On that Obito-Minato question, I honestly like the thought and indication that Minato isn’t really as noble as the narrative tries to implied ( or at least fanon). It makes Minato more complex and far more greyer of a character. Minato may have been generally nice, but that doesn’t mean he was a good person.
Minato is nice from the perspective of Konoha ideals and the facade that it's so obsessed with maintaining. He was a “kind” teacher to his team, a “capable” leader for his unit (lmao), and likable. Oh, and he was blond and attractive. Sure, in the larger scheme of things, he wasn’t bad, he was playing by the rules he was raised on. I’m not holding him responsible for that. Like I said, the system did nothing against him or those he loved, even Kushina wasn’t against the idea of having a tailed fox inside of her, and she didn’t suffer as much hate about it as Naruto did -Mito did such a good job at being a jinchuriki that she had a good precedent, unlike his son who was forced to become the jinchuriki of the nine tails after it destroyed the village (and Minato forced his minutes-year-old to become the vessel of a beast when he knew there were people powerful enough to infiltrate the village and escape hunting down the nine tails jinchuriki).
Obito died during a war as did Rin, the circumstances surrounding their deaths did not involve Konoha specifically (yeah, the war was started by Konoha, who put 12-year-olds on the front of the battle, but hey, the village wasn’t doing something others didn’t so it isn’t that bad, right?), nor him as he was conveniently carrying out other missions (abandoning a barely promoted Jönin and two new ChĂĽnin in the battlefield), so it wasn't "technically" his fault (/s). Â
To Minato, the system wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad enough to bring it down, he was able to thrive on it, so when he heard about the Uchiha’s coup -and to Hiruzen admitting that he gave Itachi the mission to massacre his entire clan-, he excused the UCM with “well, you have the best interest at heart”. Which is stupidity. I’m not even making it up, he almost literally says that, word for word.
If this logic of “seeing the big picture” is enough to justify the Uchiha genocide, then what about Pain destroying Konoha? The complete destruction of a village to achieve a bigger goal, bigger than that village and whoever lived on it, isn’t justified as well? Or are we willing to contradict ourselves because our favorite characters live on it? What about Sasuke’s goal? Destroying Konoha’s elders, tailed beasts, and killing the Kages were also driven by a bigger goal, bigger than every shinobi village put together, bigger than Kaguya herself, but he’s just going too far?Â
Hiruzen got away with ordering a ten-year-old to murder his entire clan for a bigger goal (keep the things as they already were, yeah, that was a bigger goal apparently). Tobirama got away with his bias towards the Uchiha and what he put them through, cementing what later on will be Hiruzen modus operandi to rule his people. Kages got away with everything and excused their decisions with a “Curse of Hatred”, to downgrade the Uchiha’s statements (representing here the minorities). They couldn’t be logical because they were “cursed”, they couldn’t rule because they’re too influenced by their emotions, but somehow, Tobirama’s disdain for Madara had nothing to do with him pushing him off from being the first Hokage. Hashirama’s blind love for his brother had nothing to do with him falling for his brother’s manipulation, disregarding Madara’s arguments when he left for his “blood-thirsty nature” crap.
Sure, Minato didn’t have enough time to rule, but would have he changed things if able to stay longer in power? There’s no canon proof to back that up, it’s just a headcanon so carved into this fandom’s core that no one disputes it anymore.
[Edit: I’ll add something else here, in the manga, the Curse of Hatred that the Uchiha suffered was intrinsically bad, but the Will of Fire was, somehow, intrinsically good. There’s no such thing as an actual will, because the word entiles that there’s a true desire, a personal choice to do something, when in reality that Will was forced upon the villagers through their educational system and emotional manipulation.Â
The basic premise of Tobirama's belief system does not hold up. What it claims to defend and what it inevitably defends are completely different. Sakumo Hatake, Kakashi’s father, was pushed into committing suicide because he didn’t uphold that will, putting his comrades’ lives before Konoha’s necessity. In Tobirama’s eyes, such action might fall into the category of what the Curse of Hatred was.
Uchiha’s “curse of hatred” was born from their deep emotions, because they were connected to their feelings so fiercely they couldn’t control their actions and they seeked revenge against those who harmed their beloved ones. The Will of Fire wanted to control those emotions and redirect them for Konoha’s benefit -because the Will of Fire isn’t against having emotions, but about using them for the village’s purpose-. The Uchiha worrying more for their own than for the village (a village who’s system was shaped by a man who pushed them away from any involvement they might have on it), made them antagonists/enemies. The Will of Fire is about the control of others for a bigger goal, the curse of hatred is about the free will of the person "affected" by it.
Sure, once you force a person into believing that they do desire something (protect Konoha), it gets tricky to separate the person’s truthful wish from the “will” it was forced upon them, but that doesn’t justifies its condemnable roots.
Did Tobirama defend the premises of that will because it was his desire to establish a place with pillars strong enough for the clans not to turn against? Yes, it’s a valid argument to have. The village had to be above the clans for that purpose. But question the loyalty of a clan that had already -and willingly- stopped a long-lasting war to create that village, while he neglected the Uchiha’s involvement in the politics of said city, it escapes the premise in which Hashirama and Madara founded it.Â
Tobirama never stopped the war against the Uchiha, he moved it from the physical confrontation to the political level, a political level that he himself founded. He made them play by his rules, and because they questioned those rules, they were a threat. Those Uchiha that accepted Tobirama’s own system and allowed themselves to be used as tools for the village that the Second shaped (Hashirama might have found it, but it was Tobirama who carved its system) were the ones he “liked”.]
