After leaving Danzo's base, the Third Hokage watched sunlight bathe all of Konoha. The villagers chatted and laughed, as though sorrow and darkness had nothing to do with their village. But he knew all too well how many people had sacrificed to make this peaceful village possible.
Countless people had stepped forward, one after another, even giving up everything they treasured most, all for the scene before him: peace. It was so beautiful, yet so many of them would never see it. It seemed that darkness and sorrow should never be allowed to taint this place, but Naruto had told him that excessive protection was itself a form of harm. They needed to enlighten the villagers and help them understand how their lives had been made possible. Only then would they cherish those lives more and make the right choices, rather than choices made with the truth hidden from them.
The Third Hokage thought of Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, of Shisui Uchiha, of Itachi Uchiha, of Naruto Uzumaki, and of so many others. What they had endured was heartbreaking, yet the villagers knew neither what they had done nor why they had done it.
Take Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, for example. He had abandoned his mission to save his comrades, showing just how deeply he valued every one of them. Although abandoning the mission had cost the village, the villagers' accusations and the village's indifference had chilled even the Third Hokage's heart.
If you were the one in danger, would you want Sakumo Hatake to abandon you and finish his mission, or abandon his mission and save you? Surely more than ninety-nine percent would want to be saved. As for that remaining one percent, they were probably idiots or fools.
Thinking of all this, and of Danzo, who