A Small Goal

Chapter 31: A Small Goal

The Uchiha Clan's tragic annihilation in Konoha was inseparable from Hiruzen Sarutobi's compromise.

But the main reason behind it could be said to be Hiruzen Sarutobi's incompetence in handling the matter. Even in the end, he had no way to resolve the conflict between the village and the Uchiha Clan.

That was why Xu Fan had taken this opportunity to tell Hiruzen Sarutobi about the solution he had come up with, letting him use this method to deal with the Uchiha Clan while striking back at Kumogakure in the process.

"If we're really talking about life experience and various methods, I might not be a match for the Third Hokage, but... I know history and possess a broader perspective that he doesn't."

Xu Fan could not help but sigh inwardly.

Sarutobi was already past fifty, an old man in the twilight of his years. Naturally, he was extremely experienced in both worldly matters and power struggles.

But the so-called Shinobi World Wars...

Even in the most exaggerated one, the troops deployed by both sides had amounted to no more than a few hundred thousand.

They simply could not compare to the world Xu Fan had come from before crossing over.

As for strategists, the gap was even greater.

Take the current situation, for example.

Konoha's internal conflict, when put plainly, involved only three sides.

The Uchiha faction, led by Fugaku Uchiha, who had suffered for decades.

Danzo's faction, which called itself Konoha's root and had taken the blame for most of its dirty deeds.

And the Hokage faction, which had always maintained an upright and glorious image.

If a certain gentleman named Wolong crossed over here, he would probably be filled with questions.

Why were they so obsessed with one village?

March north!

Launch a northern expedition!

Even the strategy Xu Fan had proposed—using external conflict to redirect internal conflict—had actually been an idea conceived by that very Mister Wolong.

That was what a true great politician was!

It looked simple.

Yet in truth, it was unfathomably profound.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, a man with more than fifty years of life experience who had spent half his life playing power games, was stunned by Xu Fan's strategy.

Though it had only taken a few words, the method itself was exceedingly brilliant.

Most importantly, how many people could have come up with such a decision?

At the very least, he could not. Neither could Danzo.

For a time, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into deep thought, considering how to implement Xu Fan's suggestion.

Moreover, he did not need the entire Uchiha Clan. As long as they sent half their members, that would be enough to resist Kumogakure's Shinobi forces.

And with that number of people, his Anbu could easily keep them under control. If they intended to use this opportunity to launch a coup, he could deal with the divided Uchiha Clan separately before that happened.

Besides, Konoha now possessed a secret weapon like Xu Fan.

His Wood Release far surpassed Yamato's, and coupled with that absurd Chakra amount...

Hiruzen Sarutobi truly could not find any reason to keep compromising.

Of course, this was not something he could decide alone. He still needed to gather the Konoha leadership for a second discussion before making a decision.

"Xu Fan."

"Hmm?"

Xu Fan met Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze, quietly waiting for his answer.

Although several members of the Uchiha Clan had baffling logic, they were still thousands of lives.

More importantly, they were also an extremely powerful fighting force within the village.

Becoming Hokage was merely one of his small goals.

His true grand goal was to unify the entire shinobi world!

To achieve true peace... my ass!

What did that have to do with me?

Of course, unifying the shinobi world was so he could enjoy life better. Standing above tens of thousands, establishing order—wasn't that appealing?

So Xu Fan felt there was nothing wrong with training the Uchiha Clan into his own workforce.

Especially Itachi Uchiha. Xu Fan still highly acknowledged his strength.

Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, the Sword of Totsuka, Izanami...

Those abilities were enough to place Itachi Uchiha at Kage level.

It was just that his values and logic...

Xu Fan found them hard to accept.

By ordinary standards of thought, when the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and the village became irreconcilable, he had at least three better solutions.

The first was to find a way to persuade his father, mediate between the two factions, and preserve peace.

The second was to accept Fugaku Uchiha's plan, attack the Konoha leadership, and replace the leadership with only a small number of casualties.

The last was to simply refuse outright, declare that he would stand with the village, and force Fugaku Uchiha to give up.

And what did he do?

He truly disregarded his kinship with the clan. He truly disregarded the bond between father and son.

He turned around and sold out the Uchiha Clan.

Then Danzo began demanding the clan's annihilation, while Hiruzen Sarutobi said he would find a solution, only to end up finding nothing at all.

Yet even so, Itachi Uchiha still had other, better choices at that point.

He could either find a way to delay things as Hiruzen Sarutobi had suggested, or monitor the clan and immediately suppress the coup by force once it began.

And judging from Fugaku Uchiha's later actions, if Itachi Uchiha had truly suppressed the coup by force at that time, his father would certainly have understood and supported his choice.

As for the other Uchiha clansmen...

With Fugaku Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, two Mangekyō Sharingan experts, the others would have been easy prey, alright?

Yet Itachi Uchiha chose another ending that was impossible to understand.

He made a deal with Danzo, protected Sasuke, and stained the entire clan in blood.

Even taking a step back, if a conflict had erupted between the two sides, could it really have affected the village's civilians?

How many casualties could it have caused?

He spoke of doing it for the village while slaughtering the entire Uchiha Clan. Did he really not regard the Uchiha, who had suffered for decades, as villagers?

In the end, they had only been fighting for their rights.

They had worked tirelessly to help the Senju Clan establish Konoha, and for the village's stability, they had driven away their dance-loving former clan leader, Madara Uchiha.

On Nine-Tails Rampage Night, they had wanted to fight the enemy but had been ordered to remain still. In the end, the Konoha leadership used baseless accusations to drive them to the edge of the village.

And in the end, just because they wanted equality, they were exterminated by their own people.

No matter how many times Xu Fan revisited this plot, he felt its values were utterly bizarre.

If the entire Uchiha Clan had truly been evil, then fine.

But Fugaku Uchiha, Mikoto, Izumi, and the other Uchiha who had chosen to live as civilians were all kind people by nature, aside from not being particularly sharp-minded.

Fugaku Uchiha in particular had admired Sasuke Sarutobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi's father, more than any other shinobi. He had even given his younger son that name.

He hoped his son could become a shinobi as powerful and great as Hiruzen Sarutobi's father.

"Ah."

Thinking of this, Xu Fan could not help sighing over the Uchiha Clan's bitter history.

At least on this timeline, he should straighten out Itachi Uchiha's values.

If that did not work, he would just give him a Personality Correction Fist.

"I hope you can forget everything we discussed."

Just as Xu Fan's thoughts ran wild, Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice pulled his consciousness back to reality.

"If others learn of this, it could very likely have an adverse effect on you, so..."

At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi helplessly shook his head and let out a long sigh. "I will bear the burden of what happened today."

Xu Fan: "???"