Senju Mori's inauguration ceremony as the Third Hokage, and his speech during the ceremony, brought an unprecedented shock to the entire Konoha Village.
Although the First Hokage passed down the Will of Fire, it was only a broad concept of "sacrificing everything to protect all."
Twenty years have passed since Konoha's establishment, and this was the first time someone used a complete and detailed speech to specifically elaborate on the Will of Fire.
To explain to people what the essence of the Will of Fire truly is... Senju Mori, however, did not pay too much attention to the sensation he had caused; besides continuing to learn the Water Release Ninjutsu left by the Second Hokage, he also used his free time to think about another matter.
That was—taking on disciples.
For many Ninja, taking on disciples is as significant as marriage and having children; unlike the general relationship between a Jonin and a team member, taking on a disciple is a very formal matter.
Although to some extent, Senju Mori's ascension to power effectively ended Konoha Village's nascent special inheritance system—the "Hokage Master-Disciple Inheritance System."
But even if it doesn't directly equate to "inheriting the qualification to be the next Hokage," the position of a Hokage's disciple still holds extremely high value and carries immense political significance.
The first to consider was naturally Little Tsunade.
With Senju Hashirama's passing, Senju Tobirama's death without offspring,
and Tsunade's parents leaving Konoha to reside in the Land of Fire's capital, Tsunade, the only one remaining in Konoha, became a mascot-like existence.
Taking her as a disciple would undoubtedly be beneficial for Senju Mori.
In addition, due to the flourishing Ninja Academy founded by Senju Tobirama, it is believed that in not many years, Konoha will see a batch of Jonin emerge from commoner Ninja backgrounds.
Every Jonin in the village is an existence that cannot be ignored, let alone a group of them.
This means that new interest groups will join Konoha's existing political system and, naturally, claim a portion of the discourse that belongs to them.
To show his Pay attention to of commoner Ninja, Senju Mori also needed a disciple from a commoner background.
During this period, there were not many suitable commoner children who could be called "potential," and even fewer that Senju Mori found impressive.
Ultimately, only two were considered—Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
After brief deliberation, he chose Orochimaru.
Although in the future, Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin, would certainly not be weak,
unlike Orochimaru, who was known as a genius from a young age and was passionate about learning and researching various Ninjutsu, Jiraiya's true turning point in life was when he first entered Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya even referred to himself as the "Toad Sage."
It can be said that more than half of his strength came from his training in Mount Myōboku and the generous gifts from the toads.
Jiraiya's experience is like that of many protagonists in wuxia novels.
He came from a commoner Ninja background, had mediocre talent from a young age, and was the clumsy "dead last" both in the Ninja Academy and later in his Ninja squad.
It can be said that the biggest highlight in this short period of his life was inexplicably finding a good teacher.
Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's careful guidance, and also by chance, Jiraiya rashly used Summoning Jutsu without signing any summoning contract.
This extremely risky act not only avoided teleporting him to an unknown corner of the Ninja World but also brought him to Mount Myōboku, one of the three great summoning holy lands.
And just as Jiraiya was at a loss, the Great Toad Sage, the highest-ranking toad on Mount Myōboku, suddenly awoke from his long slumber and personally met this "mediocre" Ninja.
In front of Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sage personally prophesied that he was the one with a special mission, destined for a magnificent and passionate life, and would teach the Child of Prophecy who would change the fate of the entire world... In short, whether by design or pure coincidence, a series of incredible adventures thus happened to Jiraiya.
And he, who had always been at the bottom of his team, managed to catch up to and even surpass his genius classmates, Tsunade and Orochimaru, after only a few years of training in Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya thereafter became a firm believer in the prophecies of the Mount Myōboku toads.
But all of this, of course, was not without cost; the price Jiraiya paid for it was quite heavy, as his entire life was spent following the toads' instructions, traveling around to find the Child of Prophecy.
Of course, "instructions" might not sound as good; calling it "prophecy" is more acceptable.
In Senju Mori's opinion, Mount Myōboku wasn't looking for any "Child of Prophecy" at all; they were just looking for the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
The purpose, of course, was to ensure the continuation of Mount Myōboku and to successfully bet on the right side in this generation, just like in ancient times, and reap the biggest and most dividends... Of course, Jiraiya could not possibly know this.
But merely being "constrained by Mount Myōboku" significantly reduced Jiraiya's value in an intangible way.
Although Senju Mori could also artificially interfere with Jiraiya's future,
not to mention whether Mount Myōboku, with its prophetic abilities, would have other means, just considering whether Jiraiya could truly grow to the same heights after losing Mount Myōboku's support?
Rather than making unnecessary gambles on this uncertainty,
it would be better to follow the original trajectory and let Mount Myōboku help cultivate a powerful Ninja who, at least at some critical moments, would return to Konoha Village to fight for Konoha.
Even if his greatest pursuit in life was—"to find the legendary Child of Prophecy for the toads of Mount Myōboku."
In comparison, Orochimaru's pursuit was much clearer.
His ultimate pursuit was—"to learn all Ninjutsu in the world and understand all truths in the world."
In his own words, it was:
"The first person in this world to mix blue and yellow called the new color he saw green, and I am just doing the same thing..."
Only after knowing everything in this world could he become the "ultimate individual."
The secondary pursuit derived from this was to gain enough time to learn all techniques—that is, to achieve immortality.
This, in turn, did not conflict with Senju Mori at all; on the contrary, Senju Mori was quite willing to support Orochimaru in unearthing his talents and was happy to support him in various research endeavors... Thinking of this, a smile couldn't help but appear on Senju Mori's face—he thought of his own pursuit.
That was also the driving force behind everything he had accomplished so far.
He hoped to forever dominate everything in the world and make the entire world operate exactly as he liked.
In this process, both power and strength were merely tools that were slightly convenient to use.
For this, he also had to live forever in this world.
Because any will implemented by others, no matter how much it was attributed to his name or how perfectly executed, would be meaningless.
The moment he left this world, it would already transform into something completely different.