Shut up, you insolent peasant!

That blow hit far too hard.

The anger toward Shuofang Si began to fade from the faces of the elderly villagers who had lived through several shinobi wars, replaced by a complicated expression of reluctance to face the truth.

"During the final stages of the Second Shinobi World War... that was when my son died... he was only nine..."

"In the Third Shinobi World War, all three of my children went to the battlefield, and only one came back... the Third really didn't go to the front lines back then..."

"During the Second Shinobi World War... my dear Itaya..." A middle-aged woman's expression twisted with pain as well.

Those memories had always been there. No one had ever connected them.

No one had ever dared to think of those events together, much less say it aloud.

But Shuofang Si had said it for them, and naturally, they began connecting the dots.

"What? Children that young were sent to the battlefield? How was that any different from the Warring States period?" Hashirama Senju clutched his head in anguish.

"Hey, Monkey, why do you think I went to the front lines myself during the shinobi war-and even stayed behind to cover your retreat?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's answers had initially softened Tobirama Senju's attitude, but now he could no longer contain himself.

Seeing this, Shuofang Si noticed that the Third's face inside had grown even more livid.

Shuofang Si did not dare give anyone a chance to react. What if a shinobi came to their senses and pinned him down?

He spoke again, his voice a little lower, but his tone even colder.

"Power. The Third Hokage's grip on power truly is something to behold."

"The Uchiha Clan, one of the two founding clans of this village, was reduced to a single survivor."

Hashirama Senju frowned. The First Hokage, revived through Impure World Reincarnation-

-for the first time, fixed a solemn gaze on the young villager outside.

"Madara's clan was wiped out?"

Shuofang Si seemed to notice that gaze. He raised his voice and continued.

"And the Senju Clan vanished too. The family of the First and the Second. Are there any members of the Senju Clan left in Konoha now?"

"Where are they?"

"Why did the Senju Clan fight on the very front lines during the shinobi wars and die there? What about the remaining clan members? Did they all give up their surname?"

"Other than Lady Tsunade, who left the village and survived, where is everyone else?!"

Shuofang Si answered his own question, his tone eerie. "They're all gone. Why did both founding clans of Konoha disappear? What a difficult mystery."

Hashirama and Tobirama Senju shuddered violently, turning to stare at Shuofang Si in disbelief.

They were just about to turn back and demand answers from the Third when Shuofang Si launched into another barrage.

"The Uzumaki Clan, Konoha's ally, the birth clan of Lady Mito Uzumaki, the First's wife."

"When the other great nations surrounded them and destroyed their village, did Konoha send troops?"

"No." Shuofang Si was still answering his own questions, but everyone listening was now fully alert, horrified by what they heard.

"Why? Because the Third Hokage didn't want to expend Konoha's military strength for an outside clan. Or rather, he didn't want the Senju Clan, which still held some influence at the time, to retain an ally."

"Shut up, you rabble-rouser! Hurry up and stop him!" Unable to take any more, the Third roared at the Anbu beside him.

"Stop. In my name as the First Hokage, I forbid you from laying a hand on him." Hashirama Senju trembled with rage as he turned to face Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The shinobi, already hesitant, naturally halted their advance upon hearing Hashirama Senju's words.

Who didn't want to hear the juicy details? As for Hiruzen Sarutobi's diehard loyalists, they had already been burned back in the first wave that charged the barrier.

Even Tobirama Senju's expression was filled with anger. His eyes held none of their earlier warmth as he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"And all of this happened during the Third Hokage's rule."

Tobirama Senju's arms were folded, and the veins in his hands now bulged.

Shuofang Si did not pause. His words were blades, stripping away every last trace of the Third Hokage's halo.

"Meanwhile, the Sarutobi Clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi's own family, grew from an ordinary shinobi clan into a behemoth with three thousand shinobi during his rule."

"Three thousand shinobi! How many shinobi does Konoha even have in total?!"

That number sent the crowd into an uproar.

"Three thousand? How could there possibly be that many?"

"Actually, that sounds right. A lot of the shinobi around us belong to the Sarutobi Clan..."

"I applied to join the Anbu before, and they said I wasn't skilled enough. But my classmate from the Sarutobi Clan definitely got in..."

"That... that's not fair!"

"Shut up, you little shit-talker!"

A shinobi wearing clothes bearing the Sarutobi Clan crest suddenly sprang out of the crowd, his gaze vicious and a kunai already raised in his hand.

He had put up with this long enough. This insolent peasant who had appeared out of nowhere kept slandering the Third, and now he dared drag their clan into it too?

He had to shut this brat up now.

But after taking just two steps, he realized something was wrong.

Two Konoha jonin stood beside Shuofang Si. One had silver hair obscuring part of his face and wore a mask; the other had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a green bodysuit.

Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy.

The Sarutobi shinobi faltered.

Shuofang Si had anticipated this moment long ago. His earlier mention of Kakashi had been an excuse to approach them openly.

There was nowhere safer in Konoha right now than behind these two elite jonin, especially when one of their fathers was the very person he intended to bring up next.

"Kakashi," Shuofang Si called out clearly, looking at the silver-haired shinobi beside him.

"Didn't you ever notice something was wrong with your father White Fang's death?"

Kakashi did not move, but from Shuofang Si's angle, he could see the pupil in Kakashi's sole exposed eye contract slightly.

The villagers around them began whispering too. Naturally, they remembered Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, a name that had once struck awe throughout the shinobi world.

The Second raised an eyebrow slightly. That man's swordsmanship had been exceptional, yet he had died? What kind of dangerous mission had it been?

Not a single older person present had forgotten him.

They remembered his strength and achievements, and of course, they remembered his end. They, too, had once gossiped about him.

"There was plenty wrong with what lay behind Konoha's White Fang's suicide back then," Shuofang Si declared loudly.

"Suicide?" Hashirama sounded incredulous.

Kakashi slowly turned around.

His mask concealed most of his expression, but the emotions in his eye were impossible to hide.

Kakashi stared fixedly at Shuofang Si. His gaze held scrutiny and suspicion, but also a trace of pain buried deep in his heart.

How had his father died?

Rumors had driven him to his death, of course. Not only had the comrades he saved condemned him, but the entire village had cursed him too.

In his mind, these mobs had killed his father with public opinion.

He should have turned and left, or simply stopped this man from exploiting the dead.

But for some reason, Kakashi ultimately stayed still. He wanted to hear what came next.