Tōshirō seized this verbal loophole and retorted: "Did you ever ask the deceased Fourth Hokage and his wife for their opinion on this?"
Tōshirō's words struck a chord in everyone's hearts.
The air was so still it felt like it had solidified.
Everyone knew what would happen to a Jinchuriki. Despite this, the Fourth Hokage and his wife still fought to seal the Nine-Tails inside their own child, preserving this powerful fighting force for the village.
Because of this selflessness, the villagers should have protected Naruto. Instead, they did the opposite, pretending to hide the truth while the whole village knew, playing out "The Emperor's New Clothes."
The elders could argue it was for Konoha's protection, but after Tōshirō's direct words, that argument no longer held water.
If they had truly wanted to hide Naruto's identity as the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, things would never have gotten to this point.
"Putting aside the rush and the importance of the task, with the Fourth Hokage's personality, he wouldn't have chosen anyone else to be the vessel for the Tailed Beast.
"Naruto has the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan, plus the burden of being the Hokage's son, so he chose Naruto as the Nine-Tails' vessel.
"But I think the Fourth Hokage must have been very clear about what would happen to a Jinchuriki. No parent doesn't feel for their child. He probably thought that the village, seeing his sacrifice, would treat Naruto as the son of a hero. So, in the end, he unhesitatingly chose to seal the Nine-Tails within his son."
At this point, Tōshirō sneered: "But I don't think the Fourth Hokage ever imagined that the village would hide Naruto's identity, causing his child to face inhumane discrimination from a young age."
As Tōshirō finished his speech, everyone in the room looked at the elders on the platform, their eyes asking for an explanation.
The topic had been brought up so directly that if they didn't answer well, their political standing would be severely damaged, and they might even be disgraced.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane might be the types who only get a paycheck, but they had been in leadership positions for so long that they still had some composure.
Of course, they had Hiruzen Sarutobi to cover for them.
Danzō remained silent. He had already made one mistake and decided not to speak again to avoid another one.
Of course, he had Hiruzen Sarutobi to cover for him.
Hiruzen's composure was as solid as a rock. He didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he chuckled and said: "You weren't even in the village at that time. How do you know so much?"
Hiruzen said this to stall for time, giving himself an opportunity to think of a counter-argument to Tōshirō's verbal attack.
He was also hinting to everyone present that Tōshirō was a suspect in controlling the Nine-Tails.
It's well known that there are only two ways to control a Tailed Beast: Wood Release and the Sharingan.
Wood Release was already extinct, so the only thing left was the Sharingan.
When the Nine-Tails was controlled, the three tomoe in its large eyes were obvious. Anyone who wasn't blind could see that it was a symptom of Sharingan control.
Because of this, everyone subconsciously suspected that the Uchiha clan was responsible.
Either an Uchiha from the village or an Uchiha from outside.
But even with the Sharingan, not just anyone could control a Tailed Beast.
Controlling a Tailed Beast required extremely powerful dōjutsu.
This narrowed the scope, and coincidentally, Tōshirō was definitely one of the few who had the dōjutsu to control a Tailed Beast.
If Tōshirō had died completely, no one would have suspected him. But this guy was not only alive and well, he was getting younger and younger, which made people's minds wander.
Some were even bold enough to think that Tōshirō might have been possessed and had become someone else.
The reason was clear. If his goal was to incite Konoha and cause an internal war, then Tōshirō's disrespect toward the Hokage at the meeting would make perfect sense.
If you can tarnish a person's reputation, no one will believe anything they say.
Hiruzen's heart was truly treacherous.
Tōshirō said calmly: "The Nine-Tails' attack was a huge incident. Kushina was a member of Mito's clan and inherited the Nine-Tails from her. It's only natural that I would care about this, right?"
Hiruzen nodded, accepting Tōshirō's explanation.
"Lord Hokage, you still haven't answered my question," Tōshirō said coldly and aggressively. He wanted to see Hiruzen struggle and expose his cunning and treacherous side.
Facing the gaze of countless eyes, Hiruzen remained unperturbed. He slowly closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed: "First, I must apologize for what Danzō just said.
"To a certain extent, the village did use Naruto to calm the villagers' unstable emotions."
"How could that be..."
When this statement was made, some of the naive ninjas present felt their worldview shatter. They couldn't accept that the village would use a child for something like this.
Hearing the Third Hokage admit to this, Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Yashiro were inwardly pleased. With this blemish confirmed, Hiruzen Sarutobi's time as Hokage was over.
This would make Tōshirō-sama's rise to power a matter of course.
Tōshirō frowned, not so optimistic.
His suspicion was soon confirmed when Hiruzen calmly said, with a "but" to deny everything he said before: "...that was just a side effect. The village had a different hidden motive for doing this."
Everyone looked at him with confusion: "A hidden motive?"
Tōshirō didn't know what this old man was going to say, but he knew it wouldn't be something that benefited him.
Hiruzen sighed: "I shouldn't have said this, but since Tōshirō has returned, the village's strength has greatly increased. We don't have to be afraid of being exposed anymore, so I'll explain it."
Tōshirō cursed inwardly. Hiruzen hadn't said anything yet, but he was already making himself look magnificent and righteous. Tōshirō, on the other hand, was being portrayed as a small-minded man.
Tōshirō snorted, wondering what Hiruzen would say next to justify his decision not to reveal Naruto's identity.
Under the gaze of many eyes, Hiruzen slowly began to explain: "It was to test Naruto's capacity as a Jinchuriki."
"Test?"
No one understood what discrimination had to do with testing.
Hiruzen continued:
"First, even if the villagers knew Naruto's identity, they wouldn't show it, but their fear would still cause them to have an involuntary bias.
"This is not without precedent. For example, the previous Jinchuriki of the Cloud Village, Fugaku. He was an excellent ninja and had a special status as the Fourth Raikage's cousin. But even so, the villagers' attitude towards him changed after he became the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki. They looked at him with strange eyes, which exhausted him physically and mentally, and eventually led to the Eight-Tails raging inside him.
"Second, if Naruto knew he was the Fourth Hokage's son, it would create a huge psychological gap for him from a young age, which is not good for his mental development.
"There is another example: the Fourth Kazekage's youngest son, Gaara. It seems that he had a mental breakdown and psychological pressure, which caused the Tailed Beast inside him to go out of control once. From what I know, that happened even though he only lost his mother at birth. You can imagine what would have happened to Naruto, who lost both of his parents.
"Finally, it was to consciously temper Naruto's character from a young age.
"There's a saying: Children from poor families learn to be self-reliant early. This applies to Naruto as well.
"A person who has nothing is often very strong, not because they were born that way, but because their environment forces them to be strong, to move forward, and to grow.
"When he gets through all the hardships and looks back, he will realize that they were a valuable treasure. All the difficulties that didn't defeat him will ultimately make him stronger!
"Only in this way can he have the opportunity to control the power of the Nine-Tails and become a truly perfect Jinchuriki like the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki, Killer B, inherit the Will of Fire, and protect the village like the past Kage."
Hiruzen's response could be called perfect.
First, he powerfully countered the argument that the village was compromised by spies. After all, other villages were also compromised by Konoha.
It wasn't that the village's security was not in place, but that some things were simply unavoidable.
Second, he perfectly explained why the village treated Naruto the way it did and even gave two logical examples, which made it impossible not to be convinced.
Third, he also hinted at his intention to train Naruto to be the next Hokage.
Frankly, if Tōshirō hadn't been tricked by Hiruzen before, even he would have almost believed it.
If that was the case for Tōshirō, it was even more so for everyone else.
At this moment, the ninjas below looked at Hiruzen differently.
That's it. The truth has been revealed.
Tōshirō was dissatisfied with the elders' oppression of the Uchiha, so he was challenging the elders on behalf of the Uchiha clan.
Because of this, everyone present felt very guilty and regretful.
They had just doubted the Third Hokage, who had worked tirelessly for the village, and the elders' good intentions, and had so easily believed Tōshirō, who had just returned to the village.
It was this guilt that added another layer of bias to their existing prejudice against the Uchiha.
Seeing everyone's suspicious gazes, Uchiha Yashiro and Uchiha Inabi cursed inwardly.
They never thought things would turn out this way.
The situation was completely in the elders' favor. Danzō couldn't sit still and added more fuel to the fire, vowing to completely isolate the Uchiha: "Tōshirō, you should know that not everyone is born with the Sharingan like you, which makes it easier to control a Tailed Beast.
"For an ordinary person, controlling a Tailed Beast's power is as difficult as reaching for the sky. Normally, once a person becomes a Jinchuriki, the Tailed Beast will be with them for life unless they die. The village has put a lot of thought into making Naruto a perfect Jinchuriki."
This statement was both a mockery of Tōshirō, saying he was a perfect Jinchuriki only because he was lucky enough to have the Sharingan, and an insinuation that Tōshirō was against ordinary ninjas.
At the same time, he was hinting at Tōshirō's current physical condition.
You see, when a Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beast also dies and will only be revived after a long time. The Five-Tails is an example. Now there is a different Jinchuriki for the Five-Tails.
In other words, Tōshirō must have died at least once.
Who knows if the Tōshirō standing in front of them is the real him?
Once people started to have this suspicion, no one would believe anything Tōshirō said, and they would only think he had ulterior motives.
Tōshirō was careless. He didn't expect this old man to perfectly cover up his mistake.
He really was worthy of being a politician. His words were so sharp, he could make black seem white and white seem black.
Tōshirō's expression quickly returned to its calm state after a moment of displeasure.
Oh well...
It would be boring if these old men were so easily defeated.
Strength is the most powerful language.
Tōshirō, with his powerful strength, had absolute confidence.
The worst-case scenario was that he would just flip the table like a crow.
Hmph...
Tōshirō sneered inwardly. The old men better not give him an opportunity.
He could make countless mistakes, but they could only make one.
(End of Chapter)
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