Family System In Naruto

What Hiruzen Sarutobi did is hard to judge as right or wrong—because perspectives vary based on your stance.

But since Shisui brought it up, Yuhara was willing to discuss it and even planned to share some "advanced" insights with him.

"Shisui, when judging something, the first thing to consider is where you're standing.

This world is complicated. Good and evil, right and wrong—they're never absolute, because everyone has their own position.

Always remember, the world isn't just black or white. It's probably a finely painted shade of gray.

So when we think things through, we have to be more comprehensive."

Yuhara smiled at Shisui, then kept walking as he asked slowly:

"From Hiruzen Sarutobi's perspective, he was right. After the Second Ninja War, Konoha never really got a chance to recover.

They were dragged almost immediately into the Third Ninja War, which was even more brutal. Konoha got ganged up on by all four major villages.

Sure, Konoha 'won,' but it was a hollow victory. They were gutted. Even in the end, Konoha didn't ask the Tsuchikage for any reparations.

Why? Probably because our Hokage hoped Tsuchikage would save those resources for fighting against the Hidden Cloud. But that backfired."

The Third War looked like a four-way assault on Konoha, but they weren't really unified.

Best examples? Pakura and the Third Raikage.

Pakura got sent by Rasa, the new Kazekage, to Mist to stabilize his own regime and free up strength to fight Iwa.

Yuhara found it baffling that Sand and Mist—who had no real conflict—would fight in the first place. But maybe Mist resented Sand for surrendering to Konoha too quickly.

That early surrender let Konoha shift resources and go after Mist in Uzushiogakure, which led to Mist's defeat. Maybe it was just payback.

The Third Raikage died a really miserable death—fighting tens of thousands for three days straight. He'd only gone scouting, prepping for a possible future war with Iwa during their frontline battle with Konoha.

Cloud and Rock already had bad blood, so when the Raikage died at Rock's hands, there was no way they'd let it go.

It was precisely his death that made the Fourth Raikage stop fighting Konoha and return to the village to prep for war with Iwa.

Meanwhile, Rock, sensing Cloud's movements, and demoralized after Minato took down fifty enemies alone, also agreed to a ceasefire with Konoha.

Frankly, it was Rock killing the Third Raikage that finally ended the seemingly endless war.

Hiruzen didn't ask for reparations because he hoped they'd keep fighting each other and let Konoha breathe.

But that didn't happen. They only made a show of it—never seriously fought.

That gamble flopped hard. Hiruzen had to step down, which led to Minato becoming the Fourth Hokage.

In retrospect, years of war had exhausted everyone—not just Konoha. The other villages were hurting too.

Only Cloud managed to keep some strength intact. Their worst loss was just the Raikage.

Naturally, Onoki of Iwa didn't want war to continue. The Fourth Raikage was newly appointed and unstable, but his people weren't going to let him go rogue either.

Still, all this just showed how deeply these villages didn't trust each other. It was that distrust that finally ended the war.

"Konoha was already scraping bottom. They had no choice but to take a break and recover."

Yuhara looked at the sunset and chuckled, pointing at it as he continued:

"To many people, Konoha probably looked just like that sunset. Even though we 'won' the war, the cost was massive. And our Third Hokage probably felt the same.

So when Cloud came a few years later asking to sign a peace treaty, Hiruzen went overboard. He forgot all caution—forgot the mindset a Kage should have. That led to tragedy."

Shisui had lived through that history—he was already in the ANBU at the time. But even now, hearing it again made him sigh.

Back then, they let their guard down way too much. Cloud ninja roamed freely in Konoha, all with Hiruzen's approval.

And the result? Those guys scouted freely and extracted tons of intel on the Hyūga clan. That led to disaster.

"I said earlier—Hiruzen thought Konoha was at its lowest and needed time to recover."

As Shisui pondered, Yuhara spoke again, now with a more serious tone.

"From his view, he wanted to avoid escalation. Avoid another war.

Maybe he assessed everything and decided that if another war broke out, Konoha would lose for sure.

So he made a decisive call—to sacrifice a person, or even a clan, in exchange for peace. Pick the lesser evil, right?

So Shisui, from that perspective, do you think Hiruzen was wrong?"

Was he wrong?

Shisui heard the question and reviewed everything Yuhara said. He really wanted to say: no, he wasn't wrong.

From the Hokage's position, there weren't many options. Sacrificing one life for peace—isn't that worth it?

But Shisui didn't dare answer. He knew Yuhara had another angle, one that conflicted with what seemed like a perfect answer.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I don't know, Yuhara.

If it were anyone else asking, I'd say yes without hesitation.

But with you... I can't say anything confidently. I know whatever I say probably misses the point."

"Have a little faith in yourself, Shisui."

Yuhara chuckled and patted his shoulder, then continued.

"I told you—perspective changes everything.

But in our positions, we can't afford one-sided views. We need to think broadly and deeply.

We've looked at Hiruzen's stance. Now let's consider the state of the ninja world.

Konoha's had a rough few years. Missions have dropped, the economy's bad. Have you thought about why?"

"Uh..." Shisui scratched his head. This wasn't really his thing. "Maybe because of the daimyo?"

"The daimyo's one reason. But the bigger one? Konoha's image."

Yuhara shook his head with a smile and brought up a familiar yet unfamiliar concept.

"Just like families have reputations, villages have their own image too.

The Uchiha's downfall was mostly caused by how others saw us. Our image affected how people perceived us.

Same goes for Konoha. We won the Third War, even if it was barely. That was a huge prestige boost.

But when Cloud invaded and we just let it slide—and then Minato died eight years ago—it created a huge problem.

The ninja world began to see Konoha as 'strong on the outside, hollow within.' That crushed our credibility.

Naturally, clients stopped trusting us with missions. Those went to stronger, more reliable villages.

You've been in ANBU—you must've noticed how well Cloud's doing lately, right?"

Shisui nodded seriously. As ANBU, he had seen a lot. He knew how fast Cloud was rising.

But he'd never realized they rose by stepping on Konoha's back—that it was all because of Hiruzen's concessions.

That realization made him start doubting his earlier belief that Hiruzen was right.

"Because of that choice, the ninja world sees us poorly. And internally, Konoha is falling apart.

Minato's death already made many clan leaders unhappy with Hiruzen coming back.

But they accepted it—for stability. No better candidate at the time.

Now though, after everything that's happened, their dissatisfaction has peaked.

Shisui, do you know what the village was originally built for? To protect everyone—especially the kids.

But during the Third War, Hiruzen already broke that promise by sending kids to the front lines.

And remember—Konoha was founded by the united clans, plus a bunch of civilian ninja. That's how we came to be.

Hiruzen's actions hurt the village at its very core. No wonder the clans are pissed.

They're scared. If Hiruzen could sacrifice the Hyūga this time... who's next? Could it be them?"

Yuhara paused, staring at the troubled look on Shisui's face before turning to gaze at the Hokage Rock.

"Hiruzen acted alone this time. On the surface, it looked like he did everything for peace.

But in truth, he ignored everyone else's will. He disregarded the hearts of the people.

Do the average ninja want to be humiliated like that? To the point where they can't even get proper missions anymore?

Do clan ninja really want their own people treated like bargaining chips, just because one man decided so?

Peace never comes from compromise. Haven't we already learned that from the Uchiha case?"

He looked at Shisui dead-on and asked, word by word:

"So, whether Hiruzen was right or wrong depends entirely on your standpoint.

From his view—and from the eyes of those who fear war—he was right.

But from Konoha's perspective?

He was dead wrong."

(End of Chapter)

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