Chapter 66 Public Opinion

Ye Shan has been running around the village in recent days, busying himself with the mess left by Hatake Sakumo, but with little success.

As expected, the top brass chose to add insult to injury this time, intending to completely deprive Hatake Sakumo of his power in the village and turn him into a pure knife, a killing knife completely controlled by the top brass.

With the promotion of some people with ulterior motives, Hatake Sakumo went from being a hero in the village to a "civilian killer" and a "murderer". For a time, the titles of cowardly and fearful of war were overwhelmingly pinned on Hatake Sakumo. Even a three-year-old child knew that a famous ninja in the village was afraid to move forward on the battlefield, which led to extremely bad public criticism.

In a tavern on Fengqing Street, Jiraiya and Orochimaru sat face to face, with four plates of exquisite side dishes and two jugs of wine on the table, and it was obvious that they wanted to have a long talk.

Jiraiya took a sip of wine, looked at his pale partner, and said, "Orochimaru, what are you doing in the laboratory all day?"

"Nothing, just some interesting experiments. But why didn't you go out to collect materials today but instead invited me to dinner?"

The so-called collection of materials is nothing more than peeping. It is just a personal hobby, but the whole village knows about it.

"Hahaha, don't say that. You are my best friend. It's only natural for us to have a meal together to improve our relationship."

Orochimaru sneered, seeing through Jiraiya's insincerity at a glance, and said in a hoarse voice: "You want to ask me what I think about Konoha White Fang?"

Jiraiya touched his hair. His childhood friend was good in every way except that he was not good at chatting and would easily kill the conversation.

"Hatake Sakumo's actions may seem serious, but in the final analysis, they only resulted in the accidental deaths of hundreds of civilians while carrying out their mission. Let us ask ourselves, how many civilians died on the battlefield of the Rain Country because of us?"

Jiraiya's figure was reflected in Orochimaru's snake-like pupils. Seeing that Jiraiya was only focused on eating and didn't respond, he didn't care and continued talking.

"The weak can only die in vain. This is the iron law of the ninja world. The so-called strong are just people who step on the corpses of the weak to get to where they are today."

"The development of everything follows certain rules. Although Hatake Sakumo's success today is inseparable from his own choices, it is probably also due to the instigation of Sarutobi-sensei."

Jiraiya put down his chopsticks, casually released a soundproof barrier, and said seriously: "You think so too?"

"Haha, anyone who is not a brainless idiot can see this."

"Whether it's the Senju clan or the Uchiha clan, anyone who underestimates our teacher will suffer. The strength of Sarutobi Sensei is that he never takes the initiative to attack, but stands from the perspective of the interests of the village and the country, mobilizing the power of everyone to attack, and the Will of Fire plays a very important role in this."

Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru strangely. It was hard for him to believe that such words would come out of his mouth. After all, it was not good for a disciple to talk about his master behind his back.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm just telling you the truth. Haven't you noticed that Sarutobi-sensei has changed since he became Hokage?"

Orochimaru picked up the chopsticks, slowly picked up a piece of egg and started eating.

Jiraiya remained silent. He certainly found that the Sarutobi teacher who once loved the village so much had changed and became a slave to power. Any force that wanted to get involved in power became his enemy, even the Senju clan, the founder of the village, was no exception.

Jiraiya couldn't understand why the position of Hokage was so evil that it could make a ninja who was originally determined and resolute become so unscrupulous.

"But no matter what, Hatake Sakumo is a top fighter and a force that the village desperately needs. Aren't you afraid that he will defect by doing this?" Jiraiya said with concern. Until this moment, he still did not blame his teacher for his actions. Instead, he was on guard against Hatake Sakumo's defection.

Orochimaru suddenly felt that the egg in his mouth had lost its taste. He put down his chopsticks and smiled slyly: "Do you know Hatake Sakumo?"

Without waiting for Jiraiya to reply, Orochimaru continued, "Hatake Sakumo is a Konoha ninja who truly possesses the will of fire, and he is also a ninja who loves the village. I can say with certainty that if this happened to Danzo Shimura or me, I would have defected from the village without hesitation, but Hatake Sakumo would not. He would only accept it silently, and until the moment of his death, he would still consider himself a Konoha ninja."

Orochimaru's words silenced Jiraiya, and he then said viciously: "You actually want to defect from the village, I will break your legs and bring you back."

"Haha, idiot."

"What did you say?"

"I'm talking about you, idiot."

.....

In the evening, Ye Shan walked out of the Uchiha clan territory with a tired look, looked up at the sky, sighed, and felt extremely irritated. Just as he was thinking about going to the training ground to practice, his stomach protested, and he remembered that he had not eaten all day.

The news of Hatake Sakumo's affair spread widely in the village. Despite Ye Shan's best efforts to save the situation, public opinion was still developing in a bad direction. People are forgetful creatures. They will not think about how much you have contributed to the village and the country. They will only seize on your shortcomings and talk about them. People's words are terrible.

Since it was not mealtime, there were only two or three ninjas eating in Ichiraku Ramen. Upon seeing this, Ye Shan immediately walked in, wanting to eat some soup to fill his stomach.

Soon, a bowl of deluxe ramen was placed in front of him. Now that Ye Shan had some savings, he naturally didn't want to compromise on eating. After all, he was a serious foodie in his previous life.

After taking a mouthful of the thick soup, Ye Shan felt a warm current rising in his stomach. His index finger moved and he ate voraciously.

"Hey, have you heard about the Konoha White Fang?" A square-faced ninja not far away said mysteriously to his companion beside him.

"How could I not have heard of it? After all, he was Lord White Fang." There was some sarcasm in his words.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, the Uchiha newspaper is really bold to say that they had to sacrifice the lives of civilians for their companions. I think it was just for their own lives. Such people are not worthy of being Konoha's ninja."

"Well, even though the lives of civilians are worthless, we can't just let the Rain Ninja kill them. They even took photos and made them public. How miserable."

"I wonder if anyone dares to stand up and support Hatake Sakumo this time. Such people will be finished sooner or later."

"Really? What is the name of this ninja master?"

Ye Shan appeared between the two of them like a ghost, put his hands on their shoulders, and spoke with a smile on his face, his pair of narrowed eyes emitting a captivating cold light.

The two ninjas who were chatting felt their eyes blurred, and then they were held down and unable to move. They were horrified and shouted: "Who are you? How dare you attack Konoha's ninjas in the village? Aren't you afraid of being hunted down?"

"Haha, now you think of the strong men in the village? Don't worry, killing you will only dirty my hands, but it is inevitable to suffer a little."

As he spoke, Ye Shan exerted force with both hands and broke the shoulder blades of the two men amid the groaning of bones. The screams were heard from far away, attracting the patrolling Uchiha law enforcers.

"You're useless! You can't even bear this little pain. You're just a piece of trash!"

After Ye Shan said this, he nodded to the Uchiha law enforcer who came and walked away. He became more and more irritated and had no intention of practicing anymore. He returned home and fell asleep.

On the last day of the 42nd year of the Konoha calendar, Yeshan spent it in a state of irritability.