The Hokage and the Village (Part 2)

When the Second Hokage and his disciples were surrounded, Senju Tobirama had already made his decision: all of his successors had to leave safely.

He was no longer young himself, but more importantly, the Will of Fire had to be passed on. This system of Hokage succession had to be established.

So none of these Hokage successors could die. That meant only he could make the sacrifice.

After considering factors such as strength, wisdom, and personal charisma, he ultimately chose Sarutobi Hiruzen as the Third Hokage, successfully shifting the position of Hokage from the great clans to a master-disciple lineage.

In Shuichi's previous life, countless netizens had commented that Konoha's Hokage position was monopolized by the master-disciple lineage and was not democratic at all.

Only after experiencing it firsthand did Shuichi understand the real situation. Just as Uchiha Itachi had once said, "It is not becoming Hokage that earns everyone's recognition. It is earning everyone's recognition that allows one to become Hokage."

A similar idea explained Konoha's situation: "It is not that every Hokage comes from the master-disciple lineage, but that everyone with the potential to become Hokage is drawn into that lineage."

Thinking of this, Shuichi reviewed the history of the Hokage lineage from the original story. The students selected by the Second Hokage met the requirements; those six should have been the finest among that generation of Ninja Academy graduates.

And afterward? The Third Hokage's disciples were Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. Jiraiya's disciples were Minato and Naruto. Tsunade's disciples were Shizune and Haruno Sakura. Namikaze Minato's disciples were Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. And further down the line, there were Kakashi's disciples...

"Hiss, the more I think about it, the scarier it gets!" Shuichi realized that the Hokage lineage truly had a knack for choosing people. Basically, everyone with the qualities to become Hokage had been brought into the master-disciple lineage.

Either their personal potential was extraordinary, or their intelligence was unmatched. Even if they could not become Hokage, they could still serve as advisors. The Third Hokage's selection methods completely followed the style of his teacher, the Second Hokage, and indeed, nothing had gone terribly wrong. Except for the Uchiha.

That was also why the great clans acknowledged the Hokage. If Hokage selection could not be guaranteed as fair, everyone would gradually become alienated from the village.

They all knew that as long as someone from their clan was outstanding enough, the Hokage lineage would never pass them up.

The only exceptions to this selection system were Hatake Sakumo and the later Uchiha Clan. Madara came before, and the Nine-Tails came later; the Uchiha situation was complicated. Itachi and Shisui must have been considered for recruitment, but that would be discussed later.

No one had expected Hatake Sakumo to rely on nothing but a single blade, without Konoha's support and resources, and slaughter the other ninja villages until they were utterly terrified. His prestige had already surpassed even the Sannin, and his individual strength was sufficient for the position.

But if he had truly taken that position, the Hokage promotion system agreed upon by the Second Hokage and the great clans would have suffered a severe blow. It would mean that anyone with enough military achievements could become Hokage, without needing to go through the Ninja Academy and the master-disciple lineage.

Then it was very possible that Konoha's great clans would no longer send their finest heirs into the Ninja Academy. Such an outcome could even cause Konoha to begin falling apart, and everyone would no longer be united.

When the next great shinobi war came, which clan would send more troops, and which would send fewer? Would they still listen to the Hokage? They would probably be arguing themselves into a mess.

As things stood, even though Sarutobi Hiruzen had been Hokage for many years, no Civilian Ninja had ever obtained the position through the Hokage lineage.

If this continued, the large number of Civilian Ninja Konoha had cultivated, as well as the hidden descendants of the Senju watching from the shadows, would begin to question the Hokage promotion system. Could civilians never become Hokage in their entire lives?

So at present, the Fourth Hokage was basically predetermined to be a civilian. There were only two candidates: Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Tsunade had to be placed further back for now. The Third Shinobi War had not begun, and Minato had not yet earned any prestige.

With Jiraiya having already accepted Namikaze Minato as an outstanding disciple, Orochimaru was like those princes from Shuichi's previous life whose position as "crown prince" became unstable because they lacked an heir.

So the Hokage lineage had seriously examined the Ninja Academy's situation over the past two years. Kakashi was White Fang's son, and his personality was rather unsuitable as well. Shuichi's performance, meanwhile, made him a perfect candidate. That was also why Shuichi had figured it out himself.

From the Third Hokage's words, Shuichi had analyzed his intentions. Through this ceremony, and through the mouths of these clan children, he wanted to tell the great clans that Orochimaru had found an heir and that the "crown prince's" position was secure.

"Luckily, I didn't choose the path of lying low. That would have been throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds. I'd probably have had no chance of becoming Hokage for the rest of my life." Shuichi secretly rejoiced over his plan. By sheer accident, it had produced a perfect result.

"So this is why the Hokage lineage suppressed White Fang's prestige? Even if Danzo and the advisors were the ones who acted, no one else would object, including the great clans." Shuichi basically understood now.

What the Third Hokage might not have expected was that White Fang would choose suicide. His original goal should only have been to strip White Fang of his qualifications to become Hokage. After all, no village would not mourn the loss of a ninja of that caliber.

But White Fang's reason for committing suicide was very likely an intelligence gap between him and Konoha High Command. He was merely a ninja who purely loved the village, and it was difficult for him to discern the complexities of politics.

Shuichi wondered, if he were White Fang, could he truly have fully understood Konoha's intentions under those circumstances?

A group of his loyal subordinates might very well, because their own interests had been damaged, do something to pressure Konoha High Command. Once that happened, it would ignite Konoha's internal conflicts, and would be no different from betraying the village.

At the same time, the most important reason he did not dare gamble was his fear that Konoha High Command's future suppression might fall upon Kakashi.

Such suppression certainly could not be discussed openly. So even if White Fang had guessed that Konoha wanted to suppress him, with insufficient information, he would not dare risk his son's life.

After weighing all those factors, in order to stop his followers with shared interests from causing further disturbances while also protecting Kakashi's future, White Fang chose suicide.

After White Fang's suicide, the Third Hokage truly felt guilty.

Kakashi's personality flaws had been obvious from the start, but in order to compensate him, even after Kakashi graduated early and became a Chunin, he still made an exception and had Minato accept him as a disciple, granting Kakashi the qualifications of a Hokage successor.

Later, he even used the village's power to withstand the pressure of the Uchiha Clan so that Kakashi could inherit the Sharingan. When he discovered the darkness in Kakashi's heart, he actively sought opportunities to resolve Kakashi's inner knot, allowing him to become a qualified Hokage candidate completely.

"Phew, so this must be the foundation of Konoha's survival, as well as the unspoken secret among the great clans.

Every other ninja village in the shinobi world could copy Konoha's Ninja Academy, but they had completely failed to grasp the essence of this system. What difference was there between those Ninja Academies and military factories?

They were always unwilling to accept Konoha's endless stream of geniuses, yet they never considered how many of their own geniuses had been buried because of it." Having figured out so much, Shuichi truly admired the wisdom of Konoha's elite predecessors.

"Perhaps the only dumb clan in the entire village that failed to understand this later on was the Uchiha. The Third Hokage and the others had always been trying to solve the Uchiha problem. When they discovered that Obito had a cheerful personality, sufficient potential, and had not been too deeply influenced by his clan, they even gave him the qualifications of a Hokage candidate."

"That was also the Third Hokage's hint to the Uchiha. He could not have failed to understand the implications of being Minato's disciple, nor had he selfishly forced Asuma, his son with insufficient potential, upon Minato.

"He wanted to tell the Uchiha that the village had never abandoned or separated itself from the Uchiha Clan. But this move was undoubtedly like winking at a blind man."

"Did Itachi sense all this later, which was why he said he had despaired of that foolish clan?" Shuichi felt this analysis made sense from every angle.

"So Sasuke was really an idiot too. After the Uchiha Clan was wiped out, the village never implicated him. The Third Hokage and Kakashi both trained him as one of the Hokage successors, yet he went around the world pulling all sorts of ridiculous stunts before returning and wanting to become Hokage."

Shuichi felt that the Uchiha were truly a bizarre clan. Konoha had never owed the Uchiha a Hokage position. It was the Uchiha themselves who had repeatedly refused to fit in.

He did not know what had happened in the original story either, but whenever the village and the Uchiha began drawing closer, all kinds of unforeseen circumstances seemed to deepen their conflict instead. He did not know whether Madara had been causing trouble behind the scenes. The original story had never explained it clearly, after all.

I think this speculation of mine should fit the era and background of the shinobi world fairly well, right? If everyone has better ideas, feel free to discuss them.

There are still some thoughts I did not write down. Making this section any longer would seem a little too much like padding, so I will leave it at that for now. When major plot events appear later, I will refine it further.