Black Naruto: Shadow Moon

In the night of Konoha Village, undercurrents surged. After several years of accumulation and the success of countless difficult missions, Hatake Sakumo's reputation has reached its peak.

The name "Konoha White Fang" is resounding throughout the ninja world, and even more and more ninjas and villagers are calling for him to become the next Hokage.

Sakumo's strength is unmatched, and his leadership ability and calm judgment make him extremely trustworthy.

However, because of this, Sakumo has become a huge threat in the eyes of some people.

Shimura Danzo's heart was filled with jealousy and anger, and the conspiracy he had planned for a long time was finally gradually put into practice.

On this day, Hatake Sakumo led his team to carry out an extremely important secret mission.

The mission concerns the long-term interests of Konoha Village and is an important operation to obtain the secrets of a certain ninja village.

This type of task is not unfamiliar to Hatake Sakumo. He has led the team to complete tasks brilliantly many times with his outstanding execution and decisive judgment, with almost no failures.

However, this time, the development of things was beyond his expectations.

As they infiltrate enemy territory, a larger and better-prepared enemy force than expected suddenly appears.

Sakumo's intuition told him that the enemy seemed to have known their route and target for a long time, which was impossible - the intelligence for this mission was developed by the top secret department, unless someone leaked it from the inside.

But now is not the time to delve into the inside story, as the enemy's powerful lineup has put the team in a desperate situation.

The enemies were numerous and had set up a tight net, surrounding Hatake Sakumo's team without any escape.

The team members were defeated step by step under the fierce attack of the enemy and fell into an unprecedented predicament.

"Lord White Fang, the enemy's intelligence is too accurate!" A team member gasped, with fear and confusion on his face.

Sakumo clenched the blade in his hand, feeling vaguely uneasy.

Various possibilities flashed through his mind quickly, but the current situation did not allow for any delay and a decision had to be made immediately.

The enemy would soon break through their defenses, and if they delayed any further, the entire squad would be wiped out.

According to the original plan of the mission, Sakumo should complete the mission at all costs and bring the information back to Konoha.

As a ninja, mission priority is the most basic principle of the Konoha Village ninja.

However, he looked around at the surrounded team members and thought that each of them was a young ninja with a family and their lives were in danger.

At this moment, Sakumo made a choice in his heart.

He took a deep breath and gave the order decisively: "Retreat! I'll cover you!"

The team members looked at Sakumo in shock, "But, the mission... Lord White Fang, we can't go against the mission!"

"This is an order!" There was unquestionable firmness in Sakumo's voice.

He knew that choosing to save his companions would mean the failure of the mission, which would likely lead to condemnation from the village and even punishment from Konoha's top brass.

However, Sakumo couldn't bear to see the ninjas on his team die for a mission.

"Our lives are more important than the mission," Sakumo whispered, and then he drew his White Fang knife, and a bright light cut through the night sky.

He rushed towards the enemy camp alone, waving the White Fang Blade to create cold rays of light and shadows.

The enemies came like a tide, but were completely suppressed by his powerful swordsmanship and chakra.

However, the enemy was too numerous for Sakumo to hold out for long.

Time slowed down at this moment, and every swing of his took the life of the enemy, but the number of enemies did not decrease at all.

Under his cover, the team members were finally able to retreat.

Hatake Sakumo looked back one last time and after confirming that they had evacuated safely, he quickly left the battlefield.

After returning to Konoha Village, Hatake Sakumo reported the failure of the mission truthfully to the Konoha higher-ups.

As a ninja, he chose to save his teammates instead of completing the mission, which violated the basic code of ninja.

Although in Sakumo's heart he felt at peace with his choice, he knew that this decision would bring him serious consequences.

As expected, all kinds of rumors about Sakumo began to spread in Konoha Village.

Some people began to question his judgment, believing that he neglected his duty due to personal emotions and that the failure of the mission caused heavy losses to the village.

Danzo Shimura took advantage of this opportunity to secretly incite doubts and dissatisfaction towards Sakumo.

Danzo used his influence in the Anbu and the Root to begin spreading rumors, suggesting that Hatake Sakumo's actions were shaking the core tenets of the Konohagakure ninja.

"How can a ninja who doesn't take his mission seriously become Hokage?" This was one of Danzo's remarks, which quietly spread to every corner of the village.

Gradually, Hatake Sakumo's reputation was greatly affected.

The ninjas who once admired him began to doubt whether the importance of the mission could really be abandoned for the sake of their companions' lives. Even though Sakumo never regretted his choice, the increasing pressure and doubts made him feel lonely.

And all of this was a conspiracy secretly designed by Danzo Shimura.

By leaking mission intelligence to the enemy, Danzo puts Sakumo in a dilemma - no matter what Sakumo chooses, he will lose the reputation and trust he once had.

Behind Danzo's sneer, he had successfully eliminated Hatake Sakumo from the list of future Hokage candidates.

Hatake Sakumo, once known as the "White Fang of Konoha", has now fallen into the greatest trough of his life. And this is just the beginning of Danzo's conspiracy.

At the same time, Sarutobi Hiruzen was not unaware of the rumors in the village about Hatake Sakumo.

As the Third Hokage, he was keenly aware that the speed at which this storm of public opinion spread was too fast, and even somewhat deliberate.

However, Sarutobi Hiruzen did not take immediate action to stop it, as he was thinking about his own interests.

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that Sakumo's reputation and strength were constantly rising in the village, especially after the Second Ninja World War, his abilities had been widely recognized by the Konoha ninjas and the public.

Many even considered him to be the best candidate for the Yondaime Hokage.

The name of "Konoha White Fang" resounded throughout the ninja world, and many ninjas were willing to follow him, even surpassing Sarutobi Hiruzen's three disciples - Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru.

Although Sakumo is a very loyal and responsible ninja, he comes from a civilian samurai family and does not belong to the circle of people in the Hokage line.

On the one hand, Sarutobi Hiruzen admired his abilities, but on the other hand, he felt a little uneasy.

If Sakumo really becomes the Fourth Hokage, he, as the abdicated Third Hokage, will lose substantial control over Konoha, and the influence that he has painstakingly built up over the years will probably gradually weaken.

Rather than letting an "outsider" take the position of Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen would rather let his own disciples who he trained personally take over, especially Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, whom he brought up, and they have a deep master-disciple relationship.