A Strange Pair Gazes Upon Konoha

Seisui looked at the utterly serious Asuma Sarutobi, sighed, and instead of answering his question directly, countered:

"Asuma, what is the real confusion in your heart?"

Seisui sat down beneath a rock, motioning for Asuma to sit beside him, gazing at the bustling Konoha in the distance.

"Your father is the current Third Hokage of Konoha, the chosen successor of the Second Hokage. Growing up beside him, you should have been steeped in the Will of Fire through constant exposure. Why would you ask such a question?"

Asuma slowly sat down next to Seisui, the prosperity before his eyes feeling hollow from his perspective.

"Seisui, precisely because I am the Third Hokage's son, I've come to doubt the Will of Fire..."

Asuma gave a bitter smile, pointing at the Uchiha Clan Crest on Seisui's collar, and said self-deprecatingly:

"Don't laugh at me, Seisui, but if you weren't from the Uchiha Clan, even with your deep understanding of the Will of Fire, I wouldn't dare come to you."

"If I voiced the doubts I just did to anyone else, my father would know every word I said by the next day, and then either scold me harshly or beat me senseless."

Seisui chuckled: "You're an honest man, Asuma."

"You're right. The Uchiha Clan's position in Konoha is so awkward right now that even if I might earn your father's favor, I wouldn't risk discussing this with him. After all, it would be stirring up conflict between father and son."

Asuma nodded awkwardly.

Seisui patted his shoulder and looked him in the eye: "This has nothing to do with the Uchiha or Konoha..."

"Asuma, I swear to you that no one else will hear what you say today. I swear it on the honor of the Uchiha."

Hearing this, Asuma grew serious: "Thank you, Seisui."

Swearing on the honor of one's clan was a reliable guarantee for an ancient ninja clan like the Uchiha.

But Tobirama Senju snorted coldly upon hearing it.

If any other Uchiha had said that, he might have believed it three parts out of ten...

But with Seisui as the one swearing, Tobirama Senju felt the credibility was about the same as if he himself swore on the honor of the Senju Clan—in short, the baseline was quite flexible.

"Huh, did I just insult myself?" Tobirama Senju blinked, catching the blind spot.

"Seisui, precisely because my father is the Hokage and my brother is the Anbu Captain, I get to see and hear things in this village that most people don't..."

Asuma pulled a crumpled cigarette from his pocket, lit it with practiced ease, took a deep drag, and said with a distant look: "Do you know about Root?"

"It's a division of the Anbu, controlled by the Hokage Assistant, Shimura Danzō. I used to have friends—some from civilian families, some from ninja clans—but they were all later chosen by Root."

Seisui nodded: "Being chosen by the Anbu—isn't that a good thing?"

Asuma exhaled a plume of smoke:

"A good thing? They vanished from Konoha after that. I went to ask their elders, but their families said they were already dead, with hatred and resentment flickering in their eyes."

"I don't believe my friends wanted to join this so-called Root. Their dream was always to become Hokage..."

Seisui fell silent, then slowly nodded.

That was indeed Shimura Danzō's style—snatching up the geniuses he valued, brainwashing them as children to turn them into tools.

Not just civilian ninja; even ninja clans struggled to resist Danzō's demands. Even the Yamanaka Clan, tightly bound to Hiruzen Sarutobi, had to offer up their clan's geniuses to this Hokage Assistant.

At the mention of Shimura Danzō's name, Tobirama Senju's heart stirred, his face darkening as he sank into thought.

"And that's not all, Seisui. As an Uchiha, you must have heard of Wood Release, right?"

As if emboldened by Seisui's earnest oath, Asuma grew bolder:

"Orochimaru, Shimura Danzō, and my father once tried to recreate the First Hokage's Wood Release for the sake of Konoha, conducting human experiments."

"At first, the project was official and legitimate. Many Senju Clan members volunteered, actively cooperating with the research, and even some civilian ninja joined willingly."

Seisui waved a hand and said slowly:

"Asuma, human experimentation isn't inherently wrong. The village and your father were trying to strengthen it, which doesn't violate the Will of Fire, since it was voluntary."

Asuma slowly shook his head:

"Later, the experiment was halted. I don't know the exact reason, but I heard it was because the success rate was too low, and many ninja died."

Seisui nodded in understanding: "Effort doesn't always yield results, Asuma."

"The First Hokage's power is so tempting that any Hokage would want to recreate Konoha's former glory. It just didn't succeed—that doesn't prove anything."

Asuma let out a heavy sigh: "Seisui, don't you think I understand all that?"

"But after the experiment was stopped, I remembered some ninja with Senju blood who had been around—a small number of them mysteriously vanished from Konoha. Where do you think they went..."

"Did they go to Root, or did they keep dying in that secret experiment? I want to know—were those who disappeared later volunteers?"

"And Root's extortion, the secret human experiments—these are just the tip of the iceberg."

"Does all of this align with the Will of Fire?"

Seisui narrowed his eyes, patted Asuma's shoulder, and said slowly: "So, your real confusion is..."

"In your daily lessons at the Ninja Academy, the Will of Fire is so bright, so righteous, without a single stain or flaw."

"But because of your family and background, you've seen the darkness buried deep in the village. That clashes with what most Konoha ninja learn about the Will of Fire, and it leaves you unable to understand what the Will of Fire truly is."

Asuma nodded vigorously. Seisui's summary had hit the nail on the head.

If one has never seen the light, they can endure the darkness.

But Asuma had seen the darkness, and now he harbored a deep-seated doubt toward the light before him.

As a Youth with independent thoughts, Asuma had his own ideals, yet his birth brought him a fractured gap in information, leaving him utterly lost and anguished.

"Asuma, give me one..." Seisui didn't answer Asuma's question; instead, he asked him for a cigarette.

Asuma silently nodded, lit a cigarette for Seisui, and then lit one for himself as well.

The Son of the Hokage and the Uchiha genius.

This odd pair sat atop the mountain peak, gazing together at the bustling flow of Konoha below, smoking in silence.

At that moment, it seemed some kind of bond was forming...