"Mm, mm, I know. Go on."
"Please get to the point. There's no need to repeat all this tired old stuff."
Haru dug at his ear with one finger. Listening to words like that once was enough for him. In all of Konoha, probably only idealists like the First Hokage would genuinely believe them.
The Tobirama standing in front of him was a black-hearted old schemer. Hearing those words come from his mouth had no persuasive power at all, especially when Haru himself was an Uchiha, one of the very people Tobirama looked down on.
What an irritating brat!
Seeing Haru's indifferent attitude, Tobirama felt his anger starting to slip out of control again.
"Brat, this is important!"
Tobirama spoke in a harsh tone, his expression serious. Haru restrained his own expression slightly, and Tobirama continued.
"Konoha does not belong to one person, nor does it belong to one clan. It belongs to all of Konoha."
"And the Senju clan has already produced two Hokage."
"Within the clan, people had already started saying that the Senju were Konoha itself. While my elder brother and I were still alive, we could suppress the clan's ambition. But now my elder brother is dead, and when I too have died, if the position of Third Hokage were still passed to the Senju clan, then who would be able to suppress that force?"
"Toma does indeed have the ability and qualifications to become Hokage, but unfortunately, his surname is Senju."
Tobirama spoke his reasoning calmly and expressionlessly.
Impressive.
Haru immediately looked at Tobirama in a different light.
In ancient times, once a dynasty lasted three generations, it basically developed its own inertia. As long as a truly godlike fool of a ruler did not appear, that dynasty could usually continue for another hundred years or more.
The position of Hokage was much the same.
If Tobirama had really passed the title of Hokage to Senju Toma, then the Hokage of the next several generations likely would all have borne the Senju name.
Ruthless.
For Konoha's sake, he could even calculate against his own clan and forcibly cut off the Senju clan's chance to dominate Konoha for years, decades even.
"Well said!"
"Tobirama-sama truly is impartial and selfless!"
"But you still haven't fully answered my question. Why did it have to be Hiruzen Sarutobi?"
Haru's gaze sharpened as he looked at Tobirama. That little explanation was not enough to brush him off.
"Why wouldn't Uchiha Kagami work?"
"If you could choose Hiruzen Sarutobi to become Hokage, then in what way was Uchiha Kagami inferior to him?"
"Taking into account personal strength, clan backing, character, and willpower, no matter how you look at it, Uchiha Kagami was more suitable to become Hokage."
"The Uchiha were also one of Konoha's founders. The Senju already produced two generations of Hokage, so no matter how you look at it, it should have been the Uchiha's turn by now."
Haru's questioning struck like hammer blows, leaving Tobirama momentarily speechless.
So Tobirama, you were fair and selfless, were you?
You calculated everything so perfectly. The Senju clan had already produced two Hokage, but the Uchiha clan was still sitting there waiting for even a bite of meat.
You really never saw the Uchiha as people at all.
Once you'd eaten your fill, you wanted to smash the pot?
Tobirama could not answer. What he had just said sounded too noble, too grand, but the Uchiha were the obstacle he simply could not get around.
Uchiha Kagami really did have the qualifications to become Hokage. His strength and character were both first-rate.
But he was an Uchiha.
And an Uchiha simply could not be allowed to become Hokage. Tobirama knew too well what the Uchiha clan was like. Every single one of them was a latent madman, a potential lunatic.
Even while alive, he had already made one mistake and overlooked someone like Haru.
If he had chosen Uchiha Kagami as the Third Hokage, then what if Kagami awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and turned into a madman too?
A mad Hokage leading a clan full of mad Uchiha was a danger Tobirama would absolutely never place Konoha in.
Even if things had already ended up like that now, this was not a situation he had predicted. Tobirama would never personally create such a dangerous state.
Even if there were only the slightest possibility, he still would not choose it.
"Can't say it out loud now?"
"Tobirama-sama, then let me say it for you."
"You never regarded the Uchiha as comrades, did you? You were always just using the Uchiha's strength, trying to turn them into Konoha's watchdogs."
"And to keep the Uchiha obediently playing the dog, you dressed it up nicely and handed the Police Force to them. But that was just a dog chain, nothing more!"
Haru did not spare Tobirama any face at all. He spoke his true thoughts directly.
The Uchiha Police Force held broad authority. At the top end, it could arrest spies. At the bottom end, it handled Konoha's daily patrol work, and it even had armed units independent of the Anbu.
But Tobirama was clearly no saint.
He understood the Uchiha too well. In the game of political power struggles, the Uchiha were not even as capable as the Hyuga.
Under his suppression and deliberate guidance, the Uchiha had gradually come to think of themselves as Konoha's police. Every day, they dealt with trivial thefts and petty disturbances, and even had to play the role of urban enforcers on the side.
Making the Uchiha serve as police and municipal enforcers?
Anyone who understood what police work involved knew perfectly well that it was no easy job. Tiny, trivial, exhausting tasks would grind at the Uchiha every single day.
The Uchiha were born warriors. Every one of them was proud to the bone. They were born to laugh wildly in battle.
The spirit of smiling warmly while serving ordinary villagers could never exist in them.
You expected proud Uchiha to put on pleasant smiles for normal villagers?
That was a joke.
In practice, the Uchiha enforced the law roughly. Every day, they showed villagers cold expressions, and sometimes even used genjutsu directly to solve cases. That was absolutely forbidden in Konoha. Konoha ninja were not allowed to use ninjutsu on villagers.
But that sort of prohibition clearly meant nothing to the Uchiha. If a villager dared object and report upward, the response was simple. The villager would be taken straight to the Police Force for a little chat.
Originally, the Uchiha had already lacked an advantage on the stage of political power, never truly entering the core of authority. Over time, they even lost the support of the lowest level of the populace.
The only reason things held together at present was that it was still wartime. The Uchiha had shed blood for Konoha and sacrificed many clan members. Konoha's villagers still depended on Uchiha strength to protect them.
But once peacetime came, the hounds would be cooked once the rabbits were gone, and the fine bow would be put away once the birds were all shot down. Villagers were very forgetful. Before long, they would forget how much blood the Uchiha had shed and how many of their people had died protecting them.
The same crowd that would later insult and abuse Naruto would also be the same crowd to praise him as Konoha's hero.
All of that accumulated resentment and hatred would slowly turn back against the Uchiha.
Even worse, in Konoha's future, the real middle pillar would be civilian ninja. The powerful bloodline clans would fade away like passing smoke, while those civilian ninja would come from the descendants of the very villagers who had been on the receiving end of Uchiha rough enforcement all these years.
At the upper and lower levels of Konoha alike, the Uchiha had managed to offend everyone.
And after that, they still wanted to produce a Hokage from their clan?
Dream on.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]