Clouds of Suspicion

"Great! You're finally awake!"

A familiar voice reached his ears. When Yizhe opened his eyes, he saw a snow-white ceiling and a square, familiar face.

"Uncle Hizashi, where am I?"

"Hiss—" Yizhe sucked in a breath.

He had just struggled to sit up when intense pain shot through his entire body. It felt as though every bone in him had come apart!

"Stay lying down! Your injuries haven't healed yet!" Hizashi hurriedly stopped the boy from getting up.

"Injuries? Is this a hospital?" Yizhe looked blankly at a medical ninja in white walking past the door.

"Yes! This is the hospital. You've been unconscious for three days!" Hizashi pulled the blanket over Yizhe and explained softly.

"Unconscious? Three days?"

Yizhe was completely stunned. He had no memory of how he had been injured or what had happened.

"Right, Uncle Hizashi, where are my father and mother?"

He found it strange. Their son had been injured and hospitalized, yet neither of his parents was by his side. The first person he saw upon waking was this uncle instead.

"That night, the Nine-Tails went on a rampage..." Hizashi's face was heavy with sorrow. He bit his lip and began recounting the events of that night.

Nine-Tails! The moment he heard those words, countless shattered memories surged into Yizhe's mind like a tidal wave. He could no longer hear what Hizashi was saying, falling instead into the nightmare of that night!

A monstrous crimson fox tail had crashed straight down. His father used Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, turning into a blue sphere of light as he shot into the sky and fought desperately to block it. Yet he had been shattered as easily as fireworks, his fate unknown. With no other choice, his mother had shielded him beneath her body, using her flesh and blood to protect him, only to be struck head-on by the fox tail.

The memory ended abruptly.

"My father and mother, are they already..." Interrupting Hizashi's rambling, Yizhe closed his eyes in pain, overwhelmed by an indescribable anguish.

"Yes. They've already been buried." With a soft sigh, Hizashi delivered the terrible news.

"Where is the Nine-Tails?" Yizhe tried his best to keep his voice calm.

Though he appeared calm on the surface, only he knew what monstrous waves had risen in his heart.

"The Fourth Hokage used a method that cost him his life to seal it inside his newborn son! He turned his son into the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki and brought this disaster to an end!" Hizashi's face was filled with grief.

"The Fourth also died?"

This shocking news pulled Yizhe's attention away from his hatred for the Nine-Tails. He could hardly believe that the village's former highest authority, a warrior at the very pinnacle, had also fallen.

Nine-Tails! Nine-Tails! No matter how strong you are, I will never let you go!

Clenching his fists beneath the blanket, Yizhe made a vow in his heart.

"Yes. The Fourth truly died. Lord Hiruzen has returned to take charge of the situation." At the mention of the Third Hokage's return, Hizashi's expression eased somewhat.

The Third Hokage... In Yizhe's impression, he was a kind old man who often had a pipe in his mouth and was easy to talk to.

"Rest well at the hospital. I'm sure Huo Jian and Hezi would want you to live on strong! Your uncle has matters to attend to. I'll come see you again later!" Seeing that Yizhe had awakened, Hizashi prepared to leave so he could recover in peace.

"Goodbye, Uncle!"

Yizhe watched Hizashi leave. Only after that gray-white figure vanished through the doorway did he look away.

That night, even with Huo Jian's Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven weakening the Nine-Tails' attack first, followed by Hezi shielding him with her body, Yizhe had still been badly injured despite all that protection.

He spent nearly half a month recovering in the hospital before his body finally healed.

The first thing Yizhe did after leaving the hospital was buy three bouquets of flowers from a flower shop. He planned to visit the cemetery.

One bouquet was for the Fourth Hokage, the hero who had died for the village. The other two were for his parents.

The cemetery was silent, so silent that only the howling wind could be heard. There was not even the faintest chirp of insects. Perhaps they too feared disturbing the heroic souls resting here.

That was what Yizhe thought.

Walking along the path and passing clusters of black tombstones, Yizhe searched as he went. He did not know where the graves of the Fourth Hokage or his parents were.

Suddenly, he saw a silver-haired boy in a blue jacket standing before a tombstone.

That tombstone was unusual. It was several sizes larger than ordinary grave markers, with a wide open space around it, as though the many surrounding tombstones were guarding it from all sides.

When Yizhe approached, he saw three large, prominent characters carved into the stone: "Fourth Hokage." Beside them was a line of smaller writing, and he clearly saw the name "Minato Namikaze."

He gently placed a bouquet before the grave and prayed in silence.

Hm? Why hasn't he left yet?

As Yizhe turned to leave, he noticed that the silver-haired boy was still standing in front of the tombstone.

Only then did he get a proper look at the boy's face. He wore blue, had a head of silver hair, and a mask covering half his face. His slanted forehead protector concealed his right eye, leaving only his left eye exposed.

"You're... Kakashi?" That distinctive outfit was one of a kind in Yizhe's memory.

He had seen him from afar when the Fourth Hokage took office.

"Yes." Kakashi answered indifferently.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened that night?" Yizhe asked softly.

Although the Nine-Tails had already been sealed and the matter was seemingly over, Yizhe did not believe it had appeared for no reason. He wanted to learn the truth. He did not want his parents' deaths to end like this.

Kakashi was Konoha's famed genius Upper Ninja and had made a name for himself in the Ninja World. He must have participated in the battle against the Nine-Tails and should know more of the details.

That was why Yizhe asked him.

"You? So what if you find out?" Kakashi stared blankly at the Fourth Hokage's grave, his voice full of disdain.

"I can't do it now! That doesn't mean I won't be able to in the future!" Yizhe growled under his breath, unwilling to disturb the cemetery's peace.

Kakashi's indifference angered him. In an instant, he activated the Byakugan's combat state and locked Kakashi firmly within his sight.

"The Byakugan?" Only after Yizhe activated his Byakugan and released an aura not weaker than a Genin's did Kakashi begin to take this much younger child seriously.

"Hmph! Fine, there's no harm in telling you." Kakashi spoke flatly.

He had a feeling that this child was not merely asking out of curiosity.

After pondering for a moment, Kakashi sorted through his thoughts and recounted everything he knew.

"So someone took advantage of Lady Kushina's vulnerable state during childbirth and deliberately released the Nine-Tails?" Yizhe sensed an enormous conspiracy behind it.

"Do you have any suspects?"

"The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan is naturally capable of controlling Tailed Beasts! And that person could enter and leave the barrier without making a sound! It probably wasn't an outsider!" Kakashi voiced his suspicion, though he was far from certain.

"What would the Uchiha Clan's motive be?" Yizhe did not quite believe that people from the same village could commit something so utterly deranged.

After all, doing so would only cause the Uchiha Clan to be shunned and suspected by the village. Moreover, Yizhe could not see what benefit the Uchiha Clan could gain from the Nine-Tails' rampage.

"I don't know. It's only a guess!" Kakashi raised his head toward the dim sky and sighed. In truth, he did not know much either.

The cause of the Nine-Tails' rampage had already become a mystery.

Unable to obtain any more information from Kakashi, Yizhe could only leave silently.

He still had to pay respects at his parents' graves.

After searching for a long time, he finally found his parents' tombstone in a corner. The two of them had been buried together.

Remembering all the moments he had shared with his parents, Yizhe broke down in tears.

There was no unrestrained wailing, no hysterical grief or rage. He merely cried in silence.

He was alone again. He did not know how he would live through the days ahead.

If he had possessed enough strength that night, perhaps his parents would not have died.

Perhaps it was just like the saying he had heard in his previous life.

All misfortune in this world is caused by the inadequacy of those involved!

At that moment, he had never craved strength as fiercely as he did now. He wanted to become stronger.

Strong enough to change everything, strong enough to overturn life, death, and the cycle of reincarnation!