The Uchiha Clan's tragic annihilation in Konoha could not be separated from Hiruzen Sarutobi's compromises.But above all, the main reason lay in the Third Hokage's inability to resolve the growing rift between the village and the Uchiha. Even to the very end, he had no way to ease the tension.
That was why Senju Haruto took this opportunity to present his own solution to Hiruzen — a plan that could settle the Uchiha issue while at the same time striking back at the Hidden Cloud Village.
"If we're talking about life experience and political maneuvering, I may not match the Third Hokage…But I have something he lacks — knowledge of history, and a broader vision."
Haruto couldn't help but reflect.
Hiruzen, already past fifty, was in the twilight of his years. He had deep experience and mastery of political struggles.But the so-called Shinobi World Wars — even the most extreme one — had only involved armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands at most.Compared to Haruto's past life before arriving in this world, such conflicts were insignificant.
And as for strategists… there was an immeasurable gap.
Take this current situation, for example.Konoha's internal conflict could be boiled down to three factions:
The long-suffering Uchiha faction, led by Uchiha Fugaku, who had endured decades of discrimination.
Danzo's Root faction, shouldering most of the village's darkest deeds.
And the Hokage's faction, always keeping the image of righteousness and virtue.
If a certain historical genius nicknamed Wolong were to be reborn here, he would probably be baffled:
"Why cling so desperately to one village?March north! Launch a northern expedition!"
Even Haruto's suggestion — to use external conflict to divert internal tensions — was something this "Wolong" figure would have considered.That was the work of a true statesman: appearing simple, yet deeply profound.
Even Hiruzen, with his decades of experience in political maneuvering, was stunned by Haruto's proposal.It was only a few short sentences, but the approach was brilliant.
And how many could come up with something like this?Danzo certainly couldn't. Hiruzen himself couldn't either.
For a moment, the Third Hokage fell into deep thought, seriously considering Haruto's plan.After all, he didn't need the entire Uchiha Clan — even half of them would be enough to hold back the Hidden Cloud's ninja forces.
That many Uchiha could still be managed by ANBU oversight, and if they attempted to use the opportunity for a coup, they could be split and dealt with separately in advance.
And beyond all that, Konoha still had Haruto — a secret weapon.His Wood Release was far beyond Yamato's level, and his chakra reserves were staggering.Hiruzen could no longer find a reason to continue compromising.
Of course, this wasn't something he could decide alone. The village's leadership would have to meet for a second round of discussions.
"Haruto."
"Hm?" Haruto met Hiruzen's gaze, calmly awaiting his answer.
While some in the Uchiha Clan might have flawed logic, they still represented thousands of lives.More importantly, they were an extremely powerful military unit within the village.
Becoming Hokage was only one of Haruto's small goals.His real goal was the unification of the entire shinobi world.
Was it for true peace?Like hell it was.
Unifying the shinobi world was about enjoying life at the top — ruling over all, bringing order to chaos.Who wouldn't enjoy that?
So Haruto figured: why not turn the Uchiha into his own workforce?Especially Uchiha Itachi — whose strength he genuinely respected.
Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, the Totsuka Blade, Izanami…With these, Itachi was more than capable of reaching Kage level.It was just his worldview and logic that Haruto couldn't stomach.
From a rational perspective, when relations between the Uchiha and the village became irreconcilable, Itachi still had at least three better options:
Convince his father to mediate between the two sides, maintaining peace.
Support Fugaku's plan to attack Konoha's leadership, accepting some casualties to replace the ruling class.
Flat-out refuse the clan's plan, side with the village, and force Fugaku to back down.
And what did Itachi do?He completely abandoned both family and clan.
He sold the Uchiha to Danzo, who then called for total extermination.Hiruzen promised to find another way… and ended up doing nothing.
Even then, Itachi could have followed Hiruzen's advice and stalled for time, or acted as a watchdog over the clan — prepared to intervene by force if a coup began.Given Fugaku's later behavior, Haruto was certain that if Itachi had acted to suppress the coup, his father would have understood and supported him.
As for the rest of the clan?With Fugaku and Itachi — two Mangekyō Sharingan users — the rest wouldn't even be a challenge.
Instead, Itachi chose an incomprehensible endgame:Make a deal with Danzo, spare Sasuke, and slaughter the entire clan.
Even if — even if — open conflict broke out, how much damage would actually spill over to civilians?How many would die?
They claimed it was "for the sake of the village," but wiped out a clan that had served it for decades.
This was a clan that had helped the Senju found Konoha.They had driven out the flamboyant Uchiha Madara for the village's sake.On the night of the Nine-Tails attack, they had been ready to fight, but were ordered to stand down — then were pushed to the village's edge and branded with false charges.
And now, simply for asking for equality, they were exterminated by their own.
No matter how many times Haruto replayed this in his mind, the logic seemed insane.
It wasn't as if every Uchiha was some villain.Fugaku, Mikoto, Izumi, and others who chose to live as ordinary civilians — they were kind people, just not the brightest politically.
Fugaku in particular had admired Hiruzen's father, Sarutobi Sasuke, so much that he named his own younger son after him — hoping Sasuke would grow up to be a strong and noble shinobi like the man he revered.
Sigh…
Thinking of the clan's tragic history, Haruto couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.At the very least, in this timeline, he intended to straighten out Itachi's worldview.If that failed… well, there was always the Personality Adjustment Fist.
"I hope you can forget everything we've discussed here," Hiruzen's voice pulled Haruto back to the present.
"If others were to learn of this, it could cause serious trouble for you, so…"He trailed off, shaking his head with a weary sigh."I'll carry the burden for what happened today."
Haruto: "???"