Naruto clenched the red scarf in his hands so tightly that his knuckles turned white, hatred all but spilling from his eyes.
"The Sarutobi Clan sat in positions of power, enjoying the peace my parents bought with their lives."
"They reaped all the glory from my parents' sacrifice and monopolized every resource that should have been mine."
"Yet they left the heroes' only child out in the bitter wind to freeze and starve!"
"They tossed the only gift those heroes left their child into a warehouse for rats to chew on!"
"They erased every trace of those heroes! They left their child alone and helpless for his entire life!"
"What gave them the right?!"
Naruto let out a low roar, his voice hoarse and crazed.
"The Sarutobi Clan grew into what it is today on the back of my parents' sacrifice!"
"They enjoyed the benefits their whole lives!"
"They stood on my parents' corpses and held power for all those years!"
"Then they deserve to pay the price!"
"They have to die!"
Those words sealed the Sarutobi Clan's fate once and for all.
This was not a battle of schemes.
This was not a matter of checks and balances.
This was not about Konoha's political landscape.
It was a blood feud!
Everyone's scalp prickled, their bodies turned cold, and not one of them could utter another word in Hiruzen Sarutobi's defense.
So that was it!
That was the real reason the future Naruto had turned dark!
He had not been cold-blooded or heartless!
He had been oppressed, lied to, deprived, and had his heartfelt feelings trampled on for twenty or thirty years!
On Konoha's streets, every villager fell utterly silent, their faces filled with anger.
They had stood by indifferently back then, never knowing that the aloof child they saw