"You're telling me... Naruto's identity?!"
Seeing Jiraiya's expression and hearing his cold voice, so unlike his usual carefree laziness, the Third Hokage's heart sank. He knew this was bad.
"My identity!?"
Naruto, standing behind the Iron Arm Toad, looked startled too. Was his identity really special? Had these Konoha ninja come for him?
But if he really had some special identity, why had he been treated so poorly in Konoha? Even when he bought things, shopkeepers gave him cold looks!
"Cough, cough... Jiraiya, we can talk about this after we return to Konoha..."
The Third Hokage looked embarrassed, but Jiraiya, who had long been seething with anger, gave him no chance to avoid the issue.
"Say it here!! What exactly is Naruto's identity?! He's not merely a weapon in your eyes, a Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. He's also my student, Namikaze Minato's orphan!"
Namikaze Minato!? That name sounded familiar... Naruto was still thinking when the many Anbu ninja standing behind the Third Hokage could no longer keep their composure.
If they hadn't been wearing masks, even a scatterbrained kid like Naruto Uzumaki could have seen the shock on their faces.
"The Fourth Hokage... The demon fox—no, Uzumaki Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's orphan!?"
"No way. How could that be?"
"It's possible! I should have realized sooner. The only people who could withstand the pressure of the Nine-Tails' Chakra are those with Uzumaki Clan blood... I heard the Fourth Hokage's wife was a member of the Uzumaki Clan, and the previous Jinchuriki!"
"That's true... And during a crisis like the Nine-Tails Night, there's no way they'd just make some ordinary baby the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki! If he was the Fourth Hokage's child, it would make sense!"
"Right... Damn it, how did I not think of that?! There's no way they'd choose an