There's just no way to defend him. No way at all.
The First and Second Hokages handled crises themselves. When Uchiha Madara defected, the First Hokage personally pursued him.
The Second Hokage, upon returning from negotiations with the Cloud Ninja, encountered an assassination squad. He chose to stay behind as a rearguard, ensuring the younger generation survived.
They were leaders who truly lived by the Will of Fire.
Now look at the Third Hokage. Short on manpower at the frontlines? Just have those brats who just enrolled in the academy graduate early and send them up.
Sakumo Hatake's reputation is too high, threatening your chosen successor? Easy—just ruin him.
What, he committed suicide? Well, dead is dead. He wasn't one of ours anyway.
Orochimaru is conducting human experiments in the village and has killed many of our own? What to do about that?
What else can you do? Let him go, of course. Just a few civilians and ordinary ninjas died. Orochimaru is one of us—how can they compare?
The Uchiha clan seems to have grievances with the village?
I know this one! The Second Hokage once said the Uchiha are an evil clan.
What, you say he also called them a clan of love? Impossible. He definitely only said the first part. That's right—the Uchiha are evil. So just wipe them all out.
As for taking an Uchiha child as a disciple? Out of the question. That child might become Hokage one day. Absolutely not. The Hokage must come from my lineage.
What, you say Konoha will be weakened as a result? Simple—just have the kids in the ninja academy graduate early and send them to the frontlines.
Cannon fodder? Who has more of that than Konoha?
Honestly, when it comes to Sarutobi Hiruzen's leadership decisions, Kamikawa Aoba can only sigh and say: "This bastard learned none of the good and all of the bad."
Truly, it's easier to learn bad habits than good ones.
When the Uzumaki clan was annihilated, Uzumaki Mito was still alive. But sadly, she had clearly already lost her influence in Konoha by then.
Otherwise, she would never have stood by and watched her clan be wiped out.
But the most outrageous part was Sarutobi Hiruzen's handling of it.
What, the Uzumaki are under attack? The Uzumaki are our allies?"I know the answer to this question—allies, right? Just send a few people over and watch them die.
By the way, pick someone decent and bring them back to be a Jinchuriki.
Aoba couldn't even begin to describe how utterly idiotic this move was. As the ally with the closest ties to Konoha, not only did Konoha stand by and do nothing, but they also completely lost their deterrent power in the Shinobi World.
When your allies are casually slaughtered, and you don't even lift a finger, what kind of message does that send? That Konoha is a bunch of cowards. Who wouldn't rush to take advantage of that?
Just look at how arrogant the Cloud Ninja became later. They barged into Konoha to kidnap Kushina, and during peace talks, they stormed the Hyūga clan to abduct Hinata.
They provoked Konoha left and right, and Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't even let out a peep.
If you think about it from the perspective of the common people, there might be some justification. Why should we travel all the way to the Uzumaki clan's land to fight their battles for them?
Aoba didn't know whether the Uzumaki clan had ever helped Konoha in war, but given the chaos of the Warring States period, it was highly likely they had.
From a political standpoint, even if Konoha didn't want to go to war with other villages for the Uzumaki clan's sake, they could have handled it in a more mature way.
All they needed to do was dispatch a small force to carry out a rescue operation when the Uzumaki clan was in peril. Save as many as possible.
This way, Konoha could easily obtain the Uzumaki bloodline—the most exceptional lineage in the entire Shinobi World. The boost to Konoha's overall strength would have been undeniable.
The key was that these Uzumaki descendants, having endured the pain of their clan's annihilation and Konoha's rescue, would have been fiercely loyal to Konoha and deeply resentful of other villages—especially the Cloud and Mist Ninja.
In the event of war, these Uzumaki would have been the finest warriors. Even as cannon fodder, they'd have been better than those half-grown kids.
Aoba truly couldn't comprehend Sarutobi Hiruzen's thought process. Konoha only needed one Jinchuriki, so they only brought back Kushina.
But to put it bluntly, Jinchuriki are strategic-level weapons. Was one Kushina really enough? What if something happened to her during her growth?
With so many potential candidates just sitting there, they didn't take a single one. There wasn't even a shred of strategic foresight. Is this the kind of decision a leader should make?
Look at the choices made by the surviving Uzumaki after their clan's destruction. Karin's mother would rather take her to a minor village like Grass than go to Konoha, despite its better reputation.
Because Konoha's good reputation was always reserved for its enemies.
Just like now—a Konoha ninja appears and kills the Grass Ninja who tormented her. But Karin's mother's first reaction isn't relief—it's wariness.
Aoba sighed helplessly. It was all the doing of those old fools in Konoha.
Whatever the reason for the Uzumaki clan's downfall, the sight of widows and orphans being locked up like livestock, used as blood bags, and abused daily shattered Aoba's moral compass.
'As you can see, I'm a Konoha ninja. But today, I'm not here representing Konoha—I'm here for myself.'"After Aoba finished speaking, Karin's mother's expression actually relaxed a bit. One could only say reality was truly absurd. Mentioning Konoha made people wary, but mentioning an individual actually earned more trust.
This showed exactly what kind of impression Konoha left on its allies.
"This is Kusagakure. It's very difficult for us to leave. If you truly want to save us, take my daughter. Her name is Uzumaki Karin. I—"
Before she could finish, Aoba interrupted her.
"Have you ever considered what Karin will go through if I take her away? What if I'm actually a bad person? What if I take her just to use her as a blood supply, or even for human experiments?"
"Have you thought about whether she would hate you if something like that happened? And without you by her side, how could she grow up healthy?"
Karin's mother froze for a moment. Then, with great difficulty, she stood up. Aoba could clearly see the countless bite marks densely covering her exposed body. It was a body already riddled with wounds.
"I... my body can't hold on. I might slow you down."
"That is indeed a problem. So—"
Aoba took out a rope. He had Karin's mother climb onto his back, then tied her securely to himself to ensure she wouldn't fall.
After that, he picked up Karin with his left hand, drew a kunai, and attached an Exploding Tag to it. Then he said to Karin in his arms,
"Ready? We're leaving this place."
"Mm!" Karin nodded firmly.