['What a coincidence—far too much of a coincidence!']
['This must be connected to that rotten old man!']
—Whoosh—
[Under the cover of night, a nimble figure melted swiftly into the darkness.]
[Before long, little Naruto returned to his home.]
[He removed the nightwear he had obtained from Sakura, folded it neatly, placed it into a box, and hid it under the bed.]
["That place… if I remember correctly, it should be the Hyūga clan."]
["The one who was just beaten to death… no—who fell to his own death—seems to be the Kumogakure envoy I saw earlier today."]
[Little Naruto continuously adjusted his breathing.]
[Finally, he went into the bathroom and splashed water on his face to calm himself down.]
[Seeing a dead body for the first time made him uncomfortable—but also stirred something disturbingly unfamiliar within him.]
[That contradiction made him afraid to linger.]
[Besides, that rotten old man was still one of Konoha's strongest. Little Naruto had no confidence he could hide for long.]
[In truth, little Naruto still didn't know that the sensation of being watched he usually felt wasn't only from ANBU. Sarutobi Hiruzen was also observing him through a crystal ball.]
Orochimaru: "Naruto-kun isn't exactly wrong."
Hyūga Neji: "So it was because of you all along, Third Hokage!"
Senju Tobirama: "A crystal ball?"
Senju Tobirama: "That should be a leftover artifact from the barrier I set up back then."
Senju Tobirama: "If I remember correctly, using that crystal ball is extremely easy to detect."
Tsunade: "So that thing was left behind by Second Grandpa? Your reputation really is terrible."
(Because of the Byakugan's special nature, its use within the village was long restricted under normal circumstances.)
Tsunade: "That old bastard loved using it to spy on women's bathhouses—taking advantage of civilians who don't have chakra or sensory abilities."
Tsunade: "Including that Jiraiya you were just cursing—what he wanted most was that crystal ball."
As Tsunade's words fell—
Konoha instantly exploded into an uproar.
Women gathered together, whispering furiously.
There was no need to say what they were talking about.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face changed drastically.
Yet because of his identity—and Jiraiya's—
even the civilian women of Konoha, no matter how resentful they felt, didn't dare to curse them openly in such a public setting.
After all, Jiraiya was his disciple—one of the Legendary Sannin who had inherited much from him.
All of them had targeted civilian women while spying.
How many villagers didn't know about it?
And when facing shinobi of that level, who would dare truly get angry?
Senju Tobirama: "Outrageous!!!"
Senju Tobirama: "Monkey! Destroy that crystal ball immediately!!!"
Senju Tobirama completely lost his temper.
Every time he thought his legacy had already been criticized enough—
But no!
Every single time, a new stain was uncovered.
In the Pure Land—
Senju Tobirama's eyes were already moist.
He was genuinely furious to the point of tears.
He had fought countless battles, suffered countless wounds, shed rivers of blood—
Yet he had never cried.
And now, even after death, he was being driven to tears by decisions he himself had made in the past.
Unbearable.
Senju Tobirama immediately went into full verbal assault mode.
Even Senju Hashirama was stunned.
He had rarely seen his younger brother this enraged.
Most of the time, Tobirama had always been extremely calm.
Just hearing Tobirama's voice was enough to silence even his old rival, Uchiha Izuna.
Is someone starting a group attack?
Kushina instantly followed up.
Seeing his wife finally speak after a long silence—
Namikaze Minato took a deep breath.
He absolutely did not want to be separated from his wife even after death.
So he cautiously joined in the denunciation of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Namikaze Minato: "Third… old monkey, you idiot!"
All the deceased: "???"
Senju Tobirama: "Fourth Hokage, don't say anything yet!"
Uzumaki Kushina: "Shut up!"
Senju Hashirama: "Hahahaha~"
Senju Tobirama: "Big brother, you too—shut up!"
...
Unsurprisingly, they were muted again.
However—
With them taking the lead,
and with the Four Great Villages' representatives in the chatroom following their respective Kage,
voices denouncing Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya began appearing even on Konoha's side.
Most of them were women.
Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered the brim of his Hokage hat.
He had thought his old face was already completely disgraced—
Turns out there was still plenty left to lose.
The Sarutobi clan hadn't dared to show themselves at all.
"So that crystal ball… can actually monitor me?"
"Wait—it can even spy on women's bathhouses?"
"That's really enviable…"
Smack—
No sooner had Naruto finished speaking than he felt a chill behind him.
Immediately after, the back of his head was smacked.
"Neji!"
"I—I was joking!"
Naruto's face flushed red as he tried to defend himself.
But when he turned around—
The one who struck him wasn't Hyūga Neji.
It was Yamanaka Inoichi, his expression dark.
"Naruto, you actually admire this kind of behavior?"
"Do you believe—forget it, I won't even ask."
Yamanaka Inoichi took a deep breath.
Then his voice rang out in the chatroom.
Yamanaka Inoichi: "Kushina, Naruto says he feels a bit envious."
Uzumaki Kushina: "My Naruto… wuwuwu… Inoichi-senpai, hit him!"
Uzumaki Naruto: "That's not true, Mom! I was joking!"
Uzumaki Naruto: "Right! It's the whispering voices in my head that caused these filthy thoughts—I'm resisting them… ah—!"
Thus—
The previously tense and heavy atmosphere was completely ruined by Naruto.
But the price he paid—
was being spanked by Yamanaka Inoichi in front of everyone.
[—A low hum—]
[Little Naruto raised his head and stared at himself in the mirror.]
[For a moment, he froze.]
[His originally azure eyes had turned an eerie crimson.]
[However, it didn't last long.]
["Fox demon?"]
["Was it because I saw something bloody?"]
["Or because my emotions fluctuated too violently just now?"]
[Little Naruto stood there for a long while.]
[Then he began reviewing what had just happened.]
["The feeling wasn't very strong—but when that power appeared… it still felt very comfortable."]
[Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails' eyes also glimmered with faint red light.]
['The seal is loosening more and more. While the brat still hasn't learned chakra refinement, I should leak out more chakra…']
[Meanwhile.]
[After learning the full sequence of events, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face grew terrifyingly dark.]
[Seeing this, Hyūga Hiashi glanced at the girl in his arms, then finally knelt on one knee before Sarutobi Hiruzen.]
[Sarutobi Hiruzen waved his hand. "No need for that. Just handle the body properly."]
[With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen turned and left, his expression grim.]
[The ANBU shinobi also realized things were spiraling out of control and hurriedly took the corpse away.]
[After the two left—]
[Hyūga Hiashi slowly stood up while holding little Hinata.]
["It seems this matter won't end so easily."]
[An elderly voice sounded from behind him.]
[Hyūga Hiashi handed Hinata to the old man's arms.]
["I'll take care of it."]
[After speaking, Hyūga Hiashi glanced once more at Hinata, still asleep.]
[Then he silently walked toward the dojo.]
"Father…"
Watching what had already happened once before,
Hinata's heart clenched painfully.
"Big sister, did Father do something wrong?"
"Wasn't that person trying to kidnap you?"
Hanabi was very clever—but not yet old enough to easily understand all of this.
Hinata shook her head and tightly grasped Hanabi's small hand.
Hyūga Hiashi sat in the contestants' waiting room and let out a powerless sigh.
Originally, he had planned to wait there for Neji and then stage a scene of 'It was too crowded outside just now'—
After which he would hand Neji the letter left behind by Hyūga Hizashi.
But…
Taking it early or late would've been fine.
Yet choosing to reveal it precisely when Neji exposed the Hyūga clan's Caged Bird Seal before countless foreign village leaders and daimyō—
That timing was… extremely thought-provoking.
[What followed was simple.]
[That night.]
[All the major clan heads were summoned for a meeting.]
[By day, it had been a celebration; by night, an emergency conference.]
[Most clan heads guessed it was related to the Kumogakure envoy.]
[However, when they arrived at the meeting room—]
[What they saw was the corpse of the Kumogakure envoy.]
[No matter the circumstances, nations at war do not kill envoys.]
[The clan heads' hearts sank to the bottom.]
[Even if the other side was at fault, they could have detained him.]
[The current situation was extremely bad—especially since he represented Kumogakure.]
["Everyone, take a seat."]
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