In that instant, everyone's eyes turned to him.
Hiashi Hyuga slowly closed his eyes. He naturally understood Tōshirō's intention and thought for a moment.
Fine, he thought, I also want to use this opportunity to ask Lord Hokage why he agreed to the Cloud Village's rude and even shameless demand.
Having made up his mind, Hiashi nodded, standing on the same side as Tōshirō on this point.
A smile formed on the corner of Tōshirō's mouth.
Tōshirō had a conspiracy theory about this matter.
The Konoha elders agreeing to the Cloud Village's unreasonable demand was not just for the sake of village peace. They had a more sinister motive.
After this meeting, Tōshirō would personally visit Hiashi, inform him of this conspiracy theory, and take the opportunity to win over the Hyuga clan, making them his allies.
Tōshirō wanted revenge on these four old men.
There were many ways to do it. The easiest was to just go for a head-on confrontation without caring about anything.
Although he had the strength to do so, it would destroy the village and leave it in shambles. Tōshirō didn't want Tsunade to be sad when she was revived and saw this scene.
So Tōshirō chose to win over as many allies as possible. This would also be beneficial for his future management of the village.
Hiruzen's expression was calm as he gave his explanation: "At that time, Konoha had just suffered heavy losses from the Nine-Tails' attack. We lost two powerful forces, the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. Our strength was far less than before, and recuperation was our top priority. If we had gone to war, it would have caused even greater casualties. Our actions were a last resort."
"Taking a step back won't lead to a wider path. On the contrary, it will lead to them taking an inch and asking for a mile."
Tōshirō scoffed: "Besides that incident, I'd like to ask you, Lord Hokage, during the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha clearly won against the Stone Village. Why didn't you press the advantage? On the contrary, you gave in and didn't demand war reparations. Don't you know that this will give our enemies a chance to breathe?"
Although Tōshirō's words were still respectful, his tone showed no reverence. It was even filled with disdain.
Bringing up an old matter, everyone's eyes fell on Hiruzen. At the time, Hiruzen's actions had caused a lot of controversy within the village.
Hiruzen frowned slightly, feeling confused.
Tōshirō had only been back for a short time. How did he know so many old incidents, and how was each one specifically aimed at him?
Did he hear about it from Fugaku?
Hiruzen subtly glanced at Fugaku. Facing the questions, he calmly replied: "When surrounding an enemy, leave an escape route. When pursuing a desperate enemy, do not press too hard, or the war will spiral out of control."
Tōshirō countered: "This peace is nothing but a false one. Once the Stone Village has recovered, they will start another attack for the same reasons. The First and Second Great Ninja Wars are perfect examples.
"As the saying goes, things don't happen in threes. Lord Hokage, this is your third time. Don't you understand yet?"
Hiruzen had no good answer for Tōshirō's barrage of questions.
Soon, a confidant in the crowd, a young man in his twenties, stood up, seemingly unable to bear it anymore, and acted as a shield:
"Tōshirō-sama, aren't you being too aggressive towards the Third Hokage? He had no choice but to act this way. He even resigned from the position of Hokage..."
Tōshirō said forcefully: "This is a conversation for adults, not for you, a little kid."
The young Jonin clearly didn't expect Tōshirō to start cursing without a second thought. His expression froze, and he was completely stunned.
When he came to his senses, he looked at Tōshirō's youthful face and cursed inwardly, who's the little kid here?
Just as he was about to respond, he suddenly saw a pair of blood-red eyes looking at him. A cold aura radiated from them, and he felt a chill envelop him. His body couldn't help but tremble.
"Tōshirō, what are you doing?"
Hiruzen couldn't stand it anymore. His hoarse voice squeezed out of his dry throat.
Despite his old age, he was still the Hokage who led the village, and he could no longer tolerate this young man's insolence.
The polite act and subtle probing between the two were now a thing of the past.
Therefore, one was no longer kind, and the other no longer hid his ambition.
"It's precisely because the village adopted this appeasement strategy that any Tom, Dick, or Harry dares to trample on Konoha."
Facing Hiruzen's angry face, Tōshirō ignored him. He clenched his fist, and with an arrogant gaze, he said word by word, "Strength is the most powerful language. What is peace? Peace is when I decide to fight, and I decide not to fight."
Hiruzen used the same tactic he used against Danzō to suppress Tōshirō: "Tōshirō, I am the Hokage."
Tōshirō dismissed him. Then, as if he suddenly thought of something, the blood red in his eyes slowly faded, and they returned to normal: "Oh, right, Lord Hokage. I've been in the village for a few days, and there's a phenomenon that has always confused me. Can you explain it to me?"
Tōshirō's tone changed. It became more leisurely and less aggressive than before.
But to Hiruzen, it was a completely different matter. If he could, he really didn't want to answer this question:
"What is it?"
Everyone present silently watched the clash between the two.
On the surface, it seemed like they had a strong disagreement about the village's policies. In reality, Tōshirō was using this reason to vent his gloomy emotions and attack Hiruzen.
Tōshirō slowly closed his eyes, and his leisurely tone turned grim: "Why is the Fourth Hokage's son's identity being hidden?"
Hiruzen gave the standard explanation: "It's to protect him."
Tōshirō scoffed: "I've never seen protection through isolation."
"What are you trying to say?"
"What am I trying to say?" Tōshirō said: "I'm not trying to say anything. I'm just stating the facts. Everyone in the village knows Naruto is the 'Demon Fox,' and he also has the last name Uzumaki. Plus, with his blond hair, I think it's not hard for anyone with a brain to guess that Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son and the Jinchuriki, is it?"
"Four years ago, that Cloud ninja was able to avoid the Hyuga clan's eyes and ears and accurately find the Main House's heir. This shows that Konoha's security has been compromised like a sieve.
"Trying to protect him this way is a joke, isn't it?"
"..."
Seeing that Hiruzen wasn't speaking, Tōshirō didn't hold back and continued his questions:
"From what I know, the Nine-Tails was sealed in an area far away from the village. At that time, only a few people saw Naruto, so it would have been easy to keep this a secret. Then, you could have given Naruto a different last name. Wouldn't that have been a safer solution than the one you're using now?"
After saying all this, Tōshirō also blocked any possible responses from Hiruzen: "I just came up with this plan on a whim. I'm sure someone as brilliant as Lord Hokage must have thought of it, right?"
Hiruzen was a bit overwhelmed by Tōshirō's series of attacks.
He didn't expect that Tōshirō would use this to challenge his authority.
Just as he was thinking about how to respond, Danzō, who had been silent, spoke up: "After the Nine-Tails' attack, the villagers were very unstable. We needed Naruto to stabilize the misfortune caused by the disaster."
Hiruzen was stunned.
He looked at Danzō as if he were an idiot.
That look seemed to say, do you even know what you're saying?
Although everyone knew what he was talking about, it wasn't something you could say out loud.
Some things don't weigh much until you put them on a scale, and then they can weigh a thousand pounds.
When Danzō realized he had said the wrong thing, it was already too late.
(End of Chapter)
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