No one didn't want to fly.
But without wings, all one could do was flap around on the ground.
If one wanted to build a vertically managed large-scale army, then it had to be supported by a sufficiently developed social foundation. One needed broad basic education to cultivate a large number of capable people, and from among them select qualified commanders.
Otherwise, even if one greatly improved technical standards, popularized communication ability to every squad, and let every squad leader connect directly to the supreme commander at any time—completely flattening the military structure—it still wouldn't be possible to organize a true large corps.
In the Fourth Great Ninja War, after gathering the power and technology accumulated through more than ten years of peaceful development, the Allied Shinobi Forces assembled eighty thousand elite shinobi.
And yet the war they fought was a terrible one.
Eighty thousand organized elite shinobi, facing one hundred thousand White Zetsu who had no organization at all and were basically equivalent to beasts, still got beaten into a miserable state. In the end, they relied entirely on the savior and a few top-tier shinobi to carry the battlefield.
That war had been rotten on both sides.
The command had been so clumsy it made one's teeth hurt. In essence, it had been fought at the level of primitive tribal conflict.
If those hundred thousand White Zetsu had been handed to any ordinary college student from the rabbit family to command, the Allied Shinobi Forces would have collapsed completely. No matter how strong the Five Kage and the savior were, they were still only a handful of people. Even with a few hundred elite jonin added in, there was no way they could have encircled a hundred thousand White Zetsu across the vast ninja world.
After all, those were White Zetsu.
They needed no food, no drink, no toilets, no logistics. They didn't need roads for covert mobility. Even the simplest guerrilla tactics would have been enough to drag the Allied Shinobi Forces into collapse.
Drag the shinobi alliance down until it was exhausted and broken, then calmly push forward with the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan to destroy the world. Naturally, that would have been enough to… be casually slapped flat by the Sage of Six Paths.
Maybe failure had been inevitable anyway.
But at the very least, it could have forced the mastermind behind the scenes out into the open. For a chess piece, that would already have counted as great success.
And yet Obito had thrown away such excellent troops in one brainless all-in, without any real command at all.
One could only say that calling him "the foolish second son" really wasn't slander.
A mercenary-style war structure wasn't all that great, but it gave Uchiha Yoru a very high degree of freedom, along with endless chances to slack off and cut corners.
As a bare-pole chunin captain of a one-man ninja squad, he wasn't a direct subordinate of any particular higher-up. No one would ever think of specifically assigning him a mission.
So long as he didn't take the initiative to claim work, and didn't leave the Konoha encampment, he could safely coast through the war.
Uchiha Yoru's lazy, shameless style stood in such complete contrast to a shinobi's professional spirit that even Miwa Masayo couldn't stand watching it anymore.
She finally opened her mouth and asked, "The war is about to begin, and you're really planning not to take any mission at all and just hide in camp doing nothing, nya?"
But Uchiha Yoru shot back, "Take a mission? Take my foot."
"As the commander, Orochimaru doesn't announce his overall tactical intentions to us at all. The missions he releases don't tell us what strategic purpose they actually serve. So how exactly am I supposed to take one?"
"I'm not interested in grabbing some cannon fodder assignment and then getting surrounded by a Kirigakure army for no reason, only to die in the Land of Hot Water without even understanding why."
"It's better to wait until the situation becomes clear and I can make a basic judgment before I go pick up a mission."
"That actually makes sense, nya." Miwa Masayo asked again, "Then why doesn't Orochimaru explain his tactical intentions to you all, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru answered helplessly, "For the same reason as before. It isn't that Orochimaru doesn't want to explain—it's that he can't."
"He can't even directly command the entire shinobi army. Explaining strategic intent to the Konoha forces is an even more advanced operation, so naturally it's even less possible."
"I don't get it, nya. Explaining is just making things clear with words, isn't it? Is that really so hard, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru thought for a moment, then said, "Let me give you an example. Suppose there's a mission to seize a forest. A commander only needs to point at it and say: charge in and kill every enemy."
"But if he wants to explain it, then he has to say something like this: the enemy has occupied that forest, it blocks the army's route of advance, and only by seizing it can we guarantee the passage of such-and-such unit and secure the rear supply line. This concerns the survival of the entire army, so everyone must give their lives to seize and hold this vital point immediately."
Hearing that long-winded speech alone made Miwa Masayo's head hurt.
"I get it now, nya. Explaining is a pain."
Uchiha Yoru nodded in agreement.
"The long speech from the person doing the explaining is still manageable. Among so many people, you can always find a few who speak well. But the real trouble lies with the vast number of shinobi receiving the explanation."
"Some people will misunderstand. Some idiots won't understand at all. In the end, the explanation might just stir up dissatisfaction, or even throw the whole army into chaos."
"Most of the time, it isn't that the commander can't think of better things. It's that he lacks the ability to actually implement them."
Uchiha Yoru walked quickly, and before long arrived in front of several large supply tents. Just around them was the quiet corner he had taken a liking to.
Those supply tents were tall, and very few people came here, so they naturally cut off a near-deserted patch of space.
But as soon as Uchiha Yoru turned the corner, he discovered there were already people there.
And they were all familiar people.
Because the group was standing in orderly formation, Uchiha Yoru located the one leading them without any effort and called out in surprise, "Shigenobu, Ayumi, Hiroto, Kazushi, Tadamichi—you're all here in the Land of Hot Water too?"
Everyone turned to look at him.
The expressions on their faces passed through surprise in an instant, then turned into delight. It could be said that every last one of them lit up with joy.
But no one shouted noisily.
They even straightened their formation slightly, then in one neat voice greeted him:
"Greetings, President!"
Uchiha Yoru immediately waved his hand.
"Keep it down! And outside the clan, don't call me President."
"Yes!"
The reply was firm, but deliberately quiet. Because the volume was low enough to avoid resonance, the sound came out with a strange little echo instead. Everyone heard it, froze for a second, then looked at each other and burst into laughter.
Uchiha Yoru laughed too.
He could clearly feel the change in these academy juniors from the study group.
After only a little more than a month apart, their attitude toward him had shifted from reluctant submission mixed with resentment into something like respect, closeness, and dependence.
[Many thanks, Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku, and all the honored elders. You truly completed the final step I needed.]
The reason Uchiha Yoru had gone to so much trouble to establish a study group inside the clan, spreading the precious knowledge he had gathered, wasn't because he was selfless.
What he wanted was these members' loyalty.
But people's hearts were strange things.
You couldn't just keep being good to them all the time.
The principle behind a liter of rice breeds gratitude, a bushel breeds hatred was something Uchiha Yoru understood perfectly.
In his previous life, he had even experienced it personally.
That kind of feeling—pouring in huge amounts of time, effort, and money, only to end up creating an enemy—was enough to suffocate a person.
But at the same time, he couldn't personally play the villain and let the juniors directly feel hurt from him. That would wipe away all their favorable feelings in one stroke, turning all his hard work over the past month into nothing.
What he needed was for someone else—or a group of someones—to make life difficult for the study group's genin.
Once those genin, after briefly tasting happiness, were made to feel the cruelty of the world again, the results would follow naturally.
Under pressure from an outside threat, these genin—already disciplined and beginning to develop a small-team mentality—would automatically huddle together for warmth.
The stronger the external threat, the tougher the study group would become. In the end, they would be tempered into the strongest small organization in the shinobi world.
These originally hopeless genin had, through opening their Sharingan, finally seen a distant and glorious future—only to have hope taken away from them once more. And nothing carved itself deeper into the heart than losing something after obtaining it.
They would deeply hate the clan leadership.
They would also develop extreme hatred toward the Third Hokage.
And they would long for Uchiha Yoru, the one who had given them hope.
In the end, the study group would become a powerful organization, all its members tightly united around Uchiha Yoru, becoming the sharpest blade in his hand.
Of course, in a world of superhuman power, expecting that blade to conquer the world was unrealistic. The juniors' talent and foundations really weren't top-tier.
But within the Uchiha clan, it would absolutely be unmatched.
And within Konoha, it would still be enough to cut through anything in its path.
That was why, when Uchiha Yoru had received the Third Hokage's summons, he had known at once that this was the opportunity he needed. So he had gone with the flow, left Konoha, and run off to enjoy himself in the Land of Hot Water.
The first few days after arriving had been a little busy.
He had killed over a dozen Root shinobi and written a five-thousand-word report.
But after that, the days spent stationed and patrolling the island had been extremely comfortable.
No need to worry about the juniors' learning progress anymore.
No need to think about how to play mind games with the clan head and elders.
And no need to remotely outwit the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzo anymore.
Even his hair had stopped falling out.
If Kirigakure hadn't suddenly become serious for real, Uchiha Yoru wouldn't have come back at all.
After a quick count of heads, Uchiha Yoru realized the situation was even more serious than he had expected.
When he left, the study group had one hundred forty-five members.
Standing in front of him now were exactly one hundred.
He shook his head again and again and sighed, "So most of the members are here. Our Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group really got wiped out in one sweep, huh?"
Uchiha Shigenobu gave a bitter smile and answered, "President—no, Yoru-brother—we really did get swept clean. We're the main batch. Another group was sent to the Land of Rain. The only ones who didn't leave were Shisui, Seto, Tomono, and a few others."
Uchiha Yoru smiled in a way that was hard to read, and thought to himself:
[As expected. The elders could only protect their own children. They simply didn't have the ability to resist being pushed around by the clan head.]
As it turned out, during the month after Uchiha Yoru left, Uchiha Yuichiro and Uchiha Ryunosuke had done a very good job protecting the study group.
To ease tensions with the other elders and the clan head, after discussing things with old man Nobutada, the two elders had allowed a large number of high-level and main-line descendants to join.
At heart, the shinobi world was a place that revered good blood.
Those upper-level children really were naturally gifted. Even without the various little tricks and cheats Uchiha Yoru had used, they still quickly mastered physical training, standing-post methods, medicinal diet formulas, and the rest, and almost one after another awakened their Sharingan.
During that period, the entire Uchiha clan had been flourishing.
The interests of the upper and lower levels aligned, everyone rejoiced, and the atmosphere was so good it could hardly have been better.
But that had also been the last happy stretch of time.
No one had realized just how much stimulation a large-scale awakening of Sharingan within the Uchiha clan would bring to the ruling group headed by the Third Hokage.
Ever since Shimura Danzo returned from the Land of Wind, he had acted under the Third Hokage's orders and gone all out strengthening intelligence penetration into the Uchiha clan.
A mass opening of Sharingan naturally could not escape Danzo's eyes.
And once he learned the exact number, Shimura Danzo's face went green on the spot.
After receiving the intelligence, the Third Hokage's expression had become terrifyingly dark as well.
Shimura Danzo said hatefully, "We really underestimated that shinobi named Uchiha Yoru. Not only did he kill fifteen of my men, he also buried this huge mine inside the Uchiha clan."
"I'll choose elite shinobi immediately. This time I'll definitely kill him in the Land of Hot Water and never let him return to Konoha!"
The Third Hokage glared at Shimura Danzo fiercely.
"Uchiha Yoru is a Konoha shinobi. As a high-ranking official of Konoha, how can you speak of laying hands on a Konoha shinobi?"
"No second time!"
"Hiruzen! That's an Uchiha who awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan at eighteen! And he killed fifteen of my subordinates! That kind of strength is absolutely abnormal!"
Homura Mitokado asked, "One person killed fifteen Root shinobi? Danzo, what level were the men you sent?"
The Third Hokage raised a hand to stop Danzo from answering and said, "It wasn't that Uchiha Yoru was too strong. It was that the people Danzo sent had a problem."
He looked at Danzo and said slowly, "Orochimaru sent me a detailed report. The two special shinobi you sent had an accident in the field, causing the Root shinobi to slaughter each other. That's how the result of fifteen kills came about."
The moment Homura heard the phrase special shinobi, he understood what kind of thing this was about. He shook his head and sighed.
"Even if Uchiha Yoru had the three-tomoe Sharingan, four squads would have been enough to kill him. In the end, those two unstable shinobi really were unnecessary."
The Third Hokage fixed his eyes on Shimura Danzo, while lightly criticizing Homura as well.
"Homura, you're one of Konoha's senior figures too. Don't learn from Danzo. It's not good to speak so casually about killing a Konoha shinobi."
Homura Mitokado immediately nodded.
"My apologies. It won't happen again."
The Third Hokage nodded and continued, "Danzo, this incident proves that the old Warring States-era death-shinobi should have been phased out long ago. From this point on, I forbid you from using such cruel training methods. Do you understand?"
Shimura Danzo answered gloomily, "I understand, Hiruzen. I'll stop immediately."
Danzo was filled with bitterness, and even began resenting Orochimaru.
But when he thought about the bastard's ongoing plan to update Root training methods, he could only swallow that anger back down.
The Third Hokage nodded in satisfaction.
At just that moment, the tobacco in his pipe had gone out. He tapped the ash into the ashtray, then unhurriedly packed fresh tobacco into it.
With his gaze lowered to the bowl of the pipe, he slowly said, "Uchiha Yoru has been gone for a month, yet the pace of Sharingan awakenings in the Uchiha clan is only getting faster. That proves he is no longer the key issue."
"Even if he once was, he isn't now."
"The problem now is how we should deal with the hundred-plus new Sharingan in the Uchiha clan, and how to interrupt this growth trend."
The Third Hokage finished packing the tobacco.
As the so-called Professor of Ninjutsu, he of course didn't need any fire-starting tool. He put the pipe between his lips and took a light pull, and it ignited immediately.
Only after carefully savoring the fragrance of the tobacco did he slowly exhale smoke and continue, "You must understand—within the district where the Uchiha clan lives, quite a few villagers without the Uchiha surname also carry Uchiha blood. They originally already had a very small chance of awakening the Sharingan."
"If this awakening trend spreads to them as well… then the situation will become impossible to handle."
Koharu Utatane nodded and said, "Hiruzen is right. If there are too many Sharingan, the Uchiha clan's ambitions will become impossible to suppress. In the end, we can't just slaughter the entire Uchiha clan."
Shimura Danzo sneered. "Why can't we slaughter the Uchiha? Our teacher once said, 'The Uchiha bloodline is evil itself.' Only extermination can solve the problem at its root once and for all."
"Shimura Danzo—"
The Third Hokage dragged out his voice, clearly already annoyed by Danzo's stubborn little performance.
Everyone sitting here was an old classmate and a fellow traveler. There was no need for that kind of performance anymore.
But as the Third Hokage, his public image could not crack.
"You are not allowed to keep shouting about killing Konoha shinobi. Have you already forgotten what I said?"
"If I hear this kind of thing from you again, I really will punish you. This time it really won't happen again!"
"Hmph."
And so, the little act between Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen came to an end, and the discussion continued.
The Konoha F4 racked their brains, trying to figure out how to stop the Uchiha clan from continuing to awaken Sharingan so frantically.
But the Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group was absolutely an internal clan matter.
The Hokage's authority might be enormous, but directly interfering in the internal affairs of the Uchiha clan would absolutely make every ninja clan in Konoha explode.
Not only the Hyuga and the Uchiha—even the Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, and Aburame would feel deeply uneasy.
Even the Turncoat, Shimura, Mitokado, and Sarutobi clans—those four groups who were unquestionably on the Hokage's side—would also feel dissatisfied.
Since direct interference was impossible, then how could one change the internal affairs of the Uchiha clan?
Shimura Danzo was ruthless and decisive.
Homura Mitokado was steady and dignified.
Koharu Utatane was meticulous and careful.
But why hadn't any of them become Hokage?
Was it really because of the split-second decision back then?
The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, had been what kind of man?
A political master that thorough and calculating—would he really have chosen his final successor because of one sudden judgment in a single moment?
Of course not.
Senju Tobirama had long since decided on Sarutobi Hiruzen.
That so-called moral test during the rear-guard moment had only been tailor-made for Sarutobi Hiruzen, to clear the final obstacle on his road to becoming Hokage.
The difference between Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other three of the F4 was simple.
He was the only one with the sharpest mind, the best ability to solve problems, and the patience to cultivate new people while winning hearts.
So only after the other three had already wrung their brains dry and sat there frowning helplessly did the Third Hokage leisurely open his mouth and say, "I have a way to solve this problem."
Under the delighted gaze of his three old classmates, the Third Hokage smiled and said, "We'll issue another conscription order to the Uchiha clan. This time we won't specify exact names, but I want two hundred and forty genin. Only genin."
He swept his gaze across all three of them and asked, "Tell me—what sort of names do you think Uchiha Fugaku will write onto that order?"
Unfortunately, the other three were still mentally muddled and no one picked up the cue, so the Third Hokage could only answer himself.
"He can only choose those genin who have just awakened their Sharingan. Those with no background in the Uchiha clan. Those with no relationships."
"In that case, the problem solves itself."
"Ah?" x3
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