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By the present day, the Hidden Leaf Village was no longer a fragile alliance of clans.
After decades of careful maneuvering, compromise, and quiet elimination of rivals under the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the village had become firmly centralized.
It was not absolute unity, but Hiruzen's authority as Hokage was no longer seriously challenged.
Given his prestige and influence, if not for the outbreak of war, Hiruzen might well have remained Hokage until the end of his life.
But the situation in the Hidden Leaf several decades earlier had been very different.
At that time, the village had only just been founded. The Second Hokage's reforms were still taking root, and the village's real military strength came not from the Hokage's office, but from the major ninja clans themselves.
Although the Sarutobi clan was respected, it did not stand on the same level as powerhouses like the Uchiha, Senju, or Hyuga.
Among them, the Senju clan stood above all others.
They were one of the founding pillars of the village and had already produced two Hokage. Their prestige within the Hidden Leaf was unrivaled, their influence undeniable.
Under those circumstances, when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, died under unclear conditions, and Hiruzen Sarutobi returned carrying Tobirama's final wishes and claiming succession, resistance was inevitable.
Jin continued calmly.
"In short, Hiruzen's rise to the position of Hokage was anything but smooth. He faced relentless opposition from the major clans."
"And among them, the Senju clan raised the strongest objections."
"However, the strongest individual in the village at the time chose to prioritize stability above all else. She silenced dissent by force of authority and ensured that Hiruzen was able to secure his position, at least temporarily."
"The strongest individual?" Minato paused, a thought forming in his mind. "Do you mean Lady Mito?"
"Yes, Mito Uzumaki." Jin nodded.
"She was the first jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. Her strength was second only to Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, and even Tobirama would have struggled against her."
"More than that, she was the wife of the First Hokage. Her influence within the village, and especially among the Senju, was unmatched."
"To put it bluntly, if Lady Mito had ever wanted the position, she could have become the Third Hokage herself."
Minato nodded in agreement. He had met Mito before.
Even now, he could remember the crushing pressure he felt the first time he stood before her. Without any deliberate intent, her presence alone had made it hard for him to breathe.
Her strength was unfathomable.
Jin continued.
"To his credit, the Third Hokage proved himself a natural political operator. Once he secured the title, he moved quickly to consolidate power."
"Perhaps it was during that early struggle that he came to see the great clans as a long-term threat to the village's centralized authority."
"After stabilizing his position, he began implementing policies aimed at weakening clan influence."
"And the first to bear the brunt of those measures was the strongest clan at the time."
"The Senju."
Minato fell silent.
He recalled visiting the Senju compound in the past. The empty streets. The abandoned homes. The oppressive stillness.
A clan that had survived thousands of years of warfare during the Warring States era had vanished within mere decades after the village's founding, leaving behind only a single surviving bloodline.
To believe there was nothing wrong with that would be willful blindness.
Jin spoke again.
"What exactly happened may have been buried by time, but according to records preserved within the Uchiha clan, most of the Senju's able-bodied adults died on the battlefield."
"And many of their infants and young children simply disappeared from within the village."
"Disappeared?" Minato frowned deeply.
"How is that even possible? Was no investigation ever conducted?"
"They did investigate," Akira spoke up at that moment. "But it was not limited to the Senju clan. Children from other clans also went missing around the same time."
"No conclusions were ever reached. The situation in the ninja world was tense back then, and eventually the matter was quietly set aside."
Choza Akimichi added in his deep voice,
"I remember something like that too. I was still young, but the adults in my family said enemy spies had infiltrated the village. They used it to scare us, telling us not to wander around alone."
Minato frowned deeply.
He had been born later and had never known that such incidents had occurred within the village.
After a moment of thought, Jin spoke again, his tone heavy.
"There is no secret that stays buried forever. I know a part of the truth behind this."
At once, every pair of eyes in the room turned toward him.
Jin did not hesitate.
"After the deaths of the First and Second Hokage, the Hidden Leaf was still the strongest village in the ninja world, but it had lost the absolute dominance it once held."
"Several of the village's senior leadership, with the Third Hokage at the center, made a decision."
"They restarted a series of human experimentation projects."
"Restarted." Minato immediately caught the word. "And human experimentation, Jin, what exactly are you talking about?"
The others showed visible shock.
Human experimentation was a forbidden line throughout the ninja world.
None of them had imagined that the village leadership would dare cross it.
Jin explained calmly.
"The original research was proposed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju."
"Because of Hashirama Senju's unique constitution, even after his death, his cells retained terrifying vitality."
"Tobirama was a relentless researcher. While studying those cells, he attempted to recreate Hashirama's Wood Release."
"And since they were blood-related, the most suitable test subjects were naturally members of the Senju clan."
"However, Hashirama's cells were far too aggressive. Almost no one survived the experiments."
"Eventually, Tobirama recognized the danger and terminated the project before it went any further."
"But later, for various reasons, the Third Hokage's faction restarted the research."
"And this time, the pool of test subjects was expanded beyond the Senju clan."
The experiments centered on Hashirama's cells, but they were never limited to the Senju alone.
Otherwise, the village would never have discovered the strange interaction between the Sharingan and Hashirama's cells.
"How could they?" Minato's normally gentle expression twisted with anger.
"How could they do something like this?"
"Does this really align with the Will of Fire they claim to uphold?"
The image of Hiruzen's kindly, grandfatherly face surfaced in Minato's mind.
He had never imagined that beneath that calm exterior lay something so cold and ruthless.
Minato had believed he already understood the darker side of the ninja world.
Now, he realized he had been naïve.
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