Chapter 436: Fame Spreads

Obito complained, looking at the towering Konoha gate in front of him, "Finally arrived. Although the distance was shorter than our previous missions abroad, we actually spent more time on the road."

In the past, they had traveled in a training posture, but this time, due to their considerable injuries, they couldn't rush as usual, so their speed was much slower.

Kakashi looked at the Konoha gate and instantly felt much more at ease.

On the battlefield, he might not have contributed the most in terms of effort, but he definitely expended the most mental energy.

He believed that as the vice-captain, he had the responsibility to bring all team members back safely. He had carefully considered every action, which was very mentally draining.

"Guy, do you want to go home first, or go directly to the hospital with me?" Kakashi asked Might Guy after entering Konoha.

Although Mu Yue had sent them back with a shadow clone, the clone's chakra was limited. If it were used to perform medical ninjutsu on Might Guy, it wouldn't be able to sustain itself, so Guy still needed to recuperate at Konoha Hospital.

Kakashi was the same, but he only needed to stay in the hospital for a week.

"Let's go directly to the hospital. My dad is still on the battlefield, and no one is home right now," Might Guy quickly replied.

Kakashi nodded, preparing to go to Konoha Hospital with Might Guy.

"Let's all go together. Even if you don't need to be admitted, you can still get checked," Rin Nohara said.

After speaking, Rin looked at Obito. "Obito, what do you think?"

Looking at Rin's gentle eyes, Obito subconsciously nodded.

Rin lightly clapped her hands, a bright smile on her face. "That's great! We're all thinking the same thing."

Only then did Obito, slow to catch on, remember that he had originally planned to go straight home to tell his grandmother he was safe.

But seeing Rin's brilliant smile, Obito ultimately shut his mouth — going to the hospital together wouldn't take that long anyway.

Next, the four of them went to Konoha Hospital together.

"Hey, are you Hatake Kakashi? The Konoha Little White Fang?"

The ninja handling Kakashi's admission procedures looked at Kakashi's face, then glanced at the newspaper beside him, and showed a surprised expression.

A strange expression appeared on Kakashi's face. "Konoha Little White Fang" — what the hell was that? It sounded so stupid.

"Hilarious! 'Konoha Little White Fang' — what a weird nickname. Is it because you're not tall enough, Kakashi?"

Obito laughed out loud.

"I am indeed Hatake Kakashi, but not the Konoha Little White Fang."

Ignoring Obito, Kakashi calmly answered the hospital ninja's question.

Because of Obito's voice, the hospital ninja noticed that Uchiha Obito, Might Guy, and Rin Nohara were all there, as reported.

"You just returned from the front lines, right? Your exploits on the battlefield have been published in the Konoha newspaper and have spread throughout the village. Everyone says you could become the next Konoha White Fang," the hospital ninja said with a smile.

If the protagonist of the latest Konoha newspaper was Mu Yue, then Kakashi was an important supporting character. Moreover, with Kakashi's father's identity, his discussion level surpassed Might Guy's and was second only to Mu Yue's.

Although the Konoha White Fang's suicide after a mission failure left a huge stain, he was still a powerful ninja who had made a name for himself. 'Little Konoha White Fang' did not contain any mockery; it was purely an optimistic view of Kakashi's future.

After all, Kakashi, at only ten years old, had the achievement of killing Suikazan, even if it wasn't a solo kill, it was still a proud accomplishment.

"Your taste in nicknames is terrible," Kakashi said bluntly.

He could tell that the hospital ninja's words contained no mockery, but Kakashi still didn't think it was a good nickname.

After a series of events, Kakashi had actually let go of a lot, making peace with his past self and his deceased father. But that didn't mean he liked being called 'Little White Fang'.

He didn't need to become someone else. If he had to set a goal, it was to surpass the Konoha White Fang as Hatake Kakashi, not to become the next Konoha White Fang.

"Indeed. White Fang-sama didn't have such achievements at the age of ten. Using 'Konoha Little White Fang' as a nickname is indeed inappropriate." The hospital ninja didn't feel embarrassed; instead, he went along with Kakashi's words.

After all, he wasn't the one who came up with the nickname, so Kakashi wasn't directing his criticism at him.

"By the way, since you're back, has Mu Yue-sama also returned?" the hospital ninja couldn't help asking.

As soon as the latest Konoha newspaper was released, Mu Yue instantly became the most talked-about ninja in Konoha and even the Land of Fire, surpassing Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

Although Mu Yue was not a nobody in Konoha, in the public's impression, he was not a powerhouse like the Yellow Flash. This battle record caused a huge stir.

"Not yet. Please finish the procedures as soon as possible," Kakashi reminded.

There is a limit to slacking off. Chatting openly during work hours is somewhat inappropriate.

The hospital ninja then remembered he was still at work, glanced around guiltily, and quickly completed the hospital admission procedures for Might Guy and Kakashi.

"Please give me the newspaper as compensation for your mistake."

After completing the procedures, Kakashi held out his hand.

"Please, by all means, don't report this."

The hospital ninja obediently handed the newspaper to Kakashi—he had already finished reading it, so giving it away didn't matter; a newspaper wasn't worth much anyway.

"Let me see, let me see."

As soon as Kakashi got the newspaper, Obito couldn't help leaning in his head to look at its contents.

"My Fire Style is so cool, my epithet must be really badass."

In Obito's mind, words like 'Flame Demon,' 'Fire God,' 'Konoha's Fire Ferocious Tiger,' and others appeared.

"What are you thinking? How would the village official newspaper staff give you an epithet?"

Kakashi, speechless, pushed away the head that had leaned in.

Let alone giving epithets, the Konoha Newspaper rarely even features epithets unless they are widely recognized.

That epithet of his, 'Konoha's Little White Fang,' definitely wasn't coined by the Konoha Newspaper; it must be the result of idle chatter among people with nothing better to do.

"Then how do you have an epithet, even if it's not very nice?" Obito asked, puzzled.

"First of all, I don't acknowledge that as my epithet; secondly, having an epithet doesn't mean it was given by the village," Kakashi explained.

After arriving at the hospital room, Kakashi sat on the bed and opened the newspaper. Obito and the others looked at it curiously.

Might Guy and Rin Nohara were also curious about how their thrilling battle would be described.

"Defending the Homeland! Unprecedented Great Victory on the Eastern Front! Heavy Losses for the Hidden Mist Ninja Forces!"

Kakashi immediately saw the prominent large headline at the top of the newspaper; obviously, this edition's content was about the battle on their front.

"The brutal and vicious Hidden Mist ninjas took advantage of the insufficient defensive strength on the eastern coast to invade the Land of Fire's eastern coast. Initially, our ninjas were forced into a disadvantage due to various reasons, but under the leadership of squadron commander Orochimaru, the situation on the eastern front improved, gradually turning from disadvantage to advantage. In this process, the excellent Konoha jonin Hanyu Muyue played an indispensable role. Like a sharp blade, he killed many strong ninjas from the Hidden Mist and obtained crucial intelligence for our side..."

The front pages basically didn't feature Kakashi and his team; they were all about Muyue and Orochimaru, or photos from the battlefield.

Kakashi, who often read the Konoha Newspaper, wasn't surprised. The Konoha Newspaper had always been like this; the good sections were about important figures and famous strong ninjas, and only later parts would cover other people involved in the event.

"Why can't we see our names here? Never mind Muyue-sensei, but why is there so much about that Orochimaru?" Obito couldn't help complaining.

Clearly, Orochimaru hadn't even participated in this skirmish; he didn't understand why Orochimaru's name appeared.

And what was this about 'under Orochimaru's leadership'? He had never even spoken to Orochimaru.

Kakashi glanced outside, then signaled with his eyes for Might Guy, who was closer to the door, to close it.

This hospital room only had two beds, so they only needed to worry about being overheard by people outside.

"Lord Orochimaru is one of the legendary Sannin and also the commander of the ninja forces on the eastern front. You'd better not say things like that next time," Kakashi said, shaking his head.

Kakashi naturally knew the reason—Orochimaru was, after all, the battlefield commander; no matter what contributions they made, they couldn't circumvent him.

However, Kakashi knew that even if he explained, Obito probably wouldn't understand, so he just told him not to say it.

Given Obito's status and position, discussing Orochimaru in such a manner was extremely disrespectful to a senior. If Orochimaru's subordinates heard it and beat Obito up, Obito wouldn't even be in the right.

"Toad Uncle is also one of those Sannin, and he doesn't have so many issues," Obito didn't understand.

Once, on the Grass Shinobi battlefield, he had even openly dissed Jiraiya to his face.

Kakashi started to speak but stopped. Obito had indeed been disrespectful to Jiraiya, but Jiraiya obviously didn't take it to heart, so it was fine.

But people were different. Even without knowing Orochimaru, just by looking at their faces and auras, Kakashi felt that Jiraiya and Orochimaru were very different.

"If I tell you not to say it, then don't say it. Treat it as an order from the vice-captain," Kakashi said after thinking.

"We're not on the battlefield or on a mission now. Your vice-captain title doesn't count."

Obito thought Kakashi was using a trivial authority as a big command.

"If you don't want to be assigned to menial tasks in the next mission, you'd better listen to me more," Kakashi threatened unabashedly.

"Kakashi, you'll regret this!" Obito's face darkened.

He had no doubt that Kakashi would actually do it—after all, their team's combat power was mostly excessive.

"I'm the vice-captain." Kakashi indicated that having the right really allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

This time, Obito behaved himself and continued reading the newspaper quietly.

It wasn't until they reached the lower half that they saw their report in a marginal position.

In the newspaper, Kakashi and the others were described as young but possessing an unshakable Will of Fire—genius ninjas who, even when facing powerful foes like the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, did not abandon their comrades and fought a bloody battle to protect the village. Before Mu Yue arrived, they joined forces with Might Duy to repel the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and even killed Suikazan Fuguki of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen on the spot.

Although the entire team made it into the Konoha Newspaper, the length of the descriptions varied.

Among them, Might Guy had the most space, followed by Obito and Kakashi, who jointly killed Suikazan Fuguki, then Shisui. Rin Nohara was mentioned less, while Ebisu and Shiranui Genma only had their names listed, with no personal description.

"Now no one should dare to look down on my father anymore." Might Guy felt a surge of pride as he looked at the description of his father.

Might Duy's description was only slightly less than his.

"It's too little. I feel the mission process was written very briefly."

Obito looked at the praise for himself in the newspaper, feeling unsatisfied.

"If you were the one who killed Mizunetsu Kan and four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, then your section would be long." Kakashi said calmly.

A newspaper only has so much space; for their current status, getting that much coverage was already a miracle.

"One day, I'll make the best spot in the Konoha Newspaper describe my deeds!" Obito said excitedly.

He didn't believe that if he became Hokage and ended the war, he still wouldn't make the headline of the Konoha Newspaper.

"I hope your plan isn't to become a writer for the Konoha Newspaper and secretly replace the content." Kakashi put the newspaper away.

Rin Nohara covered her mouth and chuckled lightly. "Kakashi, don't underestimate Obito too much. Even he wouldn't do something like that."

Although Rin was speaking up for him, Obito felt something was off.

"That's true. He probably fantasizes about becoming Hokage and then getting in the newspaper." Kakashi said as he lay down on the bed.

Obito was startled inwardly—could there be a ninjutsu that reads minds?

As if seeing through Obito's inner thoughts, Kakashi said bluntly: "You're just too easy to read."

When Obito scratched his hair, Kakashi could already guess what Obito was thinking, because Obito's thoughts were all written on his face. It was hard for Kakashi not to know.

In the end, Obito fled the hospital in defeat.

"If only there really was a jutsu that could read minds." On the way home, Obito couldn't help thinking.

People's thoughts are really hard to grasp, especially girls'. Obito often couldn't understand what Rin was thinking.

If he had a jutsu that could read thoughts, he could make Rin happy every day.

"Grandma, I'm home." After returning home, Obito shouted energetically.

Hearing the familiar voice, his grandmother slowly walked to the entrance and showed a relieved smile upon seeing Obito's face.

"You must be hungry. Grandma will make you something to eat."

After carefully examining Obito, his grandmother headed to the kitchen.

"Hehe, I am a bit." Obito chuckled and accepted his grandmother's kindness.

Although Mu Yue's cooking was delicious, he also missed his grandmother's cooking if he went a while without it.

"Our Obito has become successful. Yesterday, the clan head came especially to deliver some things as a reward for you, saying you are an excellent Uchiha."

His grandmother's words carried a hint of pride. She had raised Obito by herself since he was a child.

Although she hadn't seen the newspaper and didn't know what Obito did, it must have been something good.

"Also, the clan head said that if you came back, you could go see him."