Well given that Shodaime and Nidaime were Senju, they probably would have done the same thing, also their teachings were passed down to Hiruzen, who was the on who had final say in the matter.i see that this discussion had came to a dead end so i am going to ask you a simple question
what would naruto or jiraiaya or the younger son of the sage would of done or even the past hokages ?
i doubt they would do the same thing what has been then represents the uchiha's principles they should of been better then them and only kill who planned to kill
Jiraiya had what it took to make the hard decisions, so I agree that he would've agreed to this solution, I agree that the younger son would've done the same thing. In the two son's case, I belive the youngest would've killed his brother, could he have, and saved his brother, and the world from a life long disease known as hatred, that's the difference in that case.
Naruto is still a child. Despite him being one of my favorite characters, he needs to grow up. You see his resolve with Sasuke and how it's turning out right? Sasuke has fallen down a road into complete and utter darkness, yet Naruto still refused to kill him. Now Naruto's even compromised a little. He has agreed to kill Sasuke should he try to harm Konoha, at the cost of his life. Naruto has agreed to protect Konoha and also kill Sasuke, but in turn plans to die in the end. Do you know what that means? It means in a case like this Naruto can only go through with it if he dies in the end, because it's not his character but he's showing that he can move past that for the sake of Konoha, and is going to sacrifice himself.
You want to want to compare Naruto and Itachi, Itachi and Naruto are greatly similar. Itachi swallowed his heart and his pacifism to kill his clan to prevent civil war, however he left his younger brother alive, and painted himself as a monster, so one day Sasuke would kill him and restore a good name to the Uchihas. You ask how is this the same as Naruto?
Naruto plans to fight Sasuke, should he return to harm Konoha and Naruto has said that both of them will die, meaning Naruto plans to kill Sasuke, and also die at Sasuke's hand, because Naruto has grown a bit and he knows that this must be done for the village. He's abandoing his morals to do what is right for the village but he's also sacrificing himself as well. Itachi sacrificed himself the same, however he went about it in a different way and Itachi's way simply didn't work...Naruto resolves to kill and be killed/die in the end. Itachi resolved to kill and be killed/die in the end. If you push Naruto some years forward he would've done the same thing.
Now here's you're problem with killing only the adults of the oporation. Kill the adults, leave the kids behind, what does that do (here's a hint, look how it already turned out, do you really want more Sasukes running around, planning on doing the same exact thing, once they get older, as their predicessors did?) Neccissary sacrifices, I would bet that anybody truely dedicated to Konoha or their village would have done this. I would even go on to say Minato, had he still been alive and found out about the coup, that he would've ordered the same exact thing as Hiruzen.