"The reason Naruto Uzumaki had such a miserable childhood was entirely my fault as Hokage. I failed to protect him."
"Ye Fan, you're right. Back then, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transport the rampaging Nine-Tails far away from the village."
"By the time we arrived, Minato had already put up a barrier that kept us out. He was preparing to seal the Nine-Tails inside Naruto."
"And aside from me and a few of my guards, no one knew about any of this."
"At the time, I had made it perfectly clear to my guards that they had to keep this secret, no matter what."
"But after that night, something happened that I never could have expected."
"The fact that Naruto had the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him spread throughout the entire village in no time."
"And the news that spread was all taken out of context. They only said Naruto was the fox, never that he was the son of a hero."
"By the time I discovered what had happened, it had already spiraled out of control."
The Third Hokage's face was pale and drawn, his voice full of remorse.
Ye Fan shot him a glance, ignoring his expression. "So you're saying your guards leaked the news? And for it to spread through the whole village and become common knowledge in a single night, they couldn't have managed that alone, could they?"
"As you say, that's exactly right. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu helped spread the news."
At the thought of it, the light faded from the Third Hokage's eyes. "It was only after investigating that I learned my guards had all been bribed by Homura and the others."
At those words, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu trembled all over. Their legs gave way,