"Slander. This is all slander!"
"The Fourth Raikage is spouting nonsense!"
"For someone bearing the title of Raikage to do such a thing is utterly shameful. I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, swear that everything the Fourth Raikage said was false. Next, I will explain in detail the full sequence of events regarding the Hyuga clan incident."
"If even half a sentence of mine is false, may I be struck by heavenly lightning and die a wretched death!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi truly had no other choice.
The Fourth Raikage had used his status as Raikage to accuse Hiruzen Sarutobi. Added to the countless rumors and suspicious points from before, even inside Konoha, positive discussion regarding Hiruzen Sarutobi only held a slight advantage.
Outside Konoha, however, negative opinion regarding Hiruzen Sarutobi overwhelmingly dominated.
"The Kumogakure envoy came to Konoha under the public pretext of discussing cooperation, but in reality, they harbored malicious intent."
"I knew nothing whatsoever about their infiltration into the Hyuga main family."
"They themselves refused to admit it. They only said that one of their people had died and demanded blood for blood."
"The Hyuga clan failed to preserve evidence that Kumogakure shinobi had infiltrated their compound. On the contrary, they allowed Kumogakure to obtain evidence that they had killed a Kumogakure shinobi. Even though I knew something was wrong, there was nothing I could do."
"That was what led to Hyuga Hizashi's death."
"The Hyuga clan internally decided to have Hyuga Hizashi die in Hyuga Hiashi's place, but Kumogakure saw through it. That was what led to Hyuga Yamatsubaki's death."
"I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, believe I have a clear conscience."
"Tell me—if you were in this old man's position, what else could you have done?"
This announcement from Hiruzen Sarutobi pushed the blame onto two targets.
The first was Kumogakure.
Kumogakure was the evil party. It had nothing to do with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The second was the Hyuga clan.
The Hyuga clan had been foolish. They had neither preserved evidence of Kumogakure shinobi infiltrating the Hyuga compound nor prevented Kumogakure from obtaining evidence of their killing of the Kumogakure shinobi.
Only because of that had Kumogakure been able to use the matter to make such a huge issue.
Otherwise, there would never have been any matter of blood for blood.
Their second act of foolishness was taking matters into their own hands and having Hyuga Hizashi die in Hyuga Hiashi's place, only for Kumogakure to see through it.
That was what caused the Hyuga clan to suffer further losses.
Some people accepted Hiruzen Sarutobi's explanation.
"What Hokage-sama said should be true. He even dared to swear such an oath. That means the Raikage must have said those things purely to smear Hokage-sama's reputation. Kumogakure has never been anything good."
"Back then, they invited Second Hokage-sama to Kumogakure for peace talks, only to suddenly attack and cause the deaths of Second Hokage-sama and Uchiha Kagami. They're a bunch of faithless oath-breakers."
"You can't trust anything they say."
One Konoha shinobi began blaming Sunagakure.
"Sunagakure has gone too far too. Ninja World Weekly claims to be fair and highly credible, but they didn't even verify whether the Raikage's words were true before publishing them directly."
"What credibility do they have doing that?"
A Sunagakure shinobi was dissatisfied.
"Verify whether the Raikage's words were true or false? How are we supposed to verify that? Why don't you verify it for me, then? And on what basis are you so sure the Raikage lied instead of your Hokage?"
"Our Sunagakure's Ninja World Weekly guarantees that those words were personally spoken by the Raikage. Isn't that enough?"
Some shinobi secretly guided public opinion within Konoha.
"This is all Kumogakure's conspiracy. They simply don't want to see Konoha doing well, so they said those things on purpose."
"We absolutely cannot fall for it!"
"If we fall for it, Kumogakure's goal will be achieved."
Others began blaming the Hyuga clan.
"It's all the Hyuga clan's fault. The Hyuga clan gave Kumogakure the opportunity to stir trouble and gave the Raikage the chance to spout nonsense here. If they had handled things properly back then, none of this would have happened."
"They had three chances, and the Hyuga clan failed to seize a single one. They made the worst possible choice every time."
"They failed to preserve evidence that Kumogakure shinobi infiltrated the Hyuga compound."
"They killed someone, yet still let Kumogakure obtain the evidence."
"Then they insisted on making someone from the branch family die in their place, causing their losses to become even worse."
"They're simply idiots!"
"The Hyuga clan created an unsolvable problem for Hokage-sama! This is their sin!"
"If anyone is to blame, blame those people from the Hyuga main family."
"The problem lies entirely with the Hyuga main family!"
Inside Konoha, all the arrows of blame turned toward the Hyuga main family.
Under this public opinion environment, the branch family members who were already dissatisfied with the main family became even more dissatisfied. There were even incidents where branch family members ambushed members of the main family.
However, the restraint of the Caged Bird was far too powerful.
With a single thought from a main family member, a branch family member would immediately collapse in agony.
It was like a tight-binding spell.
No—it was even more terrifying than a tight-binding spell.
With a mere thought, it could directly take a person's life.
Public opinion spread wildly.
…
…
Iwagakure.
When Onoki heard the news, his mood could not help but improve slightly.
His own pain was truly painful.
But the pain of others could bring joy.
Especially when Onoki still suspected that Konoha had cooperated with Sunagakure and deliberately tricked Iwagakure. Even if the two villages had not cooperated, Konoha had definitely harbored ill intentions in this matter.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi deserves it!"
"That little Raikage brat is truly ruthless. He directly accepted an interview and dealt Hiruzen Sarutobi a heavy blow."
"Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi issued an announcement in time, how much effect could it have?"
"At most, it can only slightly change the situation inside Konoha."
"Once outside Konoha, who would believe him?"
Onoki seemed to hear someone across from him asking again.
"Father, who do you think is telling the truth?"
Onoki replied almost instinctively.
"Does it matter who is true and who is false…"
But before he could finish speaking, Onoki realized that there was no one in front of him at all.
That foolish son in his eyes was no longer there.
Onoki fell silent.
He remained silent for a very long time.
"Kitsuchi…"
"Was I too harsh on you? Back then, you clearly had a chance to escape, yet you did not. You chose to fight to the death instead. Were you afraid I would blame you?"
"But compared to wanting to see you become outstanding and make no mistakes… I wanted to see you alive even more."
"Why must the heavens treat me this way?"
"The Third Raikage's son has already succeeded him as Raikage."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi's two sons are both alive and well."
Kumogakure.
When the Fourth Raikage saw Hiruzen Sarutobi's announcement, he sneered.
"So what if you issue such an announcement?"
"How many people will believe you? At most, you can fool the people of Konoha a little."
"Besides, you have given me the perfect reason to strike."
The Fourth Raikage summoned everyone.
"Everyone, that old dog Hiruzen has insulted our Kumogakure. How can we endure this?"
"Organize the shinobi army. March toward the Land of Fire!"
"Conquer Konoha and capture that old dog Hiruzen alive!"
Join my Patreon to read public release chapters and get 1 chapter ahead for free. Paid members can read more advanced chapters.
Continue reading here
patreon.com/Inkveil_