After the mission report concluded, Kakashi went to the Konoha Memorial Stone to visit an old friend.
The three little ones headed home together. Along the way, suspicious, wary, and even hateful gazes focused on Feng.
Twelve years had passed since the Nine-Tails Rebellion. Thanks to the protection of Minato, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and numerous other Kage Level experts, Konoha's casualties had been far fewer than in the original timeline.
But that terror had taken deep root in people's cowardly hearts.
Paper could not contain fire. Even though Minato and his wife had claimed that Naruto and Feng were twins in order to establish Feng's legitimate identity—and had even persuaded the higher-ups who knew part of the truth—
Those skilled at digging into things still uncovered all sorts of clues that raised doubts about Feng.
First, Naruto and Feng did not share the similar looks expected of twins.
Then there was the matter of their hair colors.
Naruto's spiky golden hair made it obvious to anyone that he was Minato's biological son.
But Feng had black hair. One parent had blond hair and the other red hair; no matter how one looked at it, they could not have produced a black-haired child. Besides, his face did not resemble either of them.
Thus, rumors had long circulated in the village that Feng was not Minato and his wife's biological son.
This was, after all, another family's private affair, and outsiders had no place gossiping about it. But three years ago, news spread like wildfire that "Feng was the vessel containing the evil Nine-Tails Demon Fox, and that the Fourth Hokage and his wife had personally sealed it inside him." For a time, Konoha was thrown into panic!
All manner of rumors grew increasingly outrageous, even undermining Minato's credibility as Hokage to