"Hiruzen Sarutobi is destined to die at the hands of a Konoha shinobi."
"In Konoha, he built a powerful political alliance centered around his former classmates and several mid-sized clans, creating an unshakable political momentum."
"There's nothing inherently wrong with strengthening the Hokage's centralized authority this way."
"Even using that position to benefit the Sarutobi Clan isn't necessarily a problem either. That's simply human nature."
"The problem is that Hiruzen Sarutobi's desire for power is far too strong!"
"Sakumo Hatake was the first clear piece of evidence."
"But the most convincing example is still what happened to the Fourth Hokage in the original history."
"Minato Namikaze completed every formal procedure and officially became the Fourth Hokage."
"And yet, the only ANBU shinobi he could command was his own student, Kakashi Hatake."
"That was the ANBU!"
"Not only was it a department directly subordinate to the Hokage, it was also the Hokage's personal guard force."
"In theory, it was an armed organization that only the Hokage himself should have controlled."
"Yet it remained firmly in the hands of the 'retired' Third Hokage."
"Because Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to relinquish power, even the succession of the Hokage could not result in a normal transfer of authority."
"Therefore, only after Hiruzen Sarutobi dies can a new Hokage truly take power."
"But then there's another problem."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi always puts the 'greater good' first and never leaves Konoha."
"There's almost no possibility of him dying at the hands of an external enemy."
"So…"
"He can only die at the hands of a Konoha shinobi."
Uchiha Yoru's gaze was calm as he murmured softly,
"In the original history, Orochimaru finally reached the limit of his patience."
"With the entire village effectively cooperating, he sent the old man on his way while conveniently giving him a heroic ending."
"But this time, I'm the one preparing to send him off."
"And I'm not killing him for Konoha."
"Nor do I intend to personally bear the infamy of murdering a Hokage."
"So Hiruzen Sarutobi's death cannot be an honorable sacrifice."
"He must die as a sinner condemned for generations."
"That way, I'll be killing Hiruzen Sarutobi…"
"Not the Third Hokage."
Having said that, Uchiha Yoru pressed one hand against the ground and performed the Summoning Technique.
Miwa Masayo appeared in a puff of smoke.
They had only been apart for a few days, yet the tabby cat had somehow become much rounder.
She looked adorably plump.
Uchiha Yoru could not help laughing.
"Rika-chan, you really got fat!"
Miwa Masayo replied irritably,
"And whose fault is that, meow?"
"I helped you deal with all that excess natural energy, but you made me absorb it for two days straight."
"Of course I got fat, meow."
Uchiha Yoru smiled.
"It's fine. This is only temporary."
"The ultra-pure natural energy filtered through divine power is different from ordinary natural energy. Its metabolic rate is extremely fast."
"At most, another five days and you'll have completely digested it."
Miwa Masayo grinned.
"I already know that, meow."
"And this time I'll improve by a lot too, meow."
"Oh, right."
"You summoned me because you need new materials for Edo Tensei, meow?"
Uchiha Yoru nodded.
"The Third Hokage is waiting ahead with a group of shinobi."
"He came here to kill me."
"So I'm going to kill him."
"I need a few helpers."
The tabby cat froze for a moment.
Then she exploded in fury.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi has gone insane, meow?!"
"Yoru! You're right!"
"If he wants to kill you, then kill him first!"
"I'll help you, meow!"
As she spoke, Miwa Masayo arched her back.
The striped fur along her spine stood on end.
Her entire aura abruptly changed.
The cute little tabby cat instantly transformed into something resembling a magnificent tiger ruling over the mountains.
Ignoring the natural energy she was still digesting, she actually intended to forcibly expel the ultra-pure natural energy she had painstakingly absorbed so she could immediately return to combat condition.
Uchiha Yoru hurriedly reached out and stopped her.
That special natural energy was extremely precious.
He had spent an enormous amount of effort using divine power to filter it into its current refined state.
This refined natural energy could act as a catalyst for senjutsu, drawing in natural energy from the surrounding environment and massively strengthening the power of senjutsu.
It was also the fundamental reason he had been able to unleash the nation-destroying senjutsu—
Sea of Treants.
Of course, because his control was still insufficient, a considerable portion of that refined natural energy would disperse whenever he used related senjutsu.
That was precisely why he had deliberately summoned Miwa Masayo and let her absorb every bit of it into her body.
Miwa Masayo struggled in his arms and protested loudly.
"Stupid Yoru, let go of me, meow!"
Naturally, Uchiha Yoru held her firmly.
"It took so much effort to absorb all of that."
"You can't waste it, Rika-chan."
The tabby cat's eyes widened into circles, while her pupils narrowed into thin vertical slits.
"It's not a waste, meow!"
"Hiruzen Sarutobi actually wants to kill you!"
"I have to kill him, meow!"
Uchiha Yoru shook his head.
"Oh, my little darling."
"The Hiruzen Sarutobi we're about to kill is still the Third Hokage."
"At the very least, we can't drag the Cat Castle into this."
"So you can't take action this time."
"The Cat Cast—"
"But!"
"I can't let you take the risk alone, meow!"
"We promised!"
"When things get truly dangerous, we face them together, meow!"
"Hahaha."
"It's only Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"There's no danger at all."
"That's precisely why I don't need your help this time."
"Yoru, what nonsense are you talking about, meow?"
"Killing Hiruzen Sarutobi isn't dangerous?"
"I promise."
"To the current me, a mere Hiruzen Sarutobi is nothing worth worrying about."
The tabby cat stared suspiciously at Uchiha Yoru.
"When did you become that strong, meow?"
"And if you're really that strong, why are you specifically using Edo Tensei to find helpers, meow?"
"Because I still want to live in Konoha."
"So the helpers I'm looking for aren't here to help me fight."
"They're here to provide me with 'legitimacy.'"
"Meow meow meow?"
"Anyway, help me bring over three White Zetsu coffins."
"And biological tissue samples numbered 001, 002, 013, 709, and 1201."
"Once I finish the Edo Tensei, you'll understand."
"Okay, meow."
…
Miwa Masayo twisted her plump body around and quickly brought over everything he needed.
Uchiha Yoru soon completed his preparations.
Then he rapidly formed hand seals and slapped both hands onto the ground.
He activated the forbidden technique.
Ninja Art: Edo Tensei.
As several circular sealing arrays took shape, three White Zetsu screamed as gray-white earth wrapped around their bodies.
Their forms were rapidly reshaped.
Soon, three tall and imposing shinobi stood before them.
Miwa Masayo recognized two of them at a glance.
Her mouth fell wide open.
In an instant, she understood what her poop-scooper had meant by "legitimacy."
The man with long black hair and red armor was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
The white-haired man in blue armor was the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
As long as those two acknowledged what happened—
Hiruzen Sarutobi would no longer be the Third Hokage.
He would merely be a powerful Kage-level shinobi.
Kill him, and that would be that.
But the tabby cat did not recognize the third shinobi.
He was a middle-aged man with a full head of white hair and an exceptionally warm, gentle smile.
Miwa Masayo stretched out one paw, spreading her little plum-blossom toes.
She quietly asked,
"Yoru, who is this, meow?"
Uchiha Yoru sighed emotionally.
"He was the purest believer in the Will of Fire."
"And the first shinobi to directly threaten the Third Hokage's authority."
"Senior Sakumo Hatake."
"Hmm."
"So it's you, Uchiha Yoru."
"Who brought me back to life again?"
Uchiha Yoru nodded.
"Yes, Senior Hatake."
"I'm using the Second Hokage's forbidden technique, Edo Tensei."
"It can temporarily awaken the dead."
"Hmph."
"Uchiha brat, why are you disturbing me again so soon?"
Tobirama Senju opened his eyes and glared at Uchiha Yoru in displeasure.
"You even summoned my elder brother this time."
"What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?"
Uchiha Yoru waved his hand.
"Second Hokage, I didn't cause the trouble this time."
"And honestly, it can't really be called trouble."
"I only awakened the three of you to serve as witnesses."
Hashirama Senju had actually been the first to regain consciousness.
But he was also the one most confused by everything he had heard.
He asked,
"You're an Uchiha shinobi?"
"Are you a Konoha shinobi?"
Uchiha Yoru nodded.
"Yes."
"I am Uchiha Yoru of Konoha's Uchiha Clan."
Hearing that answer, Tobirama Senju secretly relaxed.
Hashirama Senju, however, asked another question.
"Then where's your forehead protector?"
"I keep it hidden."
Uchiha Yoru opened his gray-blue coat, revealing the forehead protector tied around his waist.
He smiled and explained,
"I don't like attracting too much attention."
Hashirama looked at it and scratched the back of his head with a laugh.
"So that's how it is."
"Has Konoha already become this impressive?"
Tobirama Senju could no longer tolerate his brother.
He shoved Hashirama aside and asked directly,
"What exactly happened?"
Uchiha Yoru smiled and pointed forward.
"Four kilometers ahead, at the Tiger Mountain Pass."
"The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is lying in ambush with his student Jiraiya and roughly three hundred ANBU and Root shinobi."
Then he pointed at his own nose.
"Although I don't have any evidence…"
"I'm convinced they're targeting me."
"They intend to ambush and kill me."
Uchiha Yoru made an expression that practically said—
Second Hokage, you know what kind of person I am.
"Even if the Third Hokage personally attacks me, there's absolutely no possibility that I'll surrender without resisting."
"So…"
"I need you seniors to act as witnesses."
"Witness that I was not the one who initiated the battle."
"And witness that…"
"When I kill those shinobi wearing Konoha forehead protectors…"
"I had no other choice."
Those few sentences caused the expressions of Tobirama Senju and Hashirama Senju to change drastically.
Their faces became solemn.
Their eyes sharpened.
Killing intent radiated from them.
Sakumo Hatake's gentle smile turned into an incredulous, bitter one.
He murmured,
"Even the Third Hokage is personally taking action now?"
"How did things come to this?"
"Where is Danzo Shimura?"
Uchiha Yoru casually scratched Miwa Masayo beneath the chin.
"There's a reason the Third Hokage has to personally act against me."
"First, he doesn't have much choice."
"After all, Danzo Shimura was already killed by a certain Wood Release user."
"Second, I once insulted the Third Hokage to his face."
"I called him shameless."
"A bastard."
"And said that he had fallen beyond redemption…"
"He must really want to strangle me personally."
"Third, I'm still a Konoha shinobi."
"And I'm also a shinobi with a fair amount of influence inside the Uchiha Clan."
"Other than Root, if he wants to order ordinary Konoha shinobi to attack me, the Third Hokage himself must personally step forward and endorse the action."
Hashirama Senju stared at Uchiha Yoru for a long time.
At last, he turned toward his younger brother with an extremely serious expression.
"I think this child is telling the truth."
"Monkey really may have gone wrong."
"Tobirama."
"Monkey is your student, and you're smarter than I am."
"I'll leave this matter to you."
Hashirama's meaning was obvious.
If Tobirama failed to handle it properly—
Hashirama would take care of it himself.
The moment Tobirama imagined his elder brother's usual approach to solving problems, he could not help swallowing.
He nodded.
"Brother, I'll handle it properly."
Then he looked toward Uchiha Yoru.
"Brat."
"What's your plan?"
"How do you need the three of us to cooperate?"
Uchiha Yoru grinned broadly, showing eight white teeth.
"Second Hokage, you really do understand me."
"My plan is simple."
"All three of you hide yourselves and follow me to the pass ahead."
"When the Third Hokage officially announces that he's attacking me…"
"Cover your faces and step out."
"Yes, exactly."
"Just stand behind me in a row."
"That'll be enough."
"Leave everything else to me."
Tobirama Senju narrowed his eyes into thin slits.
He carefully scrutinized Uchiha Yoru for a long time before finally asking,
"You absolutely insist on Hiruzen dying?"
Uchiha Yoru met his gaze without the slightest fear.
He enunciated each word clearly.
"An abscess should be drained before it festers any further."
"Otherwise the patient dies…"
"And the village suffers."
Tobirama Senju glanced at the other white-haired man beside him.
In the end, his shoulders slumped slightly.
"Fine."
"We'll follow your plan."
"I want to see for myself…"
"Just what Hiruzen has become."
Uchiha Yoru smiled happily.
"As expected of the Second Hokage."
"You really make decisions quickly."
"Then, First Hokage, Second Hokage, Senior Hatake…"
"Please follow behind me."
As Uchiha Yoru walked forward, he spoke to Miwa Masayo.
"See?"
"My helpers are all here."
"What happens next is Konoha's internal disgrace."
"Rika-chan, you should head back now."
Miwa Masayo nodded.
She canceled the summoning and vanished into a cloud of white smoke.
Returning to—
Uchiha Yoru's home in Konoha.
And in the exact instant Miwa Masayo disappeared, Tobirama Senju moved.
With lightning speed, he pulled out an explosive tag and wrote two lines on the back.
Then he casually tossed it into the air.
The instant the explosive tag left Tobirama's fingers, it dissolved into faint white smoke and vanished.
Ninja Art: Flying Thunder God Technique — Object Transfer.
The light explosive tag crossed space itself.
It fluttered down onto a head of golden hair.
The owner of that hair caught it in one hand.
After taking a single glance, she exclaimed,
"Damn it!"
"How did things already reach the point where a clash is about to break out?"
"Fortunately, it's not too far away."
"If I hurry, I might still make it in time."
The blonde woman with twin ponytails raised her head and glanced at the gates of Konoha, already within easy reach.
Then she turned around without the slightest hesitation.
She had hesitated outside those gates for nearly an hour.
She had never managed to decide how she should face the Konoha shinobi after walking back inside.
Especially the people she knew.
There was nothing quite like the hesitation of returning home after years away.
Originally, she had finally completed her mental preparations.
She had already taken the first step toward entering Konoha.
But at that critical moment, she received a message from the Second Hokage.
The instant she learned that the Third Hokage had taken a shinobi force to ambush Uchiha Yoru—
All the mental preparation she had painstakingly built instantly vanished.
Without hesitation, she rushed toward the ambush location.
"Teacher, what the hell are you doing?!"
"You're trying to get yourself killed!"
"Orochimaru!"
"I already sent you a message!"
"You'd better hurry too!"
…
Orochimaru suddenly sneezed.
A group of clan heads from small and medium-sized shinobi clans were startled.
The head of the Gekkō Clan asked with concern,
"Lord Orochimaru, are you perhaps too exhausted?"
"I may have rushed back from the Land of Rivers in a single day, and I may have spent more than ten hours speaking with all of you…"
"But I'm not so fragile that I'd fall ill from something like that, Gekkō Tobira."
Orochimaru rubbed his nose helplessly.
"That sneeze…"
"Probably Tsunade cursing me."
He stood up.
The Hokage half-sleeve draped over his shoulder shifted with the movement, making it exceptionally conspicuous.
Orochimaru said,
"Thanks to the intelligence you've provided, I already know where my teacher went."
"And I can more or less guess what he intends to do."
"Sigh…"
"For the sake of Konoha's stability, I suppose I'll have to go take a look."
The large group of clan heads stood up with him.
Their voices were somewhat uneven as they said,
"We leave everything to you, Lord Orochimaru."
Orochimaru waved impatiently.
"Go on, go on."
After everyone had left, Orochimaru suddenly asked,
"What has your clan head decided?"
From one corner of the room, a single insect suddenly flew upward.
Then more and more insects rose into the air.
As the swarm dispersed, the shinobi hidden beneath them was revealed.
Shibi Aburame—
The foremost figure of the Aburame Clan's new generation.
He nodded respectfully toward Orochimaru.
"The Aburame Clan is willing to follow behind Lord Orochimaru."
The shadow beneath a decorative flowerpot near the doorway suddenly stretched outward.
The darkness rippled like a wave.
Shikaku Nara silently emerged beside the door.
On the other side of the doorway, Inoichi Yamanaka had somehow already appeared, leaning calmly against the wall.
At that moment, the light at the entrance dimmed.
Chōza Akimichi entered first.
He stepped aside beside Shikaku and cleared the doorway.
Then another heavyset man walked in.
He had large dark circles beneath his eyes and wore a black cap decorated with a pair of large horns.
The moment Orochimaru saw this shinobi, even he could no longer remain completely indifferent.
He stepped forward several paces and greeted him politely.
"Senior Torifu Akimichi."
"I didn't expect you to come personally."
Torifu Akimichi had been Hiruzen Sarutobi's classmate, teammate, and comrade-in-arms.
Yet after the Third Hokage took office, Torifu had never accepted any official position in the village.
He lived almost like an ordinary jōnin.
He worked hard on missions.
Earned money.
Supported his family.
But whenever Konoha faced a crisis, Torifu Akimichi would silently step forward.
Without fanfare, he would stand at the very front and shield everyone behind him from the storm.
Before anyone realized it, Torifu Akimichi had become one of the shinobi most respected by Konoha's jōnin.
The overwhelming majority of jōnin regarded him as a role model.
Meanwhile, after serving as Hokage for twenty years, Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige had declined considerably.
Torifu looked at Orochimaru and smiled gently.
"After Shikaku learned what you intended to do, he felt that the three of them might not possess enough credibility to earn your complete trust."
"So he asked this old man to serve as guarantor for the Ino-Shika-Chō clans."
"Please believe that our three clans are serious about supporting you."
Facing this gentle, heavyset shinobi, Orochimaru lowered his head modestly.
"Since you personally came forward as guarantor, how could I possibly doubt them?"
"Hehehe."
"I came because I believe in you, Orochimaru."
"I believe you can handle the responsibilities of Hokage properly."
"At the very least…"
"You'll do a better job than your teacher."
"Orochimaru."
"Go ahead and do what needs to be done."
"I support you."
Orochimaru let out a long breath.
Then, with unprecedented seriousness, he said,
"Thank you for your trust, Senior Torifu."
"Please rest assured."
"I will do it well."
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