In fact, that was exactly how it was.
The Uchiha Clan was in no danger at all.
Even setting aside Hashirama Senju, whose presence made it impossible for Tobirama Senju to carry out his plan to wipe them out.
Even if Hashirama Senju stayed out of it.
Tobirama Senju still had no moral ground to stand on.
After all, Konoha had been founded by two clans.
At least, that was how everyone publicly understood it.
When Madara Uchiha left, not a single member of the Uchiha Clan followed him. And when he returned to fight, none of them took part.
Your older brother had seized someone else's Hokage Position.
That alone left him in the wrong.
Although the other clans in Konoha had supported Hashirama Senju for Hokage when the village was founded, they had only done so because they hated Madara Uchiha.
That didn't mean your claim to the Hokage Position was legitimate!
After all, when the two sides founded the village, they had agreed that Madara Uchiha would become Hokage. Every clan leader knew that. It was only because they hated Madara Uchiha, and because Tobirama Senju had secretly promised them benefits, that they all opposed him.
But that didn't mean they would stand by and let you wipe out the Uchiha Clan!
After all, if you became Hokage and then exterminated other clans that had done nothing wrong, wouldn't your own Hokage clan eventually come after us?
You had to understand.
The reason so many clans had joined Konoha was not just that Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were so powerful that no one could oppose them. More than that, it was the symbolism of two clans that had been sworn enemies for a thousand years finally making peace.
It showed that, for the sake of a better future, even the deepest hatred could be set aside when the time came.
That great moral principle was what gave Konoha's founding its legitimacy. The clans here might not understand its full significance, but they knew how serious it was.
If that were lost—
It would mean that the moral principle they had upheld was nothing but a lie.
The so-called peaceful coexistence and unity would be nothing more than something Hashirama Senju's clan had invented to enslave the other clans!
That would be an extremely serious political fraud.
It would turn every clan in Konoha against the Senju Clan.
After all, no matter how much they hated the Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha hadn't deceived everyone to their faces while pretending otherwise behind their backs.
But you had tricked everyone into coming here to be your dogs.
Which of those was worse?
Which was more hateful? The answer was obvious.
Therefore.
The Uchiha Clan would be perfectly safe.
If you dared to kill them, Konoha would fall apart.
Perhaps you, Hashirama Senju, were so powerful that they couldn't resist in the short term and would submit in public, humiliated.
But you, Hashirama Senju, were still human. You would die one day!
Once you were dead, a reckoning would inevitably come.
Tobirama Senju wasn't brain-dead.
He wouldn't recklessly wreck his family's legacy the way his four future disciples would, heedless of the consequences.
He could naturally see the hidden danger.
Therefore.
As a master of schemes, Tobirama Senju hadn't made these little moves to wipe out the Uchiha.
He'd only meant to put some pressure on them.
To force the Uchiha Clan's hand.
He wanted them to offer an "explanation" on their own, so he could establish his authority.
Faced with this situation, some members of the Uchiha Clan argued that training so many shinobi—an action almost equivalent to expanding their military—might draw a warning from the Senju Clan. Now that they had lost Madara Uchiha's strength, they could no longer stand against Hashirama Senju. They might as well show Hashirama Senju some goodwill, they said, and stop the program.
Of course, they also gave a plausible explanation: the clan had so many people that those unsuited to becoming elite shinobi should be redirected to contribute elsewhere in the clan.
So what kind of person could become an excellent shinobi? And who would be sent elsewhere to contribute to the clan?
The Uchiha elders' answer was, naturally, to look at the Uchiha Clan's bloodline and distinguish between the main family and branch families.
Those with main-family blood were more likely to awaken the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan.
Their sons, grandsons, and descendants of their extended relatives, for example, obviously deserved to be prioritized for training.
As for everyone else, even if the clan spent a fortune training them, it might not get a worthwhile return.
Naturally, they would be left to grow on their own.
Of course, to avoid too much opposition within the clan, they could also select a few geniuses from among its members.
They could receive elite training too!
At the time, Uchiha Tenshu saw at a glance that this was nothing but the damn clan leaders acting like bastards. Their policy might quickly separate the children of the powerful from those of the lower ranks, but it would also shatter the Uchiha Clan's unity. This was the start of infighting.
Unfortunately, no one else saw it.
The only one who did, Uchiha Tenshu, couldn't speak up in opposition. If he let anything slip, it wouldn't matter whether the Uchiha Clan made the right response—Uchiha Tenshu himself would be exposed, alerting Tobirama Senju, the man who had killed his father, to the fact that one of his enemy's sons was still alive.
In the end, hardly anyone stood up to oppose the decision.
Quite a few people genuinely thought that, in a village that was relatively peaceful now, taking up other, more profitable work was a good option.
After all, wasn't it natural that the main family's bloodline had better talent? And since they couldn't become elite shinobi anyway, why not choose another path and make more money?
From then on.
The Uchiha Clan adopted this utterly idiotic "elite ninja" policy.
Hmm!
They were decades ahead of the future Sunagakure Shinobi.
Uchiha Tenshu was so angry he almost laughed!
Even members of the Uchiha Clan's branch families had to be specially selected before they could receive elite shinobi training.
As for the children of the affiliated clans—
They were even more likely to be kicked out of the unified shinobi training program.
As for the children of those affiliated clans—
It wasn't that they couldn't become shinobi.
They could just go home and be left to grow on their own!
As for whether spending a fortune to train shinobi from the main family while leaving everyone else to fend for themselves would affect the Uchiha Clan's combat strength, Uchiha Ming, the Second Elder, had an answer: the entire Ninja World was at peace now, so the Uchiha Clan no longer needed to maintain so many combat shinobi!
They should put more effort into other areas and use them to gain greater benefits from the village.
Uchiha Tenshu raged inwardly: Uchiha Ming, you son of a bitch.
By this point!
Uchiha Tenshu had figured out which bastard was behind all these changes in the clan.
No need to say it.
It was that Second Elder, Uchiha Ming!
Because that bastard—
Had a son named Kagami Uchiha.
In the future, Tobirama Senju would take him on as a disciple.
Even now, Tobirama Senju had him at his side, training him under the pretext of easing tensions with the Uchiha Clan.
His son was getting excellent training, so he didn't care what happened to anyone else. He was blocking their way, making sure they couldn't advance.
That piece of shit, Uchiha Ming.
One day, I'll kill his whole family.
Uchiha Tenshu swore through gritted teeth.
Because in this round of selections—
Uchiha Tenshu was among those most likely to be rejected.
He came from a Uchiha branch family.
His parents were both dead, and he had neither power nor influence.
He had no backing whatsoever.
If the clan chose children from the branch families to train—
How could he compete with the children from branch families whose parents were Jonin?
That meant he would be left to fend for himself.
How could Uchiha Tenshu accept that?
He knew that in a few years, after Hashirama Senju died, Tobirama Senju would inherit the position of Second Hokage.
By then, Tobirama Senju would keep an even closer watch on the Uchiha Clan. If he lost this chance to receive training, there probably wouldn't be a better opportunity in the future.
And with a Ninja World War possibly on the horizon, if he didn't improve his strength now, he'd be nothing but cannon fodder on the battlefield, waiting to die.
Unless he made no preparations at all.
Then he could mindlessly defect and become a rogue ninja.
Of course, Uchiha Tenshu wasn't about to accept his fate.
And so, an operation that could only be described as "bizarre" in the Ninja World began...
Before you continue