"Hahaha, interesting, interesting!" Hiruzen picked up a brush and quickly wrote "agree," smiling as he said, "I really enjoy chatting with you."
"You flatter me. Every time I speak with you, I always gain a great deal. Your charisma truly commands my admiration," Fukuyama said with mock flattery.
As he watched Fukuyama leave, Hiruzen clenched his teeth tightly, his face contorted with rage.
He showed me no respect at all, openly contradicting me.
The Uchiha clan, huh?
If Tsunade weren't an enemy, at this stage, he only wanted to suppress the Uchiha clan; he hadn't actually considered driving them to ruin.
Later, when the Uchiha clan was exterminated, although he knew everything from beginning to end, he simply allowed it to happen. The main instigator behind the scenes was always Danzō.
What he did was merely provoke Itachi into wiping out his clan and then take the opportunity to seize all the Uchiha clan's wealth. But now, things were different. He had made up his mind, he wanted to destroy the Uchiha clan. He was determined not to let this cancer continue to fester in Konoha.
However, how to do it was a major problem. He had previously failed in his attempt to frame Shin, and Shin had already warned him, so his earlier plan was essentially scrapped.
Of course, even without Shin, taking action against any clan in the village required a valid reason, especially when the target was the most powerful clan.
Even when the Uchiha clan's reputation was at its lowest, someone as ruthless as Danzō dared not act against them directly.
He would have Itachi do it.
If they were truly pushed to the brink, it could even mean the end of the Hokage's rule. After all, a ninja village was originally formed as an alliance between clans and the commoners under them, and clans held significant weight in every village. Especially the Uchiha clan, they weren't just any clan. Their strength was second to none in Konoha.
If they were truly cornered, no one would come out unscathed. He was not Tobirama, he was far from his level, so he lacked effective solutions in many situations. In fact, the idea of weakening Konoha's clans was first proposed by Tobirama.
The ninja village system, at its core, was a coalition of clan interests.
If the Hokage was like an emperor, then the clans were like feudal lords who held military power.
Many clans, like Konoha's Uchiha and Hyūga, or Kiri's Hōzuki and Kaguya clans, had members whose loyalty to their clan surpassed their loyalty to the village.
So the system Hashirama came up with on a whim had hidden dangers from the very beginning. Every ninja village eventually faced internal conflict from clans unwilling to follow the Kage's rule, some even sought independence or rebellion.
Tobirama, being highly intelligent and perceptive, had long seen through the nature of the clans. He spared no effort in trying to weaken the influence of the major clans within Konoha. It was similar to ancient emperors curbing the power of regional warlords.
Later, Tobirama formed the ANBU, and most of its members were selected from non-clan ninja. In essence, this was to avoid being constrained by clan politics and to achieve centralization and balance of power. His strong stance against the Uchiha clan stemmed not only from historical reasons, but also from his understanding and judgment of their true nature. A very important reason was that no single clan could be allowed to grow too powerful and disrupt the internal balance of the village. And in his eyes, if any clan in Konoha had the potential to grow too big and pose a threat to the village, it was undoubtedly the Uchiha clan.
Of course, unlike Hiruzen and Danzō, he never intended to completely wipe out the Uchiha clan.
Such actions, hurting allies while pleasing enemies, would not only weaken Konoha's overall strength but also make other clans feel insecure and turn inward in self-preservation. They would no longer be willing to fight for the village, which would lead to disunity and disloyalty. What Tobirama truly wanted was to strengthen the power of the Hokage to achieve centralization of authority.
At the same time, he sought to gradually "civilianize" all clans, diluting the concept of clan identity, while heavily nurturing non-clan ninjas. This way, Konoha could become more unified than ever without weakening its strength.
To ensure this plan could proceed smoothly, he even led by example. He personally disbanded the Senju clan and mercilessly removed troublemakers within it who could pose a future threat.
Of his six disciples, Hiruzen, Danzō, Homura, and Koharu were all technically of civilian origin.
Although Torifu wasn't from a small family, the Ino-Shika-Chō trio's numbers were limited, and even if they were powerful, their influence was not overwhelming. As such, they weren't capable of stirring up major waves.
As for why he accepted Kagami as a disciple, on one hand, it was because Kagami's personality and talent genuinely appealed to him. On the other hand, Tobirama intended to use Kagami as a way to gradually divide and weaken the Uchiha clan from within, guiding them toward a similar "civilianized" path like the Senju.
He even targeted the Hyūga clan, but unfortunately, they turned into cowards, shrinking away and avoiding conflict, leaving him no opportunity to act against them. Regrettably, Tobirama only served as Hokage for two years before the prolonged First Great Ninja War broke out, derailing many of his plans. After finally enduring until the war ended, he tragically died during negotiations with the Second Raikage, cutting his plans off midway.
Hiruzen completely failed to grasp Tobirama's vision of village governance. In fact, many of Hiruzen's ideas and practices were entirely contrary to Tobirama's principles. Though he constantly claimed to respect his teacher, he ended up turning Konoha into a chaotic mess. He did train many civilian ninjas, but due to his lack of ability and methods to weaken the clans, and his lack of fairness and boldness, he instead caused internal division and disharmony within Konoha.
Later, after getting pulled into the mess, the Konoha Council began greedily seizing village assets and expanding the four major clans by assigning their surnames to anyone even remotely related. Although the four great clans haven't yet become dominant powers, if Hiruzen had continued to rule for nearly 40 years, Konoha would inevitably have ended up with four bloated, powerful, and unmanageable super-clans.
If Tobirama were to witness such a scene, he would probably be so furious at Hiruzen and the others that he'd rise from his grave, even Shin couldn't hold down his coffin lid.
Ironically, it was Kumo and Iwa that truly embraced Tobirama's ideology, grasped its essence, and fully achieved clan civilianization. As a result, their villages became more cohesive, and their overall strength steadily increased.
That's why the Kage of those villages now wield absolute authority, and internal governance runs smoothly and harmoniously.