Chapter 23: Death of subordinates

- Captain, go away! The tall man shouted at Hatake trying to complete the task. That's just subordinates will definitely not survive if he continues to mess with these apostates.

This mission is a suicide trap. The information wasn't even close to reliable. Instead of three or so Junins, a whole group of notorious thugs gathered here. More than a dozen renegade Junin immediately rushed to the rear of this small group to immediately reduce their forces.

Even an experienced Shinobi could not read such a trap, as he trusted the intelligence data, but this was a mistake on his part. Now he was watching his subordinates being slaughtered one by one by the geeks attacking in numbers. He also took on ten junins, which he would have coped with a long time ago if he hadn't been constantly distracted.

His subordinate Yushiro also fought with several Junins, but the forces were not equal. And both Shinobi were losing ground all the time.

- What is it we have? The famous White Fang of Konoha is now unable to help his subordinates. What a pity... - one of the renegades slashed with his sword. Sakumo easily left the attack trajectory and was already preparing to counterattack, but two more Shinobi were already flying at him from the other side.

Hatake, having soaked tanto with his chakra, repelled both attacks, even managed to destroy one of the murder weapons.

"Damn, you still have the strength. Only it seems to me," the man who almost cut off Hatake's head got up from his knee. - your friends will burn, and you will no longer be able to restrain our onslaught. How fun! I never thought I'd be involved in killing a legend.

"Don't think about it. It's too early for you to say that.

White steam poured out of Sakumo's mouth, which disappeared over time. The man ran his fingers over the wide side of his tant's palm, closing his eyes for a moment. But when he opened them, his eyes turned a cold white shade. And from Hatake himself, a strange aura began to spread, reacting to the light of the moon.

- I'll show you why they called me White Fang Konoha... - he disappeared from his seat.

- Watch out, he's attacking! - one of the Jounins managed to shout, but his voice was interrupted.

A white glow similar to a short dagger distantly similar to a beast's fang passed through several renegades.

- We're not going to die here ... - Sakumo said, being already behind a string of corpses.

"What did he do?" - the young guy panicked, who had unexpected such an outcome, but rarely fell silent. A sword blade was sticking out of his chest.

- Don't create panic, although you can't create it now anyway, - the leader of all the apostates stepped back, he tried to be in the rear, tracking down the weaknesses of his opponent. - It looks like the games are over, we'll have to speed up, otherwise we already have a chance to die here. Ha ha ha...

Hatake looked around, assessing the situation around him. Three of his team had already died, there were still five left, which was significantly small, against such a number. Of course, the ratio of losses among thugs is much worse, which did not affect their morale while the leader is alive.

- Why are you looking around? Did you really decide to run away? No, Shinobi don't do that, they have to complete the mission. Either you or I will lay down our heads on this battlefield today! Remember me, fang! - the renegade, resembling a huge bear, rushed into the attack. In his hands was a giant sword that would not be able to lift without great strength.

Sakumo went forward with his tanto, deflecting the enemy's attack upon collision. He rushed with kunai straight to the face of the leader of the whole gang. But with a smile on his face, he turned the blade of his sword and slashed them in the side. Hatake had to defend himself, but he had already earned a rib injury.

- Great! You saw it, right? In just a split second, I turned the situation from my death to your injury! Who else can squeeze an important combat unit of a hidden leaf like that? Ha ha ha... He burst out laughing again, which Hatake took advantage of.

Sakumo switched to the subordinates of this bully, helping his allies in this difficult battle. They managed to lose one more person during the beginning of the battle of the two leaders. Alarm bells were growing with every second of their being in this trap.

- Retreat! Sakumo shouted, leaving from under the blow of an enraged Shinobi. He was clearly unhappy that he was left alone.

- Where are you retreating to? You have a mission! Jounin shouted.

- Everyone, retreat! Hatake shouted, helping to fend off the enemies. Although he had to spend a lot of effort to prevent the leader of this ambush from acting against his allies. In that case, the chance of escape would be less than one percent.

The intensity of the battle was growing, someone even had to be dragged along because of injuries. Yushiro and Sakumo fought back as long as possible, not letting the remaining members of the Shinobi team through.

"Captain, I didn't think we'd get bogged down in this. But it's a little more interesting than ... - the smile on the man's serious face froze, blood began to flow in the center of his torso.

- No! - Hatake saw the renegade leader standing behind his subordinate.

- yes! Ha-ha-ha... - he shouted mixed with laughter and with one movement of his hand, tore the victim in half. His sword was soaked in the blood of Hatake's friend. "Remember that, Sakumo. That's what happens to those who choose to ignore me. I will destroy everything you hold dear!

The silver-haired man in front of his eyes aged by several years, from his burning eyes, the blazing fire began to decrease to a small source of heat.

- Nothing to say? Well, never mind, it happens to everyone...

Hatake rushed in his direction, destroying all kinds of enemy Shinobi along the way. He faced the steel of his blood enemy, who looked at the chilling eyes with a grin.

- Here, that's another thing! he threw away the Hatake with one hand, getting into a pose for battle. - I, Sezoyu the Great, will remember you!

His mockery was becoming terrifying, his muscles tensed to the limit. He bent over, bringing the sword behind his back.

- Goodbye!

***

- A-a-a! Ha... ha...ha

A little boy with gray hair jumped out of bed, feeling unbearable pain in his heart. He didn't know what was going on, but inside there was a strong understanding that something had happened to his father.

His rapid breathing caused him to get an overabundance of oxygen, which caused his head to ache. He was sitting on his bed, holding his head, which was dripping with sweat, as if he had recently trained.

- Are you okay? - the door to his room opened, and Sora ran into it with eyes full of emotions.

- No, there's something wrong with my father ... - Kakashi said, sitting on the bed.

- Do you think something could have happened to him? Sora asked.

- I don't know... My father is not the strongest, you never know who I had to face... - Hatake began to come back to normal, but his heart still continued to beat so fast that even the guy opposite could hear it.

- If he doesn't win, then at least he will escape. Still, your father got his nickname for a reason.

Both guys sat together for some time and made their suggestions, what could happen. Sora told his impressions when he was picked up by a girly squeal from the second floor, for which he received a good beating before going to bed. But they couldn't even begin to guess what really happened.

***

- Kha, kha...

A big man coughed up blood, holding on to a tree with one hand. He had countless lacerations that he had received in the battle with Hatake.

- Damn, why are they taking so long? - he was finally able to sit down on the cold ground.

The image of the moon demon still stood before my eyes. He had never had to fight this monster before. The order said to exhaust and, if possible, inflict heavy losses before the other forces arrived, but he could not even think that Hatake would decide to kill him.

"I barely got out of this mess, I just need to rest a little..." Sezoyu said aloud.

His eyes slowly began to close, seeing for the last time the brilliance of the bright full moon, against which he saw a terrifying force today. He took a deep breath and a slow, long exhalation, after which there was no next breath.

Several Shinobi standing on the branches looked at this monster with horror and interest. They wanted to finish it off themselves, but it looks like their work would be superfluous.

- How could he go so far without a leg and a part of his torso at all? one asked the other two.

- I don't know, the trace of his blood lasts for a distance of several kilometers. His stamina is something incredible, somewhat similar to Uzumaki... - the second one answered.

- Stop talking, this monster is dead, we just need to get him into the laboratory, and this will be the end of our task.

- What about Hatake? The first one asked.

- He is not our concern, a group much stronger than us has already advanced behind him.

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