Hinata, Stop Pretending

Neji walked up to Hinata with an aloof expression and said, "Come on. Let's go home."

Hinata asked hesitantly, "Brother Neji, who was that person just now?"

Neji snorted coldly. "Don't ask questions you shouldn't. You only need to know that he is someone with no—" He then shot Hinata a cold glance.

Hinata... Hey, was that a pointed remark? That was definitely a pointed remark, right? Daring to offend me, Hinata? When I teach you a lesson later, I definitely can't go easy on you.

After Neji left, Rock Lee remained silent, but his gaze grew even more resolute. He encouraged himself inwardly: Neji, I will definitely become an outstanding ninja. And I will challenge you until I defeat you.

Near midnight, the lights in the Hokage Building were still shining brightly. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, short in stature and dressed in the Hokage's imperial robe with a conical hat on his head,

sat quietly on a stool, continuously reviewing documents in his hands.

Perhaps because he was already getting on in years, or perhaps because he was simply too exhausted, he looked somewhat dispirited.

He set down the document in his hand, picked up a glass of water from the desk, and took a light sip. Then, a sigh suddenly escaped his calm and solemn face.

In an instant, he lost the imposing majesty he usually possessed, and the image of him as a god, worshipped by Konoha's civilians and the vast majority of its ninja, completely crumbled away.

He was no longer the Ninja Professor whose name shook the shinobi world. He seemed more like an ordinary old man one might casually encounter by the roadside, emanating an aged and lonely air.

He suddenly missed his old companion, Biwako Sarutobi, an understanding and perceptive woman who had brought him warmth when it mattered most.

If Biwako Sarutobi were still alive, then no matter how much he suffered or how exhausted he was, there would be someone who understood him whenever he returned home.

But ever since Biwako Sarutobi had died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage, slain by that mysterious man with evil eyes, his heart had been wracked with pain again.

He had wanted to blame Minato Namikaze back then, but the famed Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage, and his wife, Kushina, had also been victims of that tragedy.

Thus, he could only silently shift his hatred onto that mysterious man. But with the Fourth Hokage's death... as the Third Hokage, he had no choice but to resume his position for the sake of the village, and for the village's image, he could only suppress his fury deep within his heart.

Only in the stillness of the night could he vent a little of the sorrow within him.

He quietly wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes. This was no time for sadness. The Uchiha clan's extermination had had far too great an impact on Konoha.

In handling this matter, he had to personally oversee almost every step. Otherwise, at best, it could lead to a complete rupture between the major ninja clans and the village; at worst, it might even trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War.

He was the Hokage. As the saying went, once a Hokage, always a Hokage. Everyone else could afford not to take things seriously, but he alone could not.

This was the result Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, had worked so hard to achieve, and which Tobirama Senju—his teacher—had ultimately entrusted to him.

At times, he kept reflecting on whether there was truly something wrong with the way he governed the village. Thinking carefully about it, he realized that

Shimura Danzō, who had been his contemporary, had grown increasingly ambitious. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had become fence-sitters, offering him almost no genuine understanding or support.

As for his three disciples, Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, had defected; Tsunade Senju had chosen to leave; even Jiraiya had, in a sense, half-chosen to leave Konoha as well.

Due to his negligence during his rule, Hatake Sakumo, the Konoha White Fang, had committed suicide. One of his sons, Asuma Sarutobi, had also died in an accident.

The Uchiha clan had secretly plotted rebellion. Although his close friend Shimura Danzō had brutally suppressed them, it had ultimately still damaged the village's vitality.

Naturally, he did not believe Shimura Danzō had truly considered Konoha's interests in these matters.

He grew worried again. Though where leaves danced, fire would surely burn, and its light would illuminate the village, allowing new leaves to sprout once more.

This was the origin of the Will of Fire and the belief held by most ninja. Yet the leaves of this generation were nearly burned away, while he saw very few new leaves sprouting.

Looking across Konoha's decades of history, it seemed that only this current generation could be called Konoha's weakest era. Its renowned experts were nearly at the point where the old had not yet been replaced by the new.