Chapter 53: The Unspoken Funeral
Hatake Compound.
Liumu stared at the Konoha ninja clad in somber black, moving silently in and out of the residence. A cold, sinking feeling settled in his gut.
Kakashi just earned his chunin promotion in Kumo… that was only last year. So now… this must be about his father. Hatake Sakumo… Konoha's White Fang.
With that realization, Liumu moved. He slipped past the solemn guards and darted into the main hall. Inside, he saw Konoha's upper echelons gathered in a quiet, grim circle. Even Jiraiya, whom he hadn't seen in months, was present.
"Liumu?!" Tsunade's sharp eyes caught his entrance. Her voice was hushed but carried across the room.
Liumu didn't answer immediately. His steps slowed as he took in the scene. In the center of the main hall, under a hanging scroll of white silk, was a framed photograph in stark black and white. He stared at it for a long time, words failing him.
The death of Hatake Sakumo was Konoha's greatest, quietest shame. Bearing the moniker "White Fang," his prowess had surpassed even that of the Sannin. His chakra-conducting tanto was legend, his tactical genius and combat skills worthy of his elite jonin status.
Yet, such a man had met his end because of… that absurd, heartless rule.
Liumu had once, because of Kakashi, harbored a faint hope of preventing this tragedy. But somewhere, somehow, he must have miscalculated. He never imagined it would come so soon.
"Liumu, what's wrong?" Tsunade reached out, her hand closing over his. Her voice was thick with concern.
At this moment, Liumu's entire body felt heavy as iron. A terrifying, almost palpable wave of killing intent churned beneath his calm surface, threatening to erupt.
Liumu shook his head slowly, his gaze still fixed on the portrait. "Where's Kakashi?"
Kakashi had just suffered the pain of losing his father shortly after his promotion. How many people here were truly considering his state of mind?
Tsunade's eyes swept the room. No one seemed to know.
Seeing this, Liumu turned and left without another word.
He raced to the top of the Konoha water tower, scanning the village below for Kakashi's familiar silver hair. Finding nothing, he suddenly remembered another place.
The night in Konoha was unusually restless.
Liumu found the lone, thin figure sitting on the edge of the cliff beneath the Hokage Monument. He sighed inwardly and walked over quietly.
Kakashi held a broken tanto in his hands. Beside him lay a red and white ANBU mask.
"You're back?" Kakashi spoke without turning, his eyes fixed on the sleeping village below. His grip on the broken blade tightened.
Liumu sat down beside him, letting his legs dangle over the precipice. "Mhm."
They sat in silence, neither speaking, both staring out at the sprawling village of Konoha as if it held all the answers.
Time slipped by. The early spring night grew colder. The new leaves on the trees trembled with a chill.
"Why… would he make that choice?" Kakashi's voice was a dull, hollow buzz. It wasn't really a question, more an accusation hurled at himself.
Liumu knew what he meant but asked anyway, "Which choice? The one at the end… or the one in the mission?"
Hatake Sakumo had always been Kakashi's pride. Even as an early graduate, a six-year-old chunin, the first person he'd wanted to share his success with was his father. Why had the White Fang, once beloved by all, become an object of scorn overnight? Even those his father had saved were now among the voices of condemnation.
Is the mission truly more important than a teammate's life?
As a ninja, the mission comes first… but faced with such a choice, what is truly correct?
Kakashi was lost, his very identity thrown into doubt.
Seeing the torment twisting Kakashi's young face, Liumu lay back on the cool stone, his gaze on the stars.
"I don't know if what he did was right," Liumu said softly. "But for me… a human life is more important than anything else."
Kakashi whipped his head around, his single visible eye boring into Liumu.
Liumu continued, his voice calm. "There are many choices in this world. No one knows which is correct. Making a mistake isn't terrible. What's terrible is giving up the right to choose."
"If someone disagrees with my choice, I won't argue. He is him. I am me. Even if this choice has flaws, I believe that as long as people are alive, no flaw is beyond remedy."
"I don't expect others to understand me as a given. But with time… one day, someone who does understand will appear."
He spoke as if to himself, yet every word circled the unspoken name of Hatake Sakumo.
"Aren't you afraid of public opinion?" Kakashi's voice was tight. "Sometimes… words are sharper than any blade."
"Afraid?" Liumu chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "I've never cared about the opinions of people stupider than me. That saying again: he is him, I am me. That's all."
"He… is him. I am me." Kakashi repeated the phrase like a mantra, staring down at the broken tanto in his hands. A long silence stretched between them.
Finally, as the first rays of the sun began to paint the sky and illuminate the rooftops of Konoha, Kakashi stood up. He picked up the ANBU mask beside him and turned to walk down the mountain path.
After a dozen steps, he stopped. Without turning, his voice carried back on the morning breeze.
"So… you would have chosen your teammates too?"
"Was there ever any doubt?" Liumu replied, a genuine smile touching his lips.
"Hmph." A short, sharp sound escaped Kakashi. He slid the broken tanto back into its sheath on his back. Slowly, deliberately, he lifted the ANBU mask and settled it over his face. His voice, now muffled by the porcelain, held a strange finality. "With thoughts like that… you are utterly unfit to be a ninja."
Liumu's smile didn't fade.
"But…" Kakashi's voice came again, softer now, "…you'd make a good teammate."
With that, he leaped from the cliff edge, his figure swallowed by the morning shadows of the forest below.
Watching him disappear, the smile finally slipped from Liumu's face, replaced by a cold, hard resolve.
The dead are gone. The dead are great.
The dancer's coffin is never short of flowers; only the silent ones need their names cleared.
Hatake Sakumo's choice had made him abandon his mission, and in the eyes of the village, his duty as a ninja. But a life is a life. The silent, corrosive decay within Konoha that allowed a genius to be condemned was a resounding slap to the face of every living soul here.
Liumu couldn't accept it. He refused to let such a mark stain his own conscience.
If that was the case…
"I wanted to quietly change this world, bit by bit," he murmured to the rising sun. "But reality is always so… confining. If that's how it is… then from now on, let's just turn it all upside down."
Back Home.
Haku rushed toward him the moment he stepped inside. "What's wrong?" Liumu asked gently, seeing the anxiety on her face.
"I woke up and you were gone. I thought…" Her voice trailed off, laced with a fear he understood.
"I left a note. Didn't you see it?"
"I saw it, but…" She looked down, embarrassed.
Liumu smiled, setting the bag of breakfast buns he'd bought on the table. "It's fine. Eat up. After breakfast… I'm taking you to meet the boss."
(End of Chapter)
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