Hokage Residence.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru sat below him.
Biwako moved back and forth between the kitchen and dining room. Once she heard Tsunade and Jiraiya had come as well, she hurriedly prepared several additional dishes.
Tender chicken. Roasted meat. Meatballs. Light snacks perfect with alcohol.
All things she remembered the children loving.
Asuma struggled in, lugging several jars of sake and setting them by the table.
Tsunade and Jiraiya both enjoyed drinking. The moment they arrived, they insisted that Team Hiruzen had not gathered in ages and tonight absolutely required a proper toast.
"Asuma, why the sudden apology?" Hiruzen teased when he noticed his youngest son bustling around attentively, avoiding his gaze.
He could guess.
Probably something about him being rigid and old-fashioned.
After all, the old Hiruzen had been a classic relic of the Warring States era. As long as his son was fed and alive, that was enough. Heart-to-heart talks were practically nonexistent.
In his generation, survival was the best form of parenting.
That was how old-school ninja families operated.
"I said at school that you…" Asuma's face flushed crimson. He could not bring himself to finish. He bowed deeply instead. "Father, I'm sorry!"
"Let me guess. Something like 'boring old man,' right?" Hiruzen chuckled. "You're not the first to say that."
Asuma blinked and glanced toward his older brother.
Shinnosuke's face darkened. "Don't look at me. I've always respected Father."
Asuma looked confused.
Then who?
Hiruzen cast a meaningful glance at his three students.
Jiraiya stared up at the ceiling and whistled.
Tsunade rubbed her hands and laughed awkwardly. "Well, I was young and foolish back then, Teacher!"
Only Orochimaru remained composed.
He had never called Hiruzen a useless old man. But if things had continued as they once were…
The insults might not have been affectionate.
Asuma could not help grumbling, "Tsunade-neesan and Jiraiya-nii-san have no conscience. Father taught you so many jutsu, and you still badmouthed him behind his back!"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Hey, brat. He's your father too."
Jiraiya crossed his arms. "Teacher, this kid needs a beating."
Orochimaru watched quietly.
In a strange way, he understood Asuma.
The boy lacked acknowledgment. Lacked warmth.
So had he. Perhaps even more so.
"Asuma, I haven't spent much time with you in the past," Hiruzen said, clearing his throat. "From now on, if something happens at the academy, you can tell me about it."
Asuma's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Hiruzen nodded.
"Father, I won't stay for dinner. I'm on Anbu duty tonight." Shinnosuke pulled on his mask and gave a thumbs-up. "Can't hold you back."
He turned and left without hesitation.
"No problem. I'll stay!" Asuma grinned and tried to climb into a seat.
After setting down the last bowl of stew, Biwako asked softly, "Hiruzen, do you need to talk?"
"Yes."
Hiruzen blinked at her. "Thank you."
She smiled knowingly, grabbed Asuma by the back of his collar, and hauled him away from the table.
Hiruzen suppressed a laugh.
The Sarutobi family was traditional about who sat at the table.
As for why Tsunade could sit—
She was not just a woman. She was a jonin, Konoha's foremost medical ninja, Hiruzen's student, granddaughter of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, and the princess of the Land of Fire.
Strength mattered.
"Eat first. Help yourselves," Hiruzen said, tapping Orochimaru lightly. "You've lost weight. Have more meat."
"I'd say it's from burning too much chakra after you beat him up," Jiraiya said around a mouthful of food. "Like he cares about weight. Who knows, maybe he'll even change his yin and yang someday…"
Orochimaru paused briefly, though his expression stayed calm as he peeled an egg with elegant precision.
"The foolish cannot comprehend genius. Eat your food, Jiraiya."
Inside, however, he was slightly startled.
That idiot's intuition was frighteningly sharp.
The Immortality Jutsu he researched did allow him to seize another body. Late at night, he had indeed wondered whether one day, if he parted ways with Konoha, trying a different gender might be… interesting.
But now—
He glanced at Hiruzen and smiled faintly.
Perhaps that would not be necessary.
Tsunade ate heartily.
After losing her lover and brother, the number of people she truly cherished was small. Mito Uzumaki. And the ones sitting here.
She had been planning to leave the village for a while. Seeing Team Hiruzen drift apart had weighed on her. Out of sight, out of mind.
But tonight changed that.
Her teacher was reforming the village. Somehow he had reconciled with Orochimaru.
She would stay. Help her teacher. Help Konoha.
They had heard every word of Hiruzen's speech earlier. It had stirred them.
After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Hiruzen raised his cup with his students and drained it.
"How did I do today?" he asked, lighting his pipe. "What did you think of everyone's reaction?"
"Impressive," Jiraiya said, giving a thumbs-up. "That emergency drill was meaningful."
"My student Minato mentioned that village security has grown lax. Sometimes he spots the Anbu, but they fail to notice him."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the name.
Minato Namikaze. The one who rescued Kushina. A civilian-born prodigy. Jiraiya's newest disciple.
"They can't detect him?" Tsunade frowned. "The Anbu performed well today. Has it really gotten that loose?"
"It's not exactly that…" Jiraiya waved his arms excitedly. "Minato is a top-tier genius! He'll become incredible."
"My student Minato has the bearing of a Hokage!"
Tsunade laughed. "He just graduated and you're already calling him Hokage material?"
"You don't get it," Jiraiya shot back. "He's the real deal!"
Tsunade tilted her chin toward Orochimaru. "There's a genius right here you've known since childhood. Ask him."
Jiraiya choked on his words, then stubbornly insisted, "So what? Minato's stronger than he was at that age!"
"A true genius rises in three to five years. He might even compete with that snake."
Tsunade waved him off. "I can't be bothered."
In her mind, unless Orochimaru self-destructed, no one else stood a real chance of taking the Hokage seat from Hiruzen's line.
Orochimaru sipped his sake, unconcerned. He did not take Minato seriously, assuming it was Jiraiya's stubborn pride talking.
Interesting.
Everyone called themselves a genius.
"How pitiful, Jiraiya," he thought. "Placing all your hopes in a student."
"Shut up!" Jiraiya barked. "You don't understand Minato!"
Hiruzen observed quietly.
In a brutal world like this, bonds formed from childhood were different. The ease and genuine joy between the three of them could not be faked.
He also understood why Jiraiya had never won Tsunade's heart.
Stubborn mouth. Zero tact.
"If you praise your student so much, why not aim for the Fourth Hokage yourself?" Hiruzen flicked a peanut at Jiraiya's forehead. "My grand-student is only a chunin, right?"
Jiraiya waved both hands. "I'm happy to work for the village, but Hokage is too much. That job is yours, old man. Too much thinking involved."
"Useless brat," Hiruzen laughed.
He then took out a scroll and handed it to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru accepted it. "Teacher, what is this?"
"Danzo's report on you," Hiruzen replied quietly. "Illegal Wood Style experiments. Theft of classified jutsu. Misappropriation of research funds. Forming private factions…"
The warmth at the table froze.
Orochimaru's pupils narrowed. He opened the scroll, heart rising and plummeting at once.
"Interesting…"
He skimmed quickly.
Danzo had exaggerated details, but the core accusations were not fabricated.
He had done those things.
His mind raced.
Why expose him? Danzo was involved too. Bringing him down would implicate himself.
"Teacher, you don't believe all of this, do you?" Orochimaru's voice rasped.
"Let me see." Tsunade snatched the scroll. Jiraiya leaned in.
Their expressions grew complicated.
The evidence was thorough. Difficult to dismiss outright.
"From what I know of you, perhaps nine parts truth, one part lie?" Hiruzen said, lighting his pipe. "Danzo likely shifted some of his own dealings onto you, especially the funding."
"You've siphoned plenty from him, haven't you? I imagine he resents that."
Orochimaru's eyes flickered.
He could not read his teacher's tone.
Was this a warning? It did not sound like severe punishment.
"Snake, what are you trying to do?" Jiraiya rubbed his forehead. "Are you planning to betray the village?"
Had Danzo been right?
If Orochimaru gathered enough followers and resources, forming his own hidden village was not impossible.
"Teacher, Orochimaru might have gone too far, but he wouldn't do it deliberately. There must be a misunderstanding," Jiraiya insisted. "You can't trust Danzo completely."
Tsunade nodded. "You can't take Danzo's word alone. Orochimaru could have been framed."
Warmth flowed through Orochimaru's chest.
They still defended him.
"Enough. Orochimaru has not crossed any fundamental lines," Hiruzen said calmly, settling the matter.
"After the Second Shinobi World War, we gradually drifted apart."
Weariness crept into his expression.
The performance began.
"After the Kushina incident, I finally faced something I had long avoided."
"You were wrong to hide things from me as Hokage. But your overall direction was not wrong."
"You thought I was too conservative. Too inflexible. So you acted privately, didn't you?"
Hiruzen took a sip of sake.
"Let's speak frankly tonight."
"Why was I so conservative?"
The three Sannin exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"Because change demands a price. And change is not always good."
Hiruzen inhaled deeply from his pipe.
"I was average. Yet by chance, I inherited the title of Third Hokage. From the day I took office, I felt lost."
"I felt fear. I feared failing."
"I had neither Hashirama Senju's power nor the Second Hokage's wisdom. Yet I carried the mantle."
"So I dared not adjust the Second Hokage's framework. I worked tirelessly, handling everything personally, terrified of betraying the Will of Fire."
"But the village did not thrive."
"During the Second Shinobi World War, I even thought about escaping. I wanted to be a jonin on the front lines. To die a hero instead of bearing this pressure."
He smiled faintly.
"When I was young, I had the same build as Jiraiya. After a few years as Hokage, I shrank. Still middle-aged, yet I looked like an old man."
Tsunade's expression grew heavy.
Jiraiya felt suffocated just listening.
Orochimaru watched closely. Some long-held resentment began to loosen.
His teacher had his own burdens.
"After the Hidden Cloud incident, I dreamed of the Second Hokage. In that dream, he scolded me."
"He said, 'Monkey, how can you be so weak? If each generation of Konoha lacks the confidence to surpass the last, the village will perish.'"
"When I woke up, I realized it was my own subconscious."
"It is not too late to make amends."
"From this moment on, I will change Konoha. Whatever benefits the village, I will do. Whatever stands in my way, I will remove."
"Including my own weakness."
His voice remained steady, but his eyes burned.
None of the three Sannin had ever seen Hiruzen like this.
Hard.
Resolute.
Unyielding as steel.