Is This What He Called the Will of Fire?!

"Orochimaru, of course!" the villagers answered almost in unison.

"Orochimaru is a rogue ninja! He joined forces with Sunagakure to attack Konoha!"

"That's right! Orochimaru did it!"

Shuofang Si waited for their cries to subside a little, then curled his lips into a smile.

"Fine, you say it was Orochimaru. But what if I told you that when Orochimaru defected all those years ago, Hiruzen Sarutobi not only enabled him, but even let him escape?"

"What bullshit are you spouting?"

"How fucking dare you slander Lord Third?"

Shuofang Si sensed the mood around him and acted before things could escalate further.

He turned straight toward the Four Violet Flames Formation and shouted with all his strength, "Hey! Orochimaru!"

"Do you dare admit that the Third let you escape back then?"

His voice cut through the din of battle and reached inside the Four Violet Flames Formation.

Inside the barrier, Orochimaru, who was facing off against the Third Hokage, tilted his head slightly.

His serpentine eyes shifted away from the battlefield inside the barrier and settled on the young villager outside who clearly had no idea what he was getting himself into.

His gaze sharpened, but after giving Shuofang Si an indifferent glance, he looked away and returned his attention to the Third.

The villagers behind Shuofang Si immediately burst into mocking laughter.

"See? Even Orochimaru can't be bothered with you!"

"You're making shit up, and he won't even waste his breath on you!"

"You lying bastard! Weren't you full of talk when you were bad-mouthing Lord Hokage?"

"Exposed on the spot, weren't you? Clown!"

"Let me teach you a lesson! Stop making a fool of yourself here!"

Stones began flying from the crowd. Some people even threw roof tiles, striking Shuofang Si's shoulders and back.

But soon, the civilians and some of the younger ninja noticed something.

The masked Anbu and the Chunin and Jonin maintaining order around the perimeter were reacting very differently from the villagers.

They had fallen silent.

When Shuofang Si shouted to Orochimaru, these ninja instinctively looked toward him, waiting for a response.

But they knew Orochimaru. They knew the Cold Lord who had once commanded them in battle.

Orochimaru had spent many years in Konoha. They knew his way of doing things all too well.

A hoarse voice broke the ninja's silence.

It belonged to a Jonin whose face was twisted with pain.

He looked to be in his forties, with an old scar at the corner of his eye and disbelief filling his gaze.

"But... my older brother back then..." Even his voice was trembling.

"Didn't they say he died fighting Orochimaru...? He was in the Anbu. He died on a classified mission... Lord Third personally signed his commendation... I-I was even proud of it..."

He abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at the Third Hokage inside the barrier.

"If Lord Third let Orochimaru escape back then... then my brother... what really happened to him?!"

Another ninja nearby spoke quietly, muttering to himself.

"When we destroyed Orochimaru's secret base back then... I remember it clearly. The Anbu sent to pursue him suffered heavy casualties, but the Third didn't even seem to get his clothes dirty."

Those words brought the atmosphere to a complete standstill.

The villagers stopped throwing stones. They might not have understood the information these ninja possessed, but they could read their expressions.

The look of someone who had been deceived for decades only to suddenly discover the truth could not be faked.

"What... so it's actually true?"

"Orochimaru... really was allowed to escape?"

"Lord Third personally let a traitor go?"

"Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!"

"But if it's impossible, why didn't Orochimaru deny it?"

Whispers spread throughout the crowd, and for the first time, uncertainty appeared on the villagers' faces.

Watching this, Shuofang Si took a deep breath and suppressed the excitement rising in his heart. The first step had worked.

But letting Orochimaru escape would, at most, put a single stain on the Third Hokage's shining image. If he explained it as lingering affection for his former student, it would not be enough to bring him down completely.

Shuofang Si, however, had more cards to play.

Without giving the crowd time to think, Shuofang Si rubbed the spot where a roof tile had struck him and spoke again, louder this time.

"That's right! He let Orochimaru escape, so everything the village is suffering now was caused by his softheartedness back then. And that's not all!"

The Third was staring at Shuofang Si in disbelief. Shuofang Si pointed at him inside the barrier and demanded, stressing every word, "You say he's the strongest Hokage? You say he's given everything for the village?"

"Then let me ask you: as Hokage, aside from those early days, how many times did he actually go to the battlefield?"

The crowd quieted.

"During the Second Shinobi World War, it was the Sannin who made their names. Young people like Princess Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru risked their lives on the front lines. That was also when Konoha's White Fang earned his fearsome reputation."

"During the Third Shinobi World War, Lord Fourth rose to prominence and turned the tide. The name Yellow Flash rang throughout the shinobi world. Enemy ninja who encountered him were allowed to abandon their missions without punishment."

Shuofang Si's voice echoed across the rooftop, every word striking heavily against the villagers' hearts.

"In all those shinobi world wars, the other ninja villages ganged up on Konoha. But think carefully: in which one did the Third Hokage personally lead his forces into battle?"

"In which one did he stand on the very front lines?"

Shuofang Si paused, sweeping his gaze over the villagers who had begun exchanging looks, and curled his lips into a mocking smile.

Inside the barrier, the First and Second were stunned as well.

"Why have wars kept breaking out? This shouldn't have happened." Hashirama Senju looked deeply shaken.

"Heh. Big brother, I told you long ago that your approach wouldn't work. How could ninja possibly understand one another?" Tobirama Senju continued dealing his older brother crushing blows.

"But I never expected you to stop going to the battlefield altogether, Monkey. When you volunteered to cover our retreat back then, I thought you embodied the Will of Fire more than anyone."

The Second stared at Monkey, his gaze as deep as an abyss.

"I... Teacher, it was so someone could hold the fort in the village. If something happened to me, the other nations would think Konoha was easy prey and take advantage of our weakness."

For an instant, the Third felt as though he had returned to his days serving under his teacher. But a moment later, his expression firmed, and he answered bravely.

"You really aren't the Shinobi Hero you once were. I was right to come," Orochimaru said coldly. Watching the situation unfold, he was in no hurry to insert the control tags into the two Hokage summoned through Impure World Reincarnation.

Shuofang Si paid no attention to the excuses inside the barrier and kept hammering away.

"Instead, he sent children barely a few years old onto the battlefield."

"Kakashi graduated at five, became a Chunin at six, and a Jonin at twelve. You think that's the glory of a genius? Surely you don't? Surely?"

By now, more civilians had gathered. Seeing that the area near the barrier was safe, they had approached, bringing the crowd to well over fifty people.

As he spoke, Shuofang Si walked over to Kakashi, who stood off to one side. Bewildered at suddenly being mentioned, Kakashi pointed at his own mask.

"A twelve-year-old child should have been enjoying his childhood at the Ninja Academy, yet he was sent into the meat grinder of a shinobi world war!"

"Take his former team, for example. Rin Nohara, a teammate his own age, died on the battlefield!"

"And Obito Uchiha was only in his early teens. In the end, they couldn't even recover his whole body."

"He was such a good kid. I once saw him helping an old lady across the street." Shuofang Si's words made Kakashi shudder beside him.

"And so many more young ninja whose names you may never even have heard-Konoha's seedlings. Before they had a chance to grow up, this 'kindly' Grandpa Third sent them onto the battlefield and turned them into fertilizer for Konoha."

Shuofang Si suddenly thrust a finger toward Hiruzen Sarutobi inside the barrier, his voice rising to almost a roar.

"Is this what he called the Will of Fire?! New leaves become fertilizer, while old leaves shamelessly keep clinging to the branches?!"

"Countless young lives burned away, while this old leaf has stayed on the branch for decades without budging!"