"That's just a lie. The kid didn't have money. He's lucky that I even gave the mask free of cost," the shopkeeper said.
"Then you should be lucky that Corazon didn't ask for change," Aoto replied, giving tit for tat. This left the shopkeeper speechless because Corazon had paid almost three times the price of the mask. He could have made a half lie before, but he couldn't make another lie now because many people had seen him picking the money from the ground.
"The money doesn't matter. It's your employee. He's a spy," the shopkeeper now knew that if he continued down the money path, he would dig his own hole.
"How do you know he's a spy?" Aoto asked again.
"He helped the demon kid. That's why," the shopkeeper and others shouted.
"Oh! How do you know that he is the demon kid? Did an official notice ever come down to each one of us that he is a demon kid?" Aoto asked and finally caught them at their throats. The Hokage had always put a gag order on the Kyuubi event and made sure nobody talked about it.
But the rumors spread swiftly, and since the hate was still raw, they lapped up the rumor like some kind of puppy served milk on a plate.
"No... But... We heard the rumors, and the kid has whisker marks on his face," one person said, and Aoto was sure that he was a shinobi and belonged to Danzo. Danzo now seemed to be trying underhanded tactics to get under his skin since he failed to hurt him.
"So having whisker marks on the face makes a person a demon kid... Hmm... Shikuro!" Aoto shouted in the end. After a few seconds, Shikuro came out, a bit annoyed because he was in the middle of learning magic and practicing. He had an idea of what was happening since the library could perfectly show what was happening outside.
"What's the problem?" Shikuro asked as he came out and looked at the men surrounding the bakery. He also noticed some of Danzo's men but didn't call them out.
"They said having whisker marks means that a kid is the demon kid. Give all of them whisker marks, and let's see if they can become demons," Aoto said, with a calm and straight face.
"What?"
"Are you nuts?!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Protests erupted as everyone roared and shouted in response to Aoto's absurd words. It was preposterous. Shikuro seemed unfazed by the sudden protest. Without hesitation, he drew his kunai and lunged at the shopkeeper, who had been talking incessantly. Shikuro struck him in the chest and used his body as a sort of cushion as they both fell to the ground, with Shikuro pinning his arms down, rendering him immobile.
The whole sequence happened so quickly that the others didn't have time to react and simply scattered away. They couldn't believe that one of Aoto's subordinates would be so ruthless as to attack without hesitation.
"What are you doing? No... No... Someone save me," the shopkeeper cried when he felt the cold touch of the iron kunai on his cheek. There was no cut yet, but with a bit more pressure, blood would surely flow. He cried out again, but nobody came to his rescue until someone spoke up in a louder tone.
"Shikuro, can you not play pranks on this man any longer? He might die of shock."
Shikuro, who had been holding the kunai, immediately withdrew it and stood upright, leaving the man to crawl away as fast as he could. The one who had spoken was the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama is here. He will ensure justice."
"Yes, he will be impartial."
Aoto couldn't help but smirk as he heard the murmurs of these individuals. Shikuro bowed his head but remained silent. Hiruzen slowly stepped forward and looked at Aoto and Shikuro before letting out a sigh.
"Why are you both playing pranks on the citizens on the weekend?" Hiruzen asked.
"Well, they came up with the rumor that my employee was a spy, so I had to use their own logic against them," Aoto shrugged in response.
"What logic are you talking about? Am I wrong to call the demon kid the demon kid?" one person spoke up. While most people in the crowd respected the Hokage, not everyone was silent, especially after seeing Aoto speak up.
"Didn't I issue a gag order on talking about the demon?" Hiruzen spoke slowly, ensuring that his words were heard by everyone. This sent shudders through the crowd, as they hadn't expected the Hokage to bring up the initial notice that had been given to the entire village.
"But Hokage-sama, the fox demon killed many of our people. Should we just forget about them?" one man justified his hatred towards the kid.
"I lost my parents to the demon. So, does that mean I should direct my hatred towards a child? If your parents committed a crime, should you, as their child, pay for it?" Aoto asked, and his words silenced everyone.
In their pursuit of jealousy and hatred, they had forgotten a crucial element: Aoto had suffered too. Those trying to instigate conflict on behalf of Danzo had overlooked Aoto's personal history. Their attempts to drag Aoto through the mud using the fox demon had now backfired.
Hokage remained silent, allowing Aoto to speak further, hoping that the people would become more logical and empathetic.
"Naruto Uzumaki.. Come out.. " Aoto suddenly shouted. His words echoed among the wooden walls of the shops on the side of the streets. There was no response. "Naruto.. I know you are here. You can come out. Nobody will hurt you. I promise you that." Aoto shouted again. After a few more seconds, from the side of a shop a little far, a small boy with spiky yellow hair, noticeable whiskers on his cheeks came out.
He was wearing a white shirt which had the sign of Uzumaki whirlpool on the front and a half blue pant.
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