Beside her, Jiraiya wore an expression of overwhelming turmoil, his eyes filled with bitterness and grief.
Minato Namikaze was the student he was proudest of-the most perfect, the least troublesome. Supremely gifted and pure of heart, he was everything Jiraiya believed a ninja should be.
Yet such a man's life had ended in such an absurd way.
He had died at a student's hands, caught in a deliberately engineered conspiracy.
"Minato was the most perfect ninja I've ever known."
"What a cruel joke life is, for him to meet an end like that..."
Tsunade sat beside him, silent throughout. Only after a long while did she softly murmur that once-vibrant name.
"Kushina..."
That girl she had watched grow up, fiery in temper yet kindhearted, passionate and sincere, should have lived a peaceful, happy life, with a husband who loved her and a child soon to be born.
Instead, her seal had been broken, her tailed beast extracted, and she had died a brutal death on the spot.
Everyone mourned her. Everyone's heart ached.
Inside a classroom at the Konoha Ninja Academy, the atmosphere was deathly still.
A group of young children sat quietly. No one played around, no one spoke, and everyone instinctively stole glances at Naruto.
From the earlier Sky Screen scenes, they had already learned Naruto's identity, as well as who had killed his parents.
Now, watching that conspiracy appear on the Sky Screen again still filled them with anger.
At that moment, Naruto Uzumaki's blue eyes were already bloodshot, brimming with tears. His entire body trembled slightly, his chest heaving.
He had already seen the outcome of the Nine-Tails' Attack on the Sky Screen and learned that his parents had sacrificed themselves to protect the village.
All of it had been meticulously orchestrated by Black Zetsu