"Lord Orochimaru, as was just demonstrated, the White Yaksha's strength is far too great. As for our plan from here on… what I mean is, should we make new revisions to our plan?"
In order to avoid angering his master, for whom "nothing was going smoothly," Kabuto Yakushi chose his words rather carefully.
After the First Hokage released himself from the Edo Tensei, Orochimaru arrived at a hidden location within the Chūnin Exams venue, where he made contact with Kabuto Yakushi, the spy he had planted in Konoha all along.
Although Orochimaru's expression showed no particular change, Kabuto still felt that the other man was definitely not in a good mood right now.
"Whether it was the strength of the First Hokage brought back through Edo Tensei, or the strength Hagoromo displayed while fighting him, to be honest, both exceeded my expectations a little. If I summon the First again, then before I obtain a method to increase Edo Tensei's suppressive control, it would be best not to release his consciousness at the start. Consider this a lesson learned."
"As for Hagoromo, all I can say is… as expected of the White Yaksha."
Orochimaru was indeed somewhat displeased, but what displeased him was not exactly what level of battle strength Hagoromo had displayed. Rather, it was that the other party had not used that special dōjutsu as he had expected. He had not even used that peculiar "Lightning Release." This caused Uncle Snake to lose an opportunity for observation and research.
In that sense, Orochimaru's operation this time had failed. Moreover, judging from the current situation, although Hagoromo and the First Hokage had fought evenly, in reality, both sides still had a great deal of strength held in reserve that had not been brought out.
Especially Hagoromo. He was even somewhat more mysterious than the First Hokage's Wood Release.
"Then our plan…"
In that speech of Orochimaru's, Kabuto's previous question had not received a direct answer, so he asked again.
Uncle Snake swept his cold vertical pupils over Kabuto. Fine, he could not blame the other party for being a little worried. After all, no matter who saw that battle just now, they probably would not want to face Hagoromo head-on. At least, not in the short term.
Hagoromo could bring people a kind of pressure they could not look directly at.
"The plan remains unchanged. Many things are not decided simply by strength alone. Although Hagoromo is very strong, there are things he cannot refuse all the same. Don't worry. I have already prepared bait that he will inevitably bite…"
"…I understand, Lord Orochimaru."
Faced with Orochimaru's mysterious confidence, Kabuto could not say anything more. But in truth, he still did not understand why, for something that was clearly very simple, Orochimaru had chosen to go through so many detours before achieving his objective.
While these two were hiding in the shadows and whispering to each other, the battlefield from earlier had already begun its cleanup work.
The previous chakra reaction could not possibly be hidden from the shinobi of the other villages who had come to Konoha. Although Konoha had no obligation to explain this matter to them, considering the current period, it would still be best to prepare an appropriate explanation just in case.
As he thought this, the Third Hokage glanced in Hagoromo's direction… When necessary, this pot could be completely dumped onto that guy's head. In any case, pinning this kind of violent act on him would be believable no matter how one said it. Besides, this matter had originally been done by his hand anyway. They would merely be changing it from "passive" engagement into active troublemaking.
If one had to say what was currently the trendiest thing in Konoha, it was probably the Uchiha's seeds, the Hyūga clan's eyes, the Third Hokage's beard, the White Yaksha's brain, and the Fifth's brea— cough. In short, when using the word "trendy" to describe Hagoromo, it might refer to being fashionable, or it might refer to being wet in the head.
Either way, if they said he had set off an explosion in Konoha, to the various villages, it would be unexpectedly convincing.
If they told people from the other villages that Konoha had been blown up, the other party might scoff. But if they said the White Yaksha had done it, probably everyone would draw out their voices and say, "Ohhh~~ so that's what happened…"
"Right now, the first thing everyone needs to do is confirm the condition of the candidates participating in the Chūnin Exams. No matter what, we must ensure the next stage of the exams will not be disrupted."
While the Third Hokage's head was full of all sorts of messy thoughts, Tsunade was issuing orders in his place to the Anbu shinobi and Chūnin Exams proctors before her.
As for the issue Hagoromo had mentioned, the Thousand-Armed Buddha statue left behind by the First Hokage, that indeed had to be handled as well. Although after Hashirama left, it really was just an oversized figurine and no longer posed any threat, they still could not simply leave it standing there.
Perhaps moving it back to Konoha was also a good idea. At the very least, it could increase the village's height and set off the Hokage's dignity.
However, this thing was both heavy and enormous. Even sealing it would not be easy, so Hagoromo firmly refused the job of transporting it.
"Right, where's Tenzō? Doesn't the Anbu have a shinobi who can use Wood Release? Have him handle this." Hagoromo suddenly remembered that there was such a person. The Hokage thought about it, then nodded inwardly. Mm, Tenzō really was very suitable.
Without even realizing it, Tenzō had been tricked into tears. Was the Wood Release used by the Hokage and the Wood Release used by him even the same level of thing?
Seeing Tsunade handle all kinds of affairs in such an orderly manner, the Hokage felt more than half relieved. Only then did he pull Hagoromo to the side and ask, "The person who used Edo Tensei really was Orochimaru?"
When he asked this, his gaze was fixed on the corpse of that Otogakure shinobi. That was the sacrifice used for Edo Tensei.
"It was definitely him," Hagoromo said. Who else could have done this besides Uncle Snake?
"Do you know his purpose in returning to Konoha?"
In response to this question, Hagoromo shook his head. He had some guesses, but he was not certain. When Konoha had so many powerful shinobi gathered here, could Uncle Snake really be planning an invasion, or perhaps to collapse Konoha? He had no reason to do that, right? And Uncle Snake should not be so brain-damaged as to throw himself into a net, right?
"No matter what, I feel Orochimaru will still continue moving around near Konoha for a while. He won't leave so easily."
The Hokage also agreed with Hagoromo's judgment. This was also why he had pulled him aside. "No matter what Orochimaru's objective is, there is one matter I want to entrust to you…"
The Third Hokage explained his idea to Hagoromo.
"Third… are you sure you want to do this? You've seen the current situation too…"
The matter the Hokage entrusted to him made Hagoromo find it somewhat hard to believe. This decision was a little incomprehensible.
"In any case, I'll entrust this matter to you."
"…"
Hagoromo did not speak. At this moment, his gaze remained fixed on Tsunade.
Tsunade, who had once held her own in the Shinobi World War, naturally possessed considerable management experience. When it came to learning how to be Hokage, she picked it up very quickly. She was already looking the part…
Looking the part.
He just had not expected that there would also come a time when the Third Hokage wanted to screw over a teammate.
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