Chapter 045: Swap Places

This was not because Wang Bo's will was too strong, but because the beauties recommended by the Kazekage were truly not to his liking.

If it were Pakura, Wang Bo might have agreed, after all, Pakura from the Naruto world was considered a beauty.

Who is Pakura?

She was a Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai ninja from Sunagakure, powerful and hailed as a hero of the village.

However, she was deceived by the Fourth Kazekage Rasa under the guise of a secret mission and sent to Kirigakure, where she was ambushed and killed by Kirigakure ninjas disguised as allies, becoming a sacrifice in the politics of the great nations.

Pakura was already dead, so the Kazekage naturally couldn't find another Pakura.

Wang Bo thus refused the Kazekage, and after signing the contract, left Sunagakure.

Then, Wang Bo left the Land of Wind, entered the Land of Birds, and after crossing it, entered another great nation... the Land of Earth!

Although the Land of Earth's territory was not desert, it was not much better.

This country, though called the Land of Earth, should actually be called the Land of Rock, because it had too little soil and too many stones.

Even the ninja village of the Land of Earth was called Iwagakure, surrounded by rocky mountains, with solid defenses that made it difficult for enemies to invade, but similarly, communication with the outside world was relatively difficult.

Even the ninja village was like this, let alone other places.

In fact, among the five great ninja villages, why did Konoha develop the best?

Mainly because the Land of Fire had fertile land, with everything: forests, rocks, soil, rivers—a fertile region.

The other ninja villages each had their own shortcomings.

This also led the other villages to covet Konoha; every time a great ninja war broke out, they wanted to take a bite out of Konoha, precisely because the Land of Fire's geographical location was uniquely advantageous.

Other villages and countries would envy it.

But fortunately, Konoha was strong and managed to fend off the attacks of other countries.

However, after the Third Hokage, that fool, took office, he weakened Konoha in various ways, causing its strength to diminish repeatedly—deaths, injuries, departures—until in the end, it couldn't even suppress a single Nine-Tails.

A mere Obito Uchiha could throw Konoha into chaos. Remember when the First Hokage was around, what difference was there between tailed beasts and pets? There was no need for the Fourth Hokage to sacrifice himself to seal a Nine-Tails.

Of course, Wang Bo could more or less guess the purpose of the Third Hokage's actions.

To hold onto power.

After all, Konoha was originally established jointly by the Senju and Uchiha clans, and the two clans held supreme status in Konoha. If it weren't for the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, being biased, the position of Hokage would never have fallen to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Even before Konoha was founded, Tobirama Senju had various grievances against the Uchiha clan.

After Konoha was established and Hashirama Senju died at the hands of Madara Uchiha, Tobirama Senju's dislike for the Uchiha clan only grew.

When he served as the Second Hokage, he certainly did not hold back in suppressing the Uchiha clan.

Wang Bo remembered that Tobirama Senju had a man named Kagami Uchiha by his side, one of his most trusted Hokage guards, but even so, he did not pass the position of Hokage to Kagami Uchiha, but to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Simply because Hiruzen Sarutobi was his student.

Heh.

And this student of his lived up to expectations; the first thing he did after taking office was to suppress the Uchiha and Senju clans.

He had no choice but to suppress them.

Suppressing the Uchiha clan was politically correct; he was the Second Hokage's disciple, so naturally, he had to follow the Second Hokage's policies.

As for why he suppressed the Senju clan, the reason was simple: the Senju clan had already produced two Hokages and were one of Konoha's founders.

Apart from being Tobirama Senju's disciple, what qualifications did Hiruzen Sarutobi have to be above the Senju clan?

His Sarutobi clan behind him?

Don't be ridiculous. Didn't he know what the Sarutobi clan was like? Apart from himself, what talents did they have? So for Hiruzen Sarutobi to secure the position of Hokage, he had to suppress the Senju clan.

Only by suppressing the Senju clan could he become the true Hokage.

Not a puppet in name only.

So after Hiruzen Sarutobi took office, both the Senju and Uchiha clans experienced a drastic decline in strength.

By the start of the story, only Tsunade Senju remained of the Senju clan; where the others went, no one knows.

And the Uchiha clan was directly wiped out.

This was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Konoha's 'strongest' Hokage. In a sense, calling him the strongest was not wrong.

Even if Tobirama Senju looked down on the Uchiha clan and suppressed them, he never wiped them out.

Although there were also reasons of the times, at least Tobirama Senju didn't have that intention.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi was different.

He was not Tobirama Senju, nor was he Hashirama Senju; he couldn't suppress the Uchiha clan, so he had to allow outsiders to enter Konoha and destroy the Uchiha clan.

Only then could he secure his position as Hokage more firmly.

Ah, I've digressed.

Although the Land of Earth was not as wealthy as the Land of Fire, it was still a great nation. Wang Bo spent a full half year spreading hotpot restaurants throughout the Land of Earth, then entered Iwagakure and signed a contract with the Tsuchikage, Onoki.

Wang Bo had a high opinion of this man, Onoki.

He was a capable person.

He was very similar to Hiruzen Sarutobi; both were leaders of their villages and had very long tenures.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a disciple of the Second Hokage, while Onoki was a disciple of the Second Tsuchikage.

Both were elderly men.

One could freely use seven types of chakra natures, mastered all of Konoha's jutsu, and was known as the 'Professor of Ninjutsu.'

The other was proficient in Earth Release jutsu and could use the Dust Release, a Kekkei Tōta that surpassed Kekkei Genkai, and was known as 'Onoki of the Two Scales.'

Their life trajectories were remarkably similar.

Yet Konoha declined under Hiruzen Sarutobi's leadership, to the point where there were no usable soldiers left. If not for Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha would have long been finished.

But Iwagakure flourished under Onoki's leadership, ushering in its golden age.

It was just that their village didn't have a Sasuke Uchiha or Naruto Uzumaki; otherwise, overthrowing Konoha would have been within reach.

Wang Bo sometimes thought, if Onoki and Hiruzen Sarutobi swapped places,

perhaps Konoha would have already swept through the ninja world.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in the world; Onoki was ultimately the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, and due to resource and talent issues, he exhausted himself for Iwagakure without ever defeating Konoha.

Mainly because Konoha was too unfair.