Root Had a Problem From the Start!

The three phases of the Third Shinobi World War.

Phase One: Stone Ninja from the Land of Stone and Cloud Ninja from the Land of Lightning attacked the Sand Village in the Land of Wind. Rasa, a savior, appeared in the Sand Village and repelled the invaders. The Stone Ninja attempted to form an alliance with the Cloud Ninja but were refused.

Phase Two: The Cloud Ninja attacked the Stone Ninja, while simultaneously attacking Konoha. In the original timeline, the Cloud Ninja attacked the Stone Ninja, and the Third Raikage was surrounded and killed by tens of thousands of Stone Ninja. Afterward, the Stone Ninja invaded Konoha, and the Cloud Ninja also continued their assault on Konoha. Konoha found itself fighting on two fronts.

Phase Three: The Stone Ninja, Cloud Ninja, and Konoha went to war. The Mist Ninja launched a surprise attack on Konoha, ultimately creating an extremely dire situation with three fronts of war. This even tempted the weakened Sand Village, which, seeking greater profit, invaded the Land of Fire.

This was the most outrageous siege of Konoha by the four great ninja villages in history.

Ultimately, Konoha was pushed all the way to Kikyo Mountain, nearly driven to desperation—because beyond Kikyo Mountain lay Konoha.

Looking back at the Third Shinobi World War, strategically, only the Mist Ninja's surprise attack on Konoha was due to Uchiha Madara's machinations; Konoha High Command couldn't be blamed. However, tactically, they deployed the Uchiha Clan, masters of Fire Release, against the Mist Ninja, who excelled at Water Release.

It could truly be said that the front lines were strained while the rear was being exploited.

Even at this point, they were still targeting the Uchiha Clan.

At this time, the Uchiha Clan should have been sent to fight the Sand Village, as Fire Release counters Wind Release.

As for the strategic mistake—

When the Cloud Village invaded the Sand Village, Konoha should have intervened.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in pursuit of so-called peace, allowed the Cloud Village to travel thousands of miles to attack the Sand Village.

The Stone Ninja from the Land of Stone invaded the Sand Village because the Land of Stone bordered the Land of Wind!

The Cloud Ninja had to travel through a large number of small countries to invade the Sand Village in the Land of Wind.

Konoha, as the premier village of the leading nation, remained indifferent to this large-scale invasion, just as they did when the Uzumaki Clan was destroyed.

If only they had intercepted the Cloud Ninja at this point.

Gained the friendship of the Sand Village.

Offered a helping hand.

Konoha wouldn't have found itself in a situation where it was fighting on four fronts.

Suno understood this very clearly.

Although Namikaze Minato achieved an absolute tactical victory this time, it was fundamentally impossible to reverse the strategic defeat...

There was no other reason.

Because Hiruzen Sarutobi was his teacher's teacher.

A righteous person like Namikaze Minato would naturally not oppose Hiruzen Sarutobi. No matter how disappointed he was in the Third Hokage, he would only fight desperately for Konoha.

"Now, on this timeline..."

"Konoha has decisively defeated the Cloud Village ahead of schedule."

"The Raikage is dead, and the Two-Tails Jinchuriki has been captured."

"But... will the war-loving Cloud Village cease hostilities?"

Suno's judgment was: No.

Because the Cloud Village valued loyalty.

Under Suno's influence, the heavy losses suffered by A, the younger A, and the Two-Tails Jinchuriki were all inflicted by Konoha.

Therefore, the Cloud Village would continue to fight.

The general consensus within Konoha at this time was that the war with the Cloud Village would end, which was overly optimistic.

The Cloud Village would likely only stop fighting after more than half of its ninja had perished.

Conversely, the Cloud Village's actions were uncertain.

"It all depends on Ōnoki's 'magnanimity'..."

"If his magnanimity is great enough, then the Cloud Village will be comfortable, and the Stone and Cloud Villages will continue their alliance... with their sights set directly on Konoha, striving to pull Konoha down from its position as the number one village."

"If his magnanimity is small, and he takes advantage of the Cloud Village's weakness to launch a full-scale invasion, just as he did to the Sand Village, then Konoha will be very comfortable... and the war's landscape will change significantly."

But...

Was that even possible?

Was Ōnoki that kind of person?

In the original timeline, the Cloud Village first invaded the Stone Village, and the Stone Village used tens of thousands of ninja to kill the Third Raikage, A.

Under these circumstances.

The Stone Village should have been a natural ally to Konoha.

Yet, Ōnoki still chose to invade Konoha, and did not ally with Konoha to fight the Cloud Village...

"Let me see your so-called 'Stone Wisdom,' Ōnoki..."

As for Konoha High Command?

Suno held no hope for them.

They were still just a bunch of idiots and scoundrels.

I'll kill them all sooner or later.

After a difficult 1v4 battle that won the Ninja World War... the victor, Konoha, actually compromised?

Konoha paid with countless lives, countless sacrifices, to achieve victory.

What did Konoha High Command do with this hard-won victory?

Claiming it was for peace, they gave up demanding reasonable reparations from the villages that invaded.

They won the 1v4!

Why didn't they use this victory to acquire various resources at this point?

And what was Konoha High Command's inner circle thinking at this time?

After the war ended, the Hokage didn't do what a Hokage should do. What did Hiruzen do?

He handed over the position of Hokage to the young Namikaze Minato.

Then, under the guise of "assisting Namikaze Minato in wielding power," he continued to indirectly meddle in politics.

As soon as Namikaze Minato took office as the new generation's Fourth Hokage, his appointment shifted the public's and the ninja's dissatisfaction away from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

However, the highest echelon remained Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu.

The ones making decisions were still this group.

They had no sense of the bigger picture, were incompetent at everything, but excelled at infighting.

Looking back at the end of the Third Shinobi World War, the main theme was hot-blooded youths on the front lines spilling their blood and sacrificing their lives. Rin, Obito, Kakashi, and other young children were deeply harmed by the war, while old dogs like Hiruzen Sarutobi enjoyed the fruits of victory in the rear.

They had no thought for Konoha in their minds, only power struggles and protecting their own interests.

In Su Nuo's eyes.

He was actually more interested in Ōnoki's decisions.

As for the decisions of that old dog Hiruzen Sarutobi...

No need to even think about it.

Facing the inevitable joint invasion of Konoha by Kumogakure and Iwagakure, this guy would probably still be willing to sell out the village and the war heroes for the sake of so-called peace.

And ninja clans like the Hyuga, who were easily swayed and lacked their own opinions, would act according to the wishes of those above them.

The admiration Hyuga Shin received was ultimately a pipe dream.

As the saying goes.

Any tactical success could not salvage strategic failure.

If Konoha High Command and the Hyuga Main Family had their heads screwed on wrong, then no matter what excellent victories Hyuga Shin brought, they would be trampled upon at will.

Because the problem originated at the source!

Hiruzen Sarutobi was either a fool or a scoundrel!

Either he was foolish enough to make the Uchiha fight Kirigakure's Water Release ninja, foolish enough to let Naruto grow up being discriminated against and abused... or he was a scoundrel.

Either a fool or a scoundrel!

And this... was just what happened during the Third Shinobi World War.

Looking back further, there was also the forcing of Konoha White Fang to his death.

Looking ahead, there was the forcing of the Hyuga Clan to yield, and then agreeing to Kumogakure's unreasonable request, leading to Hizashi Hyuga's death.

He bore inescapable responsibility for these events that occurred during Hiruzen Sarutobi's tenure...

Root was rotten.

How could such a large tree like Konoha be healthy?