The Truth of History

"Hmm?" He had no idea what his son had thought of this time.

"According to what you said, Father, some—no! Most of the Senju Clan moved to the Land of Whirlpools. And the only ones left in the village were the direct blood relatives of the First and Second Hokage, right?" Kakashi did not explain immediately, instead asking another question.

Hatake Sakumo carefully recalled the years gone by and the information he had learned from his conversations with his teacher, Senju Ken.

"Seems so. Konoha only retained the First Hokage's descendants. The Second Hokage never married, so he had no descendants. There were also the descendants of a deceased younger brother of the First and Second Hokage. Three branches in total."

"Then it all makes sense!" Kakashi sorted through his thoughts and began explaining slowly.

"There weren't many Senju Clan members left in Konoha. Yet even among those people, there were powerhouses like Senior Senju Ken and Lady Tsunade. No matter how lax the Senju Clan in the Land of Whirlpools became, they still would have produced several powerful people."

Hatake Sakumo listened quietly as Kakashi spoke, without interrupting him.

"Given how much the First and Second Hokage valued Konoha, and how firmly they controlled the Senju Clan, I don't believe that after the Senju in the Land of Whirlpools came into their own, not a single one of them wanted to come to Konoha!"

"There must have been another arrangement behind this. Perhaps some Senju Clan members had grown tired of war and went to the Land of Whirlpools to live in seclusion. But! The Shinobi World may be vast, yet nowhere is free from conflict. If you didn't want to be a ninja, you could simply settle in Konoha without registering as one. Why cross mountains and rivers just to go to the Land of Whirlpools?"

"Back then, was there anywhere in the Shinobi World safer than Konoha, with Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, Tobirama Senju, and Mito Uzumaki all there?? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

His voice rose unconsciously as Kakashi spoke with excitement.

"Then the truth is this! The reason the Uzumaki Clan was able to establish the Land of Whirlpools and create its own regime was because it had the support of the First and Second Hokage! The support of their entire clan!"

Even Hatake Sakumo, composed as he was, was startled upon hearing that.

"This..."

The existence of social hierarchies in this world had long been ingrained in people's hearts and accepted by the overwhelming majority. Kakashi's sudden words shattered that fixed way of thinking, leaving Hatake Sakumo deeply shocked.

"As expected of you, Hashirama Senju! No, it might not necessarily have been the First Hokage. It could have been the Second Hokage's decision. In any case, those two brothers were extraordinary."

"Think about it, Father. When the ninja village system had just been established, so many hidden villages—Konoha, Sand Village, Stone Village, Cloud Village, Mist Village, Grass Village, and so on—only founded villages. Yet the Uzumaki Clan could directly establish the Land of Whirlpools? Who gave them that courage? Their clan's sealing techniques? Their immense vitality? No! Neither! It was the First and Second Hokage's clansmen who gave them courage! It was the First Hokage, while he was still alive, who gave them courage!"

"This must have been another experiment by the First and Second Hokage after the ninja village model. As military organizations, ninja villages were inevitably constrained by the daimyo behind them. There would always be battles they had no choice but to fight."

"But what if they could bypass the daimyo behind them and have a ninja village govern a country directly? Abandon the traditional theory of class and bloodline rule, and directly attempt to have ordinary people govern ordinary people."

"So... after the First and Second Hokage fell one after another, the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed by the combined forces of several ninja villages..."

Hatake Sakumo, who knew the history of those years, also grasped the crucial point at that moment.

"Exactly. That joint operation by the Shinobi World, which excluded Konoha, must have been an understanding between the daimyo of several large and small countries. Even the daimyo of the Land of Fire must have participated. The reason Konoha failed to reach them in time to provide aid was because he interfered."

"I'm not trying to slander the Third Hokage. But with the other ninja villages across the Shinobi World showing signs of activity, there was no way he knew nothing. Yet he chose neither to rescue them nor to make preparations in advance."

"Even if the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was inevitable in my view, it was impossible that only two or three survivors escaped."

"Hmm? Two or three?" Hatake Sakumo keenly caught the oddity in Kakashi's words.

"...Teacher Orochimaru said he had encountered people in other countries who were suspected to be members of the Uzumaki Clan." Having gotten too excited and accidentally leaked information, Kakashi calmly shifted the blame onto Orochimaru.

"Oh, that is quite unfortunate. I always thought that only that girl, Kushina Uzumaki, had survived." He nodded and did not press further.

More importantly, the conclusions Kakashi had just drawn were still exploding like thunder in his mind.

"But... Kakashi. Do you think what the Land of Whirlpools did was right?" At that moment, Hatake Sakumo temporarily set aside even the vengeance of his teacher. The question that had shaken his values the most would trouble him even more if he did not ask it.

"I don't know whether it was right or wrong. But I know one thing: those who sit high in the daimyo's residences are not born nobler than us."

"Ninjas do not exist merely to kill and destroy. Whether used for farming or production, our efficiency would not be lower than that of ordinary people. That means ninjas have the ability to produce independently. Even without relying on the daimyo for funds and supplies, we can still survive."

"The reason the one-country, one-village model must be maintained, I suspect, is partly because the long years of war left the population too small, and partly because the general cultural and educational level was insufficient. During war, survival was the greatest challenge, and hardly anyone paid attention to education. Accordingly, there were not enough people capable of governing villages and local areas. They could only rely on the daimyo's residences to administer the country."

"But once peace lasts long enough and educational standards catch up, there may not be any need to operate according to this model. That is something for the distant future."

"I see... I understand." Hatake Sakumo seemed to have gained some insight.

"Alright, Father... let's not discuss such a huge problem anymore. The two of us have something more important to consider right now." Kakashi cut off the subject at the right moment and guided the conversation back on track.

Hatake Sakumo also collected himself and returned his thoughts to the matter at hand.

"That question I asked you just now. I'm sure you already have an answer in your heart. What we need to think about now is why they wanted to harm Senior Senju Ken."

"Based on Hiruzen Sarutobi's character, I'd believe you if you said he used public power for private gain. But I don't believe he would do anything so utterly depraved against the Senju Clan. Besides, Lady Mito, as the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, possessed the ability to sense the good and evil in those around her. If Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others had intended to target the Senju Clan, she would have slapped them to death long ago."

"Therefore, the higher-ups must have only been targeting your teacher, Senior Senju Ken. They held great power, had no ill intentions toward the Senju Clan, yet still had to harm him. Most likely, it was because Senior Senju Ken had both the strength and the prestige to take over, or share, the authority in their hands."

"If I remember correctly, when the Second Hokage was ambushed by Hidden Cloud Village's Kinkaku and Ginkaku Unit, the situation was critical, so he made Hiruzen Sarutobi the acting Hokage, right?"