The Uchiha clan, which was wiped out entirely, lacked vision.

Chapter 264 We must deeply reflect on our actions!

Chapter 264 We must deeply reflect on our actions!

joke!

Do you think you can just brush everything aside with a casual apology?

What sweet dreams are you having?

If I don't give Hiruzen Sarutobi a good beating, I won't be a Uchiha!

As soon as he asked that question, Hiruzen Sarutobi's old face began to turn red at a visible speed.

An pretended not to see it, flicked his finger to create a wooden stake, sat on it, crossed his legs, and swung his toes.

"Tell me, what did you do wrong?"

"—An, I'm apologizing to you now. Did you go a bit too far?"

Since becoming Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had never suffered such humiliation, and his eyes practically blazed with fury.

An ignored him, simply tilting her head and glancing sideways at the pillar beside her.

"Hey, First Generation, you've seen it. This is what you call a sincere admission of wrongdoing."

"Look at him, does he look like he's mistaken?"

"He doesn't even know what he did wrong. It's obvious he doesn't think he did anything wrong; he was just forced to come and apologize by you."

"I cannot accept this kind of apology!"

As she spoke, An turned to her tribespeople behind her and asked, "Can you accept this?"

"Unacceptable!" All the Uchiha raised their arms in unison, glaring angrily at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who looked utterly humiliated.

Now it was Hashirama's turn to be unhappy.

His personality is straightforward; right is right, and wrong is wrong.

He is genuinely willing to admit his mistakes and has no burden of saving face, so he was very dissatisfied with the performance of the third generation.

"Hiruzen, what are you doing?"

"Show some attitude!"

"You are a role model for Konoha Village!"

"If even you are unwilling to sincerely admit your mistakes, how can you expect others to believe you?"

Faced with the first generation's reprimand, the third generation almost wanted to spit out a mouthful of blood.

He had never hated the "Impure World Reincarnation" technique as much as he did now.

If possible, returning to the underworld to continue sleeping would be his preferred option right now.

But it's too late to run now; the first generation might even accuse them of desertion.

Helpless, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to suppress his anger, lower his head, and say with deep sorrow, "My mistake was that I trusted Danzo too much and failed to control Root properly, allowing him to commit the atrocity of annihilating the Uchiha clan in the village."

"It was all my oversight; I failed in my duty as Hokage, which led to this tragedy—"

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could finish speaking, An pointed at him and shouted loudly.

"Hey, aren't you just avoiding the main point?"

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, don't try to fool me!"

"If it weren't for your indulgence, how dare Danzo act so recklessly?"

"What do you mean by negligence?"

You really need to reflect on this!

"Don't tell me you weren't aware of the extermination of your clan beforehand?"

"Then what happened to Shisui?"

"And what's wrong with that beast, Itachi?"

Stop pretending to be a good guy!

"We cannot accept this kind of apology!"

As An made his accusations, the group of Uchiha behind him also started to jeer, pointing at Hiruzen Sarutobi and cursing him.

"That's right, stop pretending to be a good guy!"

"During the Nine-Tails' rampage, Danzo sent men to confine our clan members within our clan's territory, forbidding them from leaving. Don't tell me you didn't know that afterwards?"

"But how did you do it?"

"You forced us to relocate our clan's territory to a place far away from the village, facilitating the future extermination of the Uchiha clan. Can you honestly say this wasn't premeditated?"

Amidst the angry accusations of the crowd, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face turned ashen. Knowing that he would not be able to get away with this without a thorough self-reflection, he could only sigh and reorganize his words, apologizing once again: "My mistake was misunderstanding the Uchiha clan's loyalty to the village."

"My mistake was in allowing Danzo to arbitrarily suppress the Uchiha clan, and even more so in letting him secretly harm his fellow Uchiha."

"My mistake was that I shouldn't have—" When it came to Itachi, the Third Hokage paused for a moment, and finally took all the blame, "I shouldn't have let Danzo and Itachi cooperate to cleanse the Uchiha clan."

"The tragedy of the Uchiha clan's massacre was caused by my incompetence as Hokage."

"It's all my fault, and I have deeply realized my mistakes."

"An, I now formally apologize to you and all the deceased Uchiha clan members, and ask for your forgiveness."

"That's more like it." The Uchiha members were still furious, but they had stopped shouting and turned their attention to their clan leader.

Before today, they never imagined that they would one day hear words of apology from the Third Hokage.

They had unwavering trust in their powerful clan leader, believing that he would never allow them to suffer any injustice.

An nodded slowly and waved his hand.

"Fine, even if you've realized your mistake."

"Next."

The Third Hokage finally breathed a sigh of relief, then walked silently behind Hashirama and stood there, watching as the next person came to An to apologize.

An sat there casually, listening attentively, and then asked, "Where did you go wrong?"

An would refuse to accept any answer that did not satisfy him, allowing his clansmen behind him to point at the other person and hurl insults at them.

The person apologizing then has to rack their brains and carefully consider what they did wrong and how to answer in a way that will satisfy An.

One by one, the members of Konoha went back and forth, each offering a sincere apology before finally it was Itachi Uchiha's turn.

Itachi stood blankly behind everyone, and only after everyone had finished did he slowly and laboriously move forward.

Upon seeing Itachi's appearance, the crowd behind him immediately erupted into chaos again.

"Itachi, you beast!"

"I kindly invited you in that day, and you stabbed me in the back!"

"My poor two-year-old brother, and you won't even leave him alone!"

While cursing, the crowd couldn't help but rush forward and punch and kick Itachi.

Itachi stood there blankly with his head down. Facing the attacks of the crowd, he neither dodged nor fought back, letting them beat and scold him.

"Alright, everyone come back!"

An simply said one sentence, and the arrogant and angry Uchiha all stopped fighting and stood back behind An, sulking.

Only a few Uchiha members, still furious, spat thick phlegm at Itachi, covering his head and face.

Itachi stood there blankly, then slowly knelt down in front of everyone, performing a dogeza (a deep, obeisance gesture), his dry voice coming from between his arms.

"My mistake was that I shouldn't have used my sword against my own people."

"My mistake was that I didn't distinguish between men, women, and children and slaughtered all the people of my tribe."

"It's all my fault."

"You have every right to hate me."

"Just kill me!"