"Shut up!"
Hearing Chiba actually begin to disparage his Will of Fire, Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to grow a little flustered. He immediately argued, "Hyuga Chiba, you are distorting the Will of Fire."
"Konoha's Will of Fire has always been about the older generation sacrificing themselves to give the younger generation hope of life. It is about the feelings and bonds between people."
"Oh, is that so?" Chiba's tone remained disdainful as he countered, "Then why, during the Third Shinobi World War, did even children from the Ninja Academy go to the battlefield, while you, the Third Hokage, Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and the other Konoha Higher-ups never did?"
"Why was it the young Fourth Hokage who died during the Nine-Tails Rebellion, rather than you, the elderly Third Hokage?"
"Hyuga Chiba, do not misunderstand the Third Hokage!" For some unknown reason, Nara Shikaku, who had gradually recalled his shadow, spoke up in Sarutobi Hiruzen's defense. "During the Third Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage and the high-ranking advisors had to remain in Konoha. Otherwise, if the enemy had chosen to attack Konoha directly, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"During the Nine-Tails Rebellion, it was also the Third Hokage who drove the Nine-Tails out of Konoha. Otherwise, the disaster would have been even greater."
"At the time, only Fourth Hokage's Wife, Uzumaki Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains possessed the ability to suppress the Nine-Tails."
"Afterward, the Fourth Hokage had a chance to survive. But in order to keep the village from losing a Tailed Beast, he sacrificed himself and used the Reaper Death Seal to seal the Nine-Tails inside the Fourth Hokage's newborn son."
"Shikaku!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened as he hurriedly stopped Nara Shikaku.
Among the information made public, it was only known that the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Nine-Tails inside Uzumaki Naruto. It had never been said that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son.
And Hyuga Chiba, who was only twelve years old and had not even possessed ninja qualifications before, should not have known the truth.
Under such circumstances, Nara Shikaku's words were tantamount to telling Hyuga Chiba the truth.
"Oh, so that was how it was. It seemed I had misunderstood."
At that moment, Chiba wore a look of sudden realization, but the mockery in his tone seemed to become even more obvious. "So the Third Raikage died in battle, and the Kage of the other villages went to the front lines, because they did not need to guard their own villages—or because they were too stupid to consider that someone might attack them."
"Konoha truly deserved to be the strongest ninja village. It had even considered something like that."
"The Nine-Tails was truly powerful. Only Fourth Hokage's Wife could actually suppress it."
"The Fourth Hokage was also very powerful. Not only did he know Flying Thunder God, but he also knew the Reaper Death Seal, which apparently no one else in Konoha knew."
"The Uchiha Clan was truly selfish too. The Nine-Tails back then had clearly been controlled by the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, yet they had not sent anyone out to use the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails again?"
"Someone unaware of the truth might think that only the Mangekyō Sharingan could control the Nine-Tails—and that the Uchiha Clan just happened to have no Mangekyō Sharingan at the time."
"Even more outrageous, not a single member of the Uchiha Clan came to help at the scene during the Night of the Nine-Tails?"
"Surely it was not that someone had ordered them not to appear where the Nine-Tails was, then offered them no explanation afterward and instead used that as an excuse to drive them into a corner of the village and suppress them further?"
"Oh, right. If you had not mentioned it, I would not have known that Uzumaki Naruto was actually the Fourth Hokage's son—the hero who sealed the Nine-Tails."
"I thought he was the Demon Fox itself."
"You people really were something. Why had you not made something so important clear earlier?"
As Chiba spoke, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression grew increasingly grim. Yamato and the other Anbu ninja wore masks, concealing their expressions, while Nara Shikaku acted as though he had heard nothing.
Because the commotion here was too great, the clan heads of other ninja clans and the civilian Jonin who gradually arrived all wished they had never come and never heard Chiba's words.
"Hyuga Chiba, do not misunderstand."
After some thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen still spoke. "The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, made many enemies during the Third Shinobi World War. Once Naruto's identity as the Fourth Hokage's son was exposed, he would become very dangerous."
"Mhm, I believe that!" Chiba nodded in deep agreement. "The Fourth Hokage's reputation truly was too great."
"After he died, assassins from other villages would surely break into the strongest ninja village, bypass the layers of protection the village should have given Naruto, and be foolish enough not to know that the Nine-Tails, in order to avoid dying itself, would protect its Jinchuriki's life and insist on killing him."
"Unlike a certain Hokage who never appeared during the Third Shinobi World War, who had no reputation whatsoever in the Ninja World and had absolutely no need to worry that his son and grandson, who ran around everywhere, might face the risk of being hunted down by enemies."
"I also had to say, the village's secrecy work was truly impeccable. Hardly anyone knew that Uzumaki Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son."
"But everyone knew he was the Demon Fox."
"I supposed being the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki would not bring him any danger at all?"
"And under the cleansing influence of the great Will of Fire, Konoha's villagers—who were willing to burn themselves to light the way for others, who pursued feelings and bonds—would only resent the Nine-Tails itself for causing the Nine-Tails Rebellion. They would only resent the Konoha Higher-ups for failing to protect them. They would only resent themselves for being powerless."
"They absolutely would not confuse a Jinchuriki with the Demon Fox. They absolutely would not cowardly and foolishly vent all their resentment on an innocent child."
"The Konoha Higher-ups would absolutely help that child grow up healthy and happy. They absolutely would not let him go hungry or suffer endless neglect."
"And they would have absolutely no need to worry that the Jinchuriki would fall into darkness and stand against the village."
"Oh, right. Thinking about it now, the Fourth Hokage and Fourth Hokage's Wife had truly been incorruptible, both during the Third Shinobi World War and while he held office."
"After they died, they had not even left a single coin for their only child."
"That was truly so moving."
"Surely no one had embezzled their property, tossed the scarf Fourth Hokage's Wife had knitted for her child into a room where his own grandson could freely play and let it gather dust—a room that just happened to be the Fourth Hokage's former home?"
"These beautiful things that truly happened made me, someone whose eyes had only just fully grown in, feel tears welling up."
"Such a great village and such a great Hokage even made me a little reluctant to avenge Uncle Hizashi."
"Ah, why do your expressions look so awful? Were you not happy about such a wonderful Konoha?"
"Were you born unable to enjoy happiness, or were these things not beautiful and moving enough?"
"Then how about I tell you the story of a child who saw his entire clan exterminated, awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan in rage, and never knew that his clan had been destroyed on the orders of certain higher-ups by the person he hated most?"
"Or the story of someone who failed to save a companion, abandoned an S-rank Mission, and before long, the news had spread through the entire village—then he committed suicide..."
"Or perhaps the tale of Obito Uchiha, Moved the Entire Ninja World..."
"Enough!" Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly shouted. "Yamato, shut him up!"
He had a premonition that Chiba could not be allowed to continue.
Even the things Chiba had already said were troublesome enough.
"Couldn't stand listening so soon?"
A cold smile hung on Chiba's lips as he silently thought, However, the shadow clone seemed to have successfully obtained the Scroll of Sealing and was already secretly leaving Konoha.
Then it was time to make an even bigger scene and draw even more attention.
That meant...
It was time for him to activate Tenseigan Chakra Mode!
Before you continue