"Hey, have you heard?"
"Something big happened in [Kirigakure] recently!"
"What happened?"
"I heard their Fourth Mizukage suddenly died!"
"Huh? How could that happen? Who did it?"
"I don't know the details. All I know is that there was an internal conflict in [Kirigakure], and a lot of ninja joined forces to overthrow the Fourth Mizukage's rule..."
"Something that big? Who was behind it?"
"Apparently, it was a Kirigakure missing-nin named Zabuza Momochi. Of course, quite a few other ninja from within Kirigakure helped him, too."
"Anyway! Things have changed in [Kirigakure]."
"And it might even affect our village!"
"Why?"
"Don't you know? That Mist Demon, Zabuza, asked the newly established [Flame Hidden Village] to back him up in the coup!"
"The people who defected from the Uchiha Clan!"
"Now that the coup has succeeded, [Kirigakure] has officially announced its alliance with [Flame Hidden Village]!"
"Next, they might be preparing to join forces and attack our Konoha!"
"Huh? Are they really going to start a war?"
"Who can say?"
"Honestly, the High Command was asking for trouble, pushing the Uchiha Clan so hard."
"And now they've defected, founded a new village, and allied with Kirigakure. They're even eyeing us hungrily..."
"If you ask me, the High Command has too much time on its hands..."
"Shh! You can't say things like that!"
At the sight of several Anbu Ninja flashing past in the distance,
the villagers discussing the matter in the street hurriedly fell silent.
Konoha might have an open atmosphere, but if the Anbu reported such disrespectful remarks, those who'd spoken out of turn still wouldn't fare well.
And besides the Anbu, there was also Root, whose very name made people tremble!
Clearly, in any era and any country,
as long as a ruling class existed,
the so-called "freedom of