, what do you mean? Are you saying that sacrificing teammates for a mission is worth it?" Obito couldn't help but ask.

He wasn't familiar with Kakashi's teammates, but Obito knew they couldn't have been bad people.

That day, Kakashi's teammates could have simply informed him and left immediately, but they didn't. They even specifically reminded Kakashi that this mission was difficult and he should prepare well.

"Compared to mission failure, the sacrifice of teammates is more acceptable." Kakashi replied calmly.

"You bastard, I really can't stand you at all!" Obito's blood pressure shot up upon hearing Kakashi's reply, and he couldn't help but throw a punch at Kakashi.

"Because you're not a ninja yet. In a ninja's world, the mission always comes first." Kakashi caught Obito's fist and said.

"Ninjas who let emotions get in the way are unqualified ninjas."

"Let's fight. I'll knock some sense into you, you bastard." Obito completely lost his temper.

Kakashi threw Obito aside and then struck out, saying, "You're the one who's not awake. An ungraduated student dares to lecture me, a chunin?"

Increasingly furious, Obito directly activated the Breathing Technique, enhancing his physical abilities, wanting to teach Kakashi a lesson.

But at that moment, Kakashi also had no intention of holding back. He went all out to suppress Obito.

All kinds of Earth Release and Lightning Release, along with merciless taijutsu, made it difficult for Obito, who was using Full Concentration Breathing, to defend against.

"Damn it!" When he was knocked to the ground by Kakashi once again, Obito couldn't help but let out a cry of frustration. He couldn't accept that he was inferior to someone like Kakashi.

"If you still hold on to those childish ideas, then you might as well give up on becoming a ninja." Kakashi said mercilessly.

"Do you feel it? The gap between you and a full-fledged ninja."

Although he kept belittling Obito verbally, Kakashi was somewhat surprised inwardly. In just over a month, Obito had actually made significant progress, both in Fire Release and taijutsu. He could even hold out for so long under Kakashi's full-strength attacks.

"I refuse to be defeated by someone like you." Obito clenched his fists tightly, his frustration reaching its peak, his anger burning fiercely.

"What do you think comrades are!?" After an angry shout, Obito's breathing became unprecedented focused. He felt endless power surging from his body.

"Flame Breathing, Full Concentration Breathing!"

In an instant, Obito's body vanished from where he was and appeared beside Kakashi, fiercely throwing a punch at Kakashi's face.

Obito's sudden burst of speed caught Kakashi off guard, and he was knocked to the ground.

"He can still get stronger?" Kakashi didn't understand. He had never encountered such a thing—an opponent suddenly shouting and becoming stronger in the middle of a fight.

Fortunately, Kakashi was experienced in battle. Not just sparring matches, he had even been at a disadvantage in life-or-death struggles. He quickly stabilized the situation and didn't let himself fall further behind.

By now the fight had become very intense. Flames and lightning flashes constantly lit up the open space, and the shockwaves of their attacks left small craters all around.

"Stop fighting! If you get hurt, we won't be able to go have fun later." Rin Nohara saw that the two were completely at odds, their momentum not like a normal spar, and worried something might happen, so she spoke up.

Rin Nohara's words gradually calmed Obito down while he was fuming. He realized he wasn't strong enough to defeat Kakashi yet.

After Obito stopped, Kakashi also stopped. His desire to fight was never high to begin with.

"Geez, we can discuss disagreements properly, why did you suddenly start fighting?" Rin Nohara sighed, dusted off their clothes, and said helplessly.

"It's all because of the way he talks—it's infuriating." Obito was still resentful about what Kakashi had just said.

"Getting angry just shows that you're still very immature." Kakashi said flatly.

"You bastard, do you want to keep going?" Obito's blood pressure, which had lowered, started rising again.

"If you want to be taught a lesson, that's fine with me." Kakashi said indifferently, since he could win anyway.

"You two, if you keep this up, I'm going to get angry." Rin Nohara said with her hands on her hips.

Recalling the scene of Rin Nohara punching a tree and breaking it with one fist, Obito shut his mouth.

Obito fell silent, and Kakashi also had no intention of provoking trouble, so he quieted down. However, his mood today was not calm.

But with this incident at the start, Obito and Kakashi were destined to have a hard time getting along peacefully today.

If Kakashi bought some grilled fish from barbecue, Obito would say the fish must have been dead for a while and was unhealthy.

If Obito bought a serving of tempura, Kakashi would say the oil might have been reused countless times and was very unhygienic.

In short, even the other person entering the store with their right foot was wrong, their breathing was incorrect, and their very existence was problematic.

Rin Nohara could only keep playing peacemaker in the middle, with no other good solution.

"It's almost the end of the term, another semester is passing. Time flies, doesn't it?" Rin Nohara tried hard to find a topic that wouldn't start an argument.

"One more semester and we'll graduate, right? If some people keep holding onto those childish ideas, I really worry for the village." Kakashi launched the first attack.

"Whoever becomes your next teammate will be really unlucky." Obito retorted undauntedly.

Rin Nohara:...

Today I drank at my uncle's house, so I'm a bit late.