Chapter 81: The Truth Exposed! The Truth Behind the Uchiha Massacre and the White Fang Incident

"Uchiha Itachi discovered that the Uchiha clan was making preparations for a coup and reported it to Hiruzen."

"The two of us suggested that we strike first. Hiruzen actually had the same idea."

"Afterward, Hiruzen pretended to hesitate before agreeing. He arranged for the ANBU, the shinobi of the Sarutobi clan, and Uchiha Itachi to go and wipe out the Uchiha clan."

Under the effects of the genjutsu, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were like puppets, obediently answering Reiji’s questions.

"Be more specific. To what extent did Hiruzen intend to wipe out the Uchiha clan?"

Reiji added another question.

"Other than Uchiha Itachi’s younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, everyone else was to be killed. It didn’t matter whether they were shinobi or not, whether they were involved in the coup or not, whether they were elderly or children. Everyone was to be killed to prevent future trouble."

Homura said in a stiff, expressionless voice.

The entire conference room erupted into an uproar!

The entire Uchiha clan was to be wiped out, with only Uchiha Itachi’s younger brother left alive.

And this was actually an order from the Third Hokage?

For a moment, many people in the conference room who had always had a favorable impression of Hiruzen were completely dumbfounded.

"So the Third Hokage’s side was the one that made the first move last night?"

"Kill everyone regardless of age... The Uchiha are fellow villagers, after all. How could the Third Hokage dare do something like this?!"

"Was this really an order from the Hokage? I really can’t believe it..."

"How could there be any doubt when it came straight from the mouths of the two elder advisors?"

A wave of discussion spread throughout the room.

The jonin who had come from civilian backgrounds were all shocked and found it difficult to believe.

As for the shinobi from the various clans, their expressions turned grim.

The Uchiha were Konoha’s number-one shinobi clan!

Yet the Third Hokage had actually intended to wipe them out inside the village itself?

What if their own clans ended up in the same situation as the Uchiha?

Would they also be exterminated without mercy?

For a moment, quite a few people felt relieved that the Third Hokage had already been killed.

Nara Shikaku suddenly understood.

No wonder the Uchiha called Uchiha Itachi a traitor.

He had sided with the Third Hokage and prepared to slaughter his own people until only Sasuke remained.

If that wasn’t treason, then what was?

As for Itachi going on to exterminate the Sarutobi clan, that also made sense.

He must have been controlled by Uchiha Reiji and ordered to wipe out the Sarutobi clan as revenge against the Third Hokage.

"Wait!"

Nara Shikaku suddenly thought of something and asked:

"If the Uchiha clan had been wiped out, how did the Third Hokage intend to explain it afterward?"

The others in the conference room also froze.

That’s right!

The Uchiha clan was an enormous clan, yet they would have been wiped out inside their own village, leaving only a single child alive.

Such a huge incident—how did the Third Hokage intend to explain it to the village afterward?

"Uchiha Itachi awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. After completing the massacre, he would bear the crime of exterminating the clan alone and become a missing-nin."

Koharu answered mechanically.

The moment those words fell, the conference room exploded.

Curses filled the room!

"Was the Third Hokage treating us all like idiots? He intended to dump the entire massacre onto one person? Who would believe that?"

"There were ANBU monitoring the Uchiha compound from outside. How could the village possibly have no reaction while Uchiha Itachi single-handedly wiped out the entire clan?!"

"He manipulated Uchiha Itachi into completely abandoning his own people, had him carry out the massacre, and then planned to pin the entire crime on him afterward! The Third Hokage really had it all figured out!"

"This bastard was actually the Hokage of Konoha? Good riddance!"

Their anger wasn’t necessarily because they sympathized with the Uchiha.

It was because Hiruzen’s plan to dump the entire responsibility for the massacre onto one person was simply too ridiculous.

What were the ANBU monitoring the Uchiha compound supposed to be doing?

Were they conveniently all absent?

Or were they supposedly unable to notify the Hokage before Uchiha Itachi finished the massacre?

None of it made sense!

No matter how you looked at it, could one person really exterminate the entire Uchiha clan inside the village while the village remained completely unaware until it was over?

Reiji’s lips curled into a smile as he looked at the Konoha shinobi whose anger had yet to subside. His mood was exceptionally good.

"If you still don’t believe it, there are traces of battle outside the Uchiha compound. You can go and take a look for yourselves."

"Also, you can examine the memories of these two elders afterward. The Yamanaka clan’s secret techniques can accomplish that, can’t they?"

After hearing this, everyone became even more convinced of the truth behind the massacre.

Moreover, because the Sarutobi clan had been wiped out, the hostility many of them had felt toward the Uchiha was greatly reduced.

After all!

If they were in the Uchiha’s position, they would probably want revenge too!

Hiruzen had truly gone too far as Hokage!

"Now that we’ve finished discussing the Uchiha matter, let’s move on to the next one."

"Something that happened... more than ten years ago. The White Fang incident."

Reiji happily began exposing the next matter.

Today, he had no intention of stopping until he had completely stripped Hiruzen of every last bit of reputation.

Kakashi had originally thought that today’s events had nothing to do with him, but he suddenly heard his father’s title.

His heart filled with confusion.

Why was his father being brought into this?

Reiji looked around at everyone’s curious expressions before questioning the two elders:

"Go ahead. Tell everyone what happened with the mission failure of Konoha’s White Fang back then, and what happened afterward."

Homura spoke mechanically:

"It was the forty-second year of Konoha. Hiruzen was already over fifty years old and needed to start considering the next candidate for the position of Hokage."

"At that time, among the village’s jonin, Konoha’s White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, had the greatest prestige."

"But to Hiruzen and us, Sakumo Hatake wasn’t one of our people. If he became Hokage, the power in our hands would be affected."

"So Hiruzen and Danzo devised a scheme. They arranged for Sakumo Hatake to carry out an important classified mission."

"After Sakumo Hatake departed, Danzo leaked his whereabouts to the enemy village."

"Faced with a large number of enemies who appeared without warning, Sakumo Hatake abandoned the mission, rescued his teammates, and returned to the village."

Reiji suddenly interrupted:

"Be more specific. What kind of classified mission was it?"

Homura continued:

"The mission itself was merely a pretext."

"No matter what happened, Sakumo Hatake’s mission was destined to fail. Afterward, the village would spread rumors claiming that because of Konoha’s White Fang’s actions, the village had suffered heavy losses."

Kakashi stared in shock, completely dumbfounded.

His father...

Had actually been schemed against like this?

He had been given a mission that was doomed to fail from the beginning?

All just to suppress his father’s prestige and prevent him from becoming Hokage?!

"...I’ll kill you!!!"

Kakashi came back to his senses and erupted in fury. He shot up from beside the table and charged directly toward the two elders under the genjutsu.

Might Guy hurriedly stopped him.

"Kakashi, calm down for now!"

"Guy, let me go!"

Kakashi’s left eye lit up with the Sharingan, and his chakra radiated a chilling aura.

If he didn’t kill these two bastards today, how could he face his father, who had been driven to suicide by those rumors?

"For now, don’t kill them. There are still some things we need to have them reveal."

Reiji tried to calm Kakashi down.

"As for afterward, you can personally finish the two of them."

Hearing this, Kakashi finally managed to restrain himself.

However, he still glared viciously at the two elders, already thinking about how he would make their deaths as satisfying as possible.

Seeing that Kakashi had temporarily backed down, Might Guy sighed inwardly.

Was he really someone who understood nothing?

The image the Third Hokage usually presented was actually an act, while behind that façade, he was this kind of person.

The thoughts of everyone else in the conference room were similar.

They had originally thought that the Third Hokage had only become this corrupt after returning to the position of Hokage following the Nine-Tails’ attack, becoming ruthless enough to even plan to exterminate a shinobi clan within his own village.

But they had never expected...

Hiruzen hadn’t been a good person even more than a decade ago!

He had used the authority of the Hokage to issue missions and worked together with Danzo to frame Konoha’s White Fang!

All because he didn’t want Konoha’s White Fang to become Hokage and threaten his own power!

"Hiruzen Sarutobi constantly talks about the Will of Fire, but didn’t Konoha’s White Fang’s actions perfectly embody the Will of Fire?"

"He abandoned the mission to save his comrades, yet the villagers actually believed the rumors and condemned Konoha’s White Fang. And Konoha still dares claim to be a village that believes in the Will of Fire?"

"’Wherever the leaves dance, fire also burns. The fire’s light illuminates the village and allows new leaves to sprout.’"

Reiji mercilessly mocked him.

"But for Hiruzen Sarutobi, I’m afraid it simply meant making other people burn themselves so they could illuminate him, the Hokage."

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