At the commercial street square in Konoha, at this moment Uchiha Tonan was kneeling with his head lowered. His body was full of scratches and a sticky egg liquid was dripping down his hair. But there was a smile, in fact, pure joy on his face.
Once the rationality he had suppressed was released, the insignificant trace of anger in his heart was extinguished. In his scarlet eyeballs, a small black tomoe spun, and then another appeared in a centrally symmetrical manner.
If the entire eyeball was regarded as a circle, then the Mangekyo’s shape was like the yin and yang symbol. With it, some information about Mangekyo Sharingan’s abilities started filling Tonan’s head.
The moment he received it though, most of his joy faded and a strange look appeared. He tried to use this newly acquired ability. His right eye suddenly opened, and the pattern of his Mangekyo spun rapidly.
Wisps of invisible black qi flew out of the villagers’ bodies and were absorbed by his right eye. As this happened, the fear in the villagers’ hearts abruptly disappeared. There was not even a trace left, leaving behind only good and beautiful thoughts in their hearts…
One by one, everyone looked at Tonan’s small trembling figure amid the mess and they couldn’t bear to watch this sight.
“Tonan, we’re here!” Right at this moment, several people jumped down from the roofs on both sides. These were Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, and the team of Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin.
Seeing his sorry state, Kushina immediately rushed to help him get up, “Tonan, are you alright?” Tonan stood up with a haggard look. He stared at Kushina, looking confused, “Kushina-senpai, did I do something wrong? Why is everyone blaming me?”
Tonan swayed slightly as if he was seriously injured both mentally and physically. When Kushina saw this, she felt heart-wrenching pain. She took him in her arms and patted his back, “You did nothing wrong. Someone must’ve secretly incited these people.”
Seeing this desolate and helpless version of Tonan, who was otherwise radiating with optimism, Kakashi pulled out his White Fang and stood in front of him. He coldly stared at the villagers. It was as if he would kill anyone who dared to step forward without hesitation.
Even Obito, Minato, and Rin stood around Tonan with tacit understanding, and together with Kakashi, they protected him. Minato solemnly said, “Tonan, you’ve to pull yourself together.”
Facing this protective formation, the villagers who had no resentment left in their hearts, simply looked at each other. They were at a loss for what to do next. Just walking away after all they had done so far did not seem right. And they did not have the energy or the will left to continue cursing either.
Having achieved his goal, Tonan too didn’t want to take the initiative to be cursed any further. His priority now was to restore his image and see if he could use the villagers’ guilt to gain some acknowledgment.
The approach was simple. Choose a topic, find the villagers’ sore points and poke it a few times. They would sympathize with him if he would hurt them like this and would stand on his side.
Tonan broke free from Kushina’s arms and staggered out of the protective circle. He walked up to the villagers and took a deep breath, placing his hands on his knees and bowing deeply. “Hello, uncles, aunts, and senpais. I want to know what I did wrong? Can someone explain it to me? If I’m at fault, I’m willing to accept any punishment.”
Tonan bit his lip as if he was trying his best to endure the pain in his heart. Kushina looked at him and couldn’t help taking a few steps forward, “Tonan…”
However, Minato grabbed her hand and softly said, “Let him handle it, let’s not disturb. I believe he can do this.”
Minato looked at Tonan as well. He recalled what Tonan had said when they met for the first time. He had said that his dream was to gain the entire village’s acknowledgment.
“Tonan, you can do it,” Minato cheered in his heart.
The villagers who had no grievances in their hearts remained silent for a long time. No one answered. But Tonan had to continue the charade. One of his shadow clones who had transformed into a villager stepped forward and pointed at him, “Why did you kill Orochimaru-sama?”
This shadow clone became the villagers’ voice, and when played like this, the ending was already set. Tonan replied in a low voice, “Because Orochimaru-sama was secretly capturing villagers to make them live experiment subjects.”
Tonan specifically changed the concept, from human experiments to live experiments. It could better reflect Orochimaru’s cruelty and ruthlessness. The shadow clone snorted, “So what? Why did Orochimaru-sama conduct live experiments? To develop new ninjutsu that benefits Konoha. With new ninjutsu, fewer people will die in the next war. If he needed it, I’d be willing to be the first sacrifice. This is my Will of Fire… what do you all say?”
The shadow clone threw this troublesome topic at the villagers behind him. The crowd could sense something was not right. Live experiments must be a crime. But now, when the shadow clone was asking whether they would sacrifice themselves for the village or not, it was inappropriate to answer negatively.
One after another, they replied with awkward looks…
“Eh… yes…”
“We should…”
Tonan looked at everyone and nodded lightly, “Is that so? It seems my understanding of the Will of Fire is different from yours. The Will of Fire I adhere to is that everyone in Konoha regardless of ninjas and civilians is equal. There is no distinction in class. The old, the weak, the disabled, and the pregnant are the targets we need to protect. When I infiltrated his laboratory, I saw babies and pregnant women in the containers filled with green liquid.”
“I wondered how sad were the families who lost their children and mothers-to-be. I lost my mind when I thought about them. I wanted to kill that demon in human disguise and seek justice for the babies who had not seen the prosperity of the world yet.”
Tonan had two main thoughts behind his long-winded speech. One was to express how much he valued the villagers and the other was to reinforce Orochimaru’s brutality. Sure enough, as soon as he said this, everyone frowned and remained silent.
However, just this much heat was not enough. The shadow clone aggressively continued, “Orochimaru-sama has made many contributions. Without him, more people would’ve died during the war. He saved so many people… what’s the big deal about killing a few infants and pregnant women. People die every day in the Ninja World. A few dying now is better than a lot dying later.”
