"No matter what, the Third Hokage, who ultimately died at his post while protecting the lives and property of the villagers, remained a model for Konoha's ninja and an inheritor of the Will of Fire. Personally, I believe there is no need to overemphasize the Third Hokage's personal failings. Such oversights should instead be understood as limitations of the era."
"..."
Compared to Inoue Reina's sharp accusations, Erina's defense was actually quite feeble. Yet thanks to everyone's preexisting impressions, the Sarutobi princess still received a fairly positive response.
However, unlike those political novices who had rarely involved themselves in political affairs before, the assistant detected an unusual implication in her words...
First, Kawabe Horo knew that after the conflict between the Yamada Faction and the Hokage Faction intensified, the Third Hokage had placed Erina under house arrest for quite some time. At the height of the conflict, the Sarutobi Clan had even kept Erina under soft detention on the Hokage's orders. This showed just how strained the relationship between the two sides had become.
Second, since Director Yamada generally did not bother hiding what he did, the assistant had mostly witnessed the old-married-couple-like dynamic between Sarutobi Erina and Soji, a relationship that went beyond the physical... Generally speaking, this kind of family drama always turned into a bloody mess. For the moment, Kawabe Horo could not determine whose side Erina was truly on.
Based on those two points, Erina's explanation just now sounded strange no matter how he listened to it...
[How is that a rebuttal... She's clearly helping the Third Hokage confess his guilt, isn't she?]
At that thought, the assistant opened his mouth several times, as though he wanted to say something.
But with the words already at his throat, Kawabe Horo forcibly swallowed them back...
He looked