"Here, Minato. These are the new submissions for today. They can't be executed until you, as the Fourth Hokage, review and approve them."
Nara Shikaku dropped a stack of documents nearly half his height onto Namikaze Minato's desk.
The dull thud made Minato's already exhausted expression deepen into outright despair.
"Managing a village really isn't easy…"
"I honestly don't know how Third-sama handled endless matters like this for thirty years straight—and still kept building Konoha bigger and better."
"Quit whining," Shikaku said, rolling his eyes as he stretched his shoulders. "Third-sama didn't have this workload every single day."
"The war just ended. The transition of leadership. And now the Uchiha and Hyuga protests."
"If everything hadn't piled up at once, you wouldn't be buried like this."
"Everything needs rebuilding," Minato said, rubbing his neck with sincere awe. "Truly."
"Yeah," Shikaku replied, voice turning heavier. "And it's also time to deal with problems we didn't have the energy to touch before."
Minato's expression sharpened.
"Third-sama is finally investigating ROOT thoroughly?"
"He's already started." Shikaku nodded, worry visible even as he tried to sound calm. "The human experiments, forbidden technique development, the brainwashing methods left over from Danzo's era—he's digging through it all."
"He's already found information that was very well hidden. And it involves some… very troublesome figures."
"Third-sama says he'll handle it. That we don't need to touch the darkness born from his incompetence."
Shikaku sighed.
"But I've got a bad feeling."
"…Trust Third-sama," Minato said quietly. "He's been Hokage alongside this village for thirty years. How to handle the darkness… he understands far better than we do."
Minato picked up a report from the Konoha Military Police Force. The writing was sharp, the tone aggressive. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Besides… the mess we're dealing with isn't small either."
"The Uchiha hawks have been protesting nonstop. They want us to trade any price necessary to get Uchiha Shisui back from Kirigakure."
"Seriously…" Shikaku muttered, exasperated. "Uchiha really need to learn to use their brains."
"Shisui is a monster prodigy—Nine years old and already awakened three-tomoe. If Kirigakure holds him, they can rebuild an Uchiha clan of their own."
"With that kind of benefit on the table, how could Kirigakure possibly trade him back?"
"Compared to that," Shikaku continued, "the Hyuga response is far more realistic."
"A few branch family members got punished for failing to protect their people, but under the elders' control, most Hyuga have accepted the fact their Byakugan was taken."
"And because of that… Uchiha and Hyuga clashes have increased."
"Uchiha hawks mock the Hyuga as cowards who won't even speak up when their bloodline is stolen."
"And the Hyuga fire back that Uchiha only bark with their mouths—they don't dare act."
Minato looked at another report, this one from ANBU, and sighed.
"Just in the last two days, eight Hyuga shinobi were arrested by the Police Force after clashing with Uchiha."
"And among the Uchiha involved… only two received symbolic punishment. The other dozen were questioned and released on the spot."
Shikaku inhaled slowly.
"…Minato. Go talk to Fugaku."
"At least get them to stop making their double standard so obvious."
"Konoha can't withstand the shock of the Uchiha and Hyuga turning fully against each other right now."
Minato nodded. "Then I'll leave these matters to you for now, Shikaku."
He stood, took the Hokage's cloak from where it hung, and vanished with a flash—leaving Shikaku staring at the mountains of paperwork with a long, weary sigh.
"Minato… Third-sama…"
"Please. Handle this cleanly."
"If something big breaks out again… this war we finally ended will start right back up."
…
"So. You came looking for me, old man?"
Inside his public laboratory, Orochimaru sat with relaxed composure, watching Sarutobi Hiruzen enter with a group of ANBU.
"Orochimaru."
Hiruzen looked at his disciple—someone who had stepped into darkness without notice, and walked far, far into it.
A part of him was grateful he hadn't handed ROOT to Orochimaru after Danzo died.
His fingers tightened inside his gloves.
"When did you start conducting those forbidden experiments with Danzo?"
"Don't play dumb, Sarutobi-sensei." Orochimaru's reply was flat. "You're the one who's known Danzo the longest. The one who understands him best."
"After taking over what he left behind… why ask me such a boring question?"
"Unless…"
"In your heart, you still want to excuse what Danzo did?"
Hiruzen's face darkened.
He had always believed Danzo and Orochimaru—no matter how shadowed their methods—ultimately aimed to protect Konoha rather than satisfy their own ambition.
But ROOT's confidential records had slapped him in the face.
Abducting Konoha civilians as test subjects for data.
Assassinating dissenters to eliminate opposition.
Even Hatake Sakumo's suicide—
Danzo's men had been involved in guiding and amplifying the pressure behind it.
Only then had Hiruzen begun to understand what monster Danzo and ROOT had become under his permissiveness and failure.
"Nonsense, Orochimaru. Remember your place."
One ANBU behind Hiruzen barked harshly. "Do you think being one of the Sannin erases your crimes in ROOT?"
"Hey, Otsuhei, don't—"
Before the other ANBU could finish, a snake shot from Orochimaru's hand like an arrow.
It clamped onto the loudmouth's shoulder and hoisted him into the air as he screamed.
"Is this how you train your ANBU, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru's gaze was cold. "A brat who hasn't even completed a single S-rank mission can run his mouth in front of me?"
"Or…"
"Did you bring this idiot here… so you'd have an excuse to 'lawfully' take me down, Sensei?"
"Orochimaru—don't be reckless!" Hiruzen's voice snapped tight. "Release him. I didn't come here to kill you!"
Orochimaru's expression cooled further, like ice settling over poison.
He stared into Hiruzen's eyes, voice freezing.
"Then you came here to forbid all my research."
"To cut off my future."
"Is that it, Sarutobi-sensei?"
"Those cruel human experiments should never continue," Hiruzen said, stance firm. "And Konoha cannot grant someone endless privilege simply because they once contributed."
"It cannot cover for harming comrades."
"Orochimaru. Forget what you gained through wrong methods."
"If you do… you can remain one of Konoha's Sannin. You can still be admired."
"So that's it." Orochimaru laughed softly, as if something finally loosened in his chest.
"You plan to use Yamanaka techniques to seal part of my memory, don't you, Sensei?"
Hiruzen's eyes widened.
Orochimaru's smile turned strangely calm.
"Then it seems… my fate with Konoha ends here."
"Fine."
"That means I no longer need to cling to foolish hopes about this village."
"What are you going to do, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen summoned Enma, gripping the adamantine staff, voice sharp.
"Go pursue the knowledge and jutsu I desire," Orochimaru said.
He rose from his seat and bowed.
Then his mouth stretched open—wide enough to tear at the corners—as he rasped in a horrible, hoarse laugh.
"I hope that after you carve away us 'rotten parts' in the dark…"
"Konoha's future becomes bright."
"Because if it doesn't…"
"I'll laugh at you with everything I have—from somewhere you can still hear."
Hiss—
A torrent of deep purple poison poured from Orochimaru's mouth, thick enough to blacken the air. It flooded the entire laboratory in an instant.
ANBU moved at once—masks, jutsu, suppression—each using their own method to keep the toxin from entering their bodies.
And in that moment—
A long pale form burst from Orochimaru's maw, shooting straight for the exit.
Clang!
Hiruzen's staff smashed into the "White Phosphorus Great Serpent's" vital point, slamming it into the ground.
But the serpent's mouth opened again—
A smaller snake body fired out, slipping away in the chaos, fleeing without looking back.
"Cough—cough… Third-sama…"
A Yamanaka shinobi, already wearing a prepared mask, spoke through mind transmission.
"Did Orochimaru… escape?"
"He escaped," Hiruzen answered, staring at the grotesque shed skin left behind.
His eyes closed, heavy with something he couldn't name.
"Notify the village."
"By mind transmission."
"Tell them… Orochimaru has defected."
"Yes."
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