Chiyo ran to a spot five kilometers away from Konoha Village and landed on a grassy field.
She pulled out a scroll from her person and shouted coldly toward a patch of bushes, "White Fang, come out! I know you're in there!"
Sakumo stepped out from the bushes, his face covered in ceramic-like cracks, looking like a person pieced together from porcelain.
Chiyo was shocked: "White Fang, you—"
Sakumo was equally surprised by Chiyo: "Senior Chiyo, compared to that, your state is even more shocking."
"You don't look like someone in their fifties should."
Chiyo sneered: "This is my Forbidden Jutsu which uses chakra to achieve eternal youth."
"White Fang, looking like that, you must be an Edo Tensei!"
"Good, good, Konoha is truly something! Finally dropping the act and preparing to use the dead to interfere with the world of the living."
Chiyo formed hand seals, channeled chakra into the scroll, and then summoned the puppets from within.
"White Secret Technique: Kuroari Puppet Squad!"
Chiyo summoned her ten strongest puppets, and ten white-robed puppets immediately emerged from the scroll.
The puppets floated around Chiyo, forming a circular defensive formation.
They were dressed in plain white robes, each with the character 'Gate' engraved on its head.
There was a female puppet for close combat with twin swords, and a blue-faced puppet using a kusarigama and steel cables, capable of locking down a wide area.
There was a bull-headed puppet for close protection, and the Three Treasure Puppets of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha that could form seals and launch sealing Ninjutsu...
Each of these puppets had different weapons and abilities; they were the ultimate puppet masterpieces of Monzaemon, the founder of the Sunagakure Puppet Brigade.
Chiyo had once used the Kuroari Puppet Squad to take down an entire castle.
Sakumo felt a bit of a headache looking at these puppets. Although his blade could push forward relentlessly and even cleave through steel...
...these puppets were masterpieces among puppets, each one an elite puppet that was difficult to deal with.
Chiyo's chakra threads burst from her ten fingers like silver wires, precisely piercing into the joints of the Kuroari Puppet Squad.
The ten puppets activated simultaneously, their mechanical joints emitting a low metallic hum.
Chiyo controlled the ten puppets to face Sakumo and shouted at him, "White Fang, I don't care if you're dead or alive today! I must avenge the deaths of my son and daughter-in-law."
Sakumo drew the sword from his back. This wasn't his original White Fang short blade; that blade had been destroyed by that spendthrift Kakashi.
The White Fang short blade was a short blade made of chakra metal. Its core was the ability to perfectly conduct chakra and bind deeply with chakra nature transformations.
Just like Asuma's Flying Swallow, it could transmit chakra with zero loss and high synchronization—dozens of times more efficient than ordinary metal—making it an excellent carrier for chakra flow.
However, weapons made of pure chakra metal have high hardness but poor toughness, being quite brittle; they are prone to cracking without chakra reinforcement.
That spendthrift Kakashi used the White Fang short blade to clash with an Iwagakure Jonin's blade, and the White Fang short blade was destroyed by him.
The blade Sakumo took out was just a standard blade given by Orochimaru. It was tough enough, but ultimately couldn't manifest the White Fang's blade light.
Chiyo sneered, "White Fang, your original blade is gone, so your strength will be greatly diminished. But don't expect me to show any mercy."
"Today, I will use your head to appease the spirits of my son and daughter-in-law in heaven."
Sakumo responded, "Senior Chiyo, unfortunately, I am already dead. You cannot kill me."
Chiyo snorted coldly, "Then I will seal you and throw your soul into the filthiest toilet, so you can never be reincarnated."
Chiyo was a versatile Shinobi—Ninjutsu, puppets, medical techniques, sealing...
The immortality of Sakumo's Edo Tensei body was a problem for average Shinobi, but not for Chiyo.
She knew sealing, was now young again, and even had Ryou's spores assisting her.
The current Chiyo was several times stronger than her elderly self.
"..."
Sakumo fell silent for a moment, gripped his blade, and said, "Senior Chiyo, I am sorry about the deaths of your son and daughter-in-law, but I do not regret it."
"Senior, you also know we met on the battlefield. A confrontation on the battlefield is a matter of life and death."
Chiyo shouted, "Then why did you jump out to protect your son? Why do you, a dead man, still jump out to interfere in the affairs of the living?"
Sakumo replied, "Because I feel very sorry for Kakashi. I committed suicide on an impulse, and I feel guilty for leaving Kakashi alone to bear that pain."
As Sakumo spoke of his pain, he lowered his head like a helpless father.
Konoha's unruly citizens take advantage of everyone equally. After Sakumo's death, the social pressure that had targeted him didn't stop.
Instead, it shifted to the five-year-old Kakashi.
"Look, that's the White Fang's child."
"White Fang? You mean the culprit who abandoned the mission and caused a major trust crisis between the Village and the Land of Fire?"
"Yes, White Fang is a sinner. His son might follow in his footsteps in the future. Hokage-sama shouldn't even let someone like him become a Shinobi."
"Exactly!"
Under such cold words, Kakashi had only one choice: to quickly become a Shinobi and desperately carry out missions.
Ignoring teammates, with eyes only for the focus of completing the mission.
To tell those people he was different from that failed father, that he was a Shinobi focused on the mission.
If he didn't do this, what awaited Kakashi was rejection from everyone. People would not acknowledge a Shinobi similar to the White Fang.
The Land of Fire would not tolerate a second disaster like the White Fang!
After Sakumo was reincarnated via Edo Tensei by Orochimaru, he investigated what had happened to Kakashi.
This made him even more guilt-ridden. He was wrong, terribly wrong.
He shouldn't have let Kakashi bear all that alone!
"..."
At this moment, Sakumo had no defense at all; Chiyo could easily attack him.
But Chiyo didn't. She asked coldly, "You could even abandon a major mission concerning the Village and the country, so why couldn't you spare my relatives?"
Sakumo looked at Chiyo: "It's not the same. At that time, those two were elite Jonin of Sunagakure, and Sunagakure and Konoha were enemies."
"I am a Shinobi of Konoha, so naturally, I must nip all potential threats in the bud."
Malice surged in Chiyo's eyes. She said, "White Fang, you didn't just kill my son and daughter-in-law; you killed my grandson as well."
"Because of you, my grandson's soul was snatched away!"
Chiyo spoke of Sasori's affairs, and Sakumo listened to every word.
Chiyo blamed all of Sasori's obsession on Sakumo killing Sasori's parents. If Sasori's parents were still alive, Sasori would never have become so cold-blooded and heartless.
He would have taken over as the commander of the Sunagakure Puppet Brigade and become a pillar of the Sunagakure.
Perhaps because of the change in Sasori, he wouldn't have killed the Third Kazekage, nor would he have let the Third Great Shinobi War break out.
Nor would so many people have sacrificed their lives and had their families destroyed because of the war.