Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, no matter how much I want to.
A tool cannot feel pride, for pride is an emotion and a tool cannot feel emotion.
Shodaime looked over the village he had led his people to. He felt the pride that had led him here threaten to overflow as he watched them carve his image into the rock. It was his pride in his people that had given him the strength to bring them here. It is the pride of his successors that will enable them to prosper. Konoha was born because a man was proud enough to lead his country.
A tool is not loyal, it would obey but the obedience is for a need of a user. Loyalty comes from the heart, a tool has no heart.
Nidaime looked over the village his brother once led and swore his loyalty to it. He would serve Konoha, not because it was his duty but because he chose to, for his brother and his people who had lost their Shodaime. In the memory of his brother he devoted himself to the village. Konoha flourished because of a mans loyalty.
A tool cannot understand, because to understand, one must be able to comprehend emotions, and a tool cannot do that.
Sandaime looked down at the young child that had come crying into his arms and smiled a sad smile. He hugged the child of his successor and told him a story of hope and overcoming hardships, all the while giving as much love and understanding as his old body contained to the whiskered boy. He healed the wounds of the heart, because he could understand the childs suffering. Years later, a young man remembered a kind smile and open arms when such things were but a dream to him and he opened many eyes and healed many hearts with the same but different wounds. Konoha received a saviour because one old man understood.
A tool cannot create, because to create, one must be able to ask questions and go beyond what one is told. A tool can only follow orders and cannot think beyond them.
Yondaime looked at the nine-tailed fox that was destroying his village and prepared the seal he had created to begin sealing it within his own son. He did not know how he managed to create the seal so quickly and he wished that he could see his son grow but there was no time left. With a quick goodbye to his precious bundle he began to sealing process. Konoha was saved, because a of a man's creativeness.
A tool cannot change, for it is against its very nature. So it cannot adapt as its abilities and duties are set in stone.
Godaime had been rushed to take her office. She had been a wanderer with no responsibility to anyone but herself and her apprentice, yet one blonde, blue eyed child had changed her and now she was responsible for a whole village. The other hidden villages expected her to fail. For her teacher, brother and beloved she took her position, for a young child whose words had struck her heart, she persevered. Konoha was reborn from the ashes, because one woman could change.
"Oi, Ero sennin!"
"What is it brat?!"
"Shinobi are suppose to be tools, right?"
"Most people believe that they are tools to be used and then thrown away."
"And the Kage is the one that uses them, right?"
"Actually, they're the tools of the village, but the Kage is the one who gives the orders. Why? Starting to question your nindo."
"NO WAY. It's just…… the Kage's are the ones who use the shinobi, yet aren't Kage's shinobi themselves?"
The old man stared at the son of his student and for once he could not find an answer.
Tools cannot lead, for they would always need someone to use them.
Rokudaime looked over the village he had led over the years, his eyes briefly resting on the Hokage monument and he wondered how the shinobi code came about. After all, if the Hokage's were mere tools, the village before him would not exist. Konoha is Konoha, because six great men and women, stepped up to lead.