86: Ignorance and Slander

As the afternoon approaches, rumors that are not conducive to Sakumo have spread to most corners of the village after a morning of fermentation. The level of everyone knowing is only a step away.

No matter how hard the Uchiha ninjas of the garrison try to curb the spread of rumors, compared to the huge population of Konoha Village, the garrison is already stretched thin.

The location of Sakumo's house is in a relatively prosperous section of Konoha Village, and it is not close to the center of the village.

It was a small independent courtyard. At the door, the word 'Hatake' was written on the door.

When Shiraishi and Ruri came here, they saw Kakashi standing at the door, looking more silent than usual.

"Kakashi, is Sakumo-sensei at home?"

Kakashi heard someone calling his name, looked up, saw Shiraishi and Ruri coming, and nodded lightly, indicating that Sakumo was at home.

Shiraishi and Ruri breathed a sigh of relief. If he was at home, things would be easy.

"However, father he..."

Kakashi said this, looking like he didn't know how to explain it.

"Take us to see him."

Shiraishi sighed, knowing that Sakumo must be in a bad mood now.

The rumors spread so powerfully, it was impossible for Sakumo not to know.

Kakashi led the way, and led Shiraishi and Ruri into the Hatake House.

The Hatake House is a typical Japanese-style building, and the layout of the rooms is also a bit ancient. The three of them only walked a few steps to the door of the room where Sakumo was.

Before he was ready to knock on the door, the words 'come in' came from inside. It was obvious that Sakumo, who was inside, already knew that someone was coming from outside.

Shiraishi had no choice but to slide the door open and shouted to the people inside, "Sakumo-sensei, let's come..." The voice stopped.

Shiraishi and Ruri stared blankly at Sakumo in front of him.

"Sakumo-sensei, you are..."

Sakumo in front of them did not become depressed because of the rumors as he imagined. Instead, he sat at the table, eating a large bowl of ramen, and had a good appetite.

Seeing that Shiraishi and Ruri had come, he calmly picked up the napkin and wiped the grease from his mouth. To the two who had visited him he asked suspiciously, "Why are you two here?"

"..."

"..."

Shiraishi and Ruri don't know how to answer Sakumo's question.

Before they came, they had imagined that Sakumo would be depressed due to rumors, but they didn't expect such a picture.

"Sakumo-sensei, about the rumors outside..." In the end, Ruri asked.

"Did you come to me because of this kind of thing?"

"Yes, this is the job of our garrison. I want to know the whole story, and please answer Sakumo Jonin."

Ruri walked to Sakumo. In front of him, she spoke to Sakumo in a serious tone.

It was not as the members of the original Sakumo squad she asked him questions, instead she came as a sub-commander of the garrison to investigate the cause and effect of the incident.

Sakumo thought for a while, since this is the job of the garrison, there is no problem.

So, he was very happy to briefly recount what happened at that time.

"This time we performed a classified mission, but we encountered some troubles on the way. Considering that my companions at the time were no longer able to continue fighting, I chose to give up the mission and bring people back. This also led to the failure of the mission."

When Sakumo said these words, he did not have any personal emotions, but only told what happened as a participant, and Ruri, a member of the garrison, would judge.

Shiraishi and Ruri frowned, and even Kakashi looked puzzled.

I always feel that things are too simple.

"Excuse me, what is the secret mission?"

Ruri stared at Sakumo's face.

This is her main purpose.

Even classified tasks are light and heavy, large and small.

Some can be related to the survival of the village, while others are just irrelevant.

"I don't know, the order I was given was to seize something, but the mission failed, and naturally the thing was not brought back to the village. I don't know what it is."

Sakumo gently answered Ruri's question. He shook his head, indicating that he did not know what he wanted to capture in the mission.

Ruri felt that things were a little tricky.

There is very little information from Sakumo. If you want to know what Sakumo should have captured in this mission, and how much the village has lost if the mission fails, you can only start from the top.

After all, the task was initially handled by them, and then handed over to Sakumo for him to complete.

But the rumors have spread to this point, and there is no movement from the high-level side. Even if you ask now, it is impossible to get anything.

Otherwise, they would have clarified the rumors long ago and suppressed the influence to a minimum.

After coming out of the Hatake House, Shiraishi and Ruri both looked at the sky and exhaled lightly.

Looking at each other, Ruri asked Shiraishi: "What should I do next? Sakumo-sensei can't be used as a breakthrough here. Do you want to find the guy who was rescued by Sakumo-sensei?"

"It is estimated that when the action was planned, they were already 'protected' by someone. We only went to the hospital now, and that person has 'disappeared' long ago."

"Is it done by the high-level?"

"Apart from them, there seems to be no one else. When such a big thing started, according to the usual practice, Mr. Sakumo was invited by Anbu to have tea and chat, instead of sitting at home."

Shiraishi can confirm this matter. It was done by someone at the top, or more than one person behind the scenes.

"A dispute over the position of Hokage?"

Ruri shook her head. The high-level executives made this matter impeccable, and nothing could be done with the personnel of the garrison alone.

Compared with Anbu, the power of the garrison is indeed relatively large, but its reputation in Konoha is not very good, and it does not have the strong authority of Anbu.

Once Anbu is dispatched, it represents the will of Hokage himself.

"It should be like this. After all, the candidate meeting for the fourth Hokage will be held in the near future. At this time, it is a natural result to exclude some irrelevant people."

It is a bit cruel to say, in Shiraishi's view, Sakumo is also just a victim of a power struggle.

His subjective will and ideas are not the most important, and no one will understand it, as long as his current reputation can damage part of their interests.

It doesn't matter if you want to be Hokage or not, what matters is whether you have the qualifications and ability to be promoted to Hokage.

"That's fine, since the political capital is gone, after this incident, the high-level people have no reason to suppress Sakumo-sensei."

Ruri understood what Shiraishi meant, and felt that she was a little too anxious here.

The dispute over the position of Hokage involves the interests of many factions in Konoha.

A person whose reputation and strength surpass Sannin, and who is not affiliated with any party, is of course the highest priority to exclude.

Suppressing his prestige, plundering Sakumo's political capital, and letting him be a Konoha Jonin with peace of mind in the future seems to cause no harm.

On the contrary, in the days to come, Sakumo will definitely be reused again.

Because this is an important period for the candidates for the fourth Hokage, as long as this stage is passed, Konoha White Fang will still be Konoha White Fang.

As far as Ruri's personal opinion is concerned, Sakumo is indeed not very suitable for Hokage's position.

He has neither ambition nor will, he is just an excellent Konoha Jonin.

That is it.

"Really? If so..."

Shiraishi muttered to himself, thinking of Sakumo's nonchalant appearance before, a haze clouded his heart.

It's not like nothing happened.

◎

Two days later, the rumors became more and more ferocious.

More and more people came to the police force to make trouble, and there were not enough cells in the police force.

And the charges of these people are not enough to be detained in Konoha Prison. Those are all serious criminals. Although these people are spreading rumors, they will not reach the level of 'heavy punishment'.

Bringing these people to Konoha Prison will definitely lead to Anbu's obstruction and unnecessary conflicts.

"What's the matter? Are there still so many people here to make trouble?"

Ruri came to the hall of the garrison early in the morning, feeling that it was almost overcrowded, and there was a lot of noise outside the door, like a vegetable market.

The two members of the garrison belonging to Ruri's squad bowed to Ruri and replied, "Yes, in the morning, there were new rumors that caused the garrison to be completely short of manpower."

Having said that, the guard team member smiled helplessly.

He didn't know that a rumor could be promoted like this.

It's just that the mission failed. Konoha White Fang is indeed a well-known ninja in the ninja world. In the past few years, it has gradually become Konoha's signboard to deter the enemy.

But even Konoha White Fang, that is a man, not a god.

Occasionally a mission failure is not a big deal. Anyway, the above did not say what serious consequences were caused by the mission failure.

If it is said in this way, the so-called Sannin is the same thing. After all, this name is the name for the defeated general.

But how many people dare to underestimate Sannin?

In the view of this guard Uchiha ninja, it was these villagers who were making a fuss, arguing without knowing anything, and even saying some unpleasant words that the members of the guard could not stand listening to, gradually moving away from the core essence of the problem.

Beating them up is against the rules, but taking them to the garrison for discipline, the room is not enough.

Therefore, the guard ninjas who came to work this morning were very troubled by this problem.

Let these people go, the rumors will intensify.

If you don't let them... overcrowding, it will affect the work efficiency of the garrison.

"Find a few people who know how to use earth style, and create a few simple cells outside."

Ruri's face was terrifyingly cold.

"...Yes."

One of the guards went down immediately, went to the guards to find a few people who could use earth style, and expanded the temporary cells outside.

"Will this affect anything?"

The remaining guard ninja gave a wry smile.

"What's wrong, we just follow the rules. Even if Hokage comes, I have reason to argue with him. You don't have a good reputation, why do you care so much? You don't have to give them lunch and dinner, and don't allow their families to deliver meals, just feed them some water, anyway, they won't starve to death."

Ruri snorted coldly.

"...Understood."

Since it is the order of the sub-commander, it needs to be executed.

As Ruri said, these people will not die from starvation from missing two meals.

"By the way, you just said there were new rumors?"

"Yes, didn't Sakumo Jonin give up his mission to save people? The person who was rescued seemed to be accusing Sakumo Jonin of not seeing the big picture. Saying that he is not suitable to be a ninja, criticizing and humiliating Sakumo Jonin..."

Seeing that Ruri's face became more and more ugly, the guard ninja did not continue.

Having said that, I believe Ruri already understands what is going on.

"Where is that person?"

"I didn't find it, when we went, the person had 'disappeared'."

It was hidden. Ruri sneered secretly.

"I see, go get busy."

"Yeah... that, don't worry too much. Although I'm not familiar with Sakumo Jonin, a ninja like him is very tenacious. Such rumors, he'll just laugh it off."

He knew that his sub-commander, Ruri, used to be a member of Sakumo's team, and he must have a good relationship with Sakumo, so he comforted Ruri before he left.

"Will he just laugh?"

Ruri thought that when she went to visit Sakumo two days ago, the other party was eating ramen in a good mood, and was not shaken by the rumors outside.

This really comforted Ruri, even if those rumors made her feel a little uncomfortable, for Sakumo, it shouldn't be a big problem.