The Whetstone's Roar

In a secluded Mine Cave behind the Konoha Camp in the Land of Whirlpools.

An unpleasant odor permeated the dimly Mine Cave, but as a ninja, he immediately recognized what it was.

The smell was a mixture of blood, sweat, alcohol, and feces and urine—a foul and pungent odor.

"Captain Kakashi, where is this?"

The two who led them into this unfamiliar pit were Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui, Shiranui Genma but show a solemn expression.

Yūhi Kurenai, Uzuki Yugao, Mitarashi Anko, Genma Shiranui, Tatami Iwashi, Namiashi Raidō Shiranui Genma, along with Might Guy and Uchiha Itachi, who was only seven years old and had just arrived at the front lines, were brought into this unfamiliar Mine Cave tunnel.

Hatake Kakashi, walking at the front, revealed a detached gaze. He glanced back at the group behind him, his expression nonchalant, and said calmly, "This is the front-line prison, a prison for imprisoning and interrogating the enemy."

Shiranui Genma suddenly realized something, and his expression turned rather grim. Might Guy, who was acting alongside him, also unusually showed a serious look.

"I believe in Kakashi, and I believe even more that anyone who betrays the Will of Fire will not have a good end."

In comparison, Might Guy's heart was purer. Genma Shiranui, Shiranui Genma to the side, fell silent. As ninjas, the others' observational skills were naturally beyond question. Looking at the eyes of Might Guy, Shiranui Genma, and Kakashi, they knew that the others must know something.

As Spy secretly sent by the Third Hokage from the Anbu, Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao were clearly on edge. As they walked along the road and looked at the bloodstains left on the ground, although their faces remained unchanged, their hearts were filled with complex emotions, even torment!

"Lord Yoru, have you discovered my identity?" At this moment, Uzuki Yugao realized that her identity had been exposed, and a faint sadness appeared in her heart. But she felt more relieved and relieved of the guilt of no longer having to bear the torment.

Beneath her calm and composed exterior, Yūhi Kurenai's heart was in turmoil. "Yo! You don't want to see me anymore?" Thinking this, she gave a self-deprecating laugh. Yes, she was just a Spy; what right did she have to talk about past feelings?

Only Mitarashi Anko showed a resentful look, muttering in dissatisfaction, "Everyone who wants to harm Yoru deserves to die."

Mitarashi Anko, with her equally pure personality, believes that all the enemies here are Yoru's enemies, since Uchiha Yoru is currently the supreme commander here.

"Itachi, you'll see everything soon. Sometimes the enemy isn't from another country; it could be one of our own."

Walking at the back, Uchiha Shisui lowered his voice and spoke as if he were instructing Uchiha Itachi. However, when these words reached the ears of Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao, it was as if they had been exposed, and the two of them immediately showed a relieved smile.

The precocious Uchiha Itachi seemed to have realized something, and he nodded firmly, saying in a deep voice, "I understand what you're saying, Shisui -nii."

Lord Orochimaru's defeat was caused by his own people, not by any conspiracy orchestrated by enemy ninjas. Rather, it was a trap set by his own people that he couldn't escape.

Ta-da~

The slow footsteps sounded like a heartbeat. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, Hatake Kakashi was walking at the front, stopped, turned around, looked at the group, and said calmly, "We've arrived."

As the sound of footsteps pounding against their hearts abruptly ceased, Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao's hearts clenched even tighter. In their final moments, they stared at the wooden prison door with a palpable sense of dread, fearing that the figure that would appear when they opened it was someone they didn't know how to face.

Creak~

The heavy doors opened, and when the expected figure didn't appear in the spacious cell, Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, a sense of disappointment washed over them. Did they not even want to see each other one last time?

Were they so hurt that I became utterly disillusioned?

"Kakashi, you're here."

Inside the dry cell, only one Chakra Konoha Ninja, whose chakra was sealed, sat cross-legged on a pile of grass. When he saw the people who came in, he showed a relieved look in his eyes and even smiled. However, when he saw so many people enter, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"Indeed, it's only fair that a sinner like me has lived this long; Lord Yoru has been merciful."

When the group entered and saw the figure, those who were unaware of the situation, such as Yūhi Kurenai, Uzuki Yugao, and Mitarashi Anko, immediately showed surprise. They recognized Ueki Special Jonin, since those who could hold the title of Jōnin were considered to be of high combat strength.

They all stood in a row, stunned. When Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao realized that what wasn't their doing had been exposed, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, their guilt intensified.

The person in front of them had clearly been reported dead, yet he was here. Based on what had happened along the way, they could tell that Ueki was either a traitor or a suspect.

Namiashi Raidō Tatami Iwashi stared in astonishment at the people in the cell, and began to ask their captain Shiranui Genma, in low voices.

It was clear that they were also quite surprised by the people here.

The Ueki, Special Jonin Konoha, was now sitting cross-legged in front of a pile of grass, completely clean. There were clear sealing runes on his forehead, indicating that his Chakra had been sealed.

His clean and tidy clothes indicated that he had not been tortured, but his eyes were filled with weariness, overwhelmed by self-blame, and his whole body exuded an air of old age.

"This is a letter from your wife in the village; your death report has not yet been issued."

A crumpled letter emerged from his pocket. Kakashi calmly handed it to the recipient, while Ueki, sitting on the haystack, saw the letter and his lifeless eyes instantly lit up with hope. Trembling, he took the letter and shed tears of sorrow and regret.

Tick-tock tick-tock

Tears streamed down his cheeks. As his trembling hands opened the letter, he saw the somewhat messy handwriting and a few typos on the clean paper. His wife didn't know many characters; after all, she was just an ordinary person, and he had personally taught her many of them, so her handwriting wasn't exactly neat and elegant.

The handwriting, crooked and messy like a child's scribbles, made Ueki burst into laughter upon seeing it. It was the first time he had shown a genuine smile since then. He had often laughed at his wife's handwriting, but now he found it exceptionally precious.

His wife is doing well, and his children have grown taller. They have even passed the Ninja Academy's entrance exam and officially become students, proving that his children have inherited his ninja genes.

The letter first briefly mentioned that she was doing well, and then went on to talk about how hard her child worked, how she passed the exam, how she ranked in the top 20 among ordinary students, and how she had a chance to enter the elite class.

The entire letter describes how the child's happiness almost overflows from it.

Finally, there's a photo of his wife and children smiling sincerely as they passed their exams at the Ninja Academy, as if he were the only one missing.

"Hehe, that's great."

Gently and carefully arranging the letters neatly into envelopes, Mitarashi Anko, witnessing this, frowned and coldly snorted, "Didn't you think of your family when you were a traitor?!"

The straightforward Anko retorted directly. This scene was clearly heartwarming, but if you hadn't done this, how would things have come to this? That was what the simple-minded Hongdou thought.

However, upon hearing this, Ueki, whose eyes were brimming with tears, was enraged, glaring at everyone with reddened eyes.

"I know you. You are Mitarashi Anko, Lord Orochimaru's disciple. And you, Yūhi Kurenai, your father was Elite Jonin, Genma Squad, formerly the Fourth Hokage's guard team, and..."

Ueki watched as everyone recounted their stories one by one. Finally, when he saw Mitarashi Anko's blatantly disdainful gaze, he seemed to be provoked and pressed the letter tightly to his chest, beginning to vent his anger.

"You, Mitarashi Anko, are treated like this even as Lord Orochimaru's disciple. If it weren't for Lord Yoru's intervention, do you think you could be any better off than me?"

"And you all! I'm just an ordinary person, do you think I wanted to betray you?!"

At this moment, Ueki's eyes were bloodshot, and he frantically vented, "I have no one behind me! No one helped me when I was most desperate! My wife! My children! They are innocent, what can I do! Tell me!"

Everyone was startled by the sudden outburst of fury from the Ueki that was glaring at them. However, Mitarashi Anko was no gentle kitten; she was a wild little cat, and she immediately bristled.

Mitarashi Anko glared defiantly and retorted, "Ninja rules dictate what to do when your teammates or family are threatened by the enemy. Haven't you learned that?!"

They are ninjas! Ninjas are cruel; they learned all sorts of ninja rules at the Ninja Academy.

However, when faced with Mitarashi Anko's accusations, Ueki stared at everyone with bloodshot eyes, as if he had been hit where it hurt.

Just then, Hatake Kakashi said in a low voice, "It's the villagers who are threatening his family!"

One sentence immediately stirred up a huge wave of discussion. Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they all showed expressions of disbelief. Even Might Guy was silent. As one of the people who personally captured the other party, he naturally knew some of the inside story.

The youngest, Uchiha Itachi, calmly asked in a low voice, "Are the villagers such powerful figures that even Special Jonin couldn't withstand them?"

Everyone looked at each other in surprise, no one had expected this situation. Even Mitarashi Anko was stunned after hearing it. Her straightforward personality did not mean she was stupid. In fact, she seemed to have thought of something and her face turned extremely ugly.

Yūhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao had gloomy faces, while Ueki, seeing the incredulous looks in everyone's eyes, suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"What, you're afraid to speak now? Then tell me what you should do if you encounter this kind of situation? Did the Ninja Academy ever teach this?"

"I'm risking my life on the front lines, but people in the village are threatening me with my wife and children! What would you do in my shoes?"

Looking at everyone, before they could even say anything, Ueki suddenly chuckled self-deprecatingly, "That's right, some of you will surely say that under the Will of Fire, compromise is not allowed. Do you know what I chose back then?"

Under the intense gaze of everyone, he roared, "I didn't fucking compromise! I abandoned my wife and children, and what was the result? When the mastermind behind this surfaced and came after me, I knew what a load of bullshit village this was! And this bullshit Will of Fire!"

"Come here! Might Guy, I know you. Your father was a hero of the Third Shinobi War, but for what purpose in stabilizing the situation, how could your father's heroic deeds be known in the village? Haha, only we Jōnin level ninjas know anything about it."

"And Kakashi, your father, White Fang, would you call him a hero or a disgrace? Your father chose his comrades over his mission, becoming a disgrace to Konoha. Between my family and the village, I chose the village. Am I a hero?"

Pointing at his own nose Ueki laughed self-deprecatingly, then a complex, self-mocking smile appeared on his face. "Haha, for the sake of the village, I was a fucking idiot, a complete bastard. When the Sarutobi Clan Jōnin me, I knew that the so-called Will of Fire was nothing but ugly, disgusting bastards."

"It was Sarutobi Clan from the Jōnin me to leak information to the Mist Ninja. This is the Third Hokage's clan! Do you think I'm betraying them? Am I a traitor? Did I sell out the village's interests? No, I was simply following orders and obeying the teachings of the Ninja Academy. I steadfastly carried out my mission and leaked information to the Mist Ninja."

As the Ueki planter revealed the ugly and dark face of the village, everyone was shocked. Mitarashi Anko was so shocked that she involuntarily took a few steps back. This time, when she looked at the other person, she no longer had the domineering aura she had at the beginning.

As the most severely brainwashed commoner, Uzuki Yugao angrily retorted, "You're talking nonsense! You must be making things up! Even if it's true, someone is keeping it from the Hokage-sama!"

Yūhi Kurenai was the calmest of them all. This incident had a huge impact on her. Although she knew that the village had a dark side, she never imagined it would be this dark.

Yūhi Kurenai lowered her voice and said in a low, serious tone, "There must be a reason why the Jōnin of the Sarutobi Clan would let you leak information!"

Faced with everyone's doubts, Ueki, upon receiving the letter from home, seemed to have eaten his last meal and was already content. He laughed loudly, tears streaming down his face, shaking his head at everyone as if they were looking at a fool.

"What if this person is the Third Hokage's eldest son? Oh, right, you should know, she's the former Anbu Captain, the Eldest Daughter-in-law of the Third Hokage. Tsk tsk, how impressive!"

"Do you even need to ask why? Are you all stupid? After Orochimaru was expelled from the Land of Fire, his old crew, which was left behind, should have dissipated. But now, Lord Yoru has arrived, not only reuniting everyone but, more importantly, posing a threat! Lord Yoru led us to a great victory as soon as he arrived."

At this point, Ueki chuckled self-deprecatingly, "One is a powerful ninja under seventeen, and the other is almost thirty. When the village elects the Fifth Hokage, people will immediately say, 'Look at him, he can't even beat a seventeen-year-old boy, yet he's running for the Fifth Hokage.'"

"Tsk tsk, isn't this a joke?" The Konoha Ninja retorted, then went even further, pointing at the crowd and saying, "If you were in my position, what would you do?"

"Your families are now under threat, and the eldest daughter-in-law of the former Anbu Captain, the Third Hokage, has also threatened you, using a superior's orders to leak information about your current base to the Mist Ninja, and then seize the opportunity to expose the commander's location. Ninjas are there to complete missions, so tell me! If you were in that situation, what would you do?"

The powerless roar of the Ueki echoed in the cell, and disbelief filled the faces of everyone present. It seemed that the ugly truth about the village had been revealed was something they could not believe.