"Perhaps it was the struggle for the Hokage position!"
"Minato Namikaze, Sakumo Hatake, Jiraiya… Hiruzen Sarutobi clings to power and eliminated every person who could threaten his position. In the end, only Orochimaru was left."
"Previously, during wartime, he still had use for Orochimaru, so Hiruzen endured and did not move against him."
"Now that the ceasefire agreement has been signed, and the silver mine reserves are enormous, Hiruzen probably believes war will not break out again. With that silver mine, Konoha can recover its strength."
"Thus, he acted against Orochimaru and removed the only person who could threaten him."
"What a ruthless man!"
"For the sake of power, he won't even spare his own disciple."
"And he even pinned such a crime on Orochimaru, completely ruining his reputation."
The Fourth Raikage recalled his father's evaluation of Hiruzen Sarutobi back then.
"Father was right. Hiruzen Sarutobi truly is a treacherous man."
Iwagakure.
Onoki also began considering recruiting Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru is a talent. For Konoha to directly expel him is far too wasteful. However, Orochimaru's reputation is already ruined, and Iwagakure is currently allied with Konoha. Recruiting him openly would not be appropriate."
"But if I don't recruit him into Iwagakure, and instead cooperate with him outside the village, then there is no issue at all."
"I believe Orochimaru will not refuse the olive branch Iwagakure offers him."
"The only question is where Orochimaru has gone now."
At this moment, Orochimaru had already left Konoha and departed the Land of Fire.
Without warning, his experimental base had been exposed. Countless ANBU shinobi had rushed in.
When he turned back, he saw Hiruzen Sarutobi standing at the entrance of the cave, looking at him with an extremely complicated gaze.
Immediately afterward, Hiruzen gave the order to kill him.
Orochimaru had only managed to escape by exhausting all his strength.
He had survived, yes.
But his situation had become extremely terrible.
His base was gone.
His test subjects were gone.
Most of his research data had been lost.
He had become an S-rank missing-nin.
His reputation had been completely destroyed.
He had not died, but in truth, there was not much difference between this and death.
"Teacher Sarutobi…"
"Everything I did was for the village."
"Could you not tolerate me because you truly believed what I did was wrong? Or because I threatened your position?"
If it had been in the past, Orochimaru might not have suspected the latter.
But now, rumors about Hiruzen Sarutobi had appeared one after another.
Orochimaru had also received Jiraiya's warning.
After that, Orochimaru had clearly sensed Hiruzen Sarutobi's targeting and wariness toward him.
"Jiraiya, your warning was correct."
"Teacher Sarutobi truly would have acted against me sooner or later."
"But I never expected it to be so soon."
"So sudden."
"And in this manner."
A trace of confusion appeared in Orochimaru's eyes.
"Where should I go next?"
Two thoughts surfaced in Orochimaru's mind.
The first was to take back the Hokage position that belonged to him.
The second was to completely abandon Konoha and focus entirely on his research. With his strength, in a shinobi world this vast, finding a suitable place would not be difficult at all.
"I wonder where Jiraiya is now."
Orochimaru suddenly wanted to meet Jiraiya and have a proper conversation with him.
At this moment, Jiraiya was waiting for an opportunity.
An opportunity to test Uchiha Fugaku.
As for Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya had chosen to avoid him. Jiraiya did not want to confirm whether Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly the person who, for the sake of power, had caused Minato Namikaze's death.
On one side was his disciple.
On the other was his teacher.
Therefore, Jiraiya decided to first figure out who the Uchiha who appeared on the night of the Nine-Tails truly was.
An Uchiha capable of controlling the Nine-Tails was absolutely no ordinary Uchiha.
An ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan could not possibly do such a thing.
Long ago, Jiraiya had already set his suspect on Uchiha Fugaku.
But after waiting for a long time, he had still found no opportunity.
Jiraiya had not expected that before he could investigate the identity of the Uchiha culprit from the Nine-Tails' night, Orochimaru's side would run into trouble first, with Orochimaru being expelled from the village.
Jiraiya instinctively felt that perhaps Orochimaru's situation was the same as Minato Namikaze's.
That immediately made Jiraiya feel guilty toward Orochimaru.
A pained expression appeared on Jiraiya's face.
"If only I had investigated that Uchiha sooner."
"If all of this truly was done by Teacher Sarutobi…"
"If I had exposed Teacher Sarutobi's true face before this, then something like this would not have happened."
"This is all my fault."
A firm look appeared in Jiraiya's eyes.
"No matter what, I must find an opportunity to act against Uchiha Fugaku as soon as possible."
"I can't keep dragging this out."
Inside Konoha.
Uchiha Shisui shook his head and sighed.
"Again. It's like this again."
"Konoha truly is beyond saving."
"Shinobi villages themselves were a mistake."
"I hope the Akatsuki organization Kakashi-senpai chose can truly save this damned world!"
Hokage Building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi felt utterly agitated.
"Orochimaru, Orochimaru… why did you have to do such a thing?"
"There are truly not many people left in the village that I can use."
"Why did you have to do such a thing?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi came to the window and looked outside.
On the Hokage Rock opposite him, the face of the Third Hokage was carved into the stone.
"If you acted against people outside the village, that would have been one thing. Why did you insist on acting against people inside the village?"
"That point was too excessive. To lay hands on people from the same village—no matter who learned of it, they would never be able to accept it."
"Even taking ten thousand steps back, with the village in such a terrible state now, I could have tolerated you."
"At worst, I could have forbidden you from ever acting against village members again."
"I could still have given you a chance."
"But why did you expose yourself so completely that everyone learned of it?"
"Now, even if I wanted to give you a chance, I cannot do it."
"Orochimaru, you disappoint me too much!"
Elsewhere.
Inside Root's base, Shimura Danzo said the same words.
"Orochimaru, you disappoint me too much."
"Even in this situation, you still didn't dare to act against Hiruzen. You didn't dare kill Hiruzen. Instead, you allowed Hiruzen to expel you from Konoha and announce your crimes to the public."
"I gave you a chance, yet you were useless."
"And now look."
"Not only have you lost the chance to become Hokage, you have even become a missing-nin."
Danzo kept shaking his head.
"Hiruzen truly is lucky."
"He escaped again."
"But the Hokage position will definitely be mine in the future."
"Hiruzen, you want Shinnosuke to inherit the Hokage position? Not a chance!"
"Never mind the fact that he lacks the talent."
"Even if he had that talent, when it comes to succession, it still cannot fall to the Sarutobi clan again."
"When that time comes, this old man will personally act."
Danzo raised his head and puffed out his chest, as if he had made some grand decision.