The Road Ahead Is Clear / An Elder's Worries and Helplessness

What brought this power together was the Will of Fire created by the close friends Hashirama Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

The person now sitting in the Hokage position explaining the Will of Fire is Uchiha Shingen.

The current Fifth Hokage smiled and strode in.

Chapter 144 The Future is Already a Smooth Road

When Uchiha Shingen personally pushed open the conference room door, everyone's expressions were complex.

The person before me is the Fifth Hokage of Hidden Leaf Village, the one who completely steered Hidden Leaf Village down a different path.

Every person present here is someone whose life and fortune are completely tied to Hidden Leaf Village.

They all have their own selfish motives, and they will bargain with the Hokage Building or outwardly comply but inwardly defy it for the benefit of their family or themselves.

But if Hidden Leaf Village faces a real threat, it is this group of people who will fight the hardest.

The Hokage is the Hokage, Leaf Village is Leaf Village; they keep these distinctions very clear.

That's why they thought Uchiha Shingen was truly amazing.

From their perspective, this person started with a hellish start and then played a winning hand.

To be able to do that is simply superhuman.

Even for such a powerful figure, while some disagreed with the idea of bringing a legend like Uchiha Madara back into Leaf Village, most were simply curious.

I'm very curious how this fifth generation leader will handle this matter.

Uchiha Shingen walked confidently to his seat and sat down. Uchiha Inabi walked up behind him and stood there, exchanging a glance with Uchiha Shisui, who was standing not far away.

Uchiha Shisui is no longer working at the Hokage Building. As the current head of the Uchiha Clan, he now focuses his energy on clan affairs.

This Konoha Ninja, known for cherishing his comrades, has been highly regarded within the clan despite not having served as clan leader for very long.

Previously, when he worked at the Hokage Building, compared to Uchiha Shingen, everyone felt he wasn't up to par. Now that Uchiha Shingen has become Hokage, most of the Uchiha Clan's original problems have disappeared, and Uchiha Shisui, this kind-hearted man, has become the clan head. Everyone sees only his shining qualities in him.

Without needing to Hokage Building, Uchiha Shisui was the perfect clan leader.

Among the people present, Uchiha Shisui was one of the few who was worried about Uchiha Shingen.

As a descendant of Kagami Uchiha, Uchiha Shisui's feelings towards Uchiha Madara were complex.

He admired Uchiha Madara's achievements in leading the Uchiha Clan forward during the war, but felt uneasy and threatened by Uchiha Madara's later actions of parting ways with Leaf Village.

It's precisely because of the Uchiha Clan surname that people know how powerful Uchiha Madara; it has nothing to do with whether or not he had the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Uchiha Obito was Uchiha Madara's "outstanding achievement".

While Leaf Village has never officially declared Uchiha Madara a missing-nin, this does not mean that Konoha Ninja other than Senju Hashirama truly considered Uchiha Madara to be a member of Leaf Village.

Uchiha Shingen noticed the expressions on everyone's faces, grinned, and said, "I called you all here today because there's something I need to tell you."

The entire room remained completely silent.

Uchiha Shingen didn't mind and continued, "Around today, Konoha's Asura, Uchiha Madara, will be a living person, not an impure resurrection."

Clang!

The sound of a teacup being knocked over rang out, and everyone looked over to see Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Shinobi Hero, his eyes wide open.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose age is that of an elderly man, looked more like a frail old man than ever before.

Of all those present, he was the one who had once lived in the shadow of Uchiha Madara.

Whether as the leader of Tobirama Squad's small team or as Senju Hashirama's disciple, the Uchiha Clan team put immense pressure on him.

After Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen was so frightened that he didn't dare to close his eyes and sleep for several nights.

He was afraid that Uchiha Madara would revive the traditional craftsmanship of the Warring States period and chop up this young man from the Senju Clan to reminisce about his youth.

The thought of spending the rest of his life in the same place as this incredibly muscular man at his age made Sarutobi Hiruzen feel uneasy.

This made his face scrunch up in a grimace.

"Fifth Hokage..." Sarutobi Hiruzen carefully chose his words, "Wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate to bring the dead back to the mortal world..."

Everyone: "..."

You've already spilled your teacup, and this is all you're saying?

How terrified are you of Uchiha Madara?!

Have you forgotten your name is Shinobi Hero?

"Third, you're overthinking it," Uchiha Shingen said with a smile. "The current Uchiha Madara is different from before."

Yes, I've heard Lord Hashirama say that more than once.

Sarutobi Hiruzen forced himself to smile.

Then he turned to look at Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, and the meaning was quite clear.

However, the remaining members of Tobirama Squad, who represented the previous era of Leaf Village, are now as old as Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu have also reached the age where living even one more day is considered a bonus.

Most importantly, their fear of Uchiha Madara was not as great as that of Sarutobi Hiruzen. After all, Sarutobi Hiruzen was the leader and the one who directly confronted the conflict between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

Therefore, they are more concerned about the current Hokage's opinion.

It's impossible for them to give a statement now; even old friends can't change that.

Didn't you see that no one else present said a word?

"It seems no one has any other opinions, so I'll share my own." Seeing that these seasoned veterans were silent, Uchiha Shingen was pleased and continued, "According to the village's ninja registration information, Uchiha Madara is still Leaf Village ninja, although he was put on the missing persons list a long time ago. His salary is also included in the reserve fund every year. Now that he's back, remember to transfer his file to the administration department and reinstate him to the Jonin Council."

The Minister of Administration and the leader of the Jonin Council both changed their expressions.

The Minister of Administration is doing this because he sees a lot of small sums of money about to slip away.

The Jonin Council leader felt he was having a run of bad luck.

The current head of Leaf Village's administrative department is from the Nara Clan, and the Jonin Council leader...

It's Hatake Kakashi.

Hatake Kakashi suddenly felt that even Icha Icha Paradise didn't look good anymore.

Chapter 145 The Old Man's Worries and Helplessness

When Sarutobi Hiruzen walked out of the Hokage Building, the sun in the sky was warm and gentle.

Everyone on the street had a smile on their face.

He never tired of this scenery, but today he had little interest in appreciating it.

Unusually, he didn't walk with his fellow members of Tobirama Squad, but instead walked all the way to the Sarutobi Clan's settlement.

"Third, you're back so early today?"

"Elder, you're back."

Hearing the greetings from his clansmen, Sarutobi Hiruzen snapped out of his reverie, and a smile returned to his wrinkled face.

Sarutobi Hiruzen is the strongest member of the Sarutobi Clan, even now—this fully illustrates the tragic state of affairs of the Sarutobi Clan.

However, the Sarutobi Clan already has a promising young man like Konohamaru, and given time, it's only a matter of time before they have another Kage Level.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen knew very well that the innate mastery of all five elements, like Konohamaru, himself, and his father, represented the upper limit of the Sarutobi Clan's talent.

The Sarutobi Clan will never produce ninjas like the Senju of the Forest and Uchiha Clan, ninjas who inspire fear and make others lose the will to pursue them.

It wasn't just Sarutobi Clan; the other families were the same.

No matter how much effort each ninja village uses to motivate its ninjas, in reality, being a ninja is still a profession that relies on talent, and the higher the rank of a ninja, the more they will understand the cruelty of this.

Such a powerful individual, without another to restrain him, would be a disaster, whether to his enemy or his own; the history of the Ninja World has already made that clear.

But what could be done? Despite his efforts, the Uchiha Clan still produced Uchiha Shingen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen firmly believed that this family, which had enjoyed a thousand-year-old reputation and was one of the founders, was an important guarantee for the continued strength of Hidden Leaf Village, as long as no one like Uchiha Madara appeared again.

An overly powerful ninja is prone to mood swings, and such a person often harms their own people more than their enemies.

Leaving aside the history of the Ninja World, the history of Leaf Village has already proven how capricious such people can be. Back then, Uchiha Madara could leave whenever he wanted, and then turn around and take the Nine-Tails Leaf Village with him.

Why don't you try someone else? You'd be lucky if they could even escape!

Overly powerful individuals often have an unstable impact on an organization.

It's already a blessing that this Ninja World has ever had a God of Shinobi; we can't expect such a saint to appear in every emergency.

But...

Sarutobi Hiruzen realized that even the moon could be taken away now, so Uchiha Madara's whims seemed insignificant.

What a terrible thing to do!

At his age, he has to experience again the feeling of being in the midst of a once-in-a-millennium upheaval; it's really too much.

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked through the streets of his clan's territory and returned to his house.

The Sarutobi Clan's economic glory was during Sarutobi Hiruzen's reign. The once financially well-off Sarutobi Clan began to experience financial difficulties during the reign of the Fourth Hokage.

In this respect, it is completely inferior to the Uchiha Clan, whose two consecutive Hokage were during a period of political depression. The Uchiha Clan did not have many friends in the village for decades, but it never lacked money; in fact, it became richer and richer.

When a ninja clan enters a period of financial strain, it will directly affect its infrastructure. The Sarutobi Clan Compound looks rather old now, which is due to insufficient repair and maintenance. After all, Sarutobi Clan is a large clan, and its labor costs have always been relatively high. Once the clan's treasury is not strong enough, there will be less money available for maintaining fixed assets.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who served as the Third Hokage, still lives in an old house, but it is well-maintained and all the necessary facilities are in good working order.

Entering the deserted room, Sarutobi Hiruzen took off his shoes, changed into casual clothes, and went into his study.

His daily hobbies were largely the same as Uchiha Fugaku's; both enjoyed writing calligraphy.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't in the mood today; he simply sat at his desk and picked up a book to read.

Quite a coincidence, it's his biography.

He was the first Hokage to have a biography, probably because he ruled for a relatively long time and had many disciples.

Sarutobi Hiruzen has read this book many times. Without a doubt, the author is a fan of his. You can hardly see the other members of Tobirama Squad in this book; if there are any, they are just background characters.

However, those who know how to read books can always ignore the author's personal preferences and draw relatively objective evaluations from the facts.

Even if you are the protagonist.

After reading for a while, Sarutobi Hiruzen put the book down.

The house is too quiet now. Like many elderly people, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who has entered the twilight of his life, has begun to feel lonely, especially after completely withdrawing from the center of power.

Simply put, these kinds of people can't stay idle.

Sarutobi Hiruzen doesn't consider himself a particularly power-hungry person, but he certainly enjoys his life as the Hokage Advisor.

The Fourth Hokage was a good Hokage because he didn't go out much, which made the advisors feel very involved.

Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly heard the sound of the door opening and familiar footsteps.

A moment later, there was a knock on the study door.

"Father, are you inside? I'm coming in."

"Hmm." Sarutobi Hiruzen skillfully put the biography away, because his youngest son always said he was arrogant whenever he saw him reading it.

The study door was pushed open, and the first thing to appear was a large face with a thick beard.

"Asuma, what's wrong?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked.

If we were to say what the greatest comfort his family gave him in his later years, it would be nothing more than two things.

A promising grandson.

The younger son with whom they have already developed a harmonious relationship.

The Asuma Sarutobi of the past was incredibly chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), acting like he didn't care about his parents' connections.

The key point is that this period of chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) lasted a long time, to the point that Asuma Sarutobi later went to Daimyo's Court.

This made Sarutobi Hiruzen quite uncomfortable at one point.

Even your dad is working hard to earn money, so why shouldn't you?