Sarutobi Hiruzen's Character

"Cower?"

The word was quite novel. Sarutobi Hiruzen froze for a moment, only half understanding it.

"'Cower' is something Lord Aokiji liked to say all the time," Orochimaru said with a smile. "His main reason for not wanting to be a ninja is that he wants to live comfortably."

"Live comfortably?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was dumbfounded.

Aokiji slept through class every day. Wasn't his life already comfortable enough? How much more comfort did he want?

Orochimaru continued, "Lord Aokiji said that when ninjas carried out missions, they often had to venture deep into enemy territory, sometimes facing near-certain death. The chances of dying in battle were simply too high. That was why he had no interest in being a ninja. Medical Ninjas, on the other hand, didn't need to go deep into enemy territory. They only operated in the rear, so their lives weren't in danger. I think that was probably the biggest reason Lord Aokiji was interested in becoming a Medical Ninja."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was speechless.

Aokiji, that child was far too unlike an Uchiha.

In his impression, the Uchiha Clan were all battle maniacs who feared neither life nor death. How could Aokiji be such a coward?

He looked at Biwako and asked whether she had discussed Medical Ninja survival rates during her lessons. She answered with an affirmative nod.

Jiraiya also added some information about Aokiji. "Now that you mention it, that really does fit his style. He may not be interested in being a ninja, but whenever it involves living comfortably, he gets serious. For example, last time he specifically asked me for the training method for the Summoning Jutsu."

Sarutobi Hiruzen froze. He remembered teaching his own disciple the Summoning Jutsu. Putting Aokiji's matter aside for the moment, if Jiraiya could teach him, did that mean Aokiji had already learned the Summoning Jutsu? He asked his disciple about it, only for Jiraiya to stammer, "Uh... th-this..."

Before Sarutobi Hiruzen could continue questioning him, Tsunade fired off three questions in a row. "He wanted to learn the Summoning Jutsu from you?

"You know the Summoning Jutsu too?

"When did that happen?"

Jiraiya said, "Did you forget? It was after I demonstrated the Summoning Jutsu last time. Aokiji came to me afterward and said he wanted to learn it."

Tsunade could not help teasing him. "With your lousy skill level, you had the nerve to teach someone else? Weren't you afraid of leading him astray?"

Jiraiya's face reddened. He craned his neck and argued, "Who said I couldn't do it? I was just practicing at the time, okay?"

Tsunade skipped over that matter. She knew Jiraiya too well; he was hopelessly vain. "Why did he want to learn the Summoning Jutsu from you?"

Jiraiya answered casually, "Because he's lazy. You all know what he's like. Every motive behind everything he does is to slack off and live comfortably.

"He thought doing things alone could be exhausting, so he wanted to learn the Summoning Jutsu and have Summoned Beasts work for him and share the burden. Things like running errands or buying groceries—simple jobs like that."

Tsunade was stunned. "That really is Aokiji's style. When it comes to living well, he's always willing to take action, even if it means some trouble and hard work at first."

Aokiji's cooking was excellent precisely because he looked down on the village's food and learned to cook for himself. Even Tsunade sometimes had to admire how sharp his mind was. He learned everything quickly. As long as he was willing to learn, nothing seemed difficult for him. He simply lacked ambition, and that was his greatest flaw.

Through his students' conversation, Sarutobi Hiruzen gained a rough initial understanding of Aokiji.

He was clearly a genius, yet he constantly wanted to pursue improper pursuits.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked his chin. Since Aokiji disliked fighting, perhaps he could guide him toward becoming a Medical Ninja in the future. It would put him to good use, at least. That was better than wasting his talent. Such fine talent ought to contribute properly to the village.

Moreover, directing Aokiji toward becoming a Medical Ninja also served a political purpose.

As the Second Hokage's disciple, Sarutobi Hiruzen had naturally sensed, through constant exposure, that his teacher was wary of the Uchiha Clan.

Though the Second Hokage had never said so outright.

The Uchiha Clan held the Konoha Military Police Force, possessing great prestige and authority within Konoha. On the surface, it appeared to be the Second Hokage's trust in the Uchiha Clan, but in truth, it was surveillance and control over them, even a quiet weakening of their strength.

The Police Force sounded lofty, but in reality, their daily work mostly involved dealing with street vendors and maintaining basic public order. Having one of the Ninja World's strongest ninja clans send its elites to handle such matters was truly ridiculous, like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

This was no exaggeration. Since Konohagakure had been founded, it had never suffered an attack. Most of the time, the Konoha Military Police Force was more like a symbol. Put kindly, they were mascots. Put bluntly, they were decorations.

Keeping the Uchiha Clan occupied with trivial matters every day could squeeze their training time and reduce their opportunities to improve. Yet the Uchiha Clan would not harbor any objections, because in their eyes, this was the village's trust in them. They worked harder and more responsibly than anyone.

And the result of working too hard was strict enforcement of regulations. They were impartial toward the village's small vendors, even somewhat cold and inhumane. That would inevitably provoke intense resentment among the villagers and damage the clan's reputation in the village, leaving them unpopular.

After all, blocking someone's livelihood was like murdering their parents.

Someone recognized by everyone might not necessarily become Hokage, but someone unrecognized by everyone could never become Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's still-living father, the head of the Sarutobi Clan, had instilled political ideas in him since childhood. He hoped to one day mold him into the Hokage and elevate the clan further.

Though Hiruzen often liked to take responsibilities onto himself and appeared to be getting the short end of the stick, he was actually quite shrewd.

You had to give something up to gain something.

Besides, it was merely a small effort.

And one should not underestimate such a seemingly insignificant gesture. A person's image was built bit by bit like this, eventually forming a habitual impression. Such an image was also the firmest and hardest to break.

Even if someone made a mistake, people's first thought would not be condemnation. Instead, they would wonder whether that person had been framed. Because of habitual thinking, people developed a subconscious notion: I know this person. They aren't that kind of person.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had gathered a large group of fiercely loyal followers around him precisely through this wisdom.

Compared to him, his childhood friend, Shimura Danzō, seemed far too... simple-minded.

Every word and action of his carried obvious utilitarian intent.

For instance, when Sarutobi Hiruzen helped his companions cover their retreat, Danzo would jump out and declare that he wanted to cover the retreat as well. He simply wanted to compete with him.

In Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, such behavior was entirely unnecessary, because there was no benefit to be gained.

He helped his companions to earn goodwill, but Danzo did it merely out of competitiveness. Even if he helped his companions, others would only think he had acted for his own desire to win, for selfish reasons. He would not gain much goodwill from anyone.

"Fools" had fool's luck.

That saying contained profound political wisdom.

Such advanced wisdom was something Danzo could not understand anytime soon.

Still, it was no wonder. Danzo had lost both his father and grandfather at a young age. The Shimura Clan was not united either; countless people saw him as a rival for the position of clan head. No one had taught him these ways of dealing with people, so he could only figure them out himself.

The current Sarutobi Hiruzen was no longer the child who had chased Danzo through the mountains, the child with pure dreams.

Becoming Hokage and protecting the village were merely children's dreams. Adults had to use that position as a platform to seize benefits and strengthen their clans.

The village was certainly important, but the Sarutobi Clan was the only thing he could truly rely on.

The major ninja clans had harbored such thoughts long before joining Konoha. Having no hope now did not mean there would be no hope in the future.

The only constant in this world was change. The difference was merely that some changed earlier, while others changed later.

His life had long since been painted over with every kind of color.

Sometimes, Sarutobi Hiruzen often sighed over how he was gradually drifting farther and farther from his once-pure self.

But he had no choice. He was not from the Uchiha Clan. He could not simply indulge his whims and do whatever he wanted.

Not everyone possessed the Uchiha Clan's power to transcend the world. For "ordinary people" like him, if they wanted to defeat those Kekkei Genkai ninjas whom Heaven fed food, they could only use their brains more. Making others submit through force like the Uchiha Clan did was not something ordinary people could accomplish.

Besides, conquering others through force was only a momentary display of power. The real skill was using "love" to move them, making them serve you.

Deep down, Sarutobi Hiruzen greatly envied the Uchiha Clan, and there was even jealousy mixed in.

With the Sharingan as their power, most of them lived as they pleased.

Personality-wise, they said whatever they wanted and rarely hid anything, even if others might see them as arrogant.

A person's talent was determined from the moment they were born.

Based on talent, people could roughly be divided into three tiers.

The first tier was begging Heaven for food:

This was the bottom tier, and it had the largest population. These were ordinary ninjas in the conventional sense, possessing no Kekkei Genkai.

Sarutobi Hiruzen belonged to this tier as well. Although his talent was quite good, his essence had not changed. He still used ordinary ninjutsu.

The second tier was Heaven feeding food:

Kekkei Genkai ninjas. From birth, their starting point already stood at an endpoint others could scarcely hope to reach, possessing the Kekkei Genkai that countless others dreamed of.

The third tier was when Heaven was not satisfied with chasing after you to feed you, so it had to hold the chopsticks, pick up the food, and forcibly stuff it into your mouth, afraid you might not know how to use your hands...

Super Kekkei Genkai ninjas. The Sharingan was the classic example. Though it was also a Kekkei Genkai, its power was clearly incomparable to ordinary Kekkei Genkai. It could even evolve. It was utterly unreasonable.

The major ninja clans, especially ordinary ninja clans, excluded the Uchiha Clan not only because Uchiha people had unpleasant personalities and were unpopular, but also because the clan itself was simply too powerful and invited jealousy.

Why did the Uchiha Clan naturally possess more chakra than ordinary people, along with such a powerful Kekkei Genkai as the Sharingan, while ordinary ninjas could exhaust their entire lives and still perhaps fail to surpass even one of their children? Comparing people truly made one furious.

The major ninja clans tacitly worked together, openly and secretly weakening the Uchiha Clan in every way.

Having the Uchiha Clan serve as the Konoha Military Police Force was merely the first step.

The second step was to send capable clan members to the Anbu for training. Steel needed to be tempered. Though the work was dangerous and they could lose their lives at any moment, every ninja who endured to the end would greatly improve their individual combat ability.

As one side rose while the other fell, the Uchiha Clan would naturally weaken.

Did the Uchiha Clan know? Perhaps. But they could not refuse.

Making the Uchiha Clan the Konoha Military Police Force was an extremely clever open scheme.

Because ever since that man had suddenly attacked Konoha, and the First Hokage had fortunately stopped him before any serious losses occurred, the Uchiha Clan had naturally been implicated afterward and become even more unwelcome.

To change their situation, the Uchiha Clan desperately needed the higher-ups' support.

At such a time, they naturally could not refuse the olive branch extended by the Second Hokage.

Even though they knew it was a trap.

They still had to jump into it with a smile.

But even weakening them this way was not enough. There was no other reason: the Uchiha Clan was simply too strong, strong enough to make people deeply uneasy.

It was like a pair of neighbors in real life. The neighbor next door spent every day sharpening a kitchen knife, producing an ear-piercing sound, then told you, "Don't worry. This knife is for defending against thieves."

But the issue was that this neighbor was easily provoked and prone to doing extreme things.

Tell me, could you sleep peacefully? Was that not a joke?

And right now, the Uchiha Clan was the person holding the kitchen knife, while the other ninja clans were the people without knives.

The kitchen knife was the Sharingan, while the sharpening motion was like training the Sharingan. Not to mention that sometimes, the knife could be sharpened into a machete. (Mangekyō Sharingan)

To sleep peacefully, they had to take away the kitchen knife. But the knife grew in their eyes and could not be removed, so they could only think of another way. First, they had to take away the whetstone, making the knife at least a little duller, so it could not kill someone in a single strike.

Making the Uchiha Clan the Konoha Military Police Force was the concrete implementation of that step.

Then they also had to find a way to make the kitchen knife serve a proper purpose, to have it slaughter pigs and let the pork it cut serve the major ninja clans.

Medical Ninjutsu was the concrete form of that plan. In theory, the Sharingan's power was highly suited to Medical Ninjutsu. For example, during surgery, the Sharingan's insight would definitely provide tremendous assistance in difficult operations. That would reduce casualties among the major ninja clans and preserve their combat strength.

Unfortunately, most Uchiha Clan members liked pursuing power, making that difficult to achieve. But now there was Aokiji, an Uchiha. Everything was difficult at the beginning. As long as one Uchiha took this step, Sarutobi Hiruzen believed there would be room for further discussion and even room to maneuver afterward.

That would both reduce the Uchiha Clan's combat strength and benefit unity within the village. It was killing two birds with one stone.

A half-dead Uchiha was a good Uchiha.

And even if Aokiji failed to Awaken the Sharingan, it would not matter. They would still gain a Medical Ninja.

Though his motives were impure and he merely wanted to avoid the battlefield, hiding in the rear to treat others, that did not matter. As long as someone was willing to become a Medical Ninja, that was enough.

After all, very few people were willing to become Medical Ninjas these days.

If someone was willing to do it, there was no need to be picky.

P.S. People often say the Third Hokage was a good person and call all this conspiracy theory, but if you think about it from the other direction, anti-conspiracy theory is itself a kind of conspiracy theory.

For example:

Forget it. Those who understand, understand.

Back to the point, forgive my humble opinion, but Sarutobi Hiruzen's various actions truly could not be explained without conspiracy theories.

I could only analyze what kind of person Sarutobi Hiruzen was by combining his background with the principle of judging deeds rather than hearts.

And I had to analyze what kind of person the Third Hokage was from the protagonist's perspective.

If the protagonist gambled that the Third Hokage was a good person, he might not even know how he got tricked to death someday.

Isn't that right, Uchiha Shisui? Everyone understood the principle of believing it was possible rather than assuming it was impossible, right?

Take an example: when the Second Hokage asked his disciples who would stay behind to cover the retreat, Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his hand without hesitation and declared that he would do it.

At a glance, the Third Hokage seemed noble and great, didn't he?

But if one thought carefully, was that really so? After all, the Third Hokage became Hokage directly afterward.

So the question was, after becoming Hokage, could he still be the teacher of the three of them? Impossible, right? Logically speaking, once you became Hokage, how could you have time to serve as an Instructor Jonin?

(In the anime, he was very young when covering the retreat, yet middle-aged when teaching the three of them. Uh, what...) Taking a step back, Orochimaru and Tsunade might have had the slightest possibility, since one had a special identity and the other was a genius seen once in a decade.

But Jiraiya, what did you have going for you?

Why would the esteemed leader of a village, Lord Hokage, teach you, a Common Ninja? Jiraiya's talent only truly emerged after he signed a contract with Mount Myōboku.

As for why he could form a team with two of the Sannin, I think it was probably because they were the best of a mediocre bunch, along with a desire to prevent other forces from getting involved.

The composition of the Sannin was very interesting. Only Tsunade was born into a ninja clan; the other two were both commoners. And at this time, the Senju Clan had probably already disbanded, broken up and absorbed into Konoha.

Though the original work never stated it, the Senju Clan never appeared again in the later stages, as if they had gone extinct. Such an overwhelmingly powerful ninja clan could not possibly have been wiped out, could it?

Therefore, they could only have been tricked into disbanding and merging into the various clans.

It sounded nice to say it would help them integrate into the village and unite the village through the bloodline of the Senju Clan.

But with even slight scrutiny, this was an open scheme. That way, the Senju Clan no longer had anyone to speak for them, and their interests no longer had a mouthpiece to express them.

Then these Senju Clan members, who followed whichever family they married into, would each fight separately and become a scattered mess.

Like rednecks—why did they praise a certain king so highly? Though that guy had all sorts of problems and did many things wrong, those rednecks were not stupid. That king could not be replaced, because he was their only mouthpiece. Without him, they could not speak. If you could not even make your voice heard, then forget about pursuing your interests.

Now look at the benefits of doing this: the other ninja clans could eliminate the village's largest interest group without spending a single soldier, divide up the benefits, and gain the Senju Clan's talent as well. Their descendants' physical talent would improve greatly, and their clans' upper limits would rise enormously.

This deal was an absolute win.

At that point, among Konoha's elder clans, only the Uchiha Clan remained. If the major ninja clans did not target you, who would they target? And the Uchiha Clan's talent was not "invisible" like the Senju Clan's. Once the Sharingan Awakened, the Uchiha Clan would not be so generous. They would demand that you marry into their clan.

Seems like I got sidetracked.

Back to the point. Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen could only have taken the Sannin as disciples before becoming Hokage.

By then, Sarutobi Hiruzen was already the Sannin's teacher. Given that Sarutobi Hiruzen had grown up in a major ninja clan, there was no way he would fail to realize that the Second Hokage was testing him, perhaps even paving the way for him and making it legitimate. Min, please.

There was no need to mention countless real-life examples, right?

Was it possible that Sarutobi Hiruzen was simply pure by nature? Yes, but the possibility was very small.

If you had been born in the Warring States Period, and you were truly naïve, the grass on your grave would have been cut several times already.

And even if you were naïve, your family could not possibly have been naïve too. They would certainly educate you properly. What were the consequences of being naïve? Did you really think everyone was Asura, carrying a "Kotoamatsukami fetus" in the womb and being forcibly defined from birth?

"Others abuse me a thousand times, yet I treat them as my first love."

Wasn't that Stockholm syndrome?

Besides, Asura himself was simply amazing. He could remain unaffected by his surroundings and even came with his own Kotoamatsukami mouth. With just a few words, he could make a boss with an unwavering goal, one who would not blink even while killing his own master, directly turn over a new leaf and become a better person—though by then, he might already have been about to reincarnate...

Only someone like Danzo, whose father and grandfather had both died early and who had no one to teach him these things, would be such an idiot.

(In his memories before death, he said it himself—during the retreat-covering incident.) Afterward, once he realized what had happened, I think Danzo must have been extremely unconvinced.

After all, from Danzo's perspective, you had already been designated as Hokage, yet you still pulled this stunt? Were you playing me?

What was Sarutobi Hiruzen pretending to be so righteous for?

Disgusting!

But he could not question it or resist.

After all, on the surface, the Second Hokage had already given him an opportunity. Who told him to be a coward?

Those teammates were witnesses. Their eyes were wide open as they watched.

You, Shimura Danzo, chickened out.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not.

It was that simple.

You were given a chance, but you were useless! I think the reason Shimura Danzo became so obsessed with becoming Hokage later on might have been because he could not swallow that anger from back then.

If I, Shimura Danzo, had the Sannin as my disciples, I would not have cowered either. I would definitely have shouted louder than Sarutobi Hiruzen, righteously and solemnly: "No! Today, I must stay behind and cover the retreat! I swear to protect Lord Hokage to the death! No one can stop me! Not even if Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama came together! That's what I said." (Parentheses)