This is the second chapter of my first fanfic and this is much longer than the first one X)

LIAR

Two years have passed and the 3rd ninja war still raged on. Sacrifices had been made on each opposing country and they were deploying more shinobis onto the country boarders. Only the talented and skilled shinobis can still manage to return to their families but at the same time making war orphans. However, as time pressed on and the war raged, the village elders' benevolence and age tolerance no longer held their sway; children are already taking their roles for their fallen parents: children are already sent onto the battlefield.

"Tadaima!" Kakashi called as he removed his sandals on the genkan.

But the Hatake household only answered silence.

Sakumo had been away for almost a month on a mission, sneaking to enemy lands as Kakashi had heard. He entered the washitsu and set down his bag and gear. As he walked, the tatami mats touched his little feet with thin dust. True, he too had been on a mission and had been gone for 10 days. Kakashi opened the fusuma, letting in the sunset light and at the same time expelling the floating dust.

"I wonder if Chichiue will come home tonight." Kakashi thought to himself as he looked at the blazing horizon.

Miles and miles away from Konoha, somewhere in the wilderness, a battle ensued from both sides. A whole platoon of Konoha shinobis were greatly besieged by countless Iwakagure shinobis.

"We can't fight them all any longer!" A teammate yelled from the battle.

Sakumo gritted his teeth as he saw three of his teammates fighting their best against several Iwakagure ninjas but received multiple injuries. Several kunai flew to their direction, Sakumo and his teammate dodged but more shurikens appeared out of nowhere. His teammate didn't see four of them coming his way, and the shurikens pierced his left shoulder deeply.

"ARGH!"

"Gin!" Sakumo yelled at his teammate as the man fell back flecks of thick blood spurted from his wounds. But his attention snapped back onto the endless influx of kunais.

"Damn!" Sakumo raised his chakra blade and swung it ferociously downward making the signature white fang-like trail and making enough force to block away all the incoming kunais. Most of the Iwakagure shinobis took a step backward.

"That light...are you...Konoha's White Fang?" One of them asked, backing into a defensive stance but looked intimidated. Sakumo remained silent and performed multiple hand seals:

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" The flames spurred towards the Iwakagure shinobis but all of them dodged. Sakumo knew that that wasn't enough to kill them all, but it gave him time and cover to escape along with his teammates.

When Sakumo's team was already several kilometers away from the battlefield, he allowed his injured teammates to rest up a bit and he decided on what to do next.

"Something went wrong, Sakumo-san." One of his teammates panted, sporting a bleeding head. "We didn't expect this coming."

"What now, Sakumo-san?" another asked who was also injured.

Sakumo remained silent and looked at his teammates: no one except him was capable enough to fight several platoons. He bit his lip thinking hard. For several seconds he remained silent, then—

"Hustle up...we're going back to Konoha..." He said without hesitation in his voice. But his teammate's heads leaned forward as if to catch his words; they couldn't believe what they just heard.

"What?" One of them asked his mouth gaped slightly open, as if he was being ordered to jump off a cliff.

"We retreat...we need to abort the mission...there's no way we can fight them any longer." Sakumo said firmly, looking at his teammates.

"But, Sakumo-san!" one protested. "Hokage-sama said that this mission is very crucial to the village! And also to the Land of Fire! Didn't he say that we need to complete the mission?"

Sakumo looked at him. "We need to go back. We have to go back." He breathed. There was neither hesitation nor regret in his voice.

"But—think of the jeopardy Konoha and the Land of Fire faces! Even if it's only you who can go back to the village, it doesn't matter! We have to complete this mission!" Gin persisted.

"Gin, I want every single one of you to go back to your families...alive..." Sakumo answered resolutely. "Don't you have a child, Gin?" he continued this time with a rather genial tone.

Gin blinked. "Hai...a daughter." He answered slowly.

"Don't you think she'll be happy to see you back home?"

"Of course she'll be happy."

"Then we go back." Sakumo said, now with a rather sunny voice. "I have to go back..." he thought and Kakashi's face swam into his mind.

"EEEEYYYYAAARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"No, no, no! Tap the mat when it hurts! No screaming please!" A jounin with spiky blonde hair advised to a boy wearing goggles and a blue jacket with an insignia of a red-and-white fan who was sparring with Kakashi.

"Obito, please just relax." the jounin advised him to relax more but laughing a little. Uchiha Obito's face screwed up in pain a little but there were tears of pain welling up in his eyes.

"Minato-sensei, how can I relax when some ape applies the sankyo to my right arm!?" Obito complained.

A vein knotted in Kakashi's forehead. Ape?!

"Shut up cry baby!" Kakashi jeered back. "Your face really looks so stuck up and constipated now!"

"Alright, alright that's enough teasing now." Minato-sensei said, calming the chuunin genius and the genin. "And Obito, as you fall, slam the mat for effect."

Kakashi applied the iriminage.

SPLAGAGH!!

"No, no, no! Slam your FREE HAND, not your HEAD!"

"Nee, Minato-sensei." Kakashi approached the jounin an hour later.

"Hmm? Yes, Kakashi? What is it?"

"Is there any news of Chichiue lately?" Kakashi asked.

Minato looked concerned. Of course the boy hadn't heard from his father for more than 3 months now, the longest time they've been apart.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but lately I haven't been in contact with Hokage-sama either, the war's in full swing, we can't keep track of things as smooth as before lately." He apologized.

Kakashi looked forlorn. Minato touched his head and grinned.

"Daijoubu! Sakumo-san will come back to you alright, as he always does!" Minato comforted the boy.

Kakashi gave a small smile as he looked at his sensei.

"Arigatou, Sensei."

"Oh and thank you for helping me tutor one of my students today." As Minato said that, Obito came out of the doujou behind Minato's back with a somewhat drunken swagger and with a dazed look and even with his goggles on, his eyes looked strangely unfocused. "I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, Sensei!" Kakashi grinned mischievously, ignoring Obito's swagger.

Two days later, as Kakashi arrived home from his mission; he noticed that the fusuma was slightly open. His heart skipped with happiness. He ran inside.

"Tadaima!" He yelled into the house, kicking off his sandals on the genkan.

"Okaeri, Kakashi." Sakumo said smiling at his son.

"Chichiue!" Kakashi threw himself onto his father, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"I missed you too, Kakashi." Sakumo laughed, ruffling his son's silver hair.

"When did you arrive?"

"Just now."

"So how did the mission go? Another mission accomplished?" Kakashi asked excitedly.

Sakumo's smile disappeared and worry took over, but before his son could see it, he gave a small, dry smile.

"Uhm..yeah I guess...hey, uhm, listen, Kakashi, do you want something? How about some ice cream or chocolates?" He said, trying to keep his voice cheery.

"Yes!"

Sakumo looked at his son and was filled with worry. What would he say if he found out that his father ran off from a crucial mission that endangered the position of the village?

A month later, the effects of Sakumo's abandonment of his last mission took its toll on the village and on the Land of Fire: supplies were hitting at an all time low, disease and starvation became more and more frequent, and the military power was thinning. The Sandaime Hokage resulted into desperate measures in maintaining control over the country's border: sending children to the battlefield.

"Chichiue," Kakashi said gently as he shook Sakumo awake. "Breakfast is ready."

Sakumo opened his eyes and mumbled, "Yes, I'll be right there."

Kakashi smiled and left his father's bedroom. He went to the dining room and waited for his father to enter...fifteen minutes...thirty...forty-five...

Kakashi got up and went back to his father's bedroom again. And there he was, sitting up and staring into space. Kakashi looked at his father sadly; ever since Konoha had declined in its power and resources, his father's health and attitude was also changing. Before, Sakumo was always the one first to wake up prepare breakfast and was always alert, now, however, he looked like a miserable tippler. Deciding that his father was too bothered to get up from bed, Kakashi went back to the dining room and brought their breakfast to his father's room.

"Here, Chichiue..." the boy said, handing his father a fairly small rice ball. "There isn't much rice in the market now. The lady said that the Land of Fire had been having problems on supplies for the last month."

"I see." Sakumo replied sadly as Kakashi munched his measly breakfast. As Kakashi swallowed the last morsel of food, he noticed that Sakumo hadn't even taken a bite out of his food.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked looking at his father's pale and forlorn face. Sakumo noticed that his son was looking at him and he immediately swallowed his food and grinned at his son.

"I'm fine, Kakashi." Sakumo said, ruffling his son's hair. He stood up, "Let's take a walk shall we? I'd like to hear more about your last mission."

"Okay!"

Even late in the afternoon, it was quiet, and there were barely shops open. Only food stores that had barely anything in their shelves and there were hardly shoppers abroad but more sick people wandering in the streets, clearly looking for any open medicine shops. The street was much altered now from the lively place that Kakashi knew a few months ago. As the father and son walked down the street, more and more shops were boarded up.

Kakashi was looking around curiously hoping that some candy stores would still be open, until a man with a sling in his left arm came right across Sakumo's path.

"My daughter!" he bellowed pointing at Sakumo. His voice was filled with anger and distress. "Do you want to know where my daughter is now?! YOU! It's your doing! This is all your fault!"

Kakashi starred at the man. He then realized that it was one of his father's teammates.

"G-Gin-san?"

"Do you know what you have done?! Do you know what it feels like burying your only child?! DO YOU?!" Gin continued, looking more demented as he yelled every word.

"Gin-san! Please!" Kakashi said running in front of Sakumo and spreading his arms. "What did chichiue do to Akemi-chan?" But what he heard sent an uneasy tremor down his spine.

Gin rounded on Kakashi; the boy saw such anger and misery in the man's eyes.

"So, your father didn't tell you?!" he bellowed at Kakashi. "The reason why people are going hungry in this village, the reason why they're sending young and inexperienced shinobis to the front lines, the reason behind every parent's misery is behind your back!!"

Kakashi looked at his father. There was deep dejection in his eyes. Kakashi didn't look back on his father's former teammate, instead, he took his father by the hand and steered him home.

"Come on, Chichiue, let's just go back home." Kakashi said.

"That's him."

"Really? Where?"

"That silver-haired kid on the swing."

"White Fang's brat? So that's him."

"I feel sorry for him though."

"Don't be. My ottosan said that it was because of his father that my nii-san died."

The two boys were whispering behind Kakashi's back; he knew that the boys were just intentionally being within earshot so that they could ridicule him and his father. Kakashi gripped the chain on the swing so hard that his fingers went numb. Hearing these things were getting more and more common for Kakashi.

"Did you know that after that incident, his father hadn't been given any more missions?"

"Really?"

"Come on, if he'd been given a mission again, who knows what could happen. Konoha would be wiped off the map."

"Tch...you're right...His dad is such a big shot and a show off. Hokage-sama picks him as the excellent shinobi for the mission and he gets screwed up. Guess that genius thing went to his head, huh?"

"That brat's also a genius right? Didn't he graduate when he was 6 and became chuunin when he was 7?"

"Yeah, wonder how he'll turn out to be? Bet like his dad...a worthless piece of trash who doesn't follow the rules."

"Shut up." said Kakashi suddenly. He stood up and he was shaking all over. "Don't you dare bad mouth my father." he turned and faced the two boys. They were bigger and older than he was, but Kakashi was sure that they still attend the academy.

"What are you gonna do 'bout that brat? Gonna stand up for your worthless father?"

In a flash, Kakashi punched the first boy in the mouth and kicked the second one in the chest. The two boys were caught off guard that they staggered and fell on the ground.

"My father taught me morals and how to be a decent person! He loved this village and he'll do everything to protect it! My father taught me everything that made me a genius at the academy!" Kakashi bellowed, feeling his throat might tear in to two. "You'll see! The White Fang of Konoha is a true hero!"

And with that Kakashi dashed from the playground... but he realized that he forgot one thing that the two boys ought to know...

"And I graduated from the academy when I was 5! I became chuunin when I was 6! Get the facts right, baka!" Kakashi then dashed from the playground again and sprinted for home. He realized that he was crying and he hastily wiped them with his sleeve.

At a distance, Sakumo saw Kakashi sprinting to their home after yelling at two boys at a playground. His son...crying...defending his father's name...

"Kakashi...you didn't have to." Sakumo said sadly, watching Kakashi run home, crying.

Outside the academy, Kakashi was practicing throwing kunais alone. Lately, Sakumo's skills have dropped tremendously; he couldn't even dodge a simple throw. He likes to spend more and more time outside the home now, his father seems to be living in a depressing, self-destructive lifestyle; just staring into space and starving himself. His childhood hero seems to be wasting away before his eyes. Even though he's used to be alone most of the time, Kakashi felt oddly lonely now.

"Minato-sensei! You're back!" said a voice.

"Heh, yeah...I just got back, really." said Minato's voice. Out of curiosity, Kakashi peered from the building's corner. He saw his sensei talking to a parent. "The war's getting more serious than the previous years. What brings you here anyway, Kaname-san?"

"My son," the parent sighed. "I want to excuse him for a week. He's sick again. He hasn't been getting enough medicine."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Sensei, I know my son would miss a lot of things. Could you do me a favor? Could you tutor him even for just a while, just so he could catch up with his lessons." the parent pleaded.

Minato sighed warily. "I'm sorry, Kaname-san. But I don't think I could teach; Hokage-sama said that I should stand by and wait for word in case they need more reinforcements."

"I see." the parent then again sighed. "Could you recommend me a teacher?"

"Well, I have a student who helps me tutor some students before. It's Hatake Sakumo-san's son, Kakashi-kun."

"White Fang's son?"

The parent's voice sounded neither pleasant nor surprised: it was an icy, demeaning sneer.

"What's wrong with that?" Minato asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Sensei, in case you don't remember, Hatake Sakumo is the reason why Konoha is in a deep depression. And you want his son to teach mine? I wonder what White Fang taught his son but I hope it was right. If that boy mingles with mine, I don't want to think what kind of shinobi he'll become. I pray he won't follow Sakumo's doings!" the parent said angrily.

"Kaname-san, please. There's no reason to blame the boy. I personally don't blame Sakumo-san either." Minato defended.

Kakashi saw the parent's eyes fill with anger at Minato's words.

"And why don't you sensei?! Do you have sons?! My eldest was already deployed last month and he just graduated! Every night I pray that he'll come back home in one piece, not like Yukishiro-san, who had only bits of his son to bury! Sakumo was selfish: he only thought of his situation, not the village! He didn't think about the consequences. Not only that, he didn't follow Konoha's rules either!" the parent said hotly.

"I don't have a family anymore, Kaname-san, and I admit Konoha and the Land of Fire are in a tight situation. But I believe what Sakumo-san did shouldn't be judged too harshly: there could be an explanation why he abandoned the mission." Minato said calming the parent down.

"I don't expect something from Sakumo's son! And I don't expect anything from Sakumo nowadays either! His arrogance caused this village greatly! His disregard for the rules made his name a trash!" the parent said.

Kakashi sprinted at the opposite direction. He had heard enough. The days were gone when the villagers hailed his father as a magnificent hero; now, he was regarded as nothing more but trash. He dashed towards his home. He wrenched open the fusuma, he didn't say that he was already home and sprinted immediately towards his bedroom. Kakashi jumped onto his bed, face down onto his pillow and cried.

Sakumo watched his son through the creak of the boy's bedroom door; the boy was choking in his tears and sobbing, face down onto his pillow. He knew that his son was now suffering from the blunder he committed. Finally, the villagers' anger had now alienated to his son. Kakashi now suffers the tirade of the villagers, now that Sakumo has retreated to the confines of the house.

He wanted to save his son from the after-effects of his mistakes. He also wanted to atone for his teammates losses….

Sakumo could only think of one…and the only way….

Kakashi opened his eyes and rubbed his face. He had fallen asleep crying. As he turned on his bed, he saw that the house was darker than usual and oddly quiet. Kakashi stared at the dark ceiling, suspended in misery. The room seems to consume him in darkness. His stomach growled and he clutched it. He thought that he might wake his father up to join him in the kitchen to eat; nowadays Kakashi has to bring his father food; the man seems to be starving himself to death.

He got up and opened his bedroom door. The house was darker than usual and Kakashi didn't bother to switch on the lights. As he descended down the flight of stairs, a nasty smell enveloped his nostrils that made the hair at the back of his neck stand up.

That smell…he was familiar of it…a smell usually found in the battlefield….

He walked through the corridor and the moonlight shone through the fusuma, illuminating the corridor with light.

"Chichiue?" Kakashi called. Silence.

He entered the washitsu and the smell became stronger and he saw his father lying down, curled as if in pain. Kakashi took a step forward and he stepped on something wet. He looked down.

Blood.

He stared again at his father's curled form. The moonlight that shone through the fusuma gave him a better look at his father's body. Kakashi's stomach turned but even so, he went nearer, making soft spattering sounds on the blood as he went.

In Sakumo's dead right hand held the bloodied chakra blade which was still half-plunged into his abdomen, clearly a left-to-right cut. He was lying in the pool of his own blood. To Kakashi's horror, he realized what his father had done.

Seppuku.

Kakashi looked down on Sakumo's corpse. He was too shocked to move or to think. Seeing his father's almost dismembered corpse sapped away his thoughts and feelings.

The Legendary White Fang of Konoha. A shinobi blessed with remarkable skill and talent that earned the villagers' respect. A man once revered as a hero of the village. Kakashi's childhood hero. The magnificent person who he greatly respected and loved. Dead. Died. Died as a weakling. Died alone. In shame. In guilt. In disgrace.

Kakashi wanted to cry. But something was stuck in his throat. His stomach was clearly going wild and his head was spinning. And his world turned black.

Though the soft sunlight poked Kakashi's eyes and woke him up, he kept them tightly shut. He tried to remember what happened last night….

"It was just a nightmare." He told himself firmly. "I had a nightmare that Chichiue died, that he committed seppuku. I fell asleep because I was crying about what that man said yesterday. When I open my eyes, I'll be on my bed."

He heard gentle movements beside him and of someone putting something on his bedside table.

I guess that's Chichiue opening my window. I really hope he's now cured of his depression. I really missed the old him. Kakashi thought sadly. But still he didn't open his eyes.

The someone moving in his room took his hands and wiped them with a wet piece of cloth.

"All right," Kakashi mumbled, "I'm getting up."

He sat up and he saw his Minato-sensei.

"M-Minato-sensei!" Kakashi exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Then he realized something different about his room. The sheets were white and there were hangings beside his bed. They were in a hospital room.

"Kakashi…" Minato started, there were sorrow in his eyes.

Kakashi's eyes grew round. "Then…it wasn't a nightmare?"

Minato closed his eyes. "I'm very sorry, Kakashi…I wish I had done something sooner."

Kakashi unfolded the letter that Minato gave him earlier. He finally had the courage and strength to read it after he vomited and cried.

He recognized his father's handwriting at once:

"Kakashi,

For the past months you have been standing up for me.

I know you refuse to hear what the villagers are saying about your old man.

But Kakashi, it's all true: I abandoned the mission so important not only to Konoha but also to the Land of Fire. Something went terribly wrong on that mission.

I disregarded the rules to save my comrades' lives. I know that they have sons and daughters to go home to, just like I have to go home to you. To me, that felt right.

But the rest of the villagers didn't see it the way I did. They hated me for it. Even the teammates who I have saved and considered as my friends blamed me for the deaths of their children and for the condition of the village.

I resented it, Kakashi. I resented it so much. Not of how the villagers treat me but how they treat you.

I am very touched on how you fight for your old man. I am very touched on how you defend me, on how you keep on believing in me, even though the people around us saw me as a pile of garbage.

Kakashi, the person you are now just makes me proud. I am so proud of you, of the person you've become. That time was the darkest of my life, and you were that little light that kept me warm. I am so happy to have a son like you.

Kakashi, you are the best thing that have ever happened in my entire life. That's all I could say.

It was just...the villagers', my friends, my comrades... how they look at me now; I just couldn't take it anymore.

Also, I did this because this was the only way of setting you free from the villagers' glare.

Even if you are all alone now, please try to be strong…and happy. I always have great expectations for you.

Kakashi, I am very sorry.

Goodbye,

Your Chichiue, Sakumo.

Kakashi finished reading the letter. It took him a few minutes for the whole message to sink in.

He strained his memory as the message slowly sunk in his heart.

"I'll always come back for you, Kakashi…Always remember that your old man will always be strong to always come back home for you. That's a promise!" Sakumo said, ruffling his hair affectionately.

" …we'll never say 'good-bye' instead we'll say 'see you later' to each other that way that's the promise that we'll always be together." Echoed another memory which took place almost two years ago.

"Promise." It echoed in Kakashi's mind.

GOODBYE.

He ferociously tore his father's letter into a hundred pieces.

"LIAR!" he screamed.

translations:

chichiue(father), nee (excuse me or hey), ottosan(dad), nii-san(older brother), sankyo(aikido-ponating wristlock), iriminage (aikido-rather similar to the 'clothes line' move), Okaeri (welcome home), Tadaima (I'm home), fusuma(sliding doors), genkan(entry way), washitsu (japanese-styled spacious room), tatami(traditional Japanese flooring), seppuku(how samurais commit suicide to retain their honor)

A/N: finally! I finished it just last night XD. Please review it...I placed some translations now, a reader was asking for it XD. I still have to finish the third and last chapter... XD wish me the best!