Waste Not, Want Not: Hiruzen Sarutobi's Fate

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not find it regrettable and calmly accepted his defeat.

Because the Third-Generation Divine Robe had never belonged to him from the start.

Had it not been for Tobirama's dying instructions, he would never have intended to compete with Toji for the position of Hokage in the first place.

After all, that man had been someone he had looked up to ever since Ninja Academy!

In temperament, strength, prestige within the village, even appearance and bearing—by every measure, even he himself admitted that Toji was far more suited to becoming Hokage than he was, let alone in the eyes of Konoha's other villagers.

The public opinion he heard everywhere had long made it clear that everyone supported Toji becoming the Third Hokage.

Under normal circumstances, when villagers chose their village's Kage between candidates of similar strength, they would favor the younger one. Even if that person was slightly weaker, youth represented drive and potential, a longer prime, and the ability to protect the village for longer.

But that unspoken rule did not apply in Konoha.

Hiruzen's status as a young, able-bodied man, which should have been an advantage, was useless. He was clearly eight years younger than Toji Zenin, yet Toji's appearance had forever remained fixed at eighteen, his youthful air unchanged.

Moreover, Hiruzen himself looked old. With one thing leading to another, he ended up looking like the older one between them. He had been utterly defeated in the matter of looks alone.

He had been crushed from every angle, without a single blind spot—

So, becoming Hokage was, to Hiruzen, like challenging an "enemy" he could never defeat.

Losing to an opponent like that was nothing shameful.

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed Senju Kenyu's head and said openly, "In this contest for the Third Hokage, I simply cannot