"Give me the tobacco first! Much obliged!"
Hearing Daren Yi's question, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had already dusted off his clothes and climbed to his feet, smiled and gestured for him to light his pipe.
Daren Yi chuckled and tossed him the pipe and tobacco pouch from the nearby table.
Hiruzen Sarutobi caught them, skillfully lit the pipe, and took a deep drag. The bitter wrinkles on his old face instantly relaxed as he let out a blissful sigh.
After savoring it with narrowed eyes for a moment, he looked up and seriously reflected on the path his heart had taken. Perhaps for the first time, he laid bare every thought in his heart:
"I am not a god among men like the First Hokage. I am merely an ordinary man, incapable of perfectly fulfilling all my wishes or protecting everyone.
"So when faced with difficult circumstances, all I could do was make my own choices again and again between bad and worse.
"Sacrificing innocent people to safeguard the interests of the majority is, of course, unfair to those being sacrificed.
"For example, the Uzumaki Clan, who never received Konohagakure's strong reinforcements in time; the innocent Uchiha clansmen who were killed; and countless others.
"But as Hokage, in order to prevent unforeseen events from worsening the situation further, someone as limited as me had to make the most conservative choice—the least terrible one.
"Take ordinary people, for instance. Naturally, they all want to spend more time with their families, take care of their children, and fulfill their responsibilities as wives, husbands, and parents.
"But often, they cannot do that. To survive, to earn money and support their families, they have to stay busy all day, scarcely ever seen at home.
"Their spouses and children will naturally resent and be dissatisfied with