Luo Mang kept up appearances, but inwardly, he was weighing why the man had come.
He hadn't come during the first two days after Luo Mang dropped out. Instead, he had waited almost a week.
If he truly cared, wasn't this a little too late?
That left only one explanation: he had come with an agenda, and his appraising gaze had already given him away.
"Yes, of course. You're still a child, after all. Having to make a living every day must be stressful. I'll prod the higher-ups and see whether I can get you some financial assistance."
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave no definite answer, choosing instead to dangle an empty promise.
Whether Luo Mang received any assistance would depend on his performance. If he returned to school and demonstrated his abilities, giving him a little money wouldn't be a problem.
But if he couldn't show any ability, his application would come to nothing, just like his strength.
Luo Mang naturally caught his meaning and shook his head.
"No, Lord Hokage. It's fine if there's no assistance. I was only a child someone picked up, after all. I'll take on tasks around the village and earn enough to support myself."
"Well, it's good to have ideas of your own."
After a few more casual pleasantries, Hiruzen Sarutobi left.
The moment he stepped outside, he took out his pipe and lit it again.
But he was already far away, so Luo Mang naturally had no need to keep coughing. Watching him leave, Luo Mang breathed a sigh of relief, stepped back inside, and shut the door.
"Why did that old man come here?"
And what exactly was he after? Had Konoha really fallen so far that someone had to visit repeatedly just to check whether one person's assistance money had reached them?
That shouldn't be the case. He could dismiss that guess outright.
Then what else could it be?
Luo Mang simply couldn't figure it out.
Since he couldn't work it out, he stopped thinking about it. If the man truly wanted to act against him, the Anbu would have moved already. Their inaction meant he was safe.
Having his life in someone else's hands felt awful. He still needed to grow stronger, and growing stronger meant writing in his diary.
After a little thought, Luo Mang did something rare: he began writing his diary in the morning.
[I haven't gone outside today, so I don't know what the weather's like. But I never expected the Third to come see me. He even asked why I dropped out. It felt insincere.]
"Yaaawn..."
Kakashi yawned as he emerged from the underground black market, where he had just posted a job.
Bzz...
Suddenly, he sensed the diary in his mind lighting up. His weary face instantly became alert, and he muttered under his breath.
"Writing a diary in the morning? That's certainly rare. What information is there?"
[There was absolutely no need to come see me now, but my current strength isn't worth scheming over either. I really don't know why he came. Today is worth recording. I need to stay cautious and not let my guard down.]
[My assessment of Hiruzen Sarutobi is that he has a conscience, but not much of one.]
[He really is willing to give his life for Konoha. That was certainly true during the Konoha Crush Plan.]
[But that was only because he'd been backed into a corner. If there were another way out, Hiruzen Sarutobi would avoid confrontation whenever he could. The incident involving Hinata's kidnapping already proved that.]
[He's too weak when dealing with outsiders. Maybe he just wants to avoid fighting, but sometimes offense is the best defense. Others see him as a pushover and keep taking advantage of him. They come after us again and again, and that isn't necessarily any good for ordinary people either.]
Amegakure.
Inside the room where Uchiha Itachi was resting, he felt grateful. The diary hadn't dropped any shocking revelations over the past two days, and he'd finally managed a peaceful night's sleep.
Yet when he woke, he saw writing appearing in the diary and looked helpless. Writing in the morning was certainly rare. Apparently, something else had given its owner cause to complain this early.
"So he ran into the Third?"
Reading the diary's assessment of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Uchiha Itachi was somewhat shocked. It differed from his understanding of the Will of Fire.
Where leaves danced, the fire would burn without end.
New leaves would eventually grow, and old leaves would fall. That was nature's law. But those who clung to the old ways obstructed the new leaves and had to be eliminated so the Will of Fire could be passed down.
That was why he had joined forces with the Masked Man to slaughter the Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha rebellion would affect the new leaves and might even draw other nations into targeting Konoha. It had to be snuffed out!
He would bear the infamy. A mighty tree wasn't merely tall above the ground; beneath it lay the roots that kept it steady.
"But the diary's owner seems deeply dissatisfied with the Third Hokage?"
[The poor Hyuga Clan. They gave their all for the Hokage and stood firmly on the Third's side. Then someone from another village kidnapped their daughter, and they killed him in anger. Everyone knew perfectly well who was in the wrong, yet the old Third swallowed his objections and accepted the blame.]
[To put it nicely, he wanted to improve people's livelihoods and avoid another war. To put it bluntly, all the expendable cannon fodder had already died. If war continued, the old men would have to fight, and he was afraid he couldn't beat the Raikage.]
On his way back.
Reading the diary in his mind, Kakashi couldn't help muttering.
"Is the Third really that bad?"
Fear of death was a privilege everyone should have. It was human nature, and no one would criticize it.
But once you occupied that position and enjoyed power and prestige beyond anyone else's reach, you had to step up when needed. What right did you have to hide behind fear?
Kakashi rubbed his chin, recalling events. The diary did seem to be right.
That assessment didn't seem wrong either. He had a conscience, but not much of one.
That conscience meant that if he were truly pushed to the final brink, with a blade at his throat, he really would die for Konoha. But he wouldn't take that final step unless he had to.
[Still, compared with the others, Hiruzen Sarutobi does seem like a good man, if only by being the best of a bad bunch.]
[Whether it's the other Hokage Advisors or Danzo, the five-and-a-half Hokage who controls Root, which of them is any good?]
[They line their clans' pockets and even pocketed the death benefits and relief money for my adoptive parents. Now I seriously suspect they've also swallowed some of the inheritance Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha's families left them. Some are even so utterly depraved that they experiment on children.]
Sasuke Uchiha, who was on his way to school, froze on the spot when he read those words in the diary!
Wasn't his inheritance just a house and an unremarkable amount of savings? He still had to scrimp and save.
So that's it.
Sasuke suddenly understood something.
Hatred had blinded Sasuke Uchiha before, and he had never paid any attention to this. Now that he thought about it, how could an entire clan's inheritance possibly amount to so little?
If they even stole money people needed to survive, it would almost be stranger if they hadn't stolen the Uchiha Clan's inheritance. They must have pocketed most of it and handed him the few scraps that trickled through.
What kind of decent Hokage could possibly be advised by people without a shred of kindness?
Sasuke Uchiha suddenly felt that running away with his clansman might be the best and safest choice.
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