Great Power
Where there is light, there must be darkness. Without both sides, the world cannot function normally.
This has always been the belief of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
It is also the reason why Danzo made mistakes time and again.
Especially on the night of the Kyuubi attack.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Uzumaki Kushina, along with countless others in the village, sacrificed their lives.
This forced Sarutobi to agree to the human experiments proposed by Danzo.
Transplanting the cells of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, into ordinary people in order to obtain the Wood Release technique and suppress the Tailed Beasts.
Even though he had optimistic thoughts at first, Sarutobi Hiruzen was well aware deep down.
Conducting such human experiments would inevitably lead to numerous sacrifices.
In other words, when faced with the village's interests versus human lives, the balance in Sarutobi's heart ultimately tilted.
At that moment, his heart darkened.
However, things did not go as planned. Every test subject in the experiment failed, unable to withstand Hashirama's cells.
Not only did Konoha fail to regain control of Wood Release, but all the test subjects perished.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had made up his mind, wavered and chose to abandon the experiment.
But...
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo were not just childhood friends; they were the light and shadow of Konoha.
He knew very well that even if he gave up out of compassion, Danzo would continue experimenting until he succeeded in obtaining Wood Release.
As expected, Danzo and Orochimaru collaborated. They kidnapped a child from a nearby village and successfully created Yamato, who could use Wood Release.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen first saw Yamato, he verbally condemned Danzo's actions, but deep down, he was pleased.
The village had regained Wood Release.
They now had the power to suppress the Kyuubi.
This undoubtedly aided Naruto's growth and stabilized the village.
Most importantly, Sarutobi used this opportunity to take Yamato into his own Anbu unit, keeping him away from Danzo's influence.
He wanted Yamato to inherit the Will of Fire.
To cherish his comrades and protect the village.
This further convinced Sarutobi Hiruzen of his own ideology.
Where there is light, there must be darkness. Without both sides, the world cannot function normally.
To obtain the First Hokage's Wood Release, he did not hesitate to stain his hands with blood and darken his heart. He allowed Danzo to continue his brutal experiments. In the end, from the land of Konoha, the strongest towering tree grew.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock as he stared at Xu Fan.
If Xu Fan had shown his Wood Release from the beginning, why would he and Danzo have needed to conduct those human experiments?
Xu Fan himself was the true successor to Hashirama Senju.
The God of Shinobi in the new era!
Gulp.
Sarutobi Hiruzen swallowed nervously.
And it wasn't just him.
As disciples of the Second Hokage, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were equally stunned, filled with expectations for Xu Fan's future.
Their thoughts were even darker than Sarutobi's.
Xu Fan's Wood Release alone was enough to make them stand by his side.
It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that if they had to choose between the Hyuga main family and Xu Fan, they would pick the latter without hesitation.
Even if the entire main family perished, the branch family could be rebuilt. After all, children born under the Caged Bird seal would still possess perfect Byakugan.
Thus, even if Xu Fan was aggressive toward the Hyuga main family, the two elders would not intervene.
They exchanged glances and chose to remain silent, showing no intention of interfering.
"What... what do you want to do?"
At this moment, the elder of the Hyuga clan could no longer remain silent. Several minutes had passed since Xu Fan sealed away the Hyuga clan members.
Yet, the top officials of Konoha, far from stopping him, hadn't even spoken a word in protest.
This was clear approval of his actions.
"I will not allow him to die!"
Xu Fan's voice was loud and resolute, directed not just at the Hyuga clan but also at the Konoha leadership behind him.
But one thing surprised him.
He had expected that after taking such actions, the Third Hokage would stand with the Hyuga clan.
Yet, Hiruzen remained silent.
Even now, after he had once again emphasized saving Hizashi Hyuga's life, the Konoha leadership merely observed, without saying a word.
Could it be…
That Konoha's leadership actually had another way to resolve the conflict beyond sacrificing Hizashi?
Was their true intention not just about handing over a body, but rather to suppress the Hyuga clan?
Could it be that from the beginning, Konoha's upper echelon had never truly planned to take lives, or if they had, it was only selectively?
Their real goal might have been to use this incident to put the Hyuga clan in its place, to show them how powerless they would be without Konoha's support.
On the surface, they had handed over Hizashi's corpse, but in reality, it was an act of submission to Konoha's higher-ups.
But ultimately, this was just Xu Fan's speculation.
At present, Hizashi's life and death didn't seem to hold much weight in the eyes of Konoha's leadership, leading Xu Fan to these thoughts.
Regardless of the truth, resolving this incident would not be easy.
The Hyuga elder looked at Xu Fan, then at the silent Konoha officials standing nearby.
Hiss...
After careful consideration, the Hyuga elder sighed deeply and spoke in a somber tone, "Whether main family or branch family, we are all members of the Hyuga clan."
"What we did was to protect the secrets of the Hyuga clan and to maintain stability in the village. We had no choice but to compromise with the Hidden Cloud."
"I watched Hizashi grow up; do you think I wanted him to die?"
"Everything was for the village!"
He spoke with conviction, as if his actions were truly righteous.
But his words only made Xu Fan laugh.
If he hadn't seen Naruto's story, he might have been fooled.
But in reality, to these main family members, the branch family were nothing more than tools.
If they truly saw the branch members as equals, if their choices were truly out of helplessness, why hide the truth from Neji for so many years?
Even the Third Hokage's handling of the situation felt flawed to Xu Fan.
A regime that maintains peace by betraying its own people—was this really the Will of Fire?
They spoke beautifully of protecting the village, of making difficult compromises.
But to put it bluntly, it was weakness.
Back in his previous life, the bravest among them had always protected the people of China!
That was what a great nation stood for!
"Hyuga clan, listen to me carefully."
"We love peace, but if we must struggle to achieve it, we will fight."
"If you seek peace through compromise, you will only find death!"