After hearing Orochimaru's questioning and witnessing Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's complete loss of composure.
However, before the Konoha ninja and villagers could recover from their shock, disappointment, and even anger toward the Third Hokage, the image in their minds suddenly flickered.
The scene shifted to the outskirts of Konoha.
In the image, Kushina Uzumaki, her vivid red hair disheveled, was pale-faced and weakly kneeling on one knee.
Countless thick chains extended from behind her, tightly binding a colossal creature—it was the Nine-Tails!
The Nine-Tails let out an earth-shaking roar and struggled madly, yet for the moment, it could not break free of the chains extending from Kushina's back.
Standing before Kushina Uzumaki was a man with the same blond hair—the hero who had sacrificed himself for Konoha, Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze!
The face that always wore a gentle smile was now filled with profound sorrow.
What made the hearts of everyone witnessing this scene stop was that Minato was carefully holding a sleeping infant with the same golden hair in his arms.
Looking at the infant's tender face in the Fourth Hokage's arms.
Everyone understood.
That was... Naruto Uzumaki as a baby!
The image abruptly stopped there.
Yet the information it contained left every Konoha villager and ninja who had witnessed it utterly shaken!
On the night of the Nine-Tails' attack, the Fourth Hokage and his wife had given everything they had to restrain the Nine-Tails!
And Naruto Uzumaki, whom they had hated and rejected for more than a decade, had merely been a newborn baby in his father's arms at the time!
He was not the incarnation of the Nine-Tails that had brought disaster. On the contrary, he was the son of the hero who had sealed the Nine-Tails and ended that catastrophe!
He was the orphan whom the