Meanwhile, Miki Yūya sauntered toward Konoha Hospital without a care in the world.
Kisame's massive Water Release attack had blasted him several meters away, but his tough body hadn't suffered so much as a scratch.
But-why pass up a chance to make a scene or squeeze out some compensation? What if he had internal bleeding?
Besides, he was a Konoha resident. Today, he had been caught in the crossfire and swept up in a ninjutsu attack, and not a single ninja had protected him. Ultimately, Kakashi had failed in his duty. Konoha's ninja had failed in theirs.
Since no one would give him justice, he would make a scene and demand it himself. He could farm some Haki points along the way to make up for the indignity of being soaked to the skin.
He knew the route by heart and swaggered into Konoha Hospital, looking even more at ease than he would in his own home.
Miki Yūya planted himself in the middle of the lobby and bellowed at the top of his lungs:
"Anyone here?! Get over here and examine me! Something happened to me!"
Several medical ninja looked up at the noise. Thinking an injured patient had arrived, they hurriedly put down their work and prepared to attend to him.
Then Miki Yūya added, his expression solemn and utterly earnest:
"I was just attacked by a shark outside the village!"
The air froze.
The entire hospital lobby fell silent.
The medical ninja stopped dead. Their serious expressions slowly faded, replaced by looks of utter exasperation.
The middle-aged medical jonin leading them fought a violently twitching mouth and spoke with forced patience:
"Kid... what did you say?"
Miki Yūya lifted his chin, puffed out his chest, and repeated with a perfectly straight face:
"I said I was attacked by a shark. I feel awful all over. Hurry up and give me a full-body examination! Check for internal and external injuries!"
Several younger medical ninja immediately lost their composure, looking utterly incredulous.
"A shark?!"
"Where would a shark come from in Konoha?!"
"Did you just wake up and forget to bring your brain? Or did you fall over and knock yourself stupid?"
"You're bouncing around, all your limbs are intact, and you don't even have a scratch. A little wet hair just means you got rained on. Where's this supposed attack?"
Caught between laughter and frustration, they waved him away.
"Get going! Stop wasting medical resources and causing trouble!"
An ordinary person would have lost their nerve and shut up after so many people contradicted them.
But Konoha was different. There were only ninja and troublesome civilians here.
He glared at the medical ninja with absolute conviction, his tone utterly serious.
"You don't get it! I don't mean a shark from the sea!"
"A shark monster! A Water Release shark! Kisame Hoshigaki!"
"..."
The middle-aged medical ninja standing before Miki Yūya fell silent for a moment.
"This Kisame you mentioned, and this shark-what did they look like?"
"Huge! All dark and blue! A mouth full of fangs! It charged straight at me!"
"It was insanely fast! The impact was brutal! It sent me flying!"
"I nearly died right there! Can't you people see that?!"
The medical ninja's eyelids twitched wildly as they listened. One thought was written all over their faces:
I don't understand.
Miki Yūya immediately lost his temper.
"It was a shark! It looked like a shark! A human head on a shark's body! Tall and built like a tank! Carrying a huge sword!"
"What else would it be?! Are you ninja really that ignorant?"
The middle-aged medical ninja gave up trying to explain, looking utterly defeated.
"I understand."
"But we only examine ordinary physical conditions. Brain problems are too dangerous for our current medical techniques to handle."
[Ding! Observation Haki +1]
Miki Yūya bristled instantly. Bullying me, huh? Saying there's something wrong with my brain? Standing in the middle of the lobby, he shouted:
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"What do you mean, I'm not injured?!"
"I was violently attacked!"
"Kakashi is a jonin, yet he couldn't protect a villager! He let that shark monster Kisame Hoshigaki attack a civilian in the village!"
"And this hospital won't do anything either! You're all quacks just collecting a paycheck!"
"Useless trash!"
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +5!] [Ding! Conqueror's Haki +4!]
"You're going too far!"
"Don't think medical ninja are pushovers."
"Who are you calling useless, brat?!"
Just as both sides were ready to come to blows, a sudden commotion erupted outside.
Might Guy rushed in at the front, carrying a person under each arm, while Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi attended to Kakashi.
Kawada, who had been caught in Kisame's ninjutsu, and Kakashi had both been brought in.
Kakashi's mind had just been devastated by Tsukuyomi. His face was as white as paper, and his condition was dreadful.
The whole of Konoha Hospital immediately went on high alert, with everyone ready for an emergency.
"Quick, check whether they're all right!"
"They were attacked."
The hospital's medical ninja stared at Kawada and the others, stunned.
Holy shit. Konoha really had sharks?
The middle-aged medical ninja in charge approached with forced patience, his attitude transformed.
"Let me examine you, sir."
"That's more like it!"
Chakra gathered in the middle-aged ninja's hands as he examined Miki Yūya's body. After quite some time, he frowned and explained:
"Sir, we've now completed a thorough examination of your entire body."
"Your bones, chakra pathways, internal organs, skin, and muscles are completely undamaged. There isn't even a minor abrasion or impact injury."
"You're perfectly healthy. You have no injuries whatsoever."
The moment he heard that, Miki Yūya exploded!
"No injuries?!"
"A massive torrent blasted me several meters away! I was soaked through and slammed into the ground! And you're telling me I'm not injured?!"
"Are you quacks blind?!"
"You'll do anything to save an injured ninja, but you don't give a damn whether civilians live or die?!"
"Typical ninja-first bullshit! Looking down your noses at everyone else! A bunch of quacks!"
"Why is Kakashi injured but I'm not? You're just quacks.
"You look down on me because I'm a villager, don't you?"
Miki Yūya unleashed a stream of abuse, every word grating and his tone outrageously belligerent.
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +4!] [Ding! Conqueror's Haki +6!]
System notifications popped up one after another.
The medical ninja were thoroughly enraged.
They worked diligently to treat the sick and save lives. They had never endured such insulting treatment!
"Our examination isn't wrong! You clearly aren't injured!"
"You're being unreasonable! Deliberately causing trouble in a hospital! This is outrageous!"
"Kakashi is critically injured, and you're still making a scene! Have you no manners?!"
Both sides launched into a fierce argument in the hospital corridor, their voices growing louder and louder.
Just as the corridor descended into chaos-
A slender figure suddenly rushed out from deep within the wards.
It was Sasuke Uchiha!
He had heard that Kakashi-sensei had been brought back to the hospital with serious injuries and had come specifically to visit him.
Instead, he had learned something earth-shattering-
Uchiha Itachi had returned to Konoha!
Uchiha Itachi was the one who had injured Kakashi.
That single sentence was enough to send Sasuke's blood surging backward!
The nightmare who had murdered his family and wiped out his clan, the greatest shadow over his life-the hatred buried deepest in his heart erupted all at once!
He could think of nothing else. Pale-faced and wild-eyed, he ignored the chaotic crowd, dashed out of the hospital doors, and tore toward the outskirts of the village like a madman!
His feet flew as though he were running for his life!
Miki Yūya glanced at Sasuke's rapidly retreating back and casually remarked:
"He runs fast."
A young nurse nearby heard him. The ingrained impulse to bully the Uchiha Clan kicked in, and the nurse instinctively replied with a hint of rueful amusement:
"That's Sasuke Uchiha, after all."
"The only survivor of the Uchiha Clan."
"If he couldn't run fast, he'd have died ages ago. I wonder if he's aiming for special admission as an athlete. Come to think of it, shouldn't he get bonus points as an ethnic minority too?"
It was a perfectly ordinary snide remark.
Then Miki Yūya spoke lightly, dropping a single remark that set everyone off and struck their rawest nerve with perfect precision!
"Oh?"
"The Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash, the fastest man in the shinobi world-he could run pretty fast too."
"Didn't he die anyway?"
Whoosh-!
The entire corridor fell deathly silent!
Every medical ninja, attendant, and passing patient froze, staring at Miki Yūya in disbelief!
Every word struck where it hurt!
The Fourth Hokage was Konoha's hero, a revered figure who had sacrificed himself to protect the village!
The Fourth's death was different from the Third's. The Third's death had now been classified as suicide to escape punishment, and Orochimaru had been his pupil. His reputation was already ruined.
But the Fourth Hokage was different.
And now Miki Yūya had used the Fourth's death as an example to joke about in that flippant, mocking, utterly indifferent tone!
It was sheer sacrilege!
The nurse's face flushed crimson with anger, their entire body trembling!
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"The Fourth was a hero who sacrificed himself to protect Konoha and its people!"
"How dare you desecrate a hero's memory?!"
Another medical jonin, overcome with rage, sharply rebuked him:
"Insolent!"
"A mere civilian dares casually slander a fallen Hokage, a hero?!"
"You have no respect for anything!"
The argument that had just begun to settle erupted again, fiercer and more heated than before!
With one sentence from Miki Yūya, the entire corridor of Konoha Hospital was once again thrown into an uproar!
And Miki Yūya, the instigator, looked completely bewildered. What did I say? I never said he wasn't a hero. I just said he died.
Holy shit. Are these ninja fucking idiots?
"What are you yelling for? Why are you shouting so loudly? A bunch of thin-skinned losers!"
"When did I slander a hero? I never once said Minato wasn't a hero!"
"I just stated the facts! He was the fastest and the strongest, and he still died in Konoha! Am I wrong?!"
Defiance blazed in Miki Yūya's eyes as he swept a contemptuous gaze over the furious crowd, unleashing the full force of his verbal barrage!
"You're the ones who named him a hero! His sacrifice was real, and so was his death in the village!"
"I'm just stating facts! Since when is that desecration? Is emotional blackmail all you ninja know?"
He mocked them loudly in front of everyone, his voice ringing through the corridor!
"Listen carefully! Konoha has only had four Hokage so far!"
"The Third and the Fourth! Two whole Hokage, both dead inside the village!"
"Two out of four! A fifty-percent chance of dying in the village!"
As those words landed, every ninja present went pale. Their pupils trembled, and not one could speak!
Shit. That actually sounded right.
The more Miki Yūya ranted, the more worked up he became. Every word cut deep as he trampled the last scraps of the Konoha ninja's dignity!
"Half your Hokage died right in the village they protected with their own hands, the village all you ninja were guarding!"
"And you still won't admit you're useless? Pah!"
[Conqueror's Haki +10] [Conqueror's Haki +8]
The rush of power from bullying everyone felt good. So damn good.
This is the feeling! Looks like I, Miki Yūya, already have what it takes to be one of the Four Emperors. My talent for Conqueror's Haki is just too strong. Who cares about Shanks supposedly having the strongest Conqueror's Haki? With that red hair of his, if he dared come to Konoha, he'd get mistaken for an Uzumaki Clan member and bullied on his very first day.
For truly domineering willpower, look no further than our Shinobi World!!
"And you still have the nerve to curse me out?"
"Don't you feel ashamed?!"
"A bunch of useless idiots who can't even protect your own Kage!"
"Pathetic weaklings who can't even guard the village gates! You got whipped like spinning tops, and you're still here bragging."
Miki Yūya pointed at the speechless medical ninja and mocked them mercilessly!
The entire corridor fell deathly silent.
Every medical ninja trembled with rage, their blood boiling and their faces alternating between livid and pale, yet they couldn't muster a single word in rebuttal!
Every word was true. Every accusation was fact!
The fifty-percent rate of Hokage dying in their own village was a disgrace carved into Konoha's very bones!
They wanted to rage, to attack, to argue back, but faced with Miki Yūya's brutally blunt truths, they could only choke down their anger until it hurt!
"It seems my words have touched you deep in your souls."
Miki Yūya was very pleased to see their reactions.
"Wait!"
Just then, a Genin stepped forward.
"You're wrong!"
A young ninja wearing the standard Konoha Genin uniform suddenly pushed out of the crowd, his fists clenched and his back ramrod straight, staring defiantly at Miki Yūya.
That interruption instantly shattered the deathly silence!
The eyes of the medical ninja, the patients watching, and everyone on Konoha's side in the corridor instantly lit up!
The crowd, who had been hanging their heads with livid faces, stifled beyond endurance, all looked up at once, their gazes fixed on the young Genin.
Hope flared in every pair of eyes!
Everyone shared the same thought:
Someone's finally stepped forward!
Someone finally dares to argue back against this troublemaker!
Come on! Prove him wrong! Vindicate Konoha!
Tell this arrogant brat that we Konoha Ninja have never slacked off, that we've always given everything to protect the village!
All the medical ninja held their breath, staring at the Genin with eager, expectant eyes.
All the frustration of having their dignity trampled, being mocked as useless, and having a century of disgrace dredged up by Miki Yūya now rested on this young Genin's shoulders.
He had berated them into silence and crushed them beneath facts until they couldn't lift their heads, but in their hearts, they had never accepted it!
They had worked tirelessly, fought desperately, bled and sacrificed. They had never been lazy or negligent!
They truly had given it their all!
The tension in the corridor instantly reached its breaking point. Every eye was on him, everyone waiting with bated breath!
The young Genin clenched his fists, his cheeks flushed bright red. Facing Miki Yūya's arrogant, disdainful gaze that looked down on everyone, he drew a deep breath, his eyes utterly resolute.
"The Third Hokage killed himself. That doesn't count as incompetence on our part."
"So the actual death rate is twenty-five percent!"
At the Genin's argument, everyone was dumbfounded, Miki Yūya included.
Holy fucking shit!!! Incredible.
Before you continue