At this moment, every survivor in Konoha—civilian or shinobi—was staring up at Kaede with hatred and fury.
He had destroyed their entire village and killed countless lives!
And Kaede still had the nerve to smile?
What did all those lives mean to him?!
But Kaede ignored all the burning gazes and said with a calm smile:
"Don't look at me like that. I merely helped cleanse you of your sins."
"Perhaps once I'm done speaking, some of you might even wish you had died in that sea of lava just now."
Those words only poured oil on the flames—rage erupted even stronger in the survivors' hearts!
Cleansing their sins? The one who slaughtered so many should be the one to atone!
"Damn Kaede, what twisted thing is he trying now?" muttered Koharu angrily, her glare matching the others'.
Still, she felt lucky—she had made arrangements early, so her clan had escaped major losses.
The only regret was that Konoha's entire industry and infrastructure had been wiped out.
Homura, standing beside her, wasn't as narrow-minded. He turned to Hiruzen.
"Hiruzen, are we just going to let Kaede run wild like this?"
Hiruzen gave a helpless, bitter smile. "Kaede has space-time abilities. He comes and goes as he pleases."
"Without Minato, all we can do is watch him."
Homura clenched his fists. "Damn it!"
Indeed, they were completely powerless against someone who could teleport at will.
And now, Kaede delivered his final psychological blow.
"What I'm about to talk about… I'm sure each of you remembers clearly."
He sighed slightly, as if nostalgic. "I was only seven at the time."
"That night, the Kyūbi suddenly went berserk and attacked Konoha. Your Fourth Hokage, Minato, died trying to save the village."
The moment Kaede brought up the Kyūbi Incident, many present felt a pang of emotion.
It had been one of the greatest crises in Konoha's history—second only to tonight.
But for those who knew the full truth—like Hiruzen and his peers—their expressions instantly darkened.
"That damn Kaede, is he about to expose the demon fox's identity?!" Koharu hissed in panic.
Perhaps after all these years, she had started to believe it herself—referring to Naruto as the Kyūbi.
Hiruzen's face grew grim, his tone heavy with guilt. "Naruto is not the fox. He is the treasure Minato left to Konoha. He is a hero."
Koharu realized she'd misspoken and fell silent with a dismissive scoff.
But deep down, she didn't care much about what Kaede was saying.
So what if the fox's identity was exposed? What difference would it make?
Kaede continued, "You all know the Kyūbi's first jinchūriki."
"But what you don't know… is that the second jinchūriki was Minato's wife—Uzumaki Kushina."
"And the day of the attack just happened to be the day she was giving birth."
At that revelation, many people's faces turned pale.
The Fourth's wife… was the Kyūbi's host?
And she was giving birth on the very same day?
"Could it be…?"
They couldn't help but recall the child they'd scorned as the "demon fox" for the past eight years.
Blond hair. Born on that very night.
The implications hit them like a thunderbolt.
Some of the sharper ones had figured this out long ago—but had chosen to remain silent.
"Looks like you've all realized it." Kaede smiled coldly.
"That's right—the one you've called the 'fox' for eight years… is the Fourth Hokage's son."
Kaede let out a sigh. "Isn't it ironic?"
"The Fourth gave up his newborn son to seal the Kyūbi… to protect this village."
"And all of you… you returned the favor by treating his son like garbage. You cursed him. Shunned him. For eight long years."
"I imagine if the Fourth could see you now, he'd regret stopping the Kyūbi. He should have let it wipe out you idiots."
"So tell me—aren't your deaths merely paying for your sins?"
Kaede's voice dripped with scorn as he looked at the people below.
Hiruzen was the root of the evil, yes—but all those who willingly acted as his pawns were no less guilty.
And surely, in all these years, someone must have figured it out.
But they chose silence.
Or worse—they needed a scapegoat for their fear and anger.
People like that? Their deaths weren't tragic in the slightest.
To Kaede, almost everyone in Konoha—except for a handful—deserved exactly what they got.
Now that the truth had been laid bare, everyone felt as if they'd swallowed a fly—disgusted and sick.
There were even a few true fools who were only now realizing the truth.
And yet, even when the blame clearly lay with themselves, they refused to admit they had abused a hero's son.
That's when Hiruzen shouted: "Kaede! Stop twisting the truth!"
"The Fourth killed countless people in the war. We hid Naruto's identity to protect him!"
Kaede looked at him with pure disdain.
"You're such a righteous saint, aren't you?"
"Hiding that he was the Fourth's son—what does that have to do with exposing him as the Kyūbi's host?"
"Or do you think the other villages wouldn't try to kill an untrained jinchūriki?"
"Sure, some might want revenge on the Fourth—but every shinobi village wants the Kyūbi dead."
He sneered:
"Look at the other villages. Which of them doesn't go to extreme lengths to protect their jinchūriki?"
"Only you… you practically announced Naruto's identity to the world!"
"And you call that protection? What a joke."
Hiruzen's face turned dark as ash—he had no rebuttal.
Because deep down, Kaede was right.
By labeling Naruto as the fox, he had given the villagers a target for their grief and rage.
And he got to play the "kind grandfather" in Naruto's life—earning the boy's trust while keeping him isolated.
Kaede knew all this.
He added coldly, "But there's always been something that's bugged me."
"Kushina's childbirth was an absolute secret—only a few people in the entire village knew."
"So I want to know… how did that location get leaked?"
In the original story, Obito had only learned Kushina was giving birth—he never knew the location.
But that night… he had shown up right on time.
The role played by Konoha's leadership in this betrayal… was clear.
In the crowd, Danzo—who had finally regained consciousness—stood with a dark expression.
Yes. It had been him.
Minato had been firmly under Hiruzen's control—Hiruzen wouldn't have done it.
But the rest of the elders? At Kaede's question, a chill ran down their spines.
The implications were horrifying.
Kaede's goal had been achieved. He no longer lingered.
"Hiruzen, go ahead and explain things to these idiots yourself."
With that, he vanished.
Konoha had been destroyed. Thousands of shinobi were dead.
His revenge had gone above and beyond.
Now it was time to begin his next move.
He hadn't wasted all that breath just to smear Hiruzen's reputation.
"Naruto… heh…"
...
(End of Chapter)
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