The villagers were stunned into silence by Satsuki's sudden fury and her undisguised hostility. One female villager's face turned extremely ugly, and she instinctively tried to quietly slip out of the crowd, fleeing this humiliating scene.
"Stop right there!"
Satsuki's icy voice rang out as she immediately pointed at the woman trying to sneak away.
"Just now! Was it you who said... you wanted to 'get to know' Naruto better?" Satsuki's tone brimmed with sarcasm. "What a coincidence... Your child was in the same class as us at the Ninja Academy..."
She paused, then repeated the vicious words from her memories one syllable at a time. "'Why did heaven give that little demon fox such great ninja talent? The world really is unfair.'—I heard plenty of words like that coming from your mouth when you picked up your child after school!"
Did you think time could wash everything away? Did you think no one would remember your whispered slander? Fury burned in Satsuki's heart. I remember it all—every sentence, every word, along with the ugly faces you wore back then!
Under the focused gazes of the surrounding crowd, the female villager's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, then turned deathly pale. She had never imagined that the careless gossip she had uttered among the crowd years ago would be remembered so clearly by this little girl from the Uchiha clan—and exposed so nakedly before everyone.
Satsuki did not stop. Her voice trembled slightly with agitation as more fragments of memory surged into her mind, turning into blade-sharp words.
"'Monster, he's the one who got the Fourth Hokage killed... Running into him on the street is such bad luck. What if he spreads diseases?'"
**"'Why can that demon fox become a ninja? If someone like that becomes a ninja, he'll definitely betray the