Sarutobi Hiruzen's Path to Ascending, Uchiha Jin's Detailed Explanation!

Uchiha Jin narrowed his eyes slightly.

Amano Elder's question sent his mind racing.

His influence had already reached its limit. With Danzo's recent frenzied actions, he had brought nearly everyone he could win over to his side. The remaining Uchiha, like Fugaku and Shisui, were people he could never possibly recruit.

So now...

It was indeed time to speak from the heart. After all, many of his future actions would require the complete cooperation of everyone present!

He had no choice.

Without a system or the Eternal Mangekyo, it was practically impossible for him to challenge Konoha alone. The only people he could rely on now were the Uchiha before him.

After taking a deep breath, he slowly spoke.

"Amano Elder is right. I actually saw through it long ago!"

"But the Uchiha are a clan that speaks through strength. Even if I had reluctantly spoken up back then, the clan would not have placed any trust in me."

"Therefore, all I could do was protect myself!"

As Uchiha Jin spoke, everyone present slowly nodded.

That was right!

The Uchiha Clan relied on strength!

Someone without any strength—let alone members of the Moderate Faction like Shisui—would never listen to a word you said.

Uchiha Setsuna then spoke as well. "Jin-kun made the right choice. The Uchiha can indeed be somewhat extreme. Now isn't the time to discuss that; let's get straight to business."

"The lack of wisdom among the Uchiha is a common problem. Jin-kun should take this chance to tell everyone about the bigger picture."

"At the very least!"

"Let everyone gain a basic understanding of the village and the clan!"

Everyone nodded at those words.

They were indeed very interested in this matter. Whether they were from the Radical Faction, Moderate Faction, or Middle Faction, almost none of them were used to thinking things through.

Now that they had the chance to understand such things, they naturally wanted to hear more.

They truly wanted to know why Jin had been certain during the Third Shinobi War that the village intended to eliminate the Uchiha.

And regarding that...

Uchiha Jin did not refuse. After nodding, he spoke. "Since everyone wants to hear it, I'll just talk about it casually."

"Good!" everyone said in unison.

Uchiha Jin did not waste words and directly asked, "Everyone knows that Senju Hashirama became Hokage because his own strength overwhelmed the Shinobi World. Senju Tobirama may not have been as strong as the First Hokage, but he was still among the strongest in the entire Shinobi World. Not to mention, his calculations and planning abilities were also first-rate."

"Then what about Sarutobi Hiruzen?"

"Did he become Hokage just because of that so-called title he kept boasting about—the strongest Hokage?"

Uchiha Jin's face was full of disdain.

After hearing that question, everyone present was utterly confused.

That was right!

They might not have known much about the First and Second Hokage, but they were extremely familiar with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Was he truly powerful? They did not really know!

Sarutobi Hiruzen had only gone to the battlefield a few times during the Second Shinobi War. After that, he remained stationed in Konoha and never returned to the front lines. Even the Konoha F4 basically stayed off the battlefield as well.

But...

They had simply held firmly onto the Hokage Position. No one had objected over all these years, and everyone had even grown accustomed to it, never feeling that anything was wrong.

But now?

After Uchiha Jin pointed it out, they finally came to their senses.

That was right!

This was fucking wrong!

Think about the Kage of the other villages. Fourth Raikage Ay possessed an invincible body and could fight Namikaze Minato to a standstill. If not for the Flying Thunder God Technique, Namikaze Minato would not have been his match.

There was no need to mention the Third Raikage.

Ōnoki's Dust Release was no joke either.

Karatachi Yagura of Kirigakure and Rasa of Sunagakure had also proven their strength on the battlefield.

What about Sarutobi Hiruzen?

People said he was the strongest Hokage, the Professor of Ninjutsu, and so on, yet no one actually knew how strong he really was.

"Yeah, why?"

"The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, only seems to talk about the Will of Fire."

"They call him a Shinobi Hero, but you rarely see him fight!"

"I can't figure it out!"

Everyone present spoke up one after another.

Even the older Uchiha were thoroughly baffled now. They shook their heads, unable to explain it.

In the end.

They could only turn their eyes toward Uchiha Jin, waiting for their leader to answer the question.

And in response.

Uchiha Jin sighed softly.

"Someone already gave the answer just now."

"It's the Will of Fire!"

"And this was not something established from the beginning. It was something Sarutobi Hiruzen later settled on."

"At first, Sarutobi Hiruzen became the Third Hokage partly because of Senju Tobirama's dying will, but more importantly, because of Uzumaki Mito's support."

"When Sarutobi Hiruzen truly took the Hokage Position and prepared to make his mark, his heart turned completely cold."

"Back then, the Senju Clan had been pressured by Uzumaki Mito. While they did not deny him as Hokage, they simply ignored Sarutobi Hiruzen, outwardly obeying while passively resisting."

"There was even less need to mention the Uchiha. They simply looked down on him as Hokage!"

"If the Senju and Uchiha were like that, the other shinobi clans were even more obvious. Sarutobi Hiruzen was practically a puppet at the time!"

"How did the situation change?"

"Back then, Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice. Without real Hokage authority, he could only go to the Ninja Academy and promote that damned Will of Fire, since there was nothing else he could do at the time."

"But then the Second Shinobi War broke out, and Sarutobi Hiruzen's opportunity arrived."

"Do you all remember Senju Nawaki? He was the hope of the Senju Clan, the person most likely to ascend to the position of Fourth Hokage. Yet right after he went to the battlefield, he was directly blown to death by an Explosive Tag."

"But then the problem arose!"

"What were the Senju Clan's traits? Powerful Chakra and extremely strong vitality!"

"Even if an Explosive Tag hit an Uchiha head-on, it would most likely only cause severe injuries. The chances of killing them outright were extremely low. Yet Senju Nawaki, who possessed such formidable vitality, died. Even Tsunade, a medical master, could not save him."

"From that point on, the Senju Clan suffered a devastating blow!"

"Later, Sarutobi Hiruzen launched the Hashirama Cells experiments, claiming that he wanted to recreate the First Hokage's powerful Wood Release. What followed was the tragic deaths of large numbers of Senju Clan members on the operating table."

"On top of that, during the early stages of the Second Shinobi War, most of the Senju Clan charged at the forefront of the battlefield. The combination of these two factors exhausted the Senju Clan's elites. To preserve their strength, the remaining Senju could only rely on Tobirama's plan of integrating into Konoha. Some abandoned their surnames and became commoners, while others chose to seek refuge with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire."

"At that point, the Senju were completely wiped out."

"But the Senju Clan's reputation remained. Tsunade and Uzumaki Mito were still around, and it was at that time that Dan Katō began to rise to prominence."

"He fell in love with Tsunade and, relying on the Senju Clan's foundation, had an extremely strong chance of ascending to the position of Fourth Hokage."

"Then he died!"

"The Uzumaki Clan refused to join Konoha. When they were besieged, their clan was wiped out under unclear circumstances. At the time, Konoha had experts like the Sannin and Hatake Sakumo, yet they only rescued Uzumaki Kushina and the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu inheritance."

"The more I think about it, the more I want to laugh. They couldn't rescue the people, yet they somehow managed to bring back every last bit of the Sealing Jutsu inheritance."

"Everyone, isn't that interesting?"

"Next came Hatake Sakumo. He was also a leading candidate for the Fourth Hokage Position, and then he committed suicide for no clear reason."

"I just can't understand it!"

"I remember that Hatake Sakumo had been carrying out an S-rank mission. Even an A-rank mission required confidentiality, yet an S-rank mission spread through every street and alley within a single day. The so-called confidentiality procedures had apparently been fed to the dogs."

"Hatake Sakumo committed suicide, and afterward no one was held accountable. They simply brushed the matter aside."

"Then there was Orochimaru. He was discovered conducting human experiments and fled as a rogue ninja. In my view, this is even more fucking absurd. Orochimaru came from a civilian background. Although shinobi clans supported his ascension to the position of Fourth Hokage, would those clans support him conducting human experiments?"

"Human experiments require money. All kinds of high-end equipment cost astronomical sums."

"Where did the money come from?"

"If you say the village did not support him, I certainly don't believe it!"

"Considering that Orochimaru had the highest chance of ascending to the position of Fourth Hokage before he defected, it goes without saying that this was filled with the schemes of the Konoha Higher-ups."

"They did not want Orochimaru to ascend, because although Orochimaru was a commoner, he was ruthless and principled in his actions. He would never become Sarutobi Hiruzen's puppet!"

"So he either had to defect or die!"

"Finally, Namikaze Minato is even more interesting. Everyone knows he came from a civilian background. Sarutobi Hiruzen allowed him to ascend to the Hokage Position precisely because he wanted him to be a puppet."

"But Namikaze Minato had principles of his own. Since he had ascended to the Hokage Position, he wanted to accomplish his own work."

"So he placed Kakashi in the Anbu and created his own Hokage Guard Unit. Wasn't that an attempt to seize power from Sarutobi Hiruzen?"

"Then he died!"

"Have you all noticed it now? Anyone who wanted to take power from the F4 ultimately died almost without exception. Only Orochimaru became a rogue ninja!"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen used the Will of Fire to control Konoha. Anyone who might affect their power would ultimately die for one reason or another."

"And now, it's the Uchiha's turn!"

"On one hand, the Uchiha are disobedient, powerful, and temperamental. On the other, the village is short on money right now. Naturally, this fat piece of meat has reached the time for slaughter!"

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