Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 354 The White Teeth Breaking Through the Ground

The night was deep and all was quiet.

Inside the Hatake family mansion, only one study was still lit.

Sakumo Hatake stood frozen in place, clutching the planning manual that had become somewhat superfluous in his hand.

A night breeze blew in through the open window, carrying a hint of late autumn chill. It made the candlelight on the low table flicker wildly and the blueprint titled "Concept of Fully Automated Precision Water and Fertilizer Integration" rustle in the wind.

To Sakumo Hatake, that voice was nothing short of the sharpest mockery.

For the first time, a blank expression of despair appeared on his usually calm face, which remained unchanged even when facing nearly a hundred ninjas.

This is a feeling I've never had before.

What about the preliminary model of the chakra booster pump, the optimization of pipeline flow rate, and the resonance solution for the chakra conduction rune array that makes his temples throb at the mere sight of it?

He recognized each word individually, but when put together, they were more profound and unfathomable than any cipher on an encrypted scroll.

This is another world, a cold and hard world built of logic, data, and precise calculations.

In this world, his prized skills of assassination, tracking, and swordsmanship become utterly useless.

You can't use a white-toothed dagger to slice through a complex formula, nor can you use stealth to bypass a rigorous physical law.

Sakumo slowly shifted his body.

He spread the blueprints that had been annotated by the Second Hokage, Tobirama, on the table, attempting to immerse himself in them once again.

But for the first time, that top-notch brain, honed through countless battles and killings, emitted a protesting buzz.

The lines on the drawing began to twist and move in his field of vision, eventually converging into a huge, bottomless vortex that threatened to completely devour his will.

Can I really accomplish this?

This problem, like the most malevolent curse, began to spread in his mind.

He, Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, the pinnacle of the Anbu, an assassin feared throughout the ninja world.

Now, however, they have been pushed to the brink of disaster by a blueprint for an irrigation system for farmland.

How absurd!

He even began to doubt himself.

Perhaps, I'm simply not suited for this place.

I should be on the battlefield, using my sword to solve problems, instead of sitting here staring blankly at a bunch of incomprehensible texts.

Hokage-sama... are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?

Once the thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed. A tremendous sense of powerlessness surged over him like a tide, gradually drowning out the resilience he was so proud of.

"Squeak—"

The sound of the paper sliding door being gently pulled open interrupted his thoughts.

Sakumo Hatake didn't even notice anyone approaching, something unimaginable for him in the past.

But everyone has moments when they're not paying attention.

A gentle figure walked in, carrying a tray with a pot of steaming tea and a small teacup on it.

It was his wife, Yoshiko Hatake.

Miko didn't say anything, but simply placed the hot tea gently on the corner of the table, away from the important blueprints.

She glanced at her husband's furrowed brows and the complex blueprint in front of him that made one dizzy, and silently poured him another cup of tea.

The temperature of the tea flowed along the cup wall to Shuo Mao's slightly cool fingertips.

"Are you having any problems?" Miko asked softly.

"Um."

Shuo Mao responded wearily. He picked up the teacup but didn't drink it, only savoring the warmth.

He didn't know how to explain his predicament to his wife.

"It's okay."

Miko walked behind him, reached out and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. The pressure was light, but it was just right to relieve his stiff muscles. "You always find a way. You always have."

This complete and unconditional trust warmed Shuo Mao's heart, but it also made the pressure on his shoulders heavier.

"This time... is different."

Shuo Mao said in a low voice, his voice carrying a hint of bitterness that he himself was unaware of.

Just then, another slight noise came.

The sliding door was pulled open a crack again, and a fluffy, silvery-white head peeked in furtively.

It's Kakashi.

The little guy was wearing blue pajamas with a puppy pattern, and the little mask on his face had been removed, revealing a delicate little face that looked almost exactly like his father's.

Seeing that his father and mother were both there, he wasn't afraid at all. He grinned, revealing a bright smile, and ran in barefoot.

"Father! Mother!"

"Kakashi, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Yoshiko Hatake squatted down, hugged her son, and affectionately pinched his little nose.

"I can't sleep."

Kakashi snuggled against his mother, then turned his head, his big, dark, clear eyes looking curiously at the blueprints on the table, and then at his father's face, which was full of frustration.

He seemed to sense something, broke free from his mother's embrace, ran to Sakumo's side, and grabbed his father's clothes with his little hands.

"Father, are you unhappy?"

Looking into his son's pure and innocent eyes, Shuo Mao felt an even stronger bitterness in his heart.

He shook his head, trying to force a smile, but found his facial muscles incredibly stiff.

Kakashi tilted his head, not quite understanding why his father was unhappy.

In her own world, her father was omnipotent.

He thought for a moment, as if he remembered something important, then turned around and ran out of the room again.

"call--"

Soon, Kakashi ran back, clutching a crumpled piece of drawing paper in his small hand.

He unfolded the drawing paper like a treasure and held it up in front of Shuo Mao.

"Father, look!"

Shuo Mao lowered his head.

That was a graffiti.

On the drawing paper, with the most childlike crayon strokes, a little person wearing a cloak and holding a glittering golden... hoe was drawn.

The little figure's hair is also silver-white, exaggeratedly drawn as sharp spikes pointing skyward.

At the feet of the little man, he stepped on a giant pest with a hideous face and countless legs, with several large crosses drawn on its body.

Next to the drawing paper, in crooked and uneven handwriting, there was a sentence written.

"Dad is the best!"

Following that, a large, bright red exclamation mark was drawn.

Looking at this painting, and at my son's eyes filled with pure worship and trust.

Sakumo Hatake's heart was deeply, deeply moved.

That heart, hardened by countless formulas and laws, was instantly melted and shattered by this purest and warmest power.

Just now I wanted to... give up. What was I thinking?

A sense of responsibility far exceeding that of any S-level mission, and an unprecedentedly powerful motivation, surged up from the deepest part of his heart.

It was a power hotter than chakra and more resilient than a blade.

Shuo Mao felt his eyes getting hot.

He reached out and solemnly accepted his son's masterpiece.

Then, in front of his wife and children, he carefully pasted this doodle, full of childlike innocence and trust, next to the "Fully Automated Precision Water and Fertilizer Integration Concept" that caused him unbearable pain.

The gleaming golden hoe-wielding figures stood side by side with densely packed engineering runes.

It was comical, yet incredibly sacred.

It's as if the cold science has been given the most powerful yet gentlest protective charm.

"Thank you, Kakashi."

Sakumo turned to look at his son, a genuine and incredibly tender smile finally appearing on his face. "This is the best gift your father has ever received."

He lowered his head and gently pressed his forehead against his son's smooth forehead.

"Father... is the most powerful."

Kakashi was a little shy at his father's sudden seriousness, but he still puffed out his little chest and nodded vigorously.

"Um!"

Shuo Mao took a deep breath, and when he looked up again, all the confusion, frustration, and self-doubt in his silvery-white eyes had vanished.

Instead, there was an unprecedented determination and resilience.

That radiance was no less than the light one would show when facing the enemy on the battlefield.

He turned to his wife and said, "Miko, get me another new roll of film, the biggest one."

Seeing the renewed sparkle on her husband's face, Miko smiled gently.

"it is good."

She knew that her husband had cheered up.