Disappointment. Yes, it was disappointment, mixed with a sense of I knew it. Whenever Shimura Danzō woke from dreams of that expression in the middle of the night, he would cry out desperately, "No! I didn't! Sensei, believe me!"
But all that answered him was the pitch-black room and the pale gray walls around him.
Shimura Danzō snapped out of his reverie and slowly returned to his seat, but his eyes remained fixed on the Hokage Haori.
Outside
After Sarutobi Hiruzen gave the order, the villagers poured through the door. The Anbu tried to get them to line up, but no one paid them any attention.
They had only one goal now: to ask their beloved Lord Hokage whether the things in the newspaper were true.
Why had the Hokage done this? Were the deaths of those important figures really connected to him?
Filled with questions, they reached the door of the Hokage's Office. They looked from one another to the door, silently urging someone to open it.
But in the end, no one took that final step. Their hearts pounded with anxiety. After all, they were about to face Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third and the longest-serving leader in office. His authority was more than ordinary people could bear.
Sarutobi Hiruzen gently opened the door. The crowd took a step back, but he didn't meet them with hostility. Instead, he smiled at them.
"Come in. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you." With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen turned and walked toward the chair behind him.
His back seemed to radiate loneliness and sorrow. The crowd followed him inside.
No one spoke, but every eye remained fixed on Third Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The next moment, the Third set his Hokage Hat on the desk and smiled warmly. "Go ahead. Ask me."
Umino Iruka stepped forward. He was just an ordinary teacher at Konoha Academy. His parents had died in the Nine-Tails Incident, while Naruto was his student, so his feelings toward Naruto were more complicated than anyone else's. He was the perfect person to ask the first question.
"L-Lord Hokage, I want to know if Naruto really is a hero's son and not the demon fox!" Umino Iruka's eyes were filled with confusion and doubt.
Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent for a moment. "Yes. He is the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. His name should be Naruto Namikaze, but given Minato's identity and Naruto's status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, I chose to conceal his identity."
"But I wasn't the one who called him the demon fox," Sarutobi Hiruzen said calmly. "You did."
"All I said was that he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, with the most powerful Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails, sealed inside him. The villagers spread rumors, and in the end, they called Naruto Uzumaki the demon fox."
"If you're trying to hold me responsible for that, I'm afraid you don't have enough grounds." Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.
Umino Iruka froze. It seemed the Third had never called Naruto Uzumaki the demon fox in public. It seemed that name really had come from the villagers.
Because of the Nine-Tails Incident, everyone harbored resentment toward the Nine-Tails. Now, the adults of Konoha knew that it was sealed inside Naruto.
They had been children or young adults back then, and most had lost family members in the Nine-Tails Incident. They hated the Nine-Tails.
So they hated Naruto Uzumaki, too, for being its Jinchuriki!
Since Naruto Uzumaki's true identity had been kept secret, many people thought he had no power or influence and was nothing more than a vessel containing the Nine-Tails.
So they insulted and cursed him without restraint.
It was as if that were the only way to dispel some of the darkness they had felt for years. Some parents even told their children not to play with that demon fox!
That was why Konoha rejected Naruto Uzumaki from top to bottom. If Sarutobi Hiruzen had done anything, it was to guide them in that direction.
All he had done was conceal Naruto's identity.
The villagers' faces turned pale. They had been about to argue with Third Hiruzen Sarutobi, but when they remembered how their own families had treated Naruto, they realized they had nothing to say in their defense.
Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled. "Some of the blame for Naruto's miserable upbringing may rest with me, but the greater and more direct cause was your hatred."
"Don't forget that when Naruto tried to buy things from you, no one would sell to him. Some of you even sold him expired milk to drink."
"Don't do something wrong and then shift the blame onto someone else. At least I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, never wronged Naruto, did I? I even took some of my salary every month to help him."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's authority was back! He crossed his legs and gazed at the villagers with a smile. They lowered their heads in shame, and not one dared to speak.
They realized the Third was right. Then one of the Uchiha Clan members hidden among the crowd suddenly spoke up. "Lord Hokage, as far as I know, Kushina Uzumaki owned a villa and a commercial street in Konoha's most prosperous district."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression changed. He looked toward the speaker, but the person was concealed in the crowd, their face impossible to make out.
"Who are you? Do you dare show yourself, or are you only brave enough to hide in the shadows?" Sarutobi Hiruzen was growing anxious. He could talk his way around what he had said before, but there was no way he could cover up what had happened to Naruto's inheritance.
"Heh, Lord Hokage, don't get worked up. I heard that you took Minato and Kushina's assets. Is it true that you used them for yourself?" the voice asked with a laugh.
"Hmph! I was only holding their estate for them. Naruto was young. If someone with bad intentions had taken advantage of him and squandered the family fortune, wouldn't that have been a betrayal of his parents?" Sarutobi Hiruzen declared righteously.
Just then, Naruto Uzumaki—or rather, Naruto Uzumaki, possessed by Minato Namikaze—walked out with a chuckle.
"Third, since you say you kept my and Kushina's inheritance safe, now that I'm back, shouldn't you return the money to our Naruto?" Minato Namikaze said calmly.
"Minato, I... After the Nine-Tails Incident, the village had many facilities that needed repairing and families that needed support. The village was poor, so I used some of your assets." Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes shifted.
Minato Namikaze's voice turned cold. "Sarutobi, my wife and I died outside the village for its sake, yet you not only swallowed the inheritance we left our child, you also let him suffer all these years."
"Is this what your Will of Fire means to you? If I'd known you were this sort of person, I should have made you use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal back then!" Minato Namikaze's voice rang through the entire office.
The crowd erupted in an uproar. Sarutobi Hiruzen's face turned ashen. He took a deep breath, walked up to Naruto Uzumaki—Minato Namikaze—and dropped to his knees!
Thud.
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