Naruto: Awakening Eternal Power with My Eye Techniques

To everyone's surprise, Shiyu Uchiha continued, "The end of the First Great Ninja War wasn't because the villages had exhausted their war potential. Rather, it was because each village became politically unstable and unable to continue fighting after the deaths of the First and Second Hokage.

As each village's Third Kage eliminated political rivals and consolidated power, stability returned. Once they'd regained strength to its peak, the Second Ninja War began. That's why there was a long gap between the first and second wars.

But none of the Kage died during the Second Ninja War. Instead, the war made each village's government even more stable.

Since these Kage were roughly the same age, the next ten years would be their last window of peak capability. A brutal Ninja World War would prepare the way for their successors to assume the mantle of Kage.

I believe they've already prepared for possible death in battle—they've already begun cultivating their successors. The son of the Third Raikage from Cloud-nin is representative of this.

So what people call the end of the Second Ninja War and arrival of peace was nothing but a pause between acts of a long war. Honestly, who in their right mind would actually believe that? Perhaps our Hokage might indulge himself in the fading illusion of peace."

"Is that also the reason why the Third Hokage gave Hatake Sumao the Hokage's ceremonial half-robe?" Shizhi Uchiha voiced his confusion.

"I think it's merely coincidence. If not, wouldn't Hatake Sumao now be the leader of the jonin squads instead of serving as Anbu wearing that mask? I believe it's coincidental."

This wasn't Shiyu Uchiha making things up. During the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War, the Third Hokage had been unprepared. Otherwise, how could the enemy have pushed the fighting all the way into the Land of Fire? Clearly, he hadn't foreseen the war's outbreak at all. Afterward, Shiyu Uchiha returned to the backyard to continue training his sword techniques, leaving Shizhi Uchiha alone to slowly process everything.

Shizhi Uchiha fell into deep thought. Shiyu Uchiha's assessment of the Third Ninja War came many years earlier than he had imagined, completely beyond his expectations. Yet when analyzed carefully, his analysis indeed carried much logic and high possibility.

However, Shizhi Uchiha felt things probably weren't quite as severe as Shiyu Uchiha described. Given Leaf Village's current strength, even facing four enemies simultaneously, they still possessed the capability to fight. She couldn't even begin to fathom how devastating Leaf would become during the Third Ninja War under the combined attacks of those four.

Firstly, Hatake Sumao was actually driven to death by his own comrades. Without his deterrent presence, Sand-nin actually dared to launch a full-scale war. Otherwise, the conflict could have been postponed for several more years. Even if war had broken out, Sand wouldn't have dared attack Leaf first.

Secondly, Tsunade became incapacitated—her fear of blood left her unable to return to the battlefield, reducing her to being merely a mascot figure.

To make matters worse, despite being known as the 'Strongest Hokage,' the Third Hokage didn't dare leave the village, watching helplessly as younger generations—even recently graduated children—sacrificed themselves on the frontlines.

Ultimately, it was only through Konoha's strong foundation, a bit of luck, and the emergence of a rare genius like Minato Namikaze that the village managed to wear down the other ninja villages and bring the war to an end.

But with Konoha's abundance of talents, an entire generation was wiped out. Once hailed as the greatest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha was now reduced to just another ordinary village. It wasn't until Tsunade stepped up after Hiruzen Sarutobi's death that Konoha finally got a second chance at life. Unfortunately, this also led to the loss of Konoha's supreme commander during the Fourth Great Ninja War, simultaneously signaling that aside from the two "fated children," Konoha's overall strength had fallen behind that of Cloud-nin.

After learning about Uchiha Shizhi's meeting with Mito Uzumaki, Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to ask someone about it but ultimately held back due to reservations, letting it stay buried in his heart.

Even when visiting Mito Uzumaki, he was turned away under the excuse of her poor health. This showed how skillfully Shizhi Uchiha and his son managed their public image. Hiruzen knew this was because Mito harbored resentment over the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools. In response, he chose to have Tsunade deliver his greetings in his place.

Still, some discontent toward Mito started growing inside him, thinking she lacked awareness of the big picture. But whose big picture was this—Konoha's, or Hiruzen's personal one?

During this period, Konoha's Shinobi Forces remained vigilant along the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Whirlpools. Upon realizing that the Land of Water had no intention to continue war, high-ranking officials like Hiruzen Sarutobi lost courage for further conflict, although Konoha still possessed enough potential to initiate another major war at that time.

With the end of the war approaching, Shiyu Uchiha, who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy, found himself practically without missions. Wanting to better understand the enemy, Shiyu felt curious about Hiruzen's behavior before and after the Second Ninja War. Therefore, afterward, he gathered a lot of intel in secret and began analyzing it quietly, clearly sensing that Hiruzen must have been psychologically conflicted at that time.

Partly arrogant, Hiruzen believed himself already no less capable than his teacher Tobirama Senju. In his eyes, Tobirama's greatest achievement was winning the First Great Ninja War. What he hadn't realized was that Tobirama's true legacy was establishing the complete shinobi village system, which continued benefiting Konoha until today.

(From the author: If you don't like this commentary, feel free to skip.)

Did he never consider what exactly had enabled him to win this war? (It was Tobirama Senju's legacy—the backbone of Konoha's success in this war came from ninja trained in the Ninja Academy, along with the wife of the First Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki. She truly was an anchor stabilizing the situation. With her present, none of the great villages dared escalate the conflict further.)

And what immense cost had Konoha paid for this victory? (The Shinobi Forces suffered massive casualties requiring five to ten years to replenish. More than half of these losses were caused by those two individuals he once considered teammates. Yet instead of punishing them for negligence, he stayed far behind enemy lines commanding operations without personally taking charge on the battlefield to minimize damage. Was Konoha unable to operate smoothly without him at the helm?)

Eventually, they gained practically nothing—just an empty title of victory with minimal actual benefits. When negotiating peace, they didn't fight hard enough for sufficient gains, allowing the defeated side to recover easily and launch another war. In the end, the small benefits obtained weren't even enough to compensate for the village's losses—this is called victory?

How could Shiyu Uchiha possibly compare himself with Tobirama Senju? After all, you might despise Tobirama Senju's character, but you cannot disregard his political wisdom. Naturally, the two go hand in hand—politicians are even darker than capitalists. While Hiruzen Sarutobi and others learned Tobirama's ruthlessness, they failed to grasp his intelligence.

At the same time, three out of four developed a deep-seated fear of war within themselves. With such an overwhelming advantage and almost no consequences, when Cloud-nin and Iwa-nin were locked in battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi merely watched them fight, waiting for both sides to weaken each other. Wasn't this just wishful thinking?

If Hiruzen had seized the opportunity to strike or negotiate with either Iwa-nin or Cloud-nin, taking advantage of their conflict to severely damage one side, at least it would have ensured that faction couldn't recover for ten to twenty years, leaving them no choice but to serve Konoha submissively. Even during the Third Ninja War, Konoha could've gained an ally rather than being thrown immediately into hellish circumstances.

Eliminating either the Iwa-nin or the Cloud-nin altogether—even without gaining anything material—would have meant fewer opponents during the Third Great Ninja War. Then there would've been more room for maneuvering in the future.

Yet, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the rest chose "no." They simply waited while the Iwa-nin and Cloud-nin gradually regained their strength and later came seeking trouble with Konoha, leaving Konoha struggling desperately during the Third Ninja War. Without sheer luck, the village would've nearly been destroyed.

Reflecting further on the scenes after his own graduating class, no wonder at the beginning of the original storyline, apart from clan leaders like Hyuga and Nara-Akimichi-Chōza clans, there were barely any elder generation ninja left—they must've all been wiped out in the Third Ninja War — completely erased. This proves just how brutally devastating that war was.

Moreover, after the war, Hiruzen Sarutobi became the only Kage forced to resign since the establishment of the Hidden Village system—a humiliating record indeed. It clearly reflects the deep resentment Konoha held toward Hiruzen back then. Although Sarutobi reclaimed the Hokage title after the Nine-Tails' Rampage and the Fourth Hokage's death, nobody tried to save him when Orochimaru launched the Konoha Destruction Plan. This further proves that Hiruzen was even less popular during that period than after the Third Ninja War.

Shiyu Uchiha reflected on his own graduating class—there were many truly outstanding students, some even he respected deeply. For example, several classmates who were absolutely not inferior to Kakashi Hatake's generation.

Going back even earlier, up until the Sannin's generation, there were many considered slightly weaker than the Sannin. Though their strength hadn't reached Kage level, many were Jonin. During the Third Ninja War, they were in their prime and served as the backbone of Konoha, yet they perished namelessly, ending up on the Memorial Stone Tablet. Resulting in countless nameless deaths and names etched onto the Memorial Stone Tablet. This demonstrates just how devastating Konoha's losses had been.

In Shiyu Uchiha's eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi patting himself on the back for winning two Ninja World Wars under his command was pure delusion. His actual contribution to those wars was minimal. And this so-called troop deployment and strategic coordination? Weren't those just the bare minimum expected of any Kage anyway?

This is no contribution at all. Even putting an Inuzuka warrior with their ninken up there might be better—at least they wouldn't turn their backs and attack their own comrades.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage, he never actually set foot on the battlefield or personally eliminated a single enemy. He never helped seize control of any battlefield or shift momentum in Konoha's favor. Even when enemies breached deep into the Land of Fire, he stayed put within Konoha Village and never stepped near the frontlines. Although his words often sounded inspiring, he would instantly retreat behind any excuse given.

By the end of the Third Great Ninja War, he had basically squandered all the foundations laid by the First and Second Hokages. The Senju clan, Konoha's cornerstone, was drained to the last drop of blood. Their most reliable allied nation, the Land of Whirlpools, was destroyed. In the end, even children under ten years old were sent to the battlefield, violating the Will of Fire proposed by Hashirama Senju when founding Konoha.

Yet during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Sarutobi clan thrived and became terrifyingly strong. Clearly, the Sarutobi must have held back their strength during the Third War. From this, one could imagine the other three clans weren't much better.

Furthermore, many of these devastating losses were direct consequences of his lack of strategic vision as the Kage. Yet he showed not a shred of courage to take responsibility or step onto the front lines to carve out a future for Konoha. He was nowhere near the caliber of the Third Raikage or the Third Tsuchikage.

Ultimately, Konoha lost an entire generation during the Third War. Worse still, instead of reflecting on what had happened, Hiruzen Sarutobi and his allies escalated their actions, brutally oppressing the village's clans while calling it the empowerment of commoners.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could be called the most unique among all the Kage of the Five Nations. Other Kage protect their villages, yet while boasting about being the strongest Hokage, he let the next generation protect him instead.

What Shiyu Uchiha despises most is that years later, Hiruzen Sarutobi even feared subordinates gaining too much prestige and proceeded to suppress them. It was simply an utter failure.

Shiyu Uchiha even sneered that if it hadn't been for those two idiot brothers—reborn once more in Konoha—the village would have likely already fallen.

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