Chapter 96: Sarutobi Hiruzen's Delusion

Uchiha Fugaku decided to go all-in on Orochimaru, and the entire Uchiha Clan fell into a state of excitement.

Although the main force of Uchiha ninja were on the East Front, fighting desperately against the Mist Ninja, the elderly and weak who remained in Konohagakure also became more active.

The children all looked up to Itachi Uchiha, training diligently and striving desperately to increase their strength.

In the eyes of the Third Hokage and in the eyes of Shimura Danzo, this was simply too glaring.

The Anbu ninja mobilized half of their strength, and even the Root was re-liberated to strengthen the surveillance of the Uchiha Clan.

The good news was that after the most meticulous surveillance, it was confirmed that the Uchiha Clan indeed had no unusual movements, nor were they secretly contacting other ninja clans.

But the bad news was that without needing the Uchiha Clan as the core, the ninja within Konohagakure who were dissatisfied with the Third Hokage all united with Orochimaru as their spiritual core.

They had no clear organization, only forming a consensus to oppose the Third Hokage, intentionally or unintentionally causing trouble for the Third Hokage.

The Hyuga Clan explicitly supported Orochimaru, the Uchiha were excitedly going all-in on Orochimaru, and the Ino-Shika-Cho-Aburame no longer hid their worship of Orochimaru, dealing a huge blow to the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

An even more serious blow came from within Konohagakure, with more and more Konoha ninja questioning:

Was the victory under the leadership of the Third Hokage really a victory?

In the First Shinobi World War, the Second Hokage cleanly and efficiently annihilated thousands of Mist Ninja, Cloud Ninja, and Rock Ninja, forcing three Second Kage to bow their heads and admit defeat.

In the Second Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage did not go to the front lines, and the war dragged on for a full six years, collapsing the economies of the four great ninja villages and forcing them to stop the war.

In the Third Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage had not gone to the front lines to this day, and the war had been fought for seven years, with all ninja villages, including Konohagakure, being dragged down.

The result was the emergence of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, who used dazzling battle achievements to force Cloud and Rock to withdraw from the war.

Under the auspices of the Third Hokage, Konohagakure claimed to have won the Shinobi World War, yet did not obtain any compensation, nor did it seize a single piece of land.

So, did the Third Hokage really win the war?

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the Hokage Office, holding the battle report from Thunder Canyon and the surrender treaty signed by the Fourth Raikage, his eyes completely unfocused.

He was recalling past wars and comparing them to the battle achievements Orochimaru had produced.

He was still recalling the peace treaties he had signed and comparing them to the surrender treaty signed by Orochimaru.

The more he thought about it, the less confident he felt.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was pale, his hands were trembling slightly, and his eyes were full of exhaustion.

He had worked hard for Konohagakure his whole life, pursuing a policy of peace, just to allow Konohagakure to develop stably and to let the ninja and citizens of Konoha live and work in peace.

But he never expected that his painstaking efforts would not be understood by the villagers and ninja of Konoha, and that his policies would be denied.

Sarutobi Hiruzen put down the things in his hands, walked to the balcony to look at Konohagakure, his heart filled with a sense of powerlessness.

In all fairness, he could not refute the questions of the Konoha villagers and ninja.

If his own battle achievements counted as victory, then what did the battle achievements Orochimaru had produced in the past month count as?

The difference between the two types of victory was so vast.

And the reaction of the Cloud Ninja was even more heart-wrenching!

The Third Hokage announced victory, while the Fourth Raikage casually sent a Jonin to surrender, never mentioning surrender, only speaking of peace.

They even dared to sneak attack the Hyuga in Konohagakure, attempting to kidnap a child with the Byakugan bloodline.

After the other party was killed by Hyuga Hiashi, they even had the audacity to demand that Konoha pay with a life, completely disregarding him, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Yet when Orochimaru hadn't even announced victory, the Fourth Raikage personally sought him out and honestly signed the "surrender" treaty.

Paying money when required, ceding spheres of influence when required, with absolutely no room for bargaining.

The performance of the Fourth Raikage made Sarutobi Hiruzen begin to doubt:

Was the peace policy he had always insisted on really correct?

If he had trusted Orochimaru from the beginning and fully supported him and Yamanaka Chujiu, would Konohagakure have achieved an even more glorious victory?

Could they have scared the Mist Village into terror, forcing them to simply surrender to Konohagakure as well and end the war completely?

If he hadn't pursued a conservative policy but instead taken the initiative to attack like Orochimaru, would Konohagakure have already returned to the position of hegemon of the Ninja World?

But there is no regret medicine in the world; everything was already beyond repair.

The Cloud Village admitting defeat and signing the surrender treaty completely changed the landscape of the Ninja World and also changed the hearts and minds of the people in Konohagakure.

But the Third Hokage chewed up his regret and swallowed it into his stomach.

He did not intend to give up, and he could not give up.

He was still the Third Hokage, having completed all the procedures, the formally restored Hokage!

The power in his hands was infinite; as long as he wanted, Orochimaru could never bypass him to ascend to the throne of the Fifth Hokage.

Never!

Of course, he, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was not some devil, nor was he unable to accept Orochimaru as the Fifth Hokage.

Orochimaru was, after all, the predetermined Fifth Hokage.

However, before Orochimaru became Hokage, he had to give him a guarantee.

A guarantee that regarding the Sixth Hokage, or the Seventh or Eighth Hokage, one of them must be Sarutobi Hiruzen's son or grandson.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not know how to guarantee it, but if Orochimaru did not give him a sufficiently convincing guarantee, he could forget about becoming Hokage!

What he, Sarutobi Hiruzen, said, even the resurrection of the First Hokage could not change!

Orochimaru's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he handed a small slip of paper to Yamanaka Chujiu.

Chujiu took it calmly, glanced at it, and immediately spat it out.

"Hell!"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen can actually make such a request; he really has no shame at all!"

"Is he not afraid that we will make it public and be loathed and spurned by the Konoha ninja?"

Orochimaru smiled bitterly: "Chujiu, if you make it public, who would believe it?"

"If I hadn't passed the note to you, but you saw it from someone else's hands, would you believe this was a request made by Sarutobi Hiruzen?"

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head: "Teacher Orochimaru, you are right. Even someone like me who is full of hostility toward Sarutobi Hiruzen cannot believe he would say such things; it is even more impossible for others, who would instead think we are framing him."

Orochimaru asked with distress: "Yamanaka Chujiu, what do you think I should do?"

Yamanaka Chujiu sneered: "Teacher, what else could you do? Of course, you should refuse Sarutobi Hiruzen."

Orochimaru frowned and said: "But Hiruzen will definitely do everything in his power to stop me from becoming Hokage."

Yamanaka Chujiu sneered: "So what?"

Orochimaru: "Hm?"

Yamanaka Chujiu repeated: "I said: So what?"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen has made a mistake; the power of the Kage is indeed limitless and can be entirely dictatorial, but it still requires the support of others."

"If he stops you, Teacher, from becoming the Fifth Hokage, he will be explicitly standing on the opposite side of the vast majority of Konoha Ninja, going against almost every Konoha Ninja."

"I can help you, Teacher, build a new governing system to bypass the Hokage and directly manage Konohagakure, specifically to do what needs to be done."

"Sarutobi Hiruzen will definitely try to stop it, and this will cause him to offend the vast majority of Konoha Ninja."

"Is a Kage who faces universal opposition still a Kage?"