The news of Roshi joining the frontline units quickly sparked numerous rumors throughout Iwagakure.
Rumors like "You can't judge a man's heart by his face" and wild accusations that he had used magma to vaporize fellow shinobi spread like wildfire. Some even pinned all missing Rock-nin incidents on him.
"Did you hear about this? Surely Lord Roshi wouldn't do such things, would he?"
"He's a jinchuriki after all. Even if he seems kind and gentle normally, once the Four-Tails gets loose, he becomes completely ruthless."
"In other words—"
"Shh, speak softer."
Roshi, who had gone outdoors to attend to his bodily needs, overheard these absurd speculations from two Rock-nin standing behind him with their backs turned. Unexpectedly, he felt a surge of anger rise within.
This was betrayal from comrades!
He silently turned and walked away, convincing himself that all this distrust must have been caused by some unseen manipulator working from the shadows.
Self-consolation is always humans' first instinct.
Several days later, just as he was about to discuss mission assignments with the commander, he overheard conversations coming from inside the command tent.
"It's not that I don't trust Roshi, but honestly speaking, he does appear quite suspicious."
"Commander, are we really going to keep him stationed at our camp?"
"We don't have much choice. He probably wouldn't dare act out here where everyone can see him."
"I understand."
Now fully understanding the saying 'words can cut deeper than swords,' Roshi's silhouette appeared particularly desolate.
One rumor spreads to ten, then to a hundred. If even the commander overseeing more than a hundred men in the camp doubted him...
Then what about nearly three hundred teams facing danger at the frontlines?
When self-consolation failed, he could only resort to stronger techniques—self-hypnosis.
However, pretending to ignore everything, Roshi now faced not only external invisible suspicions but also internal manipulations and provocations.
"Roshi, aren't these people just absolutely annoying? You haven't done anything wrong at all."
"Shut up! I won't release your seal, so give it up already, Four-Tails!"
Inside his spiritual space, he constantly struggled against Son Goku.
The moment his mental defenses wavered even slightly, searing chakra would start surging into his body.
More than half a month passed like this, and Roshi's situation clearly hadn't improved—if anything, it had gotten worse.
That night, half of Roshi's body transformed by the Four-Tails' chakra cloak, he was even spotted by a dozen Kumogakure shinobi.
"Wait, I haven't lost—"
Those dozen cloud nin vanished instantly, making him swallow back the word "sanity" right before speaking aloud.
Predictably, tomorrow's rumors would spread even further.
Sure enough, the next day in the Rock Village camp, rumors were already circulating: the Four-Tails jinchuriki had almost lost control last night, nearly killing several people.
As these rumors kept spreading, by the time they reached Roshi's ears, they'd turned into something like: he had flown into a killing rage last night, and those ninja barely escaped with their lives—or they'd have been reduced to ash by his magma.
Of course, these rumors were way off. With magma's heat, even the toughest bone in a human body would vaporize in an instant—no way anyone could survive that.
A short cliffside more than ten kilometers away, Team One had just completed a large "natural" landscape.
The molten wasteland looked beautiful but durable. Even though it would cool down in a few days, Iwagakure would surely notice what had happened.
Shen Uchiha climbed the steep cliff one step at a time, clearly in a great mood.
It had been a while since he last received any intelligence on the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, which led him to consider two possibilities:
First, Iwagakure might be protecting the Jinchuriki to prevent another unprovoked outburst.
Second, they might have deployed the Jinchuriki to the frontlines, simultaneously proving his loyalty and allowing limited surveillance over him.
So, thinking the weather matched his mood perfectly, Shen spent half a day down there carving out a molten wasteland over a kilometer wide.
If Iwagakure chose to protect the Jinchuriki, this act would undoubtedly expose everything as a scheme fabricated by others.
But so long as the Four-Tails Jinchuriki was near here, relations between these two sides would deteriorate further.
By merely exploiting human weaknesses, he, Shen Uchiha, could incite conflict between Iwagakure and the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, causing them gradually to grow apart.
"Let's give the big ape a new dynamic lock first," Shen said cheerfully, taking a huge stride toward the edge of the cliff.
He gazed at Nayou and Nawaki, feeling a special sense of accomplishment deep within.
Gradually reinforcing each tailed beast's seal had become one of his newly devised plans.
He recently kept having a premonition that something significant was about to happen.
Several days later, at the Iwagakure Camp, many Rock-nin were discussing the base of that cliff more than ten kilometers away.
Their conversations were no longer confined to whispers behind closed doors; now they openly debated them face-to-face.
Speculations such as Roshi exposing his true nature and running off to vent his emotions were merely appetizers.
Some Kumogakure shinobi even fancifully theorized that someone in the camp had evidence, fled after being discovered to the bottom of that cliff ten kilometers away, perhaps meeting their final resting place there.
"Now that's what I call having no grave to call your own!"
"You've gotta be kidding me—Roshi actually did something like that?"
The Rock-nin who believed himself close to uncovering the truth felt smugly satisfied with the shared hatred and solidarity shown in the eyes around him.
Not everyone feared the tailed beasts lurking behind the Jinchuriki.
This guy was exactly the kind who loved seeing the world burn—no fear, just excitement.
Meanwhile, deep within his tent and not stepping outside at all, Roshi naturally heard every careless word spoken.
Feeling betrayed, bitterness and fury made Roshi's mental state increasingly unstable once again.
"They're all idiots. You'd never do something like this."
Son Goku's voice echoed from within the spiritual realm, "Don't you hate feeling this way? I completely understand your feelings."
"Just stop suppressing your emotions. They don't deserve your dedication."
"Shut up! You only want freedom yourself, right? You're no different from those people!" Roshi roared angrily inside his Jinchuriki's spiritual realm, his condition deteriorating badly.
Don't be fooled by his argument with Son Goku — underneath the sheets, he's shaking uncontrollably.
The dark circles under his eyes speak volumes about his recent insomnia.
He hasn't stepped outside in ages, and judging from his posture now, it's clear he hasn't interacted with the outside world in a long time.
Reaching the breaking point, he was finally forced to suppress everything.
That Roshi was able to become a jinchūriki proves just how much stronger his willpower is than that of an ordinary ninja.
To endure everyone's criticism — that, to him, is the essence of what makes a true ninja.
"Hahahaha, Roshi. Among all the ninjas I've seen, none have been able to endure such pain," Satori said.
In the Spiritual Space, Son Goku didn't try to tempt him again.
"You'll soon accept reality," Son Goku said before falling into a deep slumber.
The trembling Roshi, whose previously scattered gaze had seemed unfocused, suddenly looked determined.
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