Human Nature

"..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent.

He couldn't reveal that Naruto was Minato's son.

His silence only further confirmed the fox demon's identity.

No one could be born without parents!

And what's more, this person had been born during the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha. If he wasn't the fox demon, then who was?

The villagers, who had been wavering and willing to believe Hiruzen Sarutobi, turned against him completely.

"Lord Hokage, please drive the fox demon out of Konoha!"

"Lord Hokage, please drive the fox demon out of Konoha!"

Faced with the surging public outcry, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only make a promise in his capacity as Hokage, barely managing to calm the crowd's fury.

Inside the Soul Space.

"Why are they targeting Naruto like this?"

"Why won't the Third Hokage reveal Naruto's identity?"

"The villagers all think he's the fox demon's incarnation. His identity as a Jinchuriki has practically been made public throughout the Ninja World, so why won't the Third Hokage say it?"

"Why won't he clear Naruto's name?"

"Why are they treating our child like this?"

Kushina's eyes were red-rimmed, and it felt as if something were squeezing her heart tight.

Everything had been fine just a few months ago. Why had it suddenly taken such a turn for the worse?

That ninja up front clearly knew Naruto was a Jinchuriki, so why had he branded him a "fox demon," misleading a village that didn't know the truth?

Why wouldn't the Third Hokage reveal Naruto's identity and clear their child's name?

Why was heaven treating them this way?

She didn't understand!

"I'm sorry..." Looking at his distraught wife, Minato's face was full of pain and guilt.

If he hadn't stubbornly insisted on his decision back then, Kushina wouldn't have died, and Naruto wouldn't have become a Jinchuriki...

"It wouldn't help. Even if they knew Naruto was your child, nothing would change." Sasuke appeared.

"Why?" Kushina turned around sharply, bewildered.

Sasuke glanced at Minato. "As Hokage, Minato should understand human nature very well..."

Minato fell silent.

Seeing this, Kushina could only look to Sasuke.

"Then I'll share a few of my thoughts..." Sasuke began. "The villagers aren't ninjas. They've always lived under the protection of ninjas. Even through several Ninja World Wars, Konoha wasn't destroyed, and they enjoyed a relatively peaceful life. They've never truly experienced the horrors of war, so they're ignorant and selfish."

"They think ninjas are supposed to protect them. They don't understand what a Jinchuriki is; all they remember is the Nine-Tails, which left them homeless and bereaved."

"Even if they knew Naruto's identity, they'd only think the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tails inside him so the child could gain its power, heedless of their safety."

"Ignorant people won't admit they're wrong. They'll only find all kinds of excuses to prove they're right."

"The war has nothing to do with them. They only care whether the Nine-Tails will rampage again, and whether their lives will be threatened again. That's human nature."

"In the end, this could not only attract the Fourth Hokage's enemies and get him assassinated, but also damage his standing among the villagers and make Konoha's ninjas question the so-called Will of Fire."

"Don't understand?" Seeing that Kushina seemed confused, Sasuke smiled. "Quite a few ninjas know Naruto is a Jinchuriki. Almost everyone who took part in fighting the Nine-Tails that night knows. But very few know he's your son."

"If nobody knows, then he's just a Jinchuriki. If the villagers despise him, so be it."

"But if it were made public and nothing improved, then, given that as a precedent, do you think Konoha's ninjas would feel disheartened?"

"Would they still be willing to sincerely protect Konoha?"

Kushina's pupils contracted slightly.

She clearly hadn't considered all that.

"Not only that," Sasuke continued. "The Nine-Tails is a mass of hatred, so Naruto's emotions matter a great deal as a Jinchuriki."

"If he thinks he's an orphan with no parents, well, orphans are often discriminated against. That's normal."

"But if he knew he was the Fourth Hokage's child and still had to endure unfair treatment, do you think he could keep his emotions in check?"

"Do you think he'd still let Konoha High Command manipulate him?"

"Any one of those outcomes would be unacceptable to Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"So Naruto's identity was never going to be made public."

"Besides... there were advantages to keeping it secret."

"The Nine-Tails' attack had happened recently. The villagers needed somewhere to vent their anger..."

"If they seized the opportunity to show him even a little insignificant kindness at the right moment..."

Kushina's pupils contracted, then fury surged through her. "Damn you, Hiruzen Sarutobi!!!"

Sasuke, however, looked at Minato. "Lord Fourth Hokage, what do you think of my humble views on human nature?"

"You really do understand human nature..." It wasn't the first time Minato had thought so.

When they'd first met, Sasuke had deliberately shown them the scene in Kushina's prison cell, making the stark contrast between their circumstances impossible to miss.

After that, he'd kept striking at their weaknesses, step by step, until they had no choice but to hand over their abilities.

Though his methods hadn't exactly been honorable...

"I'll take that as a compliment, then."

"..."

At that moment, in the scene, Hiruzen Sarutobi once again gathered the ninjas who had taken part in the battle against the Nine-Tails and reiterated the gag order concerning the Jinchuriki.

He even declared the words "fox demon" taboo, forbidding anyone from mentioning them to anyone, especially Naruto.

Mitsui Naoto, who had ignored the gag order and even attacked a Jinchuriki, naturally couldn't escape severe punishment.

This had nothing to do with Naruto.

Konoha had been established for nearly fifty years. To maintain order in the village, it naturally had a strict system of rewards and punishments.

Reward the meritorious and punish the guilty—that was the only way to earn people's wholehearted obedience.

In the end, since the villagers already knew Naruto's identity as the fox demon, he could no longer be entrusted to their care.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to assign the Anbu to look after him.

But leaving a group of killers to care for a baby...

"Damn it, do they even know how to look after someone?"

"Unbelievable. Could they be any less gentle?"

"He can't drink any more. Stop force-feeding him!"

"Can't you hear Naruto crying?!"

Kushina's daily outburst!

In July, the Ninja Academy's first term came to an end.

Since it was the last day of the term, Mikoto brought Sasuke along to the Ninja Academy to pick Itachi up after school.

As for his grades, Itachi had unsurprisingly come first in every subject.

But Uchiha Izumi...

"Izumi, where's your report card? Don't hide it. Let me have a look." Sasuke, who was nearly one year old, could already speak fairly fluently.

Izumi, who had hidden her report card behind her back, blushed and said a little sheepishly, "I'll let you see it, but you can't laugh."

"I won't laugh," Sasuke promised.

"Here."

Her overall ranking was tenth in her class and among the top thirty in her year...

"Pfft!" Sasuke laughed.

"Sasuke!" Izumi was furious. With an adorably fierce look, she pinched Sasuke's cheek. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"