From the moment Bai Ye started revealing these things, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that things were going to go bad.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had no way to explain these two matters, because if he said they had nothing to do with him, who would believe it?
Kakashi's father's death was instigated by Danzo in the Village at that time; he actually felt a hint of threat himself and originally intended to undermine Konoha White Fang's prestige, giving him some flaws in his reputation within the Village, so he wouldn't have to worry about Konoha White Fang competing for Hokage.
But he didn't expect it to completely backfire.
Konoha White Fang directly committed suicide, which instantly cost Konoha a powerful combat force; otherwise, the Third Shinobi World War would not have been so passive.
As for Naruto, he did promise, but he also failed to deliver.
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi remain silent, Kakashi and Naruto's hearts grew heavier and heavier.
Perhaps it really was as Bai Ye said?
"If Hokage-sama is unwilling to speak, then let me speak. Kakashi, isn't the slander against your father and the rumor about Naruto being a demon fox just like the rumors currently circulating about our Uchiha in the Village, all orchestrated by our Lord Danzo? But Hokage-sama, if you dare to say you knew nothing at all, then I truly must raise my estimation of your shamelessness by another level!"
Such methods are identical, and have always been so.
"Why is this happening? Grandpa Third Hokage, please explain quickly!!!"
A hint of inexplicable collapse flashed across Naruto's face. Even Sasuke, standing nearby, reacted somewhat at this moment, looking at the Third Hokage and Naruto with some surprise.
He hadn't expected that the Third Hokage, who usually seemed so kind, had actually done such things.
And the demon fox of the Village, the dead last of the Ninja Academy, was actually Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage's son?
"I apologize, Naruto, for having concealed that you are the Fourth Hokage's child, but this was for your safety. Your father offended too many people in the past. If Ninja from other Villages knew you were his child, you would surely be in danger!"
With so many people here, Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally couldn't over-explain and could only honestly tell Naruto the truth.
However, Hiruzen Sarutobi still added a sentence at the end.
"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that only a member of the Uzumaki Clan can seal the Nine-Tailed, and the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out long ago. The only two Uzumaki in Konoha are Kushina Uzumaki and her child. She is the Fourth Hokage's wife. Do you mean others wouldn't know this information? Kumogakure even came to the Village to try and kidnap Kushina Uzumaki. You're not going to say other Ninja Villages don't know this intelligence, are you?"
Bai Ye now even strongly suspects that Konoha had a hand in Kushina Uzumaki's situation.
After all, as the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, she was ostracized by Konoha's people from the start. If it were according to Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo's personalities, they might even have created a bond.
Just like Tsunade's matter, it might have also been arranged by both sides.
In Bai Ye's view, many things, if you don't explain them with a conspiracy theory, simply don't make sense.
After hearing Bai Ye's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face immediately changed.
Because he was actually going to explain it that way, but how did Bai Ye know about this too?!
The bond between Minato and Kushina Uzumaki was something very few people in Konoha knew about!
"Isn't it just that you're afraid of not being able to control Naruto later? Haven't you noticed? After you took office, you already started treating Konoha as your own property. You need to control everything. You need to control Naruto, who is a variable. The Uchiha Clan is too strong, you're afraid you can't control them, so you want to eliminate them."
"Back then, to rein in the Hyuga Clan, you directly made the Hyuga Clan hand over Hyuga Hiashi, and eventually Hyuga Hizashi took his place. Third Hokage, look at Konoha during your tenure: constantly compromising, always timid and subservient externally, but internally you strike with a heavy hand."
"And your katon: the will of fire, it simply nauseates me. The First Hokage fought Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End for the Village. The Second Hokage chose to sacrifice himself to protect you, the next generation of Konoha. At that time, if the Second Hokage wanted to leave, he could have definitely escaped with his Flying Thunder God, but you would have surely died there!
And you?
During the Second Shinobi World War, you commanded from the rear, while the front lines relied on Konoha White Fang, the Sannin, and our Uchiha, Hyuga, and other Clans.
During the Third Shinobi World War, you were still commanding from the rear. The front lines still relied on us, with Minato Namikaze as the only addition. And what about you? You sent children to the battlefield, making them graduate early. What is katon: the will of fire? It's sacrificing oneself to protect others, but what did you do? You sacrificed others to protect yourself!"
Bai Ye spoke coldly, every word making Hiruzen Sarutobi break out in a cold sweat.
With his actions now exposed by Bai Ye one by one.
Even the Hokage's allies, Ino–Shika–Chō, and the Anbu, who obeyed the Hokage's orders, now questioned their purpose in following Hiruzen Sarutobi.
They hadn't thought so much before, only believing that Hiruzen Sarutobi had indeed managed the Village in an orderly fashion.
But after Bai Ye's explanation, they realized that beneath this peaceful Konoha, there was such a dirty side!
"During the Second Shinobi World War, there was unrest among the people in the Village, and I needed to stabilize morale. And during the Third Shinobi World War, we were the ones against whom war was declared. To prevent other Ninja from attacking the Village, I chose to remain in the Village. This was also to protect the villagers!
Furthermore, regarding Hizashi's matter, I am very sorry. At that time, Konoha could not afford another war. If we had gone to war, our Konoha would have suffered even greater losses, and I could only compromise. As for controlling Naruto, that is even more nonexistent. I never thought of eliminating the Uchiha Clan; I always wanted to resolve the issue peacefully!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately cleared himself of all these issues. Although his defense was somewhat weak, for now, he felt he at least needed to give a good explanation.
Listening to his defense, a hint of a smile flashed across Bai Ye's lips. If he hadn't defended himself, Bai Ye would have found it a bit boring.
"Third Hokage, don't you find it ridiculous? Everyone knows what Naruto's life was like. You say there was no abuse, was it by giving Naruto money every once in a while? Could he buy things with money? It was all expired milk and instant noodles. Look at Naruto's height, the shortest in the entire Village, and this is an Uzumaki Clan member!"
"Also, how were you people forced Konoha White Fang to his death? Why were Senju Nawaki's internal organs removed after he died? Don't tell me Tsunade agreed to you doing this. And why did Konoha do nothing when the Uzumaki Clan, an ally of Konoha, was annihilated?"
"Furthermore, Danzo has done so many things, why do you still indulge him to continue as Hokage's assistant? And even Orochimaru back then, you just watched him leave? Why are you so double-standard in how you treat them versus how you treat us? Don't you have any idea why the Sannin all left?"
"And your Uchiha Clan annihilation plan, wasn't it just finding that traitor Uchiha Itachi to be your inside man? I deliberately leaked this rebellion to him today, and just as I guessed, he would tell you the news. You initially wanted to use Itachi to eliminate the Uchiha Clan, then make Itachi defect, so you wouldn't have to bear any blame and could destroy the Uchiha, right?"
"Also, your four families: Sarutobi and Shimura were originally considered medium-sized families, while Mitokado and Utatane were two small families not even worth mentioning. But look at your four families now; they have all grown so fat. You haven't used your positions for personal gain over the years, have you? Didn't you also swallow up our Uchiha Clan's territory back then?"
"And your useless son, Hiruzen Sarutobi, wasn't he a rogue Ninja when he left the Village without saying goodbye? Simply despicable!"
Bai Ye enumerated all of Hiruzen Sarutobi's misdeeds.
He was very clear about how many disgusting things these people had done by using their power.
Listening to Bai Ye list these things one by one, many people felt a chill down their spines.
"My father indeed died due to rumors. At that time, that teammate abandoned the mission, and I remember that teammate didn't say anything initially, but then suddenly spread rumors everywhere that the mission failed because of my father, and it was all my father's fault."
Kakashi lowered his head and murmured. He had actually looked for that person back then.
But he didn't find anything, and not long after, that person died on a mission.
He didn't understand why that teammate, who was initially grateful to his father, suddenly turned against him after a period of time.
Thinking about it now, perhaps it was as Bai Ye said: his father's death was orchestrated by Danzo, and Hiruzen Sarutobi did not stop it. And all these years, he had actually been working for his father's killer.
For a moment, Kakashi's heart couldn't help but feel a bit complex.
"Regarding Nawaki's issue, there actually seems to be such a claim."
Shikaku said in a low voice. He had indeed heard about this point back then.
And actually, everyone was quite puzzled at the time: all the internal organs of a corpse had been removed, what exactly was the purpose of that?
"We Hyuga have never forgotten about Hizashi's matter. In fact, we always demanded war back then, but the Third Hokage always avoided the topic, saying Konoha's strength wasn't enough. But at that time, it wasn't just us; the Uchiha were also willing to go to war. No one wanted to compromise. While we were in a stalemate, Hizashi chose to commit suicide and hand himself over. Actually, I never understood why we still had to tolerate it when we were being ridden over by the enemy? Konoha didn't have much strength, but Kumogakure also suffered greatly in the Third Shinobi World War, didn't they?"
At that time, many people actually favored going to war. Although the Uchiha and Hyuga were at odds, none of them were cowards.
When someone is defecating on your head, who would be willing to tolerate it?
To avoid putting Hiashi in a difficult position, Hizashi also chose to commit suicide.
"Regarding Orochimaru, he was indeed watched as he left back then."
"I remember Asuma seemed to have a conflict with Hokage-sama back then, and then he just left the Village in a fit of anger, right? But someone who leaves the Village without a word, which doesn't conform to regulations, would basically be branded as a rogue Ninja."
Even Tsunade and Jiraiya said they were leaving before they left. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't agree, they had stated their intention to leave.
But Asuma was much more impressive than them; he just ran off overnight. If it were another Ninja Village, or if his father wasn't the Hokage, he would have been a rogue Ninja long ago. How could he still be one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja now?
"The Uzumaki Clan could have been saved at that time. Their distress signal came very early, and they were holding on. If we had gone, although the other side would still have suffered heavy losses, we would definitely have been able to save many!"
"Indeed, these few families are doing much better than our families now. We were fighting for our lives on the battlefield back then, but they only needed to be responsible for logistics, rarely sending out their elites. Although we are at odds with the Uchiha, the Uchiha did send out many elite Ninja on the battlefield!"
"I still think it's about those children. Many people in our clan died because of the war. They were only around ten years old at that time. Too many children died during that period; they simply weren't suitable for the battlefield at that age!"
"To actually make their own clan members kill each other and then wipe out the clan, that's too ruthless, isn't it?"
As one by one began to confirm these matters, everyone discovered a very surprising thing: Bai Ye had not made anything up.
Moreover, these individual incidents were simply not something a human could do.
Although they were all at odds with the Uchiha, they had never thought of wiping out the Uchiha Clan!
"Heh heh, isn't it all because of you inherently evil Uchiha? If it weren't for you Uchiha, Konoha wouldn't be like this at all. It was Uchiha Madara who came back and killed the First Hokage; otherwise, Konoha wouldn't be like this now!!!"
Danzo said sternly, if it weren't for the Uchiha, how could this have happened?
After he finished speaking, a glimmer of hope flashed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
He couldn't find any reason to refute those previous words.
But he was unwilling to give up just like that.
No matter how problematic he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was, were the Uchiha truly completely blameless?
"Speaking of which, we really need to think about what your teacher, the Second Hokage, did. If I remember correctly, the First Hokage was Senju Hashirama. Initially, Senju Hashirama was going to give the Hokage position to Uchiha Madara.
It's just that most people in the Village thought Hashirama was better, and Madara thought so too. So, Hashirama became the First Hokage, and then Hashirama told Madara that he wanted him to be the Second Hokage.
When it came to the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama suddenly said that the Village's Kage needed to be chosen by everyone, not designated, and so Madara was not chosen.
And the result?"
At this point, Bai Ye suddenly burst into wild laughter, then reined in his aura and looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, saying, "Were you chosen by everyone or by Senju Tobirama? He is as hypocritical as you. When Madara wanted to become Hokage, he chose to vote, but when you wanted to become Hokage, he chose to designate. You learned your double standards from him, didn't you?"
The Second Hokage was actually quite hypocritical. He didn't want Madara to become Hokage, so he held a vote, and then when he wanted Hiruzen Sarutobi to be Hokage, he just designated him himself.
"That's right! Weren't we the ones who helped you ascend to the position of Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi?"
"Indeed, if it weren't for us back then, you would never have been acknowledged by Konoha!"
When Bai Ye said this, others also strongly agreed.
If it weren't for them back then, Hiruzen Sarutobi would never have been able to take office. Thinking about it now, what Madara did back then seems understandable.
None of the promises made were ever fulfilled. What kind of behavior is that?!
"Everyone, today is about the grievances between our Uchiha and those four. Hiruzen Sarutobi, come on, don't think about clinging to life. Let me give you a dignified death!"