Kakashi Hatake was stunned.
Ever since his father's suicide, the same question had gnawed at him for years. He had considered countless explanations—yet never imagined the one Uchiha Kai had just laid bare.
Impossible.
The Hokage… how could the Hokage do such a thing?
He refused to believe it!
What the Academy had taught him was the Will of Fire, but nothing Kai said resembled that will at all.
His long-held beliefs collided violently with Kai's brutal truth, tearing him apart inside.
In that moment, Kakashi collapsed to the ground, his spirit broken.
Everything he had clung to suddenly seemed like a joke.
But on the other side—
Obito could no longer hold back. He roared:
"No! This is wrong!"
"The Academy never taught us that! Uchiha Kai, you don't understand the Will of Fire at all!"
"I can't out-argue you, but you're wrong!"
The others stayed silent.
Those who understood saw no point in arguing. Those who didn't couldn't find words to refute him.
Only Kai sneered at Obito and spoke in a voice colder than ice.
"The Will of Fire, is it? Sounds so noble."
"According to Hashirama Senju, the founding purpose of Konoha was to stop sending children to the battlefield."
"Ninjas should burn bright to protect the village, to shelter the young sprouts."
"And then? What happened?"
"Why were the ones dying on the battlefield all Academy kids?"
"Do you know how many of our classmates are still alive? Barely any!"
"Even though I didn't want to graduate, but they forced me out anyway."
"They promised to protect the young. Where is it? Show me!"
"Go to the Sarutobi compound yourself—nearly five thousand clan members. You've been in the war this long, Obito. How many Sarutobi have you seen in battle?"
"And not just Sarutobi. Look at the other three great clans of the Elder Council—Koharu's Mitokado, Homura's Utatane, Danzo's Shimura."
"How many of their clan shinobi have you fought beside?"
"Go home and count. Then compare. Look how prosperous they are."
"The Uchiha—founding clan of Konoha—are down to six or seven hundred. Where did the rest go?"
"They're dead!"
"The Senju fared even worse. They're gone altogether."
"Don't feed me that 'they merged into Konoha' nonsense. Hashirama and Tobirama never said that. It was only after Nawaki, the last heir of the Senju main line, died pointlessly, and Tsunade despaired, that Uzumaki Mito reluctantly spun that tale."
"And Nawaki's death? What a joke!"
"The Hyuga main family never step outside without an escort team of Jounin. Uchiha leaders too. What clan doesn't?"
"Yet Nawaki, heir of a founding clan, only scion of the main bloodline—no protection?"
"Come on."
"He had Anbu guards, a sister as head of the medical corps, and Orochimaru as his commander. With such a shield around him, and he dies in his first battle?"
"By exploding tags? Hah!"
"Those Jounin who had survived countless wars—don't tell me they couldn't even recognize tag traps?"
"One founding clan obliterated, the other suppressed to the brink of extinction."
"Meanwhile, Sarutobi—just a minor clan of barely two hundred at Konoha's founding—now numbers nearly five thousand."
"Obito, tell me—where did they get the money to raise so many shinobi?"
"Even if they had the resources, why don't you see them on the battlefield? Outside the supply corps, have you seen a single Sarutobi face?"
"You think we're blind fools? That we'll believe whatever graveside fairy tales they print for us?"
Kai's voice was a blade of ice.
Yes—Minato's disciple he may be, but that was all the more reason to drive the truth home. Minato, with his soft heart, would never say it outright.
So Kai would say it for him.
Obito froze into silence.
Yes. He had been to the Sarutobi compound. He had seen with his own eyes how numerous they were. He might not know the exact count, but he knew they were thriving.
And yet… How many had he ever seen on the battlefield?
The truth pressed down heavily. He had no answer.
Silence.
Then, Obito gritted his teeth, scarlet tomoe spinning as his Sharingan burst into three tomoe.
Under other circumstances, it would have shocked everyone.
But not now.
Now, all eyes were dull and vacant.
Rin, Kakashi, all of them—frozen, their worldviews shattering.
They weren't stupid.
Right and wrong had been shoved in their faces. They couldn't pretend not to see it.
But powerless as they were, their anger only choked them further.
At last, Kai broke the silence.
"Enough. Don't dwell on it."
"You're all aligned with the Hokage. Minato's master Jiraiya is the Hokage's student. So even if the village cleans the house, it won't be you they come for."
"On the contrary, you're bound for high positions."
"This is Uchiha business. Nothing much to do with you."
"I just want you to know—whatever your faction, as long as I lead this squad, all those rotten rules can go to hell."
"I won't let you throw your lives away."
"Now rest. It's late."
He struck the pose of a righteous protector.
Of course, his mind was calculating the whole time. But that was the line—push further and he might shatter them completely.
Yet as Kai tried to close the matter, Kakashi refused.
His hoarse voice rang out:
"If it's really as you say… then why would Hiruzen Sarutobi make Minato my teacher?"
"How could he let the son of an enemy join the Hokage's line?"
Kai, who had already stood, glanced back at him coolly.
The answer came without hesitation.
"Simple—interests."
"In this world, there are no eternal enemies, no eternal friends. Only eternal interests."
"You only see Hiruzen assigning you to Minato. But you forget—what about Sakumo's furious followers when your father died?"
"You think Hiruzen wasn't afraid?"
"They were the subordinates of the man he drove to suicide! Even if he forced them down, how much strength would Konoha lose? How could it stand against other villages?"
"But if he brought you into the Hokage's faction, it would show those men that their commander's son was in safe hands."
"That's why they accepted Sarutobi's rule. Why did they join his faction?"
"Nara Shikaku, commander of the Jounin platoons. Morino Ibiki, head of the Interrogation Division. Sarutobi Shinnosuke, captain of Anbu."
"Three key departments—all under Hokage control."
"You think your father was stupid? That he didn't think of you?"
"His death was for Konoha, yes. But also to secure your future."
"With your father's men behind you, Hiruzen wouldn't dare touch you. And when he eventually retired, the Fourth Hokage would be Minato."
"And you, as his student, would by Konoha tradition inherit that qualification."
"Not the Fifth, perhaps. But the Sixth—at the latest the Seventh—Hokage would be you, Kakashi Hatake."
"You must become Hokage. Otherwise your father's men would never accept it."
"It's Hiruzen's debt to Sakumo."
"But—not yet."
"Not until Uchiha and Hyuga, the last great clans, are destroyed, and Sarutobi stands unchallenged as Konoha's first clan. Only then will you ascend."
"Only then can Kakashi Hatake become Hokage."
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