Soon, the news that the Third Hokage had abdicated and passed the position down to Namikaze Minato spread throughout every corner of the village.
In truth, the major clans had already sensed this coming. After all, Sarutobi Hiruzen had shown signs of that intention long before now.
What no one expected was how sudden it would be.
At this point in ti, Hiruzen was still considered strong in everyone's eyes. For him to step down so abruptly and hand over the position directly to the Fourth was, at the very least, unusual.
But what truly stunned the village was what ca after.
Not long after naming the Fourth Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen brought his old comrade, Shimura Danzō, forward and began publicly exposing the filth the two of them had buried over the years.
The entire village was shaken.
Passing on the Hokage title was one thing.
Publicly confessing his sins was sothing else entirely.
Even the civilians could tell sothing was wrong, and the great clans of Konoha imdiately caught the strange scent in the air.
It was not as though no one knew Hiruzen had done ugly things in the past. It was simply that no one would ever dare speak of them while he sat in the Hokage's seat.
And yet now, he was exposing himself?
That was completely unlike him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen valued his reputation more than almost anyone else. If he didn't, Shimura Danzō would never have been allowed to exist in the shadows for so long.
And yet this sa man, who cared so deeply about his image, was now openly revealing his cris. He even admitted that Sakumo Hatake's death had been tied to his own sches.
Sakumo Hatake had once held an incredibly high reputation in the village.
If that tragedy had never happened, many believed he would have beco the Fourth Hokage.
After all, he was the only one allowed to wear those white sleeves that symbolized the Hokage's mantle.
Namikaze Minato, on the other hand, belonged to the younger generation. He was a rising star, brilliant and dazzling, but still young.
For Sarutobi Hiruzen to confess so cleanly and reveal so many buried secrets, there had to be soone behind him forcing the issue.
And sure enough, it did not take long for the next wave to arrive.
Root was purged.
It was revealed that Shimura Danzō had bound them using special ninjutsu, twisting not only their bodies but even their minds. Their very spirits had been thoroughly brainwashed.
In that state, there was no saving them. Their way of thinking could no longer be changed.
So Orochimaru personally led the operation and had every Root shinobi executed.
For a ti, the clans of Konoha were on edge.
No one knew how far the purge would go, or who else might be implicated.
That tension continued until Namikaze Minato personally t with them.
And in that conversation, the clan heads all gave the sa answer.
They acknowledged Namikaze Minato's authority and declared that they would cooperate fully, without reservation.
It was a level of unity that even Sarutobi Hiruzen, in all his years as Hokage, had never truly received.
In the past, many of Konoha's major clans had only turned a blind eye and carried out the orders given to them on the surface, never truly placing the Third Hokage in their hearts.
But Minato was different.
Only Namikaze Minato—the man Kushina called her little sun—was able to win their support with sincerity.
In the original tiline, when the Fourth Hokage held power, the village had never sunk into this kind of darkness.
These days, Minato, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya were all incredibly busy.
Namikaze Kirito, on the other hand, had nothing to do.
Even after coming to this era, he was still forced to stay at ho under Kushina's watch, with her fussing over him every day as though she were trying to make up for everything at once.
As if she wanted to repay every debt she felt she owed him.
But in truth, Namikaze Kirito never felt that his parents owed him anything.
To him, the fact that they had given him life was already the greatest gift of all.
On the streets of Konoha—
Namikaze Kirito had slipped out while Kushina wasn't paying attention.
Now that it had been confird history would not change, he naturally wanted to take a proper look around.
He had never seen this era with his own eyes before.
To be honest, it was not that different from the Konoha of the future.
After all, Konoha occupied so of the best land in the shinobi world. Prosperity here was only natural.
As he strolled along casually, the people on the street kept glancing at him.
His red hair alone was eye-catching enough, and when paired with that handso face, it was only natural he would draw attention.
"Um… excuse . Please wait a mont."
Just as Namikaze Kirito was thinking about what he should eat, a childish voice suddenly called out from behind him.
He turned around.
And the mont he did, he saw that it was Kurenai Yuhi.
Kurenai, still under ten years old, looked exceptionally cute. Even at such a young age, she already carried the gentle and kind aura she would have in the future. Even the way she spoke was polite and soft.
"You were calling ?"
Namikaze Kirito stepped closer, bent slightly, and looked at the girl who would one day beco his woman.
For so reason, Kurenai felt strangely unsettled the mont she t his eyes.
It was a feeling she couldn't explain.
She had clearly never t him before, and yet… for so reason, being in front of him stirred sothing in her heart.
It was as if this person should have so connection to her.
"Yes," Kurenai said softly, looking at him with hesitation. "Have we… t sowhere before? I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen you sowhere."
Just as Namikaze Kirito was about to answer, his stomach suddenly growled.
"Grr…"
Kurenai blinked in surprise, then imdiately tried to hide a smile.
"If… if you don't mind," she said, gathering her courage, "you can co to my house for dinner. Then you can tell the truth."
Namikaze Kirito found the sight of young Kurenai trying so hard to act serious surprisingly adorable.
The first ti the two of them had really t in the future, it had been in his own ho.
At that ti, Kurenai should have been around eleven or twelve.
In other words, in another year or two, the nine tails incident would've happened.
Back then, his heart had been filled with the chaos of the Nine-Tails incident. He had not been in the mood to understand anyone, let alone get close to them.
Even when he t a female character he had liked very much in his previous life, there had been no real connection between them.
He had even treated Kurenai coldly.
He had completely overlooked her gentleness.
Kurenai noticed that the boy in front of her had gone quiet and was only staring at her. A faint blush imdiately spread across her immature face.
Girls in the shinobi world matured early.
Even so, she still felt that she had done sothing far too bold.
She didn't even know him, yet she had invited him straight to her ho.
But for so reason, there was a voice in her heart telling her again and again—
The person in front of her was important.
Important enough that she wanted to understand why.
Important enough that she couldn't just ignore this strange feeling and walk away.
Namikaze Kirito raised his hand and gently pinched her soft little cheek.
"…Don't invite strange n ho so casually," he said softly. "Only I get that privilege."
Kurenai froze completely.
When that warm hand touched her cheek, she should have dodged.
But she didn't.
She just stood there blankly, letting his hand rest against her face as though she had forgotten how to move.
Only after a mont did she finally co back to her senses, and by then, embarrassnt had already rushed all the way to her ears.
She turned away in a hurry and started walking ahead.
"If you want to eat, then co with ," she muttered. "If not, then forget it."
With Namikaze Kirito's hearing, there was no way he could miss the quiet words she mumbled under her breath.
"How could I just invite soone ho like that…? You're the first one…"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
And just like that, he followed behind that small figure as the two of them left the street together.
Hidden in the shadows, Sarutobi Asuma watched their backs with hatred in his eyes.
Over the past few days, his entire life had practically collapsed.
The father he had once admired, the man respected by the whole village, had suddenly beco a sinner exposed before everyone.
And because of that, even he—the son of the Third Hokage—had begun to receive nothing but strange looks and contempt from the people around him.
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