When Hiruzen Sarutobi was Hokage, the Sarutobi Clan had enjoyed an extremely high standing in Konoha, throwing their weight around without restraint.
In fact, the Sarutobi Clan's power had once surpassed even that of the Uchiha Clan with their Sharingan and the Hyuga Clan with their Byakugan.
Whether it was the Anbu, the Barrier Team, or any other key department, all of them had been controlled by members of the Sarutobi Clan.
Even when the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was in office, the Sarutobi Clan's standing had not diminished at all.
In Konoha, whatever orders the Hokage wanted to execute or policies he wanted to implement, he had needed the Sarutobi Clan's approval and cooperation to carry them out.
Without the Sarutobi Clan's involvement, the Hokage's directives could not even leave the Hokage Building. Nothing could get done.
However, after Uchiha Gengetsu became Konoha's Fifth Hokage, the Sarutobi Clan's standing in the village had plummeted.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi's downfall and the exposure of his crimes, the Sarutobi Clan's ninja had now lost all their privileges and had even become pariahs despised by everyone in Konoha.
Such an enormous fall from the clouds straight into the mud was more than the Sarutobi Clan, accustomed to their lofty position, could accept.
They refused to accept losing their privileges, much less being trampled underfoot by the Uchiha Clan.
Thus, the Sarutobi Clan's ninja began secretly banding together.
They believed their clan, with its several hundred elite ninja, was a backbone of Konoha.
As long as they stood united and used their overwhelming numbers to create a situation where the law could not punish them all, they could pressure Gengetsu and force him to compromise.
So, when they saw their clan's "young prince," Asuma Sarutobi, being arrested by the Konoha Military Police Force, these