The Uchiha Clan's Sun

In their minds, isn't it a good thing that Hashirama Senju is such a selfless Hokage?

Meeting the questioning gazes of the crowd, Uchiha Jin continued, "Hashirama Senju's sacrifice may seem selfless, but what about the Senju clan members? Did Hashirama Senju ever care about their opinions?"

When Madara Uchiha questioned Hashirama Senju, he received the reply, "Protecting the village is the best way to protect everyone, the ninjas, and the children, whether they are friends, brothers, or even my own flesh and blood... I will never forgive those who are enemies of the village!"

Madara Uchiha was very dissatisfied with Hashirama Senju's answer, believing that Hashirama had put the cart before the horse!

"After all, they built the village to protect their brothers and their clan, but Hashirama Senju is now willing to sacrifice his clan and his brothers for the sake of the village!"

"Hashirama Senju has betrayed his original intention in establishing Konoha!"

"This left Madara Uchiha heartbroken!"

Nine parts of what Uchiha Jin said were true, and one part was false.

Those were genuine theoretical conflicts between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, while the fake ones were the context of their conversations.

The reason why Uchiha Jin did this was actually to clear Uchiha Madara's name, since Uchiha Madara's defection is an indelible stain on the Uchiha clan!

By exonerating Madara Uchiha and making everyone believe that Madara's defection was justified, the Uchiha clan was indirectly exonerated, greatly increasing public acceptance of the Uchiha clan!

Everyone in the conference room fell silent.

They could understand Madara Uchiha's thoughts to some extent, but they couldn't criticize Hashirama Senju's philosophy, since they were all beneficiaries of it!

The villagers hoped that all the Hokage in the village would be as selfless as Hashirama Senju!

But if they are members of a clan, they certainly don't want their clan leader to become like Hashirama Senju!

Uchiha Jin continued, "Uchiha Madara's disillusionment wasn't just directed at Senju Hashirama for going against his original intentions, but also at the village's future!"

"Because Hashirama Senju's idea is not only putting the cart before the horse, but also extremely dangerous!"

"Indeed, a strong village can better protect everyone in it, and protecting the village is equivalent to protecting the people we care about in the village!"

"But this is no reason for the village's interests to supersede our personal interests!"

"We can make sacrifices for the benefit of the village, but we must never sacrifice the interests of others in the name of the village's interests!"

"The interests of the village represent the interests of the majority of people, while the interests of an individual represent the interests of a minority of people."

"If a group can arbitrarily sacrifice the interests of a minority for the benefit of the majority, then that group is not far from ruin!"

"After all, no one can guarantee that they'll always be among the majority!"

After a pause, Uchiha Jin continued, "Human experiments like those of Senju Tobirama were the evil consequences born from this kind of thinking!"

"Tobirama Senju's initial intention in conducting human experiments was to gain the power to protect the village. This was for the benefit of the majority of people, and those experimental subjects who died in the human experiments were the small group of people who were sacrificed!"

"And the Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama, set a bad example for the village!"

"Under their influence, quite a few people in the village were sacrificed, and I think everyone can attest to that!"

"If this kind of thinking is allowed to prevail in Konoha, and today the Senju clan is sacrificed for the village, tomorrow the Uchiha clan, and the day after tomorrow the Hyuga clan, how many people in the village are left to be sacrificed?"

"So am I wrong to say that Tobirama Senju is a 'thief of virtue'?"

Chapter 252 Tianzang Makes His Debut!

The people in the conference room fell silent once again.

Uchiha Jin was right. They all deeply understood the village's practice of sacrificing the small for the greater good, especially the people from various clans in the meeting room!

After all, over the years, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, and other high-ranking Hokage officials have demanded countless benefits from them under the guise of "for the sake of the village," and made them make countless sacrifices!

The most direct point is that whenever Shimura Danzo's Root organization was short of people, he would approach various families and, under the guise of righteousness, coerce and entice them to take away their talented clan members!

They had no choice but to compromise before, but now, looking back, their gazes towards Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura have become somewhat hostile.

Especially when you think about how Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura's "for the village" wasn't as pure as that of the Senju brothers Hashirama and Tobirama Senju!

Hiruzen Sarutobi was immediately put in a difficult position.

In this situation, he didn't know whether he should continue talking about human experimentation!

However, the die was cast and the die was cast. Even though telling the whole story would greatly damage his reputation, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it in order to bring down Shimura Danzo!

Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed lightly and said, "Now that you mention it, Captain Uchiha Jin, the Second Hokage was indeed wrong. But we are, after all, the later generations, and we cannot judge the past with our current perspective. There are limitations of our time!"

Uchiha Jin sneered upon hearing this, saying, "Sarutobi Jonin's words are a bit far-fetched. If this matter was caused by the limitations of the era, then why wasn't Uchiha Madara affected by the limitations of the era?"

"Moreover, the sacrifice of the small for the sake of the large has been happening throughout history! It used to be the family, now it's the village, and it has never stopped!"

Ultimately, the problem lies in one's thinking!

"If those in power cannot put themselves in the shoes of those below them, such things will still happen!"

"If those in power have no selfish motives, that's fine. But if they do, this excuse will become a sharp knife for them to reap the benefits of those below them!"

"They enjoy the fruits of the labor of those below, earned with their lives, and yet they feel perfectly justified in saying it's all as it should be. That's the most disgusting thing!"

Uchiha Jin's tone was undisguisedly sarcastic, and his gaze was fixed on Sarutobi Hiruzen. Everyone knew perfectly well who he was referring to as "the person above".

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face flushed red, he was furious and embarrassed!

He had never been insulted like this before!

Danzo Shimura, who was standing to the side, was also one of King Uchiha's targets, but after seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi so angry, he was not so angry anymore, but rather somewhat happy.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and asked, "Department Head Uchiha Jin, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Uchiha Jin shrugged and said, "It was just a spontaneous remark. Please don't mind, Jonin Sarutobi. Just continue your performance!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Uchiha Jin a deep look, then looked away at the crowd and said, "He is gone now. We will not dwell on the merits and demerits of the Second Hokage here. Let's continue with the matter of human experimentation."

"After the incident became public, the human experiments conducted by the Second Generation Leader were suspended!"

"after......"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Afterwards, due to the deterioration of the war situation, the pressure on the village became greater and greater. Under pressure, I impulsively restarted human experiments!"

With a whoosh, the meeting room erupted in chaos once again!

Hiruzen Sarutobi handled this matter very secretly, and they really didn't hear a word about it!

Before anyone could react, Hiruzen Sarutobi sped up his speech, saying, "But the First Hokage's cells are extremely corrosive, and the experiments haven't yielded much success!"

"After making heavy sacrifices, I suddenly realized my mistake and took the initiative to stop the experiment!"

"This matter can be considered closed now!"

"However, the reason I'm bringing this up again today is because I recently discovered that human experimentation has not stopped!"

"Come in, Tianzang!"

As Hiruzen Sarutobi clapped his hands, the conference room door was pushed open, and Tenzo, who had been waiting for a long time, walked in.

Sending Tenzo to guard the border of the Land of Rivers was merely an excuse for Hiruzen Sarutobi to demand people from Danzo Shimura; Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally had no intention of actually sending him to the border of the Land of Rivers.

Although the people in the conference room had not yet recovered from the shock brought by Hiruzen Sarutobi's previous words, they were now all drawn to Tenzo who had entered the conference room, wondering why Hiruzen Sarutobi had called this person in.

Tenzo had already removed his mask, revealing his youthful face! The Jonin vest he was wearing also surprised everyone.

Becoming a Jonin at such a young age is a rare feat, with only one person in the entire Hidden Leaf Village doing so – Kakashi Hatake!

Why have I never heard of someone like this before?

"Tianzang, show everyone your abilities!"

When Tenzo approached, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke.

Tianzang nodded, formed a hand seal, and then opened his palm.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, a tender green sapling sprouted from Tianzang's palm!

"Mu, mu escape?!"

Someone exclaimed in surprise, and many people stood up in shock.

Orochimaru, who was standing to the side, also stared wide-eyed. He was the one who led the Wood Release experiment, but he only learned about Tenzo's existence now!

"That's right, it's Wood Release!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted, attracting everyone's attention. He then looked at Danzo Shimura and said, "If I hadn't accidentally discovered Tenzo's existence a few days ago, I probably wouldn't have known that the human experiments I conducted back then hadn't stopped because of my orders, and that they had even yielded results!"

"Elder Shimura, shouldn't you give me an explanation for this, an explanation for everyone, and an explanation for the village?!"

Everyone in the conference room was taken aback upon hearing this, and then they all looked at Shimura Danzo!

Human experiments led by the Hokage and human experiments conducted in private are two completely different things, even though they are difficult for everyone to accept!

One is government-led, where people may have doubts and objections, but they cannot be held accountable!

But private human experimentation is a different story; it's a serious crime!

If Shimura Danzo cannot explain this matter clearly, not only will he be unable to run for the Fourth Hokage, but he will also likely lose his positions as an elder of Konoha and the Hokage's assistant!

Chapter 253 I had no choice back then, but now I want to be a good person!

Despite the questioning gazes of the crowd, Shimura Danzo remained completely calm and said indifferently, "Do I need to explain anything?"

"Yes, I admit that I did participate in the human experiments, but the order was given by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the person in charge of all matters related to the human experiments was Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple. I only served as a supervisor, keeping an eye on the progress of the experiments and managing the logistics!"

"I was merely following orders; what is there to explain?"

As soon as Shimura Danzo finished speaking, the meeting room erupted in another uproar. Everyone looked incredulously at Orochimaru, who was still observing Tenzo with great interest. They never expected that he would also be involved in this matter.

Orochimaru, seeing everyone looking at him, shrugged indifferently and said with feigned helplessness, "Why are you all looking at me like that? I'm a ninja, completing the missions assigned to me is my duty. Do I have a choice?"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this, and then they all turned their gazes away from Orochimaru.

Indeed, although Orochimaru was a disciple of the Hokage back then, he was a commoner with no power or influence, and his strength was still growing. What right did he have to refuse a mission assigned by the Hokage, who was also his teacher?

They can't blame Orochimaru!

As for who to blame... everyone turned their attention to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had given the order back then!

Hiruzen Sarutobi was also in a bind. He hadn't expected Orochimaru to so readily shift all the blame onto him, and he couldn't help but glare at Orochimaru fiercely.

Orochimaru smiled slightly and said calmly, "I'm sorry, Sarutobi-sensei. I didn't have a choice back then. Now I want to be a good person!"

"you!"

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a rush of blood to his head, and his old face turned bright red!

You want to be a good person now? Do you think I'm forcing you to be a bad person?

What have I become?

Is it the mastermind behind it all?

Seeing this, Danzo Shimura added insult to injury with a sarcastic remark: "I once wanted to bask in the sunlight and be a good person, but at someone's request, for the sake of Konoha, I could only become a root buried deep in the ground!"

"But now that someone has stepped down, they've started thinking about kicking someone when they've served their purpose, and then settling scores afterward. It's truly disheartening!"

Although Shimura Danzo did not name names, everyone present knew who he was referring to. It was no different from pointing a finger at Hiruzen Sarutobi and cursing him!

"You guys! Pfft~~"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened in anger, and before he could finish a sentence, he spat out a mouthful of blood!

"Sarutobi-sama!"

"Lord Hokage!"

"Hiruzen!!!"

Everyone in the meeting room was startled by what they saw and instinctively stood up to walk towards Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I'm fine!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his heart felt much better. He raised his hand to stop the people who wanted to surround him.

He didn't want to divert everyone's attention because of his own problems!

Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his fist on the table, glaring at Danzo Shimura and demanding, "Elder Shimura, don't try to evade the issue! I'm asking why you continued human experimentation despite my order to stop!"

Danzo Shimura shrugged and said, "I don't understand what you mean by that, Jonin Sarutobi! I stopped after you told me to stop human experimentation, and I didn't act on my own!"

"How do you explain the matter of Tenzo?" Hiruzen Sarutobi pointed at Tenzo beside him and said, "In the report you gave me at the time, it was said that the human experiments had made no progress, but Tenzo successfully adapted to the power of the First Hokage. Isn't this the result of your subsequent experiments?"

"Moreover, according to Tianzang's identity information records, his existence only appeared after I banned human experimentation! This is enough to prove that you were still conducting human experiments after I gave the order!"

"And you personally handed over Tianzang's identity information to me. Elder Tsuta and Elder Mitomon can testify to this. You wouldn't deny it, would you?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally wouldn't let Danzo Shimura off so easily; he had already made ample preparations.