Chapter 17 Ichiraku Ramen
Not far from Konoha Hospital is the Konoha Ninja Grave, and near the grave is the Konoha Memorial Monument.
After leaving the hospital with Kabuto, Orochimaru wandered over here.
He thought of another disciple of his, and with the time to accept new disciples, he couldn't help but feel sentimental.
Since it was nearby, he came over to take a look.
Standing before the memorial stone, his eyes quickly found the name engraved on it—Rope Tree.
"...Do you want to become Hokage?"
Dou paused for a moment, his forehead still sweating with unease.
After thinking for a while, he replied, "I haven't thought about it."
Kabuto didn't think he should become Hokage.
He was a very practical person and didn't think that he, an orphan picked up outside the village, could become the Kage of Konoha.
His greatest hope now is to live a good life with the dean.
He considered his desires to be insignificant.
"You are qualified to become Hokage." A hand patted Kabuto's head and rubbed it again.
This made Kabuto frown involuntarily, but he endured it.
"After all, you are my disciple."
"I wasn't born in Konoha."
"It's alright, you are an orphan created by Konoha during the Fourth Shinobi World War."
"..."
Dou lowered his head, somewhat speechless.
He understood, of course, that they were fabricating an identity for him, which wouldn't be difficult for Orochimaru, who was going to become the Fifth Hokage.
Moreover, so many people died in the previous Fourth Shinobi World War, so it would be easy to give Kabuto the identity of a family of Konoha who died in the war.
In other words, from now on, Kabuto will have an additional pair of nominal parents in the village, even though they have already died.
"I have no desire to become Hokage."
"That's because you crave very little in the village.
When you start to crave more from the village, you'll also crave to become Hokage, just like countless others who have grown up in this village."
"Orochimaru-sensei! I will definitely become Hokage!" Nawaki's cheerful voice and bright, sunny smile flashed through my mind.
Then came the lively Rope Tree, acting on his own.
He had been careless, or perhaps too proud and self-satisfied, which led to his beloved disciple being taken advantage of.
The image shows someone dying from an explosion caused by a detonating tag.
He died very casually, as casually as if it were a joke of fate.
Life is something that can be destroyed very easily.
Whether it's a rope tree or a broken tree.
"Let's go."
Turning around, Kabuto quickly followed, glancing back as he walked.
He saw the leaning memorial stone and a young, white-haired ninja silently approaching it…
After Orochimaru left, only the Third Hokage, Nonou, and Kabuto remained here.
Nonou looked at the Third Generation.
Although Lord Orochimaru told her to take care of A, in her opinion, someone as important as A should be consulted with the Third Hokage before deciding what to do.
"Just as Orochimaru said, Nonou, you should take good care of Kagami."
"Yes, Third Hokage."
Nonou answered solemnly. Then, after composing herself, she walked solemnly to A, who was standing silently to the side.
She couldn't help but take it seriously, after all, she knew that Kakashi was a Wood Release ninja.
As an intelligence expert, she certainly understood what a Wood Release ninja in the village meant.
That was the power that founded the ninja village and ended the chaos of the world; it could even be said to be the symbol of Konoha.
However, Nonou quickly noticed the restraint and unease in A's somewhat tense body.
After all, he was no longer a Root ninja.
Having grown accustomed to staying at the root, he must have felt lost and bewildered, and thus couldn't help but become reserved.
Seeing A's mood, Nonou smiled gently.
"Can I take off my mask?"
"..."
A silently looked towards the third generation.
In Kakashi Hatake's view, he needed to obey the Third Hokage's orders.
The third generation nodded and said, "From now on, you should listen to Nonou."
A breathed a sigh of relief.
He understood.
He just needs to treat this woman as his superior.
Thinking this way, he calmed down a lot, so he raised his hand and took off his mask, revealing a face that could be described as blank and lifeless.
"..."
This is typical of Root ninjas, who try to erase their ego as much as possible and maximize the tool-like nature of ninjas.
As an elite member of Root, Nonou had seen far too many ninjas like this.
Most of them were selected orphans who had experienced the chaos of war.
She witnessed orphans being turned into tools time and time again.
Those who were not up to standard were cruelly abandoned, or those who were damaged and deemed worthless were also discarded.
Having witnessed such scenes time and time again, she didn't want to see them again.
That's why she wanted to adopt these orphans and keep them away from the fate of being treated as tools.
The child before her was exactly the kind of child she feared seeing.
So she smiled and squinted her eyes.
"Is it Kakashi Hatake?"
"Yes." Like a subordinate obeying an order, Kakashi Hatake bowed his head and answered.
"There's no need to be so formal."
Nonou continued with a smile, "I hope to see you smile."
He then raised his head, revealing a smile that appeared kind, yet whose eyes still seemed lifeless.
Anyone with a little bit of sensitivity would know that this is a fake smile.
The third generation also saw that smile and took a drag of their cigarette.
Coo coo coo.
"Are you hungry?" Orochimaru asked Kabuto, who was standing nearby.
Dou lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, then nodded.
"Then I'll take you to get something to eat."
"But Orochimaru is big..."
"You should call him teacher."
"...Teacher, didn't you say you had something to do?"
"There's no need to rush. Let them see their place later. I am the Hokage. I should lead them, not the other way around."
"I see."
Kabuto subconsciously began to think, Orochimaru-sama... whose master is he going to lead?
Since the teacher emphasized this point, does that mean that the 'they' he was going to meet had a conflict with the Hokage faction, which the teacher represented, and the Konoha leadership?
The teacher seemed to have mentioned before that he was going to take on another pre-booked disciple.
Being a disciple of the Hokage is no simple matter.
So, is he using his status as the Hokage's disciple to exchange benefits with 'them'?
Therefore, the teacher's goal is to alleviate the conflict with "them" so as to better guide "them".
Just as Kabuto was thinking about this.
Orochimaru patted him on the shoulder.
He snapped out of his daze and looked at the ramen shop in front of him.
On the white cloth hanging down to cover it, you can see Ichiraku Ramen.
Orochimaru lifted the hanging white cloth and went inside.
"Yo, Orochimaru, it's been a long time."
Kabuto, who followed Orochimaru inside, saw a middle-aged man who was smiling and greeting Orochimaru.
His smile was hearty, yet it also seemed rather greasy.
After Orochimaru sat down, the middle-aged man put his arm around Orochimaru's shoulder, nudged him with his elbow, and said something in a very familiar manner.
"Not bad, he actually became Hokage."
Read 30+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
End of this chapter....