Protecting Konoha and protecting comrades.
These two things should have been the same concept. But when they inevitably came into conflict, how was a ninja supposed to choose?
Hatake Sakumo was a man who thought for himself. He believed the lives of his comrades were more important than any mission. If you don't even cherish your comrades, then a ninja truly becomes nothing more than a tool.
The world, however, has a strange way of punishing such logic.
Little Kakashi, who was already trying so hard to think like an adult, couldn't wrap his head around it.
His father, a war hero and a candidate for Hokage, had just returned from a mission where he'd saved his entire team. And now?
Now he was a piece of trash, criticized by everyone. Even the people he'd saved were blaming him.
And his father just took it. He offered no defense. Because, as some people pointedly reminded him, he had violated the rules.
He had caused Konoha to suffer a "huge loss of benefits." He should have put the mission first.
Little Kakashi didn't understand, but he still respected his father. When the world turned on him, he stayed by his side, a well-behaved, sensible child, because in his heart, his father was still a hero.
But Sakumo slowly became a recluse, focusing all his energy on his son. A rare, long-lost smile appeared on his face when Kakashi passed the academy entrance exam, bringing a flicker of happiness to the boy's heart.
Then came the late nights. Little Kakashi would find his father muttering to himself, holding the short blade that had once made him a legend.
"Lord Emiya... if only you were still here."
Sakumo always thought of the man he'd met in his youth. When you're weak, you always hope for guidance from someone you admire. "I feel like the village is going down a strange path," he'd whisper to the empty room.
If protecting Konoha meant watching your comrades die, what was Konoha even protecting?
But if you sacrificed the mission for your comrades, the village suffered, and that violated the whole point of protecting it in the first place.
It was an impossible choice.
Everyone in Konoha had already accepted the will to sacrifice everything for the village. It was the rule. And he had broken it.
"Dad!" little Kakashi rushed over one night, terrified, hugging his father's arm. He looked at the blade, feeling a deathly stillness emanating from the man he admired most. "I'm a little scared."
"Then I'll stay by your side, okay?" Sakumo gently stroked his son's head.
"Yeah," the boy nodded quickly. They talked, father and son, about the recent events.
"Are you sad, Dad?"
"Yes."
"But I don't think you did anything wrong," Kakashi muttered, hugging his father's arm tightly. "If you don't even cherish your comrades, what's left to cherish?"
"You're still too young, Kakashi," Sakumo smiled faintly, not wanting to burden his son with such heavy topics. He picked up a storybook.
"Have I really met Lord Emiya Shirou?" Kakashi asked, pushing the book away, trying to cheer him up. "You said you did. What was he like?"
Sakumo chuckled, a real, warm sound. "He was always busy. Cherished his time. He rarely talked to anyone, so most people thought he was arrogant. But he wasn't."
"He treated everyone the same. His whole life was dedicated to one thing: saving every life he could, like a god who truly loved the world. He became a medical ninja because he didn't want anyone else to endure the pain of losing a loved one."
As he said this, his heart skipped a beat. His hand paused on his son's head. He remembered the man saying that even he couldn't ignore that pain.
After Kakashi's mother died, Sakumo had barely held on. He looked at his well-behaved, tsundere son and didn't dare to think what losing him, his father, would do to the boy.
But people were already using his "failure" to attack his son. Kakashi was suffering because of him. And that love... that was what Sakumo couldn't bear.
Perhaps only death can liberate everything?
But he couldn't tell his son that.
The next afternoon, little Kakashi came home. He pushed open the door and saw his father lying in a pool of blood. He couldn't believe it.
I was with him. I was supporting him. Why?
Sakumo's death didn't wash away his shame. Not many people came to his funeral. Some still criticized him. Fortunately, the ones who did come were important. The Sannin, who had all respected him, attended, turning the funeral into a rare, grim reunion.
"I thought you wouldn't come back," Orochimaru said, surprised to see Tsunade.
"How could I not?" she shot back, her face a mask of dissatisfaction as she stared at Sakumo's memorial photo. "I heard people were criticizing him for breaking the rules. Since when is protecting your comrades not a rule? What bull rule! I don't believe there's any mission more important than your life, or Jiraiya's!"
A faint smile touched Orochimaru's lips.
"What are you smiling about?" Tsunade snapped, her bad mood turning on him. "Don't tell me you agree with those idiots. Back when we were fighting the Stone Village, you wanted to kill Jiraiya just to get rid of the 'burden'!"
It was true. During the Second Great Ninja War, Jiraiya had been severely injured. Orochimaru had advocated killing him so they could escape.
"But that is the ninja code," Jiraiya sighed, standing beside them. "If we hadn't gotten reinforcements, Orochimaru's idea was the best choice. Even if he'd killed me, I would have agreed. I don't approve of what you did to protect me back then."
"Both of you, get lost!" Tsunade roared.
Jiraiya scurried away. Orochimaru, however, stood his ground, that infuriating smile still on his face.
"Lady Tsunade, calm down," Shizune whispered.
"The village has completely changed," Tsunade said, taking a deep breath. She remembered a conversation between her great-grandfather and Emiya Shirou. "When the rules say you can sacrifice comrades for the 'good of the village,' the Will of Fire has been twisted."
"That person told Great-Grandfather it was supposed to be a two-way street. The village values the ninja, so the ninja values the village. But when the higher-ups see lives as expendable, the whole thing falls apart. That's when someone like Sakumo steps forward."
"Your father wasn't wrong, brat," she said, glancing at the small, silent figure of Kakashi by the tombstone. "The only thing wrong is this unrecognizable Konoha. What's wrong is this unlikable era. Train hard. Awaken the Storm Release your father created, and carry on his will."
Kakashi remained silent.
"Are you leaving?" Orochimaru asked, a mix of reluctance and anticipation in his voice. "The Great Ninja War might start again."
"So what?" Tsunade's voice was cold. "This village with its twisted heart... there's no reason to stay. I hate the current Konoha more than ever." She paused, then added, "Orochimaru, if you become the Fourth Hokage, come and change all this. Maybe I'll come back then."
"Okay," a genuine smile finally appeared on his face. At the time, everyone believed Orochimaru would be the Fourth. He knew what he was doing might attract disapproval, but he thought he could hide his darkness, just like his teacher, Hiruzen, and bring his old friends back.
A promise that could never be fulfilled.
-----
Years later, after the Third Great Ninja War, after the Nine-Tails' Rampage, Orochimaru's human experiments were discovered. He fled the village, a rogue ninja, abandoning his promise to Tsunade. And with him, he took the crystal coffin she had left behind.
Konoha Year 55. Several years after Orochimaru's defection, the last crystal coffin met its destiny.
Compared to the thousand years it had waited, the tragic stories its master had witnessed in the underworld, a few decades were so insignificant.