The Third Hokage fell silent.
Danzo's words had some truth to them.
Being a Ninja is primarily a profession of killing; there isn't much room for humanitarian concerns.
When the three great Ninja Villages—Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure—fought in the Land of Rain, they casually unleashed various large-scale Ninjutsu, leaving the country riddled with holes, countless civilians losing their homes and lives. How many people died exactly? No one cared.
To achieve victory in war, Ninja would stop at nothing.
Death is not the end; often, a corpse can reveal a wealth of information.
If important intelligence or Ninjutsu could be extracted from a Ninja's brain, no Ninja Village would refuse.
The Second Hokage's Shadow Clone Technique and Water Release: Water Trumpet, and Hidden Mist Village's Hidden Mist Technique and Water Prison Technique, all spread this way.
An enemy's corpse is important, but an allied Ninja's corpse is even more so.
Inoichi's intelligence department often went to great lengths for an allied Ninja's corpse, but there was no other way; the body had to be recovered.
Saving Private Ryan at least saved a living person, but here, several Ninja often died just to retrieve one corpse. It felt like a net loss no matter how you looked at it, yet not retrieving it was unacceptable.
The Water Prison Technique could perfectly solve this problem. What if you were surrounded by enemies, couldn't escape, and had vital intelligence in your brain?
Don't worry, don't get agitated! The characteristic of the Water Prison Technique is that nothing can get in from the outside, and no one can get out from the inside. Just cast a Water Prison Technique on yourself, then reminisce about the glorious past, and one Exploding Tag can solve all your problems. If one isn't enough, use two.
If your head is gone, how can information be extracted? Surely, information isn't stored in neurons, right? Might Guy's Taijutsu doesn't use his brain; that's indeed stored in muscle memory, but he's the only one. Others don't have that ability.
Danzo spoke earnestly, repeatedly persuading, almost to the point of displaying a banner that read, 'Learn the Second Hokage's Water Release, Build a Happy Konoha Home Together.'
The Third Hokage pondered for a long time, but ultimately rejected the suggestion: 'No, I cannot allow the people of the Village to go to war with such a mindset. This does not align with the will of fire. Ninja are not tools, not cold numbers on a registry card; they are people! I will not issue such an order.'
He spoke with absolute certainty, leaving no room for compromise.
If a Ninja is captured, they should be rescued if possible. To casually order subordinates to commit suicide? Who would want to be a Ninja then? Besides, it's not wartime now; there are no large-scale conflicts. Even if captured, people can be rescued through diplomacy and exchange of interests. Suicide is not advisable and does not align with the will of fire.
'Naive! Hiruzen, your naivety will one day destroy Konoha Village!' Danzo grumbled as he left the Hokage Building.
The Third Hokage rejected the suggestion of using the Water Prison Technique for suicide, but he still supported Ninja with the necessary conditions learning it.
This is a C-rank Water Release Ninjutsu, with a difficulty level considered Chunin-tier. As long as one has Water Release Chakra, it's not difficult to learn.
Currently, there are no major wars, only small-scale conflicts between Ninja Villages of various countries. The more such situations arise, the greater the role of the Water Prison Technique.
Unless there's a significant disparity in strength or numbers, using the Water Prison Technique to trap the strongest enemy at the outset, then matching superior forces against average ones, and average against weaker ones, makes securing victory not difficult.
The Third Hokage stood at the window, watching Danzo leave the building and then disappear into the shadows.
This old friend has been too active recently. Is he sensing that he's getting old, or has he re-established contact with those people outside the Village?
When the Second Hokage died, he left a will for him to succeed as the Third Hokage.
The newly appointed Third Hokage truly faced both internal and external troubles. There was war outside, and the Ninja clans within the Village didn't believe in the so-called will at all. 'You say it was the Second Hokage's will, but besides you few juniors, who else saw or heard it at the time?'
The biggest question was, why was the Senju Clan's Hokage position handed over to the Sarutobi Clan?
If not for Danzo and the support of the fourteenth Ino–Shika–Choji, he would have found it very difficult to stabilize the situation.
The Third Hokage harbored no animosity towards Ninja clans; he himself came from the Sarutobi Clan and was a member of a Ninja clan. Without the unconditional support of his clan, he could not have reached where he was today. However, as the leader of the Village, he naturally had to suppress the Ninja clans, suppress the unwieldy Danzo, and support civilian Ninja.
If the Ninja clans became too powerful, and the main branch of the Hokage line experienced a major change, a drastic upheaval could occur. Civilian Ninja were the foundation of the Village.
He wanted to teach more Ninjutsu to civilian Ninja, but not only the Ninja clans, even his own Sarutobi Clan, disagreed. For so many years, the Ninja Academy could only teach the most basic Three Body Technique. Only after graduation might they have the chance to learn Five Nature Transformation Techniques, but even then, it was just a possibility; there was a high chance they wouldn't.
Ino used a barrage of Ninjutsu. Was it because of her strong talent? That was part of it, but it was more due to the Ninja clans monopolizing the spread of Ninjutsu.
The Water Prison Technique showed him an opportunity. Perhaps he could use this chance to teach more Ninjutsu to civilian Ninja.
The Third Hokage was already 68 years old; he was no longer a young man. He understood the principle that haste makes waste and did not immediately implement his ideas. Instead, he planned to stabilize things, first promoting the Water Prison Technique at the Jonin level, observing the reactions of all parties, and then gradually pushing it downwards.
Ino and Sasuke's battle had ended three days ago. For Ino, the matter was over; she ate and played as usual. But for Sasuke, the nightmare had just begun.
His eyes hurt intensely, a burning pain.
Initially, he thought his Sharingan was about to awaken, and his heart pounded with excitement. But then he realized something was amiss.
His Sharingan had actually already awakened.
He possessed this Bloodline Limit and had completed all the steps before awakening through intense emotional stimulation. Now, he only needed to gather Chakra in his eyes to officially complete the awakening.
But this incredibly simple step of gathering Chakra was precisely what had Sasuke stuck.
A Ninja's Chakra is composed of physical energy and spiritual energy; neither can be lacking. Lee couldn't use Ninjutsu, but he had Chakra, and Sasuke naturally did too.
When he mixed physical and spiritual energy to create Chakra and tried to gather it in his eyes, he felt as if a red-hot iron rod was repeatedly stirring in his brain.
As long as he didn't send Chakra to his eyes, he was fine.
But he was from the Uchiha Clan. If he didn't have the Sharingan, wouldn't he be useless?
Sasuke trained like a madman every day, repeatedly enduring the pain in his head to gather Chakra and try to awaken his eyes. But the more he practiced, the more intense the pain became. It was supposed to be the final, easiest step before awakening, yet he was stubbornly held back.