Mutual Responses

In the living room, the four of them wore wonderfully varied expressions as they listened to Naruto's sage-like theory.

Shiraishi Yoshijo weakly mocked him, "No wonder you're such a birdbrain, Jiraiya. Konoha's education really is exceptional. Then again, ninjas only need to carry out missions. They're just tools, after all. Whether they have any education at all is completely unimportant. They can't even be allowed to have unnecessary emotions. That makes them easier to manage and easier to brainwash. No wonder so many people believed in that utterly nonsensical Will of Fire."

Jiraiya said, "Don't forget that all of you graduated from Konoha's Ninja Academy."

Orochimaru asked meaningfully, "Then why did we all leave Konoha? Why are you, of all people—the one who isn't particularly bright—running around everywhere for Konoha's sake?"

Jiraiya said, "I don't understand that either. You were all so outstanding, yet..."

Shiraishi Yoshijo took a drink and said with a smile, "Do you still remember Aburame Ryoma? When I killed him, I said that Konoha was like a factory built specifically to produce trash."

"The one who built that factory was the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. The other Hokage merely kept the factory running according to procedure."

"On Konoha's assembly line, all it produces is trash filled with the Will of Fire. The moment someone awakens their own will, they are regarded as defective products and destroyed."

"I didn't want to be destroyed, so I left Konoha."

Orochimaru savored those words carefully before letting out a hoarse, piercing laugh. "That's a very interesting analogy."

Jiraiya said loudly, "Konoha isn't some factory. Our family and friends are there. The desire to protect them..."

He couldn't continue. Not only Shiraishi Yoshijo and Orochimaru, but even Tsunade had murderous looks in their eyes.

Only then did Jiraiya belatedly realize that