"Duy-san was just a Genin. It might sound offensive to say this, but according to regulations, he was not qualified to leave Konoha alone."
"Especially in a time of war."
Generally, ninja execute missions in squads. A Chunin captain leads several Genin subordinates to form a basic unit. Even if all teammates are lost, the survivor is typically reassigned to another team, a solo Genin squad theoretically shouldn't exist.
Only a Jonin qualifies to form a one-man team.
"With so many coincidences involved, don't you find it strange?"
Guy's Genin squad encountering the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist during a mission was already a low-probability event. Encountering all seven at once was even more inconceivable, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen aren't so idle that they would specifically target a Genin squad for lack of anything better to do. What was even more incredible was that Duy seemed to know in advance that Guy would encounter them, arriving on the battlefield at the most critical moment.
You couldn't beat the skepticism out of Naruto even if you tried.
"I looked through the materials collected by Danzo and found something very interesting."
Naruto didn't know how it was recorded by Danzo. The data Danzo collected was the most comprehensive in the ninja world.
"Did you know? The files for both Duy-San and Duy-san-san are..."
"S-Rank Top Secret Archives."
"As a Jonin, Guy-sensei, you should know what that S-Rank classification represents."
"You should also know that the Eight Gates is a Konoha Forbidden Jutsu."
The Eight Gates wasn't invented by Duy, but by someone much earlier, the creator was unknown. Based on Madara's description when he saw Guy open the Gate of Death, it was clear Madara had seen someone open all eight gates before.
"Some Jonin can't even obtain the training method for this Forbidden Jutsu, so how did Duy-san, with the status of a Genin, acquire it?"
"Guy-sensei, you aren't a fool, you just aren't willing to think about it."
Guy's performance in childhood couldn't be called brilliant, but he could be described as precocious. Since Duy died, he had changed completely, always shouting about 'Youth' and fully adopting Duy's mannerisms. Presumably, this was born of guilt toward his father. Even though at that time, Guy was still a weak genin, seeing his father die for him still filled him with guilt.
He wasn't clumsy or stupid, he was just too lazy to think.
Guy's squad went on a mission and coincidentally met the full assembly of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Not only that, but Duy arrived at the exact right moment and successfully opened the eighth gate to defeat them and traumatize the survivors.
The scenario felt as if someone had deliberately arranged it just to test the power of the Eight Gates.
Naruto's words silenced Guy.
Some things were terrifying when you calmed down and thought them through carefully.
Savor it. Savor the implications.
"Besides Duy-san, the same applies to the White Fang." Naruto turned his gaze to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, Sakumo-san performed many distinguished services for Konoha back then, yet his death was far too suspicious."
Sakumo of the past was forced to his death just because of a single failed mission. It sounded simply unbelievable.
It was even more unbelievable than the Sunagakure selling out their own hero and taking payment for it. After all, Pakura's case could be explained by Rasa's lack of tolerance and her being a political sacrifice.
Explaining Sakumo's case solely as suicide was far too far-fetched.
If the Sunagakure could have political sacrifices, why couldn't Konoha?
They were both among the Five Great Villages, on what grounds would Konoha be different?
Wasn't that how Hizashi Hyuga died?
How come Hizashi could die for the village, but Konoha's White Fang couldn't?
Sakumo and Pakura had one thing in common: they were both heroes of their villages who had offended too many ninja from other nations.
Faced with Naruto digging up old wounds, Kakashi fell into deep remembrance. He was very young then, and the details were fuzzy. He only remembered his father being depressed when he returned, and then committing suicide the next day...
To call it strange was an understatement.
Because it was too sudden. It was discordant.
The villagers accusations were sudden, the teammates betrayal and blame were sudden, and finally, Sakumo's suicide was also sudden.
"Do you know what mission Sakumo-san was executing?" Naruto threw out the next question.
"Do you know who the teammate was that blamed him after the mission failed?" Followed by the second question.
The most ridiculous thing was that these Konoha villagers kept claiming Sakumo's failure led to heavy losses for Konoha, but how heavy? What did Konoha lose? What mission was it? Could anyone actually explain?
If they used "classified mission" as an excuse to withhold information, then why would the villagers know about it in the first place?
And who was the teammate Sakumo abandoned the mission to save?
"Rather than saying he couldn't withstand the pressure and committed suicide, it's better to say someone ordered him to take his own life."
The most critical point was that Sakumo wasn't a humorless person. On the contrary, he liked to laugh. Would a person capable of developing such a prankish move as 'One Thousand Years of Death' commit suicide just because he couldn't handle accusations from mere civilians?
The so-called suicide was just a convenient excuse.
When the King wants a subject dead, the subject has no choice but to die.
"The only person who could order him is..." Naruto stopped there and didn't continue.
Kakashi understood who Naruto was referring to.
At this point, the ninja clans following 'Hattori' (Naruto's clone) began arriving one after another at the ruins of Konoha.
Naruto nodded to 'Hattori,' then stood by his side.
He turned back to Guy. "Guy-sensei, look. Now public opinion stands on my side. Would you say I am righteous?"
"If I am righteous, then you should also stand on my side. If I am wrong, it proves that the public opinion you just mentioned can be manipulated, which also proves that the things I just said are all correct."
Guy hadn't thought deeply about problems for a long time. Often, after pretending for so long, he forgot how to think, he had given up on it.
Faced with Naruto's rhetoric, Guy could only respond with silence.
To be honest, with Konoha gone, his first thought had been purely revenge, but Naruto's words had confused him.
Was it worth it for a Konoha like this?
"I don't know when it started, but the village has run counter to the original intention of the First Hokage when he established Konoha."
"The current Konoha is no longer the Konoha of the past, it has almost become the private property of the corrupt."
"Necessary purging is required."
"Rather than racking one's brains to scheme against those people, it is better to administer a strong dose of medicine."
Naruto spoke with awe-inspiring righteousness. At this moment, Guy seemed to see a light appearing behind him.
"Let's just tear down and rebuild," Naruto said with an incomparably passionate air, waving his hand.
A re-established Konoha... might not still be called Konoha.
Guy and Kakashi both fell into silence, their hearts had already aligned with Naruto's viewpoint.
The power of Talk no Jutsu was truly terrifying.
"Guy, Kakashi, and Jiraiya!" Just then, two untimely voices rang out. Two elderly figures appeared slowly, accompanied by several Anbu members.
"Why aren't you hurrying to join hands and capture the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!"
Teammates of the Third Hokage, the two great Advisors of Konoha, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had made their entrance.
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