Conspiracy Theories

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, and the others were clearly Tobirama Senju's guards, yet they put the cart before the horse and let Tobirama Senju sacrifice himself to cover their escape. In any era, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have to be held accountable for such a thing.

Yet why was Hiruzen Sarutobi able to smoothly become the Third Hokage?

Sasuke fed Kakashi some nonsense--Tobirama Senju's death wasn't just because of Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku; Konoha's internal parties might have also participated in that assassination.

Just like during the Konoha Crush Plan, the Third Hokage fought a bitter battle against Orochimaru, yet not a single soul in all of Konoha came to help. To a certain extent, the Second Hokage had also incurred the public's wrath...

Konoha during the Second's administration was truly terrible, Sasuke sighed. Of course, that's just relatively speaking. Kakashi-sensei probably can't imagine just how glorious the early Konoha was.

Back then, there were two exceptional figures, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Even if one was just an ordinary Konoha shinobi, they dared to walk sideways across the shinobi world. Although the First always liked to apologize to others, Konoha's collective arrogance leaped right off the page.

Apologizing naturally meant there were victims. But the First's apology clearly meant, I've apologized, and you bastard dare not forgive me!

Who dared not forgive!

Reaching this point, Sasuke looked at Kakashi. This was the early Konoha, strong and overbearing to the point of being invincible.

Kakashi said nothing. He was already born during the Third's era, and he knew nothing about Konoha in the First's era. History books didn't record much about it either, and nowadays everyone in the village only knew that the Third Hokage was the strongest Hokage.

Sasuke changed the subject. It's a pity that Konoha's initial brilliance didn't last very long. It seemed someone was secretly stirring things up. Clearly the Senju and Uchiha had gradually shaken hands and made peace, yet Hashirama and Madara developed a conflict and parted ways on bad terms. From then on, the shinobi world's landscape of one superpower and four great nations turned into five great powers.

First Madara Uchiha left, and later he and the First Hokage inflicted mutual heavy injuries. From then on, Konoha was no longer a super shinobi village. The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was not weak, but everything fears comparison. Compared to Hashirama and Madara, Tobirama Senju seemed far too ordinary.

Tobirama Senju's political achievements were numerous. With his clever mind, he resolved Konoha's internal and external troubles—such as establishing the ANBU to achieve centralized power; establishing the Military Police Force to protect Konoha while also monitoring the Uchiha; and establishing the Ninja Academy to cultivate civilian shinobi.

Yet no matter how capable Tobirama Senju was, he couldn't change one fact: in terms of external power, the Konoha under his leadership couldn't compare to those two, boasting a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. Things that Hashirama and Madara could accomplish with a single sentence or by flexing their fists required Tobirama to rack his brains to achieve the same result. When the First and Madara were alive, nobody thought it was anything special, but only after losing them did people regret it with lingering remorse. Early Konoha was arrogant even when apologizing, while later Konoha gradually learned compromise and forbearance. Such a huge drop was not something just anyone could accept.

When Sasuke said this, his tone carried a faint trace of mockery.

Kakashi's eyes held confusion. "Sasuke, are you saying that the Second Lord caused Konoha's decline due to his own lack of ability, so the various major clans joined forces to plot against him? That's too ridiculous."

Sasuke shook his head. Of course it wasn't that simple. Tobirama Senju's strength couldn't match Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha's, but relying on his mind, he could still firmly sit on the Hokage throne. His subsequent series of shady maneuvers were the fundamental reason everyone resisted him.

That Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, the Flying Thunder God—all of them were targeted at the Uchiha. And that Konoha Military Police Force; his malice toward the Uchiha was far too obvious. When the lips are torn, the teeth are cold; when the rabbit dies, the fox weeps. No one could guarantee that after Tobirama Senju dealt with the Uchiha, he wouldn't swing his butcher knife at themselves.

The shinobi clans back then were not like the shinobi clans of today. Many shinobi had survived the Warring States Era, and there was already not much mutual trust among them to begin with. It was only by relying on Hashirama Senju's formidable strength and broad-mindedness that they managed to form a village. Back then, everything was agreed upon nicely: everyone would put aside the older generation's grievances and jointly create a bright future. The moment you, Tobirama Senju, took office, you began crazily targeting the Uchiha. What was the meaning of that?

Others didn't understand Tobirama Senju's anxiety regarding the Uchiha; they only thought Tobirama Senju was taking the opportunity to exact revenge. Some even blamed Madara Uchiha's departure entirely on Tobirama Senju.

The reason for Madara Uchiha's departure remained a mystery to this day, but quite a few people felt that Tobirama Senju was secretly messing around behind the scenes, making him the prime suspect.

Even though Madara Uchiha had a poor reputation and terrible public standing, and many people in Konoha detested him, that didn't mean Konoha was willing to lose him. Just like Hatake Sakumo—back then everyone cursed him, but when he truly committed suicide, everyone panicked once more.

Konoha with Madara around never needed to compromise. Even if Konoha shinobi actively bullied people, it didn't matter; the First Hokage might have offered a symbolic apology, but Madara skipped the apology step entirely.

After Hatake Sakumo died, the shinobi he had saved even at the cost of abandoning his mission also died. Konoha could not tolerate this person; he needed to take responsibility for the incident, and therefore he had to die. Similarly, after Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha died, someone was also needed to bear the responsibility.

A Hokage who was oppressive internally and compromising externally was bound to be abandoned. Besides, Mito Uzumaki was still alive back then, and she had her own descendants...

The shinobi world had only recently transitioned from the clan model to the shinobi village model. Which family didn't have some connections outside? Manufacturing a diplomatic incident featuring inside-and-outside coordination wasn't difficult. The Second just died like that, and all related responsible parties were let off lightly, or not held accountable at all.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who served as the bait and transmitted the false orders, rose to power. The prominent clans didn't need a strong Hokage; what they needed was a puppet who could be manipulated at will. Otherwise, how could a Konoha teeming with powerhouses ever let a young man born from a minor clan become the Third?

The Third was a chess piece pushed to the forefront by the prominent clans. It's just that no one expected two subsequent world wars to break out. The Uzumaki were wiped out, the Senju Clan was wiped out, the power of the prominent clans greatly declined, and the civilian faction rose up. The Third seized the opportunity to rope in some clans while suppressing others, and established dark, violent institutions like Root, making his position as Hokage increasingly secure.

The content above was purely Sasuke's fabricated nonsense. Kakashi was left completely dumbfounded by him. The pure shinobi had never encountered such brain-teasing conspiracy theory stories, but he still hadn't forgotten the main point: "What does all this have to do with Obito?"

Very good, truly worthy of being Kakashi, never forgetting his white-moonlight Obito for even a second.

Sasuke stared intently at him. Do you really think Tobirama Senju was that easy to scheme against? Do you think the Senju Clan would willingly vanish into history?