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"The Will of Fire." Jin shook his head and let out a quiet sigh.
"At the beginning, the Third and his circle may truly have believed they were carrying it forward. But people change."
"The moment someone crosses a moral line once in the name of righteousness, crossing it again becomes easier. And then easier still."
"Before long, they convince themselves that any decision can be justified as long as it is made 'for the village.'"
"And eventually, the Will of Fire itself becomes distorted."
After a brief pause, Jin continued in a heavier tone.
"'Where the leaves dance, the fire will live on. Its light will protect the village and allow new leaves to grow.' That was the Will of Fire passed down by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
"The village was founded to protect children."
"But look at what the village has become now."
"Comrades and children used as test subjects. Academy students forced to graduate early and sent to the battlefield."
"Every single one of these actions goes directly against the village's original purpose."
"With Hiruzen at the center, and the Hokage advisors supporting him, the village leadership has already lost its way."
Minato thought of the two students he had lost in the current war.
The anger and grief in his eyes slowly settled into something harder and more resolute.
"We have to set things right," Minato said. "We have to cleanse the village of everything that has gone wrong."
Before this, Minato had disagreed with some of Hiruzen's decisions, but he had still held a measure of respect for him.
Now, even that was gone.
Jin nodded firmly.
"That is exactly what we are doing."
At first, Jin's only goal had been to change his own fate and the fate of the Uchiha clan.
But after living in this world for years, his ambitions had expanded far beyond that.
Some things were forced upon him. One change inevitably triggered another.
Other choices, however, were ones he made willingly.
Back when he had only watched this world as a story, Jin thought it was filled with brilliant battles and deeply emotional characters. People who were passionate, stubborn, and often unhinged.
But after truly living here, he realized the truth.
Most of those so-called madmen were simply people who could not change reality and chose escape instead.
Zabuza Momochi, forged in the brutality of the Bloody Mist, ultimately chose to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage who had created those policies.
Those cruel laws never erased Zabuza's emotions.
He simply wrapped them in a shell of coldness when he realized he could not change anything, wandering until death forced those feelings back to the surface.
Orochimaru, obsessed with immortality and unpredictable by nature, was in fact one of the few genuinely rational individuals in this world.
After witnessing two wars and seeing through the true nature of those around him, he understood his own powerlessness.
So he chose to pursue the truth.
Endless life was never the goal. It was merely the means.
Because in his eyes, only the truth never changed and never lied.
Those who once dreamed of becoming the wind eventually became people who merely watched the wind turn the blades of a windmill.
There were many like them.
Sasori, who claimed to seek eternity but only wanted parental affection.
Kakuzu, who turned to wealth after seeing too much betrayal.
Nagato, who lacked conviction and twisted the final wish of a fallen friend.
Kabuto Yakushi, who sacrificed everything simply to understand himself.
And Madara Uchiha, who pursued peace only to be deceived until he had nothing left.
These people were labeled as villains by the world.
Yet after everything they had endured, it was impossible to truly hate them.
They were not born monsters. They were shaped by the world around them, twisted by circumstances they could neither escape nor change.
After living in this world for several years, Jin realized that he, too, had been affected.
At some point, without even noticing when it began, a dangerous thought had taken root in his mind.
He wanted to change this world.
Not to patch it. Not to delay its collapse. But to break the chains of fate itself and carve out an entirely new future.
And some parasites had no place in that future.
Those who fed on suffering, who justified cruelty in the name of order, would have to be cut away one by one.
Jin's gaze hardened.
He exhaled slowly, then continued.
"As I said before, there is no secret that stays hidden forever."
"When members of the Uchiha began disappearing, we noticed immediately. The Senju suffered far more heavily, There is no chance they were unaware."
"In the end, the Senju clan came into open conflict with the Third Hokage's faction."
"And because of their long-standing marriage ties, even the Fire Country's daimyo lineage became estranged from the village leadership."
"The details are known only to those directly involved."
It took some time, but Jin finally finished explaining the tangled history between the Fire Country daimyo family and the Third Hokage's inner circle.
"I see," Minato said quietly, then continued. "So that is why the Uchiha, despite being marginalized within the village, were allowed to become part of the Twelve Guardian Ninja."
"Yes." Jin nodded. "The conflict between the Uchiha and Senju belonged to the Warring States era."
"When the Uchiha chose not to follow Madara and instead remained in the village, they ceased to be the Uchiha of the old era."
"From that moment on, we became the Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf."
"The hatred of the past faded with time."
"Which means that under the Third Hokage's rule, the Uchiha and the daimyo family were, in practice, standing on the same side."
"As long as the daimyo is not a fool, he will not reject our goodwill."
Of course, Jin knew this was only an ideal outcome.
Reality rarely unfolded so smoothly.
That was why the person he sent to the daimyo's court was Shisui.
The owner of the most feared genjutsu in existence is Kotoamatsukami.
If the Fire Country's ruler refused to cooperate, Shisui would ensure that he reconsidered.
Seeing the confidence in Jin's eyes, Minato understood that Jin had prepared far more than he was willing to say aloud.
He chose not to ask.
Some things were better left unspoken.
"Securing an independent economic lifeline and gaining the daimyo's support removes many external pressures on the village," Minato said. "Once I become Hokage, I will be able to move forward with real reforms."
Jin nodded, then added calmly.
"And the daimyo connection can remain hidden for now."
"It may yet become our final trump card."
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