A Sage's Pursuit of Power

Aoba propped up the corpse to prevent the sound of it hitting the ground from alerting others.

He then addressed the woman on the floor.

"I'm sorry your daughter had to see this. Now, I'll ask you one thing: do you want to leave here?"

A glimmer of hope flashed in the little girl's eyes, but the woman on the ground cautiously held her close, her gaze revealing obvious wariness.

The woman and her daughter before him were survivors of the Uzumaki clan—Karin and her mother.

In the original storyline, Karin appeared after her mother had died. However, Aoba had arrived a few years earlier, so her mother was still alive.

But after being constantly beaten and tortured by the Grass ninjas, her body was severely damaged and on the verge of collapse.

Even so, despite Aoba just having killed the Grass ninjas who had abused her, she still didn't show much trust.

This, of course, was Konoha's fault.

To be honest, Konoha has far too many issues; most of the disasters in the ninja world stem from Konoha, with about 70-80% of them having their roots there.

Consider that Nagato, who later nuked Konoha, was also an Uzumaki survivor and a disciple of Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Sannin.

Karin and her mother were also remnants of the Uzumaki clan.

The Uzumaki clan was once one of the most powerful clans, on par with the Uchiha and Senju clans.

Members of the Uzumaki clan had various powerful abilities. For example, the Uzumaki physique was generally exceptionally strong, often surpassing even the Senju clan.

That's right; aside from Hashirama Senju, who had the natural Sage Body, the Senju clan overall couldn't match the Uzumaki clan.

The vitality of the Uzumaki clan was incredibly robust. They often had special physiques like Karin and her mother's.

If injured, they could recover quickly. A bite would drain their vitality, which could then rapidly heal others' wounds.

This kind of physique was almost a weakened version of the Sage Body and was much more numerous compared to Hashirama's unique trait.

Furthermore, the Uzumaki clan had one of the highest chakra reserves in the ninja world. Even without the Nine-Tails, someone like Naruto Uzumaki wouldn't have to worry about a lack of chakra.

Moreover, their clan excelled in sealing techniques and had the potential to awaken the powerful Kagura Shingan, which was comparable to the Byakugan in sensory ability and could even detect others' malice.

Their combined attributes made them the strongest clan in the ninja world.

Yet, such a powerful clan was wiped out in a single night.

It was understandable that the Uzumaki clan was envied due to their natural advantages.

In fact, the Uzumaki clan had anticipated such a day.

They were allied with the Senju clan and Konoha. Hashirama's wife was from the Uzumaki clan.

They had thought that allying with the strongest ninja village in the world would be enough to ensure their safety. However, when the enemies attacked, Konoha merely watched from the sidelines...

In his previous life, he had read many explanations about the downfall of the Uzumaki clan. Some even suggested that the clan's system, combining the village and the clan, posed a threat to other ninja villages.

But frankly, he dismissed all those explanations as nonsense. The real answer, in the context of the Naruto world, was simply that Konoha's leadership was utterly clueless.

To put it bluntly, the leadership of Konoha, from the First Hokage onwards, was completely incompetent.

The First Hokage was a good person, an idealist, but not a good leader.

Honestly, if Madara Uchiha had become Hokage instead, the world would not have had so many problems later on.

Although Madara was deceived by Black Zetsu later on, that was only due to his limited information.

At the beginning, if Madara had become Hokage, he would have continued the wars and, alongside Hashirama, conquered the entire ninja world for complete unification. The Susanoo and the Great Buddha, with their combined strength, could indeed have destroyed the Four Nations. They had that capability.

Afterwards, the Uzumaki, Otsutsuki, and other bloodline clans would have been under their control. With effective integration of these resources, it wouldn't take many generations for the entire ninja world to thrive.

But that didn't happen. Hashirama, out of compassion, decided to end the wars. This decision, though understandable, was incredibly naïve.

Since his death, wars have never ceased.

His successor, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was a genius in the study of forbidden techniques and ninjutsu, but also an idiot in leadership.

For instance, for a Hokage to openly declare that the Uchiha clan is an evil clan—even if it's true—was a disastrous move. Even if true, a Hokage shouldn't make such statements publicly.

Whether the Uchiha clan was evil or not was irrelevant. They were a crucial fighting force for Konoha, always at the forefront in battle.

As a result, his words directly severed the strongest clan from Konoha's mainstream and significantly impacted his successors.

This is quite interesting. After the Second Hokage made these remarks, he probably regretted it. He may have genuinely thought this way but knew he shouldn't have said it.

Thus, he took Kagami Uchiha as his disciple to ease the relations with the Uchiha clan.

This was quite a good move. It meant that there were still Uchiha within Konoha's inner circle.

In time, Kagami's successor would naturally become the Uchiha clan leader again, and the clan would smoothly reintegrate into Konoha's core.

His disciples, regardless of who succeeded him as Hokage, would be peers with the Uchiha clan leader, ensuring unity.

Unfortunately, Kagami later died, and the Second Hokage didn't have the chance to select another Uchiha disciple before he passed away.

In reality, the death of Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, was also highly irrational. But Aoba couldn't say much because he was acting on his and his brother's principles.

At that moment, he was upholding the true Will of Fire.

The situation at the time called for his sacrifice to protect the younger generation. This was the genuine Will of Fire Konoha had upheld for a long time.

The fallen leaves burning on high, turning to ash and nourishing the roots, allowed the tree to grow taller. This was the philosophy that he and his elder brother, Hashirama, proposed and practiced.

Thus, despite Aoba's low opinion of his leadership, he still considered them both qualified Hokages.

But the Third Hokage...