The Third Hokage fell into silence.
Danzo's words held some truth.
The profession of a ninja is primarily about killing, with little room for humanistic concerns.
During the great war in the Land of Rain involving the Hidden Leaf, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Stone villages, large-scale ninja techniques were thrown around indiscriminately, leaving the country riddled with scars and countless civilians homeless and bereaved. How many people died? No one cared.
To secure victory in war, ninjas would stop at nothing.
Death is not the end; often, a single corpse could yield a wealth of information.
If important intelligence or ninja techniques could be extracted from a ninja's brain, no village would refuse.
The Second Hokage's Shadow Clone Technique and Water Trumpet Technique, as well as the Hidden Mist Technique and Water Prison Technique of the Hidden Mist Village, were all disseminated this way.
The enemy's corpse is important, but the corpse of one's own ninja is even more so.
Inoichi's intelligence department often went to great lengths to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade, but it was necessary—the body had to be recovered.
While "Saving Private Ryan" at least saved a living person, in the ninja world, it was common for several lives to be lost just to retrieve a single corpse. It seemed like a losing proposition, but not retrieving it was not an option.
The Water Prison Technique could perfectly solve this problem. When surrounded by the enemy with no escape, and with critical intelligence in one's brain, what should one do?
Don't panic, don't get angry! The Water Prison Technique's characteristic is that it cannot be breached from the outside, and those inside cannot escape. Cast the Water Prison Technique on oneself, reminisce about the glory days, and a single Exploding Tag could solve everything. If one wasn't enough, then use two.
With the head gone, how could intelligence be extracted? Surely, neurons aren't used to store information, right? Guy's Body Techniques don't rely on the brain—they are indeed muscle memory—but he's the only one capable of that. Others don't have that ability.
Danzo spoke earnestly, repeatedly persuading, almost to the point of unfurling a banner that read, "Learn the Second Hokage's Water Release, Build a Happy Hidden Leaf Village."
After much deliberation, the Third Hokage ultimately rejected the suggestion: "No, I cannot allow the people of this village to go to battle with such a mindset. It goes against the Will of Fire. Ninjas are not tools, not cold numbers on a registration card—they are people! I will not issue such an order."
He spoke resolutely, leaving no room for compromise.
If a ninja is captured, they should be rescued if possible. Encouraging subordinates to commit suicide at the drop of a hat? Who would want to become a ninja then? Besides, this isn't wartime; there are no large-scale conflicts. Even if captured, diplomatic means and exchanges of interest could secure their release. Suicide is not an option; it contradicts the Will of Fire.
"Naive! Hiruzen, your naivety will one day destroy the Hidden Leaf Village!" Danzo cursed as he stormed out of the Hokage's office.
The Third Hokage vetoed the suggestion of using the Water Prison Technique for suicide, but he still supported its conditional learning by qualified ninjas.
It's a C-rank Water Release technique, of moderate difficulty, suitable for Middle Ninja level. As long as one has Water Attribute Chakra, it's not hard to learn.
Currently, there are no major wars, only small-scale conflicts between villages. In such scenarios, the Water Prison Technique becomes even more valuable.
Unless there was a significant gap in strength or numbers, it wasn't difficult to secure victory by first using the Water Prison Technique to trap the strongest enemy, then employing superior tactics against the mid-tier opponents and mid-tier tactics against the weaker ones. The Third Hokage stood by the window, watching Danzo leave the building and disappear into the shadows.
This old comrade had been too active lately. Was it because he thought the Third was getting old, or had he reconnected with those outside the village?
Back when the Second Hokage fell in battle, he left a will appointing the Third as his successor.
Upon taking office, the Third faced both internal and external crises. The village was at war, and the ninja clans within the village didn't believe in the so-called will. Who besides a few juniors had seen or heard the Second Hokage's will? The biggest question was why the position of Hokage, traditionally held by the Senju Clan, was being passed to the Sarutobi Clan. Without Danzo and the support of the Fourteenth Generation Ino-Shika-Cho, it would have been nearly impossible for him to stabilize the situation.
The Third Hokage harbored no hostility toward the ninja clans. He himself was from the Sarutobi Clan, a member of the ninja clans. Without the unconditional support of his clan, he could never have reached this position. But as the leader of the village, it was his natural duty to suppress the influence of the ninja clans, rein in the overreaching Danzo, and support civilian ninjas.
If the ninja clans grew too powerful, any major upheaval in the Hokage's lineage could lead to drastic changes. Civilian ninjas were the true foundation of the village.
He wanted to teach more ninja techniques to civilian ninjas, but not only did the ninja clans oppose this, even his own Sarutobi Clan refused. Over the years, the Ninja Academy could only teach the most basic Three Body Techniques. Only after graduation might students have a chance to learn the Five Nature Transformation Techniques—and even that was uncertain.
Ino had unleashed a barrage of ninja techniques. Was it because of her talent? Partly, but more so because the ninja clans monopolized the dissemination of ninja techniques.
The Water Prison Technique presented an opportunity. Perhaps he could use this chance to teach more techniques to civilian ninjas.
At 68 years old, the Third Hokage was no young man. He understood the principle of "haste makes waste" and didn't immediately act on his idea. Instead, he decided to proceed cautiously, first promoting the Water Prison Technique among the jonin to gauge reactions, then gradually extending it downward.
Three days had passed since Ino and Sasuke's battle. For Ino, it was over—time to eat and play as usual. But for Sasuke, the nightmare had just begun.
His eyes were in excruciating pain, as if they were on fire.
At first, he thought his Sharingan was about to awaken, and he was thrilled. But soon, he realized something was wrong.
His Sharingan had already awakened.
With this Kekkei Genkai in his body and having completed all the steps for awakening through intense emotional stimulation, all he needed to do was gather Chakra in his eyes to officially complete the awakening.
But this seemingly simple step of gathering Chakra had Sasuke completely stuck.
A ninja's Chakra is composed of physical energy and spiritual energy, both of which are essential. Rock Lee couldn't use ninja techniques, but he had Chakra, and so did Sasuke.
He felt as if a red-hot iron rod was stirring in his brain whenever he mixed physical energy with spiritual energy to create Chakra and then directed that Chakra towards his eyes.
As long as he didn't send Chakra to his eyes, he was fine.
But he was an Uchiha. Without the Sharingan, wouldn't he be useless? Sasuke trained like a madman every day, enduring the pain in his head as he repeatedly gathered Chakra, trying to awaken his eyes. Yet, the more he trained, the worse the pain became. It was supposed to be the final and easiest step before awakening the Sharingan, but he was still forcibly held back.