Speaking of which...
Could it really have been then?
After an unrelated thought suddenly crossed his mind—one completely disconnected from the earlier matter of unifying the Shinobi World to achieve peace—the Third Hokage found himself entertaining a rather subtle thought.
His mind had even drifted away from the matter of ideals.
He was practically spacing out.
As for why someone like the Third Hokage would lose focus while contemplating such a serious question, perhaps it was because no matter one's status or experiences, as long as one had not denied everything in one's past, everyone had once been young.
When the Third Hokage was young, although he had been called a genius, he had ultimately grown up as a normal child. Even though he had encountered the cruelty of war at an early age, under the guidance of the Second Hokage, his mind had still developed relatively healthily.
Since he had grown up as a normal child, he naturally experienced the things normal children experienced. The things ordinary children found interesting naturally interested him as well.
And what young people were most interested in, ultimately, was nothing more than love.
Yes, even the Third Hokage had a taste for gossip when it came to romance.
His own love life could be described as utterly smooth. His wife, Biwako Sarutobi, had been his childhood sweetheart since infancy, having grown up in the clan compound. Their marriage had been arranged early on, and they got along remarkably well in many ways. Their marriage and children had simply come naturally.
His relationship had gone smoothly, and his married life had been happy. His wife had carried two pregnancies, both delivered safely, giving birth to two boys. The younger one had practically been a child born in his old age, and both boys had