“Hahaha, good! Good ambition! You’re truly my Uchiha child!”
Seeing Chen Yue’s serious expression and his grand ambition, Uchiha Hokaku was overjoyed.
After having experienced two Shinobi World Wars, the old man’s views on launching a unifying war to end the conflict were completely different from when Konohagakure was first established. Naturally, he would not stop Chen Yue’s goal.
While he believed that this was not something that could be easily accomplished, he was still supportive of the young boy’s ambition.
“Is it because your father died in the war, and then today you heard me talk about Madara’s idea back then, that you now have this ambition to ‘unify the Shinobi World and end the conflict’?”
Uchiha Hokaku looked at Chen Yue, feeling increasingly affectionate and caring, especially when looking at the young boy’s childish face and small stature. The old man’s eyes dimmed involuntarily.
“Child, forgive me for placing such a heavy burden on your small shoulders. It’s just that your great-grandfather is worried. If it's any later, it’ll be too late.”
Born 25 years before the establishment of Konohagakure, Uchiha Hokaku was 66 years old this year. How many more days could he possibly have left at such an advanced age?
Even though he didn’t need to go to the battlefield now and spent most of his time in comfortable retirement, could he really live until Chen Yue became an adult?
——————
Chen Yue was unaware of the old man’s sadness at this moment and did not feel the pressure of carrying such a heavy burden at such a young age. After expressing his ambition, he turned and leaned against the railing, looking out at the magnificent mountains and rivers below, his mind full of thoughts.
He now understood why the old man had brought him to the Shadow Reflection Platform. It was to encourage him to work hard to become Hokage.
This seemed a bit redundant to Chen Yue, who had already set his sights on this goal.
However, his great-grandfather’s statement was still very important to Chen Yue.
The old man’s words just now had almost explicitly confirmed Chen Yue’s status as the first-line heir to the family in the future.
It could be predicted that the family would pour more and more resources into him.
In the future, when he competed for the position of Uchiha clan head and Konohagakure Hokage, he would undoubtedly receive full support from his great-grandfather and the forces behind him.
Furthermore, besides the relevant geography and history lessons, the old man’s statement “The village is something that our Uchiha clan must protect” confirmed one thing to Chen Yue.
That is, from the very beginning, there has never been any conflict between the Uchiha clan and the village. The only ones who truly had a conflict with the Uchiha were the current village leadership.
The Uchiha clan did not hold any animosity towards the village. On the contrary, they saw protecting the village as an important responsibility of the clan.
It could be said that the Uchiha clan’s love for the village was no less than anyone else in the village.
Understanding this made Chen Yue even more determined about his initial plan to “win allies.”
However, when it came to allies, his dark eyes twirled, and he turned to Uchiha Hokaku and asked, “Great-grandfather, will the children of the Senju clan also attend the Ninja Academy? This time, I will defeat them.”
Chen Yue was doing this on purpose. He wanted to verify the current situation of the Senju clan from the old man.
Uchiha Hokaku was clearly taken aback by the young boy’s question. However, remembering his previous statement about “Madara losing to Hashirama,” he quickly understood.
Chen Yue clearly saw the Senju clan members as his biggest rivals in the future as he strived to become Hokage.
At the same time, he also wanted to restore the pride that the Uchiha clan had lost to the Senju clan.
“Such a proud Uchiha, indeed!”
The old man was very pleased with this sense of family honor, believing that his education had taken effect.
However…
“Child, there is no Senju clan anymore.”
The old man explained to the young boy, but he couldn't help but feel a little regret. If the Senju clan were still around, with Chen Yue’s talent, he might really be able to lead the Uchiha clan and surpass the Senju clan again.
“No more?! Why? Was it because of the two Shinobi World Wars?” Chen Yue quickly asked.
“It was indeed related to the war, but that was not the main reason.”
The old man shook his head and slowly explained to the young boy: “After establishing Konohagakure and being elected as the First Hokage, Hashirama took the initiative to disband his clan, asking his clan members to abandon the family name, becoming ordinary ninja families, dispersing and integrating into the village.”
“Why would he go so far as to disband his clan?” Chen Yue continued to ask.
“Who knows? This is the one thing I don’t think Hashirama did correctly.”
Uchiha Hokaku did not understand Hashirama’s decision to disband his clan back then: “Hashirama said that for the sake of the village, he wanted to dilute the concept of the family and have the clan completely integrated into the village, but was it really necessary to do so?”
“Is there really a conflict between protecting the family and protecting the village? If you can’t even protect your own family, can you really protect the village?”
Uchiha Hokaku truly did not agree with Hashirama’s decision to disband the clan. The eventual fate of the Senju clan further strengthened his belief.
………………