Kazuki was not a heartless person. On the contrary, he was someone who valued emotions greatly.
Kazuki could feel that Mikoto and Kushina were both very good to him, held affection for him, and both liked him. He couldn't bear to abandon either of them, so he chose to want both.
Considering Mikoto's situation, if Kazuki were to tell her that he chose Kushina, wouldn't Mikoto be so enraged after gaining and then losing love that she would awaken her Mangekyo Sharingan?
Even though Kazuki hadn't been in the village for almost a year, Kushina would occasionally send him letters and also relay news of what was happening in the village to him.
Although Kazuki wasn't in the village, nothing that happened could be hidden from him. After all, his main source of information was Kushina, who in turn received her information from Mito.
Mito wasn't usually interested in this information, but she had plenty of ways to obtain it.
Homura still didn't have a good impression of him, and Danzo was even preparing to thwart his bid for Hokage.
Kazuki, who knew these two well, naturally wouldn't let them off easy in the future.
A new emperor brings new officials, and they still want power? Dream on!
Of course, without a justifiable reason, Kazuki would not completely eradicate them, even if the other party was Danzo.
After all, the current Danzo didn't seem to have done anything against Kazuki.
If he were to persecute Danzo merely for political struggle, what would be the difference between him and Danzo?
However, based on his understanding of Danzo, if he really became Hokage, he would definitely cause a lot of trouble, and then he could take action against Danzo.
With Kazuki's strength, he could naturally suppress everything, and he could even attack Danzo for merely walking into his office with his right foot, but doing so would have a somewhat negative impact, and the morale of the entire village would scatter.
For such matters, it's better to find evidence.
Even if Kazuki could suppress everything, ultimately, he was not a tyrant. He didn't want to be defined as a despot or anything of the sort.
"Actually, over the past year, we've already killed quite a few people, but next, we will ensure that Kirigakure has no reserve forces left. I want everyone to know one thing. Those who offend Konoha will be punished, no matter how far away they are." Kazuki scanned everyone, his tone icy as he spoke.
Kazuki was actually happy to see village-to-village warfare, as he had gained a lot of prestige through war.
Within the Land of Water, his reputation had even reached the point where it could stop crying children.
And the worse Kazuki's reputation was in the Land of Water, the better it was in Konoha.
Coupled with Hiruzen not stopping him, and even secretly fanning the flames, his reputation grew even larger.
After all, the village was already at war with three villages simultaneously, Mito was old, and many people were somewhat panicked. At this time, the emergence of a war hero was very important.
Initially, Hiruzen wanted to promote Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya, as these three were his students. The better they performed, the more glory it brought to him and the more stable his position would be.
Didn't Hanzo call the three of them the Konoha Sannin? Hiruzen felt that this name was quite fitting.
The origin was a bit humiliating, but it was very useful, and Hanzo's strength seemed quite formidable before.
Being named by a strong person was an honor for many, but for Orochimaru and the others, it was a humiliation.
But who would have thought that Hanzo's demigod status was now in jeopardy, shattered by Kazuki, and his spiritual stability would likely be affected afterward.
If it were just , Hiruzen would still choose to promote them, but who would have thought that Jiraiya was such a scoundrel, directly deserting?
If he hadn't helped suppress and conceal it, Jiraiya would definitely have been condemned as a rogue ninja by certain interested parties, and even Hiruzen might have to take the blame.
Under such circumstances, how could Hiruzen still promote the Sannin?
In the future, when people boasted about the Sannin, they would only remember Tsunade and Orochimaru. One, two... hmm? Where's the third person? Where's that scoundrel Jiraiya?
This would make Jiraiya's matter even more troublesome.
Of course, Hiruzen couldn't not promote Tsunade and Orochimaru. In fact, both of them did very well.
On the Land of Wind battlefield, Tsunade saved countless lives, and Orochimaru, as the front line commander, also performed admirably. Now both of them were famous.
However, the most famous was Kazuki. His battle reports constantly reached Hiruzen, and when he continuously compiled that intelligence, he couldn't remain calm, even at one point thinking that Kazuki might be exaggerating his achievements.
What? Kazuki destroyed at least ten thousand tons of food and supplies in the Land of Water?
Over fifteen hundred Kirigakure ninjas died at Kazuki's squad's hands. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
Moreover, Kazuki also provided a large amount of intel on the Land of Water, and after subsequent investigation, almost all of this intel was confirmed to be true.
It's no exaggeration to say that Kazuki was the greatest contributor to the Kirigakure battlefield—no, to the entire Second Great Ninja War so far.
Konoha's military strength on the Kirigakure side was lower than Kirigakure's, but due to Kazuki's presence, they still stood against Kirigakure.
Not only Kazuki became famous, but Mikoto, Rinka, Nawaki, and Minato also became famous.
Admittedly, Anbu members needed to maintain secrecy, but given Kazuki's actions, secrecy was no longer possible.
Moreover, Hiruzen had always been monitoring the growth of these individuals;.
Putting aside Kazuki's nearly invincible strength, the growth rate of the others was by no means slow, not lower than Jiraiya and the others back then. These were all his students and grand-students, and they absolutely had to gain fame.
Kazuki became a celebrity, one who virtually deterred the entire Ninja World. It was even rumored that some people were already comparing Kazuki to Madara.
Within the Uchiha clan, the atmosphere became increasingly oppressive. The Uchiha clan had produced a genius, and a super strong one at that, this was a good thing.
But this strong individual didn't use the Sharingan, but rather Lightning Release and Wind Release, and was trained by Mito and Tsunade, which made some old conservatives unable to remain calm.