Agung saw the flicker of comprehension turn into a deep, troubling confusion in Naruto's eyes. The boy was grappling with the concept of a helpful tormentor, but now Agung was laying bare the cruel complexity of the village's isolation—the secret of the demon fox.
He needed to clarify, to make the stakes terrifyingly personal, while still adhering to the guise of a sympathetic outsider.
"Wait, wait," Naruto stammered, his small body tensing. He wasn't crying now; he was focusing with a raw, desperate intensity. "The whole village? Rely on me and hate me? That doesn't make sense! Why would they do that?"
Agung leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, laced with genuine sorrow for the boy's fate.
"It makes sense if they are afraid, Naruto. And that fear forces them into secrecy. So let me ask you the darkest question of all, young hero. Imagine this scenario:"
Agung's gaze was unflinching, demanding honesty.
"What if your entire life, your whole world, is built inside a cocoon of lies? Lies not told to protect you, but lies told to inflict suffering upon you because of something you did not, could not, ever do yourself? Something terrible that is fundamentally tied to you."
He paused, letting the weight of the hypothetical sink in.
"I am talking about everyone, Naruto. Every adult, every shopkeeper, every elder—except maybe the few kind hearts you mentioned, like your friends and this 'Iruka.' Everyone else is holding a secret that defines the contempt they show you. A secret tied to a monstrous act that wasn't yours, but that they believe resides in you. If you were to discover this massive, painful lie, what would you choose?"
Agung gently placed his large hand, calloused from years of wielding a wok, on the boy's shoulder.
"Do you destroy the cocoon and seek revenge for the years of suffering, or do you choose to fight for the people who lied to you, because they are still your people, and their reliance on you is still fundamentally real?"
The question was the entire crux of Naruto's story, laid bare. It was the choice between the demon fox's hatred and the spirit of the Hokage.
Naruto's entire body trembled. He looked from Agung's sincere, sad eyes to the strange, glowing door, and then back to his own dirt-stained hands. The warm glow of the Overworld Restaurant felt both like the safest place he'd ever been and the threshold of a terrifying truth.