(All right, the earlier text has been revised-)
"So that was how it happened."
In a small office on the second floor of the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat quietly, reading the report in his hands, while Inoichi Yamanaka knelt on one knee a short distance before him.
This report contained everything Inoichi Yamanaka had learned about Xia Yan through the Mind-Reading Technique. He had compiled it all into a document and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Through this report, Hiruzen Sarutobi had learned a great deal of interesting information.
For instance, quite a few members of the Senju Clan still harbored resentment and anger, intending to restore the clan to its glory during the Warring States Period.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had not found this unexpected or surprising in the slightest, because it was the most natural reaction.
Putting himself in their shoes, if the Sarutobi Clan had suffered such a near-annihilating disaster, he certainly would not have felt remotely calm either.
No one treated you well for no reason, nor did anyone hate you for no reason. To put it more plainly, interests drove them.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had personally cast the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan into the abyss. He did not care in the least how much they hated him.
What interested him, however, was that a brat like Xia Yan had broken free of his clan's constraints at such a young age.
He was already considering these matters from a higher vantage point.
In particular, he was looking at things from the village's perspective, and the solution he had arrived at was actually to become Hokage!
Hiruzen Sarutobi found this idea childish, but it also pleased him somewhat.
The childish part lay in Xia Yan's thinking. Becoming Hokage could indeed solve many problems, but was becoming Hokage