Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju shifted their gazes over to fixate on him, and Naruto grinned.
"He's not wrong about a single thing. The whole one-village-per-country concept was crooked right from the root."
Naruto laid his words out without the slightest bit of cover, pointing a finger toward the lingering wisps of smoke within Konoha as his mouth went to work.
"Sunagakure, Konoha's ally right? They flipped their faces just the same, sneaking in under the identity of an ally to shoot a cold arrow."
"You know why?"
A strange smile hung on Naruto's face.
"Poverty. That feudal lord in the Land of Wind choked Sunagakure by the economic neck until their ninja numbers dropped all the way down, leaving them with no choice but to set Konoha up as a target and tell that stupid feudal lord that relying on hired help from other villages was useless, and that having one's own hardened fists was the real truth."
"Pretty ridiculous, isn't it? The survival of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages actually ended up gripped in the hands of a bunch of people who couldn't even hold a kunai."
"I recall the agreement Hashirama-danna originally signed with the Land of Fire stated that he would protect the territory of the Land of Fire and keep ninjas from other villages from breaking in."
"Yet how did the Second Shinobi World War ignite? It was because the feudal lord had nothing better to do, felt his patch of dirt wasn't wide enough, and forcefully leaned on Konoha to fight that war."
Hashirama Senju's complexion sank until it looked like it could drip water, while the trace of mockery in Naruto's eyes grew even heavier.
"Never thought about it from this angle, did you? The Konoha you poured your heart and