"N-Nani?!"
Neji staggered back two steps in shock.
The impact of that confession was almost on par with the time he had used the Byakugan and accidentally witnessed what Boruto was doing while helping Naruto with that physical examination.
From Ao's perspective, however, Neji had clearly been devastated after learning that Ao loved Kakashi.
His heart had shattered.
His improper thoughts were finally gone.
Ao immediately breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to reinforce the story, terrified that Neji might possess too much mental resilience and somehow recover.
"That's not all! When I was practicing Sage Mode just now, Kakashi was the person I was thinking about!
"If I can't be with Kakashi in this life, I'd rather stay alone forever!"
Shock!
Kakashi froze on the spot.
He had lived for more than twenty years, and his first genuine confession of love had come from some random male Kirigakure shinobi he had never even met before!
Judging from the man's voice, he was not exactly young either.
For all Kakashi knew, Ao might even have been part of the Kirigakure force that chased him and Rin all those years ago.
Seriously, man.
Who the hell even were you to suddenly declare that you would rather die single than marry anyone but him?
Kakashi was completely lost.
Ao, meanwhile, was taking full advantage of the fact that they had moved away from the crowd.
As far as he knew, whatever he said here would only ever be heard by the three people present.
So he simply threw his dignity away and started saying whatever came to mind.
The more outrageous his declarations became, the farther Neji retreated and the more shattered he looked.
Since it was clearly working, Ao naturally had to keep going if he wanted to preserve his innocence.
As for Kakashi, the tiger he had chosen to unleash against the wolf?
Ao had noticed his stunned expression too.
He assumed Kakashi had simply been thrown into confusion because the "prey" had suddenly confessed first.
Which meant Ao needed to keep attacking while Kakashi was still mentally off-balance.
Unfortunately…
Every single word Ao said was being heard perfectly clearly by the people outside.
Including Chōjūrō.
Among the three Kirigakure shinobi attempting Sage Mode, Kurosuki Raiga was taking the training most seriously.
First of all, he was a married man, not some clueless virgin, so he was already familiar with certain matters.
Second, Raiga desperately craved greater strength.
It was precisely because he had lacked sufficient power that he had been brutally beaten down before and even lost his ninja sword.
So when presented with a power like Sage Mode, Raiga naturally pursued it with everything he had.
Besides, the Sage Mode shortcut did not really have any side effects.
Well…
Objectively speaking, it might have side effects for other people.
But for Raiga specifically, there really were none.
As previously mentioned, Kurosuki Buntan belonged to roughly the same generation as Sarada.
Given her age, there was simply no way she could have been the daughter of Kurosuki Raiga, who had already died before the Shippuden era.
Unless Buntan had somehow spent several extra years inside her mother's womb like some demonic child waiting to descend into the world.
Then there was Ao.
Nobody knew whether Ao was similarly inexperienced.
At the very least, he had never married.
Still, given his age, even if he had never eaten pork, he had certainly seen pigs run before.
Chōjūrō was the only one who was both young, painfully shy, and completely inexperienced.
He had actually spent quite a while sitting there without beginning his training at all, still fiddling with his B-rank ninja sword.
If Hiramekarei had possessed a hole like Kubikiribōchō, people might even have started worrying about what sort of experiments Chōjūrō intended to try.
In any case, because he had not started training yet, Chōjūrō was able to come out and investigate immediately when Ao caused a commotion.
No need to straighten his clothes.
No need to wash his hands.
Nothing.
And in order to understand what was happening, Chōjūrō was reluctantly drawn into the gossip squad's listening circle.
Temari's Song of the Listening Wind had both single-target and group versions.
Matsuri was currently using a small-area group version, allowing everyone within the circle to hear every word and sound coming from Kakashi, Ao, and Neji.
The moment Ao confessed his love to Kakashi, every head slowly turned toward Chōjūrō.
"How… how could this be?"
Chōjūrō looked completely stunned.
"Ao-senpai is actually…"
"You really knew nothing about this?"
Pakura stared suspiciously at him.
The Kirigakure shinobi in front of her already had the look of someone who would be on the more submissive side of things, so Pakura strongly suspected that he might also be a gay-type ninja.
And now both Chōjūrō and Ao had been selected by the Mizukage to practice Sage Mode together.
Perhaps the two of them already had some kind of relationship.
As for Kurosuki Raiga?
There was no need to investigate him.
Like Zabuza, he traveled around with a pretty boy.
The evidence was already conclusive.
"It's true! I really didn't know!"
Chōjūrō hurriedly tried to defend Ao.
"Ao-senpai is a war hero from the Third Shinobi World War! He's loyal to the village! He's a good person! He—"
Unfortunately, every increasingly shameless declaration carried over by the Song of the Listening Wind turned Chōjūrō's defense into something that sounded more and more like desperate excuse-making.
"I understand now."
Yukata, one of the three gossipmongers, suddenly spoke with startling confidence.
"I remember hearing that when Kakashi was younger, Kirigakure shinobi once chased him down.
"Apparently, his teammate Nohara Rin died during that very pursuit.
"What if Ao was part of that group?
"Maybe when Kakashi was unconscious, Ao became captivated by his looks, and after leaving him behind, he spent all these years unable to forget him…"
How did the girls know such old classified details?
Normally, there would have been no way.
But now the shinobi world possessed the Limited Tsukuyomi series, which could be compared against real historical events.
Take the Four-Tails, for example.
In Limited Tsukuyomi, Son Gokū once held Rōshi in his arms with an ecstatic expression and declared:
"I want you to say my name every single day."
From that one scene, several useful pieces of information could be extracted.
Rōshi was the Four-Tails' jinchūriki.
And something important had clearly happened between Rōshi and Son Gokū involving the subject of "names."
As for whether the real-world Rōshi was secretly a furry enthusiast or anything like that?
There was no need to reject the possibility immediately.
You could simply put a question mark beside it for now.
By analyzing the various events of the Limited Tsukuyomi world in this fashion, quite a lot of obscure shinobi history could be reconstructed.
Of course, the three gossipmongers mainly watched the series for the bizarre scandals.
"Impossible! That didn't happen!"
Chōjūrō immediately protested.
"Ao wasn't part of the Kirigakure unit that chased Kakashi!
"That squad was dispatched under orders from Lord Yagura while he was being controlled.
"And… fine, I'll just tell you directly!
"Ao wears that mask because one of his eyes is a Byakugan!
"He took it as a trophy during the Third Shinobi World War.
"The Konoha unit Senior Ao fought against was led by Uchiha Shisui, not Kakashi!"
Desperate to clear Ao's reputation, Chōjūrō had even revealed the secret of his Byakugan.
Though in truth, it probably did not matter much.
With everyone operating at such close range for the foreseeable future, the eye would have been exposed sooner or later anyway.
Ao could not phase through his mask, nor could he hide in a private dimension and eat curry rice whenever someone tried to inspect him.
"I understand now."
Matsuri nodded thoughtfully.
"Thank goodness…"
Chōjūrō finally relaxed.
At last.
He had finally cleared Senior Ao's name.
"It must have been Ao's beloved who was part of the squad chasing Kakashi."
Matsuri continued.
"Kakashi killed the person Ao loved, so Ao originally hated him as an enemy.
"But over time, that hatred gradually transformed into love.
"And once Ao discovered that Kakashi, just like him, had transplanted someone else's eye into his own body, he slowly began feeling a strange sense of kinship and affection toward him…"
Chōjūrō's relieved expression froze.