"It must have been done by the dark forces of the Ninja World. Hiruzen Sarutobi knew, but he just didn't care."
Their goal might have only been to tarnish Sakumo Hatake's reputation and disqualify him from running for Hokage, but they didn't expect that he was not only a Ninja but also possessed the integrity of a samurai, ultimately deciding to... stand out during the Second Great Ninja War and become a hero.
"How disgusting!"
Yūgao Uzuki cursed silently in her heart.
The Will of Fire was constantly on his lips, yet Sakumo Hatake sacrificed himself for truly upholding that very belief.
How ironic!
Yūgao Uzuki made up her mind to apply to leave the Anbu in a few days.
Working for the Hokage disgusted her. She'd rather be a carefree Ninja teacher, free and unconstrained, and even find opportunities to show her face to Lin Mo.
The destruction of the Uchiha Clan, in essence, was a mess left behind by Tobirama Senju. Hiruzen Sarutobi, out of consideration for Uchiha Kagami, didn't want to wipe them out completely.
Uchiha Shisui and Itachi Uchiha both trusted him. This wasn't as simple as just saying it. Hmph, that Itachi Uchiha, his head must be a bit messed up!
Danzo had been secretly causing trouble. The relationship between the Uchiha Clan and the Village grew increasingly strained. The entire clan planned to rebel. The incompetent Old Monkey had no choice but to hand the matter over to Itachi Uchiha.
As a result, Itachi Uchiha actually... turned on his clansmen and parents, dismantled the clan, and left home, bearing Sasuke's hatred.
This way, Konoha's losses could be minimized, there would be no fear of invasion from other Villages, the Uchiha Clan's dignity would be preserved, Sasuke could grow up in a stable environment, and Itachi Uchiha's deterrent power outside also prevented the Village from making rash moves against Sasuke.
Of course, there were also Obito Uchiha and Danzo, two guys who had always coveted the Sharingan.
However, Itachi Uchiha would probably regret this after doing it, otherwise, why would he join the Akatsuki Organization but never send messages to the Village? Even after Hiruzen Sarutobi died, he returned to the Village immediately, clearly to deter Danzo.
But even so, what could it change? Itachi Uchiha would ultimately have to pay for his foolish actions. Regret was useless.
Oh my!
Seeing this information, the girls were all stunned.
Who would have thought that behind the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan was such a situation, but it also seemed that only this could explain everything.
They both despised and admired Itachi Uchiha, which was not contradictory.
"Itachi! Sasuke!"
In the Pure Land, Uchiha Mikoto cried her heart out.
She hadn't expected things to turn out this way after she and Fugaku died.
Their sacrifice had actually led to the complete destruction of the Uchiha Clan, leaving only Itachi and Sasuke, who had become enemies.
If she had known this would happen, she would have rather risked her life to resist the Konoha higher-ups.
"Fugaku, you made the wrong decision."
At this moment, a chasm that could not be filled opened up in Mikoto's heart towards Fugaku.
Of course, she was filled with deep-seated hatred and killing intent towards Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Swish!"
Her eyes changed, transforming into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and she kept trying, seemingly wanting to form a special pattern.
But it seemed to lack power, or a crucial element was missing, and ultimately the pattern failed to materialize.
"There are still many things not mentioned."
"Either Danzo acted first and reported later, and the Old Monkey just glossed over it."
"Or the Old Monkey tacitly approved of all this, and even went along with it."
"Leaving aside other things, let's just talk about Naruto's pathetic childhood."
"Boom!"
As soon as the words "pathetic childhood" came out, Uzumaki Kushina's entire body immediately condensed with killing intent.
The Nine-Tailed, who had been grumbling while being beaten, suddenly shivered and immediately shut its mouth.
"At first, keeping it a secret that Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the Fourth Hokage's son was understandable; it was to protect him."
The Fourth Hokage's son?
Hinata, Ino, Anko, and Kurenai Yuhi, along with many other women who didn't know about this, were all astonished.
Uzumaki Naruto, hated by the Konoha Villagers, was actually the son of a hero?
Anyone who knew a little about what Naruto had gone through over the years would find it unbelievable.
"No wonder my dad said I could play with him if I wanted to." Ino was glad she hadn't looked down on Naruto, and even treated him quite well because of her relationship with Shikamaru and Choji.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.
Hinata's thoughts were similar.
They also began to understand why Lin Mo was so angry.
But Lin Mo and Naruto weren't close, was there a need to be so angry?
"But not long after, the fact that Naruto was a Jinchuriki was exposed, and he became the object of hatred for the entire Village."
"I heard that the nanny who took care of him even tried to kill him. If the Anbu hadn't discovered it in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"Crack!" Kushina clenched her fists tightly, making cracking sounds, and all the veins on her body bulged.
"This certainly wasn't done by Hiruzen Sarutobi. As the Hokage, he had no need to do so. If his subordinates found out, it would only ruin his image and reputation. Although he didn't have much reputation at that time, he still wanted to save some face."
"The person who leaked Naruto's identity is actually easy to guess. It must be Danzo. He wanted to force the Old Monkey to hand Naruto over to him as a training tool."
"Actually, this matter is easy to resolve. Hiruzen Sarutobi only needed to publicly announce that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son."
"Although the identity of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was off-putting, the identity of a hero's son could at least make him less hostile and maintain superficial peace."
"But Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't do this. Instead, he chose the darkest way to handle it."
"He neither handed Naruto over to Danzo nor announced Naruto's identity as a hero's son. Instead, he issued a gag order to those in the know and secretly ordered the Villagers not to lay hands on the Jinchuriki. So everyone gave this child cold treatment, occasionally even verbally abusing him, for twelve whole years."
Kushina suddenly closed her eyes, and her entire aura completely retracted.
Not far away, the Nine-Tailed's throat tightened, and all its fur stood on end, as if it sensed a great fear about to descend... During those days, whenever Naruto was down, disappointed, and lost, that guy would always appear.
He personally handled the monthly living expenses for Naruto.
He always instilled various ideas into Naruto, telling him that only by becoming Hokage could he protect the Village, thereby establishing a lofty image in Naruto's heart.
He had many ways to deal with Naruto, but he chose the most "clever" one—to become a guiding light in Naruto's heart, firmly controlling him ideologically, making it impossible for the Jinchuriki to escape his control.
He disgusted me, but when I thought of Naruto, I felt even more disgusted by his political maneuvers.
But now, I'm truly fed up with him.
Just now, I told Naruto I wanted to be his guardian, and he was so happy that tears came to his eyes. When I left, he even gave me a bottle of milk he said was cherished, but when I looked, it was expired.
Expired items, or buying expired items, might be due to carelessness.
But Naruto smiled and told me that besides eating Ichiraku Ramen, all the food he bought himself since childhood seemed to be nearly expired.
Hehe, in the entire Konoha Village, so many expired items, and Naruto happened to encounter all of them?
What's even funnier is that when I told Naruto that eating expired food would cause stomach aches, he still smiled foolishly and patted his head, as if he suddenly understood, saying he would never eat it again.
This shows that before this, Naruto had no idea what expired food was!
The Old Monkey could find a pile of reasons to explain Naruto's various encounters, but what about this matter?
Was it just because he didn't get enough to eat?
Naruto was the Uzumaki Clan's Jinchuriki, yet he was the shortest in his class, looking underdeveloped. Did Hiruzen Sarutobi feel no guilt at all when he saw this?
I don't think that's possible, otherwise you would have corrected it long ago.
So you deserve to die, you must be infamous for all eternity, and be reviled by future generations along with Danzo.
"..."
Everyone once again felt Lin Mo's burning anger.
This time, they didn't find it strange; instead, their hearts also felt uneasy.
They were outsiders, but after hearing about Uzumaki Naruto's experiences, they all felt sad for him.
This Hiruzen Sarutobi, he's too inhuman!
"Good, very good!"
In the Sealing Space, Uzumaki Kushina opened her eyes and once again cast a magic blessing.
Not long after, Minato Namikaze's voice echoed in the space again.
"Bang!"
Before Minato Namikaze could even speak, he was punched in the face.
But this was just the beginning.
After punching for a while, Uzumaki Kushina finally stopped, saying coldly, "This is for us, no, for my son."
"I don't need to waste words with you, just see for yourself."
After speaking, Kushina turned to look at the Nine-Tailed, and said coldly, "You, you should know about Naruto's affairs. How about you release your Chakra and transmit your memories to us?"
The Nine-Tailed originally wanted to retort a few words arrogantly.
But as soon as it saw Kushina's eyes, it immediately extended two fists.
"Let's punch each other, Old Man."
Kushina and Minato Namikaze quickly complied.
Bang!
As their fists met, their Chakra connected, and memories began to be shared.
From the Nine-Tailed's perspective, Naruto's life journey began to emerge.
After everything was shown, Minato Namikaze's face was terrifyingly grim, and he didn't say a word.
After a long while, he finally asked Kushina, "Kushina, what are you thinking?"
"What am I thinking?" Kushina looked at Minato Namikaze, her voice as cold as winter ice: "Fourth Hokage-sama, do you want to experience 'dying once' again?"
With Kushina's temper, it was normal for her to be angry if she knew these things.
Instead, her current calmness made Minato Namikaze feel a bit off, even a little scary.
"You want me to actively use the remaining Chakra in the seal, bring Naruto's consciousness over, and then you take the opportunity to sneak out with a Shadow Clone?"
Talking to smart people was easy.
Although Kushina's "dying once" sounded strange, Minato Namikaze still understood what she meant.
According to his plan, the Chakra they left in the seal would be activated when the seal was about to break completely. At that time, they could use the special properties of Chakra to meet him in Naruto's mental world.
His Chakra would emerge first to help Naruto reinforce the seal once.
Kushina's Chakra would follow, helping Naruto control the Nine-Tailed's power, allowing him to enter the Golden State using Nine-Tails Chakra (not the complete Jinchuriki or Nine-Tailed Mode).
But in fact, their Chakra had other uses.
Chakra was formed by mixing physical energy and spiritual energy into "stamina."
Since they could meet Naruto in the mental world, they could naturally also "meet" using some special methods, such as the Clone Jutsu (Bunshin no Jutsu).
The principle of the Shadow Clone was to split one's own Chakra, and because of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, the Nine-Tailed's Chakra and their Chakra could both be considered part of Naruto's Chakra.
If Naruto used a Shadow Clone and their Chakra accounted for the majority, and they could also control the mental space, then they could temporarily take control of that Shadow Clone until the Chakra ran out.
However, to use this method, the premise was that Naruto had to trust them enough, be willing to hand over his Shadow Clone, and also know how to separate their Chakra.
But to achieve this premise, they would first have to meet Naruto and earn his trust.
If they wanted to meet Naruto, there were only two situations: either the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style was about to completely break, or they had to awaken their Chakra early to meet him.
After meeting, the remaining Chakra would disappear.
Kushina's "dying once" referred to this meaning.
"Exactly." Kushina said coldly, "You awaken your Chakra first, pull Naruto's soul into the mental world, we meet him, and then I'll have him make a Shadow Clone to temporarily let me out."
The Nine-Tailed remembered clearly that Naruto had already learned the Shadow Clone.
"What are you up to?" Minato Namikaze didn't rush to agree, but instead asked in confusion, "Are you planning to go to Konoha Village to ****?"
"Even if I wanted to, what then?" Kushina retorted with a tense face, her eyes flashing with killing intent.
She didn't care whether the Villagers were truly ignorant or were being manipulated; their disdain and aggression towards Naruto were undeniable facts.
As a mother, was she wrong to want justice for her son?
"I..." Minato Namikaze was speechless for a moment.
He also felt angry inside, angry at the Villagers for being so cold to Naruto when he was little.
But he was the Hokage after all, and had to handle things calmly with the big picture in mind. Although he was furious, he was helpless.
If he told these words to Kushina, she would probably explode with rage.
"Kushina, our Chakra must be used effectively to protect Naruto, and even help him control the Nine-Tailed's Chakra to deal with that masked man." Minato Namikaze advised gently.
He believed that as long as it was for Naruto's good, Kushina should be able to suppress her anger.
But how could he know that Kushina had encountered many strange things, had a copy of the diary, and now had "magic blessings and infinite energy"? Even if she went out for a stroll, she could still come back and continue to exist.
He also didn't know that Kushina's anger wasn't just due to the Villagers' attitude towards Naruto, but also that Old Monkey—Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was Minato Namikaze's master.
"You didn't protect Naruto when he was little, and now you have the ability to manage him, but you ignore it because of those baseless future visions?" Kushina retorted directly, becoming increasingly displeased with Minato Namikaze.