It turned out Hiruzen Sarutobi was not such a "selfish" person after all. He hoped Yinsen could offer more guidance to several other young people from the same generation, including the team led by Guy.
Well then, aside from Naruto being away from the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi was basically stuffing the entire Rookie Nine into his hands?
"I'm in the same generation as them. Neji and Rock Lee are even a year ahead of me. Is that really appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about it?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not think there was anything wrong with it. With Yinsen's current strength, reputation, and standing in the village, no one would object.
Especially with Sasuke as an example, those young people probably would not object either.
Competition? Refusal to accept it?
When the gap in strength between two sides was not that large, young people might feel unwilling to concede.
But the gap between Yinsen and these young people was simply too vast. They were not even on the same level. Could they still think of comparing themselves to him? At most, they could only admire him or regard him as someone to chase after.
As for why Hiruzen Sarutobi had suddenly thought of this, he wanted to see whether Yinsen could only guide Sasuke Uchiha, or whether his teaching ability was truly that impressive.
If it was the former, then there was not much to say. Perhaps the knowledge he possessed was not something everyone could absorb. That was not uncommon in the ninja world; many powerful ninja spent their entire lives unable to find a suitable successor.
But if it was the latter, then it would be an enormous surprise. It would mean the Hidden Leaf Village's future was filled with limitless hope.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was not some war