In the entire history of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, very few men have carried both the blessing and curse of being the Hokage's friend.
I called it a blessing because I was genuinely happy for Hiruzen. As much as it pained me to lose Lord Second in such a violent way, my friend was ready to take over. He doubted himself only in private and put on the best face he could. And until he knew for certain that what he was doing was right, he at least acted like he did so none of the clan heads or old members of the Konoha Assembly would take advantage of his youth.
We did see something close to a golden age through him. The man was full of dreams and ideas on how to turn Konoha into a better place. Perhaps we didn't always agree with him, or perhaps it wasn't in our budget to do so, but he never gave up.
He was my blessing because I got to be a part of it. Koharu and I were nowhere near as strong as him. Our strengths rested in other things, but he never replaced us with more qualified people. He took care of us: giving us chance after chance until we figured out what a councilor needed to do.
I was never his best friend, but I believe that worked to my advantage. He could always trust Koharu and me to be honest with him, even when we disagreed with him. And when his successor is named and approved by our Daimyo, then I look forward to guiding the next Hokage to glory with the same honesty and candor.
I call my position a curse only because I saw what Hiruzen's tenure as Hokage did to his best friend. He and Shimura Danzō were closer than any brothers I knew. But years of being second best wore away at Danzō's resolve. Even now, he continues to burn with ambition…but the fuel to feed his Will of Fire has changed. When I first met Danzō, he was motivated by his hopes and dreams. Now he only runs on spite and resentment.
I used to think it was only because he was passed over for the Hokage position not only once, but twice. We didn't consider him at the end of the Third War, either. Nor are we considering him now. Not when there are more powerful and younger shinobi with the potential to lead.
I fear it goes deeper than that, and I fear what he could potentially do. There are entire parts of my former teammate's life I still don't know about, but Danzō does in detail. He knows where all the proverbial bodies are buried. And now that our future is uncertain, I'm a little afraid of what he'll do if we don't nominate him next.
Hiruzen had a gift for diplomacy. One of the first international agreements he managed to convince the Kages to sign was the armistice that ended the First Great Shinobi War. That compromise would be honored for almost ten years of nearly perfect, uninterrupted peace.
Koharu raised our son in peacetime and managed to navigate him toward a future that would never involve the battlefield, but would always involve the Konoha Council. I have lost count of how many times we have deferred to his expertise on village history to see if there is any precedent to our actions or at least a similar case. So far, two Hokages have used Tohru as a valuable resource in the Village Archives. Our Fifth Hokage shall do the same, whoever he (or she, as Koharu keeps reminding me) turns out to be.
And we had Hiruzen to thank for all this. When Koharu voiced her worries about the boy becoming a ninja and performing well enough in Academy to justify becoming a genin, Hiruzen personally called in the Academy staff and gave the order to ensure Tohru never graduated…but simply aged out. It's a kindness our sensei never would have considered.
But it wasn't only the two of us that Hiruzen looked out for. Over the years, he covered secret after secret for Danzō so he could live up to his promise of giving him a lifetime appointment in his position. His early mistakes cost us many friends, not just Uchiha Kagami, but Hiruzen refused to give up on him.
As for the whole of the village, Hiruzen's top priority was building alliances and agreements with our neighbors. Sometimes Koharu, Homura, Danzō and I were called to discuss agreements in other nations. While we gained ties with a small nation here or there, Hiruzen prided our signed alliance with Sunagakure the most. We thought we'd succeeded, but this most recent attack indicates the Kazekage had come to resent us. Either that, or he merely trusted Orochimaru more.
And that brings me to his thoughts for the future. Although my former teammate trained three of the strongest shinobi for the next generation, not a one of them turned out the way he'd hoped. Jiraiya is now off doing his own thing, only appearing when he's needed. Tsunade has been missing in action for so long that we only receive the occasional rumor regarding her whereabouts. Upon the death of her grandmother, it was clear she had no more love for this place. And Orochimaru…
Orochimaru destroyed everything from within. He was Hiruzen's favorite: his bright and talented genius from a broken home. Orochimaru loved to learn and Hiruzen loved to teach. Had he never been nominated as Hokage, he probably would have considered a position at the Academy to build the youth of tomorrow into greater shinobi.
To whoever reads this, I apologize. I realize I'm writing more of my friend's faults down rather than his strengths.
In short, Hiruzen went into this with the best of intentions and wasn't afraid of getting his hands dirty. He had a very special friend by his side to do his dirty work. The three of us remained spotless and the one scandal Koharu and I could have had thrown in our faces—our shared child—Hiruzen covered like a master.
Our blessing was that Danzō was willing to be the dirty one for all of us: our shady friend doing shady things to keep this great machine running. Our curse is that he always wished to come to the light. He knows where every body is buried, every injustice was committed, and every back was stabbed. If we raise him up, all he'll do is push us down.
Danzō knows we aren't nominating him. He didn't even have to ask; he just knows. And I think this is why he couldn't bother to attend the funeral. The whole of the village appeared for this, save the one person I'm certain Hiruzen would have wanted more than anyone else.
In typical vainglorious fashion, Danzō told me it was because someone had to think of the village's security even during the greatest of tragedies. Koharu believes he couldn't bring himself to see Hiruzen's body. Personally, I think it's spite. Spite's the only thing that man has ever expressed in my presence.
I fear what this next generation is going to bring. One bright light was snuffed out already, but it's not like Hiruzen's there for backup anymore. Whoever we choose, whoever we support…please. For the sake of Konoha, please be strong. And please learn from our failures how not to have the past repeat itself.
Please be a blessing. We've had enough curses to last us a lifetime.
~Mitokado Homura