Questionable Questing

Either too much transparency, or a lack of perceived threat to civilian life. Perhaps both.

Konoha seems invincible, but parents can see how dangerous life is for Ninja. Couple that with a requirement for Parental Permission in the academy, and recruitment goes down.

Plotvitalnpc

Combine that with how frequently things go bad for them, and their ninja force is mostly attached to home defense. They just...can't get people out to do missions. They rely heavily on subsidies from their daimyo.

Plotvitalnpc

Meanwhile, Kumo is heavily militarized, has a patriotic and wealthy civilian population, and has two loyal jinchuurikis to hold down the fort while they exploit one of the best economic locations on the entire continent by doing missions constantly.

Valette-Serafina

...Dear gods, we just gave Danzo a point.

I mean, he's still a selfish idiot who takes far too many risks and alienates all of his potential allies out of naked paranoia, but he had a better grasp of what's wrong with Konoha than Hiruzen.

If he'd backed the Uchiha...

Plotvitalnpc

The loss of the Uchiha also didn't help Konoha at all. Maybe they were 5/5 military power before thousands of bloodline ninjas were exterminated.
Well, except that the Uchihas would've broken Konoha themselves.

Plotvitalnpc

Having the uchihas also gave Konoha enough manpower to be at least Econ 3/5. Maybe 4/5 or 5/5.

Plotvitalnpc

Shame that that relationship couldn't last. Those were the days when Konoha was the greatest of the villages, rather than the slummy husk of it. The days when they had a police force and a whole bloodline clan rather than having to use the majority of their manpower for internal defense.

Valette-Serafina

They must still have had issues. Their military strength might have been greater, but they'd still have had to compete with all four of the other Great Villages.

Valette-Serafina

The Uchiha Coup was a foolish mistake, on both sides, but if the Uchiha hadn't gone it alone, it might have been a good move. Hiruzen's leadership wasn't up to the task, clearly.

If the Uchiha had the backing of most of the other clans, and perhaps a few influential high-ranking ninja, they could have pulled it off without opening Konoha up to invasion.

Plotvitalnpc

The military and economy were definitely better when they had all those loyal ninjas and policemen, though. S'just that there was a deep sociopolitical divide.

Plotvitalnpc

And...they were not making NEARLY as good a use of their population as Kumo was, even back then.

Plotvitalnpc

Without the Shounen Derp Demigods of Konoha being...well..shonen derp demigods, Konoha would've continued down a slippery slope to becoming a minor village, leaving Fire Country to be carved up.

Plotvitalnpc

The current crisis started becoming a visible inevitability when the Kyuubi fucked the village, was cemented during the Uchiha Massacre, and compounded in the Konoha Crush and Pein's attack.

Plotvitalnpc

S-ranked missing nins popping out of the place all the while.

Plotvitalnpc

...This is why Konoha was poaching all the good missions from Suna. Desperately trying to get more profit out of limited manpower.

Valette-Serafina

Just imagine what would have happened if Tsunade hadn't been willing to come back in canon. They'd have had to give the hat to Danzo, Jiriya, Gai, or Kakashi. Maybe Asuma, but I doubt it.

Danzo's the only one of them who'd have wanted it, but I'm pretty sure Jiriya would feel the need to step in.

And then Konoha's lost its spymaster.

Valette-Serafina

No line of succession, That's a major failing in Hiruzen's second term.

Valette-Serafina

Heh. I bet there was a term in the Suna-Konoha treaties that was there to keep Suna from undercutting Konoha.

And then Konoha turns around and undercuts Suna.
No wonder they were willing to invade.

Plotvitalnpc

Without Shounen Ex Machina, Konoha was going to collapse in a gruesome fashion in perhaps less than a decade. You can really see how Kumo would think they had nothing to fear from trying to steal Hinata, and could even be the ones making demands when everyone, frankly, knew that they were in the wrong there, not Konoha.

Plotvitalnpc

Konoha is the rotting husk of a failed experiment, while Kumo is the ultimate model of a successful hidden village. It's only natural for the former to be the bitch of the latter.