A Sage's Pursuit of Power

At first, Sasuke didn't understand what the murderer of the Fourth Hokage had to do with Naruto. After a few seconds, the realization hit him.

"Aoba-sensei, are you saying that Naruto…?"

"That's right. Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son. Surprising, isn't it?"

"But… how is that possible? If he really is the Fourth Hokage's son, why does the village hate him so much? Why didn't the village protect him?"

"…"

The room fell silent. Neither Tsunade, Shikaku, nor Kakashi had any answer to that question.

Tsunade opened her mouth, intending to salvage some face for Konoha, but after thinking about it, she realized there was no saving face here. Resigned, she told the truth.

"This… this was a terrible decision by the previous leadership of Konoha. When Naruto was born, the Nine-Tails was sealed inside him.

At the time, Konoha had just suffered the Nine-Tails attack. The villagers were angry and needed a scapegoat, so…"

"So you shifted the blame onto a child who knew nothing?" Sasuke interrupted.

"…"

The office fell silent again. In her heart, Tsunade was ready to dig up the Third Hokage's grave. What do I do with this loaded question? Old man, can you come out and explain this mess?

"Fine. Let me amend my previous statement. This wasn't just a bad decision... It was a selfish, foolish, and downright idiotic decision."

At this point, Tsunade seemed to have given up entirely.

Her frankness left Sasuke unable to press further. Instead, he sat in sullen silence, stewing in his frustration. After all, seeing someone he cared about deeply being treated so unfairly naturally made him upset.

"Let me do it. Let me tell him the truth, it's something I should have done from the start."

The speaker was Kakashi. Among his biggest failures in the story was his neglect of Naruto during his childhood.

While this could be somewhat explained by Kakashi's duties as a jōnin and his busy mission schedule, it didn't absolve him entirely. During that time, Kakashi had been a cold, detached person.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you," Tsunade said. "To be honest, I don't want you to bear this kind of heavy hatred at your age. But the reality is, the world won't bend to our wishes.

The enemy has already declared war on us. Our only option is to fight back. Sasuke, Naruto, you both need to understand one thing.

I don't care what Konoha was in the past. Right now, I am the Hokage. Today's Konoha is your ally, your shield. Your enemies are Konoha's enemies. Your hatred is Konoha's hatred. Do you understand? Konoha stands with you."

Tsunade's words impressed Aoba. Obito's sudden appearance had given him an opportunity to break the web of grudges and misunderstandings surrounding Sasuke and Naruto.

While Tsunade had been forced into a passive position, she seized the moment to clarify everything in one go.

By declaring, as Hokage, that Konoha would stand as a pillar for Sasuke and Naruto's revenge, she turned a passive situation into an active declaration of support.

Her actions weren't particularly clever, but compared to the blunders of the Third Hokage and Danzo, they were leagues ahead.

As long as she didn't kill Naruto in front of Sasuke, or Sasuke in front of Naruto, the two would never betray Konoha.

In fact, Sasuke's original defection was already somewhat implausible.

Sasuke left because he saw no hope in the village. Why was there no hope? Aoba had felt, even when reading the original story, that Sasuke was incredibly isolated in the village.

No one cared about his hatred or his desire for revenge.

The Third Hokage had an implicit agreement with Itachi, so Konoha never truly pursued him.

When Tsunade became Hokage, the village was in disarray, and she had no time to address Sasuke's pain and hatred.

Sakura was preoccupied with her infatuation. Naruto was always shouting and running around.

And Sasuke? No one cared about what he wanted or perhaps they knew but deliberately ignored it.

This was ultimately the fault of the original author. After all, the entire Naruto story was filled with an air of forced forgiveness. As the main character, Naruto was written to forgive everyone, no matter what…

But Sasuke didn't want to forgive. He wanted revenge. He wanted power.

Kakashi understood this to some extent, giving Sasuke special training and teaching him the Chidori.

But that wasn't enough.

Everyone overlooked one crucial point: Sasuke needed support and not just in terms of power, but emotional support as well.

Everyone knew Sasuke bore a heavy grudge, but they all avoided discussing it. Even Kakashi, who taught Sasuke the Chidori, never brought it up.

They thought they were helping Sasuke by avoiding the topic, but they weren't. Sasuke wasn't ashamed of his hatred; he had openly declared his intent to kill Itachi multiple times.

In addition to power, Sasuke needed someone to say, "Go ahead and take your revenge. I'll stand by you."

Aoba had long believed that if, on the day Sasuke defected, someone had said those words to him, there was a 70–80% chance he would have stayed.

But no one did. Not one person.

Instead, everyone told him he was wrong to defect, that he shouldn't leave, that he had friends and comrades here.

No one considered that, to Sasuke, no friendship or camaraderie could outweigh the lives of his entire clan.

Throughout the entire story, even Naruto barely balanced against Sasuke's thirst for revenge in his mind.

Deep down, all Sasuke ever wanted from the village was one thing: for the village to support his revenge, to be his ally.

But that never happened. Not once.

So, when Orochimaru appeared, Sasuke chose to defect without hesitation. In the village, he saw no hope.

Aoba knew this was a deep psychological barrier for Sasuke. For someone as stubborn as him, it wouldn't be easy to overcome.

That's why Aoba used this opportunity to break through Sasuke's emotional wall. Tsunade followed through perfectly, solidifying Konoha's image in Sasuke's mind.

Winning over Sasuke also meant securing Naruto. Naruto's loyalty was unwavering and he could endure anything as long as Sasuke wasn't harmed.

Late into the night, Aoba finally finished dealing with everything and returned home. But as he entered his yard, he found a white snake waiting for him.

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Currently on Chapter 180 - The Great Upheaval in Kirigakure