Naruto Online: Hyuga Branch Family? Let's go all out!

Chapter 146 Reform Ideas

Who would have thought that Hiruzen Sarutobi's jealousy of talent, suppression of geniuses, and elimination of dissidents stemmed from Tobirama Senju?

Ban and Kuroze looked at each other, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.

"Actually, you can't really blame him for this problem. After all, the Hokage position is a new thing, and nobody knows what rights and obligations should be involved, or how to make the choices. It's already quite good that he was able to set a standard, albeit barely!"

"So, you have a better idea?" Ban asked after thinking for a moment.

He was actually more curious about Ning Yuan's method, wondering if it would allow him to become Hokage as well.

Of course, he doesn't want to become Hokage right now; he just wants to know if it's possible that Hashirama was wrong back then.

"Of course!" Ning Yuan nodded, "But before that, we need to clearly define the responsibilities and powers within Konoha!"

"Responsibilities and duties?" Madara asked. "What are those?"

"Power and responsibility—that is, authority and responsibility!" Ning Yuan said, "Konoha Village is the military institution of the Land of Fire. As the leader of Konoha Village, the Hokage has the power to initiate, mediate, end, support, and control wars!"

Spotted hair, that's definitely true.

"But besides being the leader of a military organization, the Hokage is also the village chief. As the village chief, he also has the responsibility to manage the village's internal affairs, develop the village, and enable the villagers to live a better life!"

Ban nodded again, agreeing.

"Then it becomes clear what kind of Hokage we need to choose. As the leader of a military organization, he needs to be clear about when to fight and when to end a war. In short, his political abilities must be up to par!"

"Mmm!" Spotted hair, that makes sense.

"But we can also see that even when war breaks out, the Hokage remains stationed in the village, while the ninjas who go out to fight are from Konoha!" Ning Yuan said. "And the methods and tactics of warfare are also in the hands of the commander-in-chief of the troops deployed outside the village!"

"From this, we can conclude that although the Hokage holds the power to start and end wars, he spends most of his time managing the village!"

Ban was still nodding.

"Therefore, the candidate for Hokage can have lower political attributes, but must have high management, political, and governance abilities!"

"No matter how low their political affiliation, they'll always know to fight back when attacked. But if their management skills are poor, it's a disaster for the village, because they can turn a prosperous village into an economic depression, a population outflow, and even a ghost village with no young people left!"

Admittedly, Konoha has developed very well. From Tobirama to Hiruzen Sarutobi to Tsunade, both the overall economy and population have been growing steadily.

But it's not that these Hokage are too powerful, it's that the nobles in other cities are too shady!

In comparison, these Hokage, who only prey on ninjas, treat ordinary people much better.

As an ordinary person, you would certainly be happy to move to Konoha.

Ban was still nodding, clearly listening.

"So how should we choose the Hokage? Should we choose someone who can fight?" Ning Yuan said, "A person's fighting ability doesn't necessarily mean they have strong governance skills. On the contrary, if someone is very good at fighting, it means they spend a lot of time improving their strength, so they spend less time improving their management skills, and their management skills will actually be very poor!"

"That makes sense!" Black Zetsu nodded and looked at Madara.

Madara shook his head: "You're wrong. Tobirama's management skills are very strong. Although his strength isn't that great, he's still top-tier among ordinary ninjas!"

"Is it possible that Tobirama's strength stopped growing because of his management of Konoha, which led to his death on the battlefield?" Ning Yuan asked rhetorically.

"Ah, that makes sense." Madara nodded silently.

Tobirama invented the Flying Thunder God Technique a long time ago, but surprisingly, he didn't develop it any further in the following decades.

Is he even less capable than Minato, unable to develop the Flying Thunder God Technique Second Stage? How is that possible!

The only explanation is that Konoha's political affairs took up too much of his mind, leaving him no time for scientific research.

"So what are your thoughts?" Ban asked.

"In short, it boils down to eight words: make the best use of resources and people. Let people do what they are good at, and don't force someone to do something they are not good at!"

"For example, if someone is a genius, very skilled in combat, and also has strong command abilities, then let them continue down that path. Just because they're strong doesn't mean they have to become Hokage!" Ning Yuan said. "In my vision, Konoha's political and military affairs should be separated. The Hokage should primarily handle political affairs, while the Hokage would hold a nominal military command, but the actual military duties would be handled by the military department. All the best-performing ninjas should be placed in the military department!"

"Your idea is good, but what if these ninjas aren't satisfied with their current status and want to establish their own independent forces?" Black Zetsu asked. "You probably don't know the history of the Land of Iron. The Land of Iron used to have a daimyo, but because the military was entirely handed over to the samurai, the samurai rebelled, ultimately leading to the Land of Iron now having no daimyo, only the samurai leader, the general!"

"If the Hokage doesn't have the strength, how will he deal with the opposition from the military?"

"The solution is simple!" Ning Yuan said, "First, reform the ninjas into professional soldiers and set a service period! A person doesn't have to be a ninja for life; two years is enough!"

"This means that soldiers under the military are constantly changing hands, so even if the military commander wanted to rebel, he couldn't cultivate soldiers who would be fiercely loyal to him!"

"Secondly, we must strengthen ideological education, telling every soldier that their duty is to defend the country and protect the people, not to follow certain ambitious individuals in seizing power. That way, even if a military commander wants to rebel, he won't be able to pull any of his soldiers away!"

"Finally, although the Hokage is an administrative officer, he doesn't completely ignore the soldiers. We also need to assign administrative officers to military camps to be responsible for logistics, providing psychological support to soldiers, acting as military advisors, leading soldiers in training, and overseeing discipline and administration. They are also soldiers, but they belong to the administrative system and are present at all levels of the military. Because they spend so much time with the soldiers, their relationship with them is much closer than that between generals and soldiers."

"But the problem is that they only have the power to supervise staff officers, not the power to lead troops, which also prevents them from rebelling!"

"In this way, those who want to rebel won't be able to raise an army, and those who can raise an army won't have the authority. With the two cooperating and supervising each other, the Hokage won't have to worry about the military clique!"

"Your idea is flawed!" Madara asked. "If ninjas only need to serve two years in the military, what will they do afterward? Without the ninja profession, won't they starve to death?"

"How could ninjas starve to death?" Ning Yuan said, "The military is responsible for fighting, so shouldn't we also establish a department specifically for maintaining order? This department could be used to take in retired ninjas. Besides, ninjas are very strong, so they can also work as bodyguards and protectors. They can also make movies, sing, and do business. There are so many professions in the world. Do they have to starve to death if they don't kill people?"

"What if a war breaks out and there aren't enough ninjas?" Black Zetsu asked. "Other people's ninjas serve their entire lives, but yours only serve for two years. When war breaks out, your ninjas will definitely be short-handed!"

"Then let's recall the retired ninjas!" Ning Yuan said. "I bet you'll still say that these ninjas have been retired for many years, and their strength will inevitably decline. But I've investigated. In peacetime, the village ninjas basically can't even get an S-rank, or even an A-rank, mission. The B-rank and C-rank missions they take are at most fighting bandits and thugs, which don't even require combat. In other words, in peacetime, there's basically no difference between being a ninja and being retired!"

Madara felt somewhat bewildered; how did the conversation suddenly escalate to the topic of ninja village construction?

What he said actually made a lot of sense, and if it really went ahead, it seemed like it would be pretty good.

After all, he was also annoyed by the idea that once you become a ninja, you have to be one for life. "I've fought wars my whole life, can't I enjoy myself?"

And it's one thing for adults to be like this, but it's the same for children.

Even if you killed someone while on a mission ten years ago, as long as you're still wearing your headband, someone might come looking for revenge ten years later.

Of course, ninjas also have a retirement mechanism.

However, a ninja's retirement is not simply a matter of reaching a certain number of years of service. Instead, retirement is only possible when they are injured on the battlefield or become too old to continue performing their duties as a ninja.

If you can still move and use ninjutsu, then I'm sorry, we won't let you retire even when you're seventy or eighty years old.

"By doing this, you can prevent Hiruzen Sarutobi from wanting his son to become Hokage," Madara asked.

"It's unavoidable, but we can prevent him from suppressing talent. Under this system, talented people will only rise through the ranks in the military, not the political system!" Ning Yuan said. "Meanwhile, the Hokage is focused on developing the village and making the villagers wealthy. This way, the village develops, geniuses are protected, and Konoha's strength will continue to grow."

"That's so true!" Spot nodded. The child was right.

Hei Jue nodded in agreement, but an uncontrollable killing intent surged within him.

This kid is too smart and very strong. He might become Hokage someday.

If he really reforms Konoha Village in the direction he proposed, wouldn't Konoha Village become many times stronger in the future?

This will disrupt my plans!

Wait a minute, let's see. After all, he's a devoted admirer of his mother; maybe he'll support Ban's plan too.

In fact, Ban no longer has much confidence in persuading Ning Yuan, because this child is too opinionated and has too many ideas.

He can criticize Tobirama Senju frankly and point out so many of Tobirama's mistakes, so why can't he point out my mistakes?

but

Ban recalled his entire plan and didn't think there was anything wrong with it, so he immediately regained his confidence.

I'm not Tobirama Senju. He's narrow-minded and short-sighted. I'm not like that!

"Besides the Hokage position, he left behind many unresolved issues. Shall we continue?" Ning Yuan asked.

"Huh?" Madara was taken aback. He thought he had said a lot, but upon closer reflection, Ning Yuan had indeed only mentioned the position of Hokage.

This pit is already big enough, how could there be another one?

"Then let's listen!" Madara didn't have anything to do right now, so he was just idling around anyway.

Moreover, he was genuinely curious about what other pitfalls Konoha might have. After recalling them himself, he felt that there really weren't any left!

(End of this chapter)