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  After finishing everything, Orochimaru sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed as if meditating.

  A lot had happeoday, and he ime to digest it all.

  He waited for the moment he would open his eyes-that would be when Lord Hiruzen brought him good news.

  Orochimaru's bedroom faced the living room, where a photo of the three Sannin during their Genin days with Hiruzen Sarutobi was dispyed on the et. Above the framed photo hung a small pendulum clock, tig incessantly.

  Until...

  Orochimaru suddenly opened his eyes; he sensed an unusual chakra fluctuation!

  "A barrier! When did this..."

  Orochimaru's eyes widened in fear. All around him were green chakra ripples, like walls of sighs preventing anyone from esg.

  "Triple Barrier Seal!"

  "This is Lord Hiruzen's jutsu!"

  As Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple, Orochimaru deeply uood his teacher's scary prowess.

  Known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," Hiruzen not only mastered all five elemental releases but also various sealing teiques, barrier jutsus, and summoning teiques. He was a ninja without any weaknesses.

  Although none of his abilities might stand at the absolute pinnacle of the ninja world, each was he top tier, making him exceptionally formidable.

  Among all the Kage of the five great vilges, Hiruzen Sarutobi was undoubtedly among the best.

  From what Orochimaru knew, Hiruzen possessed at least two S-rank forbidden teiques, and perhaps even more secret jutsus unknown to his own disciple.

  What does it mean to possess an S-rank forbidden teique?

  Mastering and pushing oo its limits could ge the tide of a loinja war.

  Might Duy, who mastered the "Eight Gates Released Formation," altered the course of the battle between Konoha and Kirigakure. Minato Namikaze, who mastered the "Flying Thunder God Teique," became a nightmare for tless Iwagakure and Kumogakure ninjas.

  Although his teacher's S-rank forbidden teiques weren't primarily offehey were equally scary.

  One was the Dead Demon ing Seal, and the other was the Four Red Yang Formation. The barrier before him was a simplified version of the Four Red Yang Formation-the Triple Barrier Seal.

  By creating three shadow es positio the southeast, south, and southwest, they formed a green transparent pyramid barrier, creating imperable walls that trapped the oppo inside.

  Using the Four Red Yang Formation required a massive amount of chakra, so by using the simplified version, the inal body could free up his hands to deal with Orochimaru.

  Even after creating three shadow es and holding ba S-rank forbidden teique...

  "Why?"

  Orochimaru murmured, fusion fshing in his eyes.

  He hadn't sidered that his own teacher would use an imprisoning barrier teique against him at this time.

  What had he doo provoke this?

  He hadn't even revealed his "The ninja world is vast; I want to see it" , and Hiruzen had already e knog?

  Boom!!

  A thick Adamaaff pierced through Orochimaru's door, thrusting straight toward his heart.

  Orochimaru's snake-like eyes narrowed. Seeing the staff so close, he recalled the fear of being under his teacher's trol during his Genin days. He sidestepped just in time, narrowly avoiding the lethal strike filled with killing i.

  "Orochimaru!!" Hiruzen's deep, repressed voice came from the doorway, filled with t anger. "Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken!"

  The tiles on Orochimaru's roof seemed to respond to a summoning, rattling incessantly.

  In the sed, they floated into the air, transf into sharp shuriken.

  Whoosh whoosh whoosh-

  They shot toward Orochimaru.

  Battles between Kage-level ninjas are straightforward yet intehey no longer need physical ons. At the profound level of ninjutsu where flowers and leaves harm, and grass, wood, bamboo, and stones all bee shuriken.

  No matter how strong the ninjutsu, shurikeill feared. If hit even once, even one of the Sannin could die.

  The shuriken were incredibly fast, c all possible spaces where Orochimaru could dodge. If it were an ordinary Jōnin, such a wide-range area attack would at least leave them wounded if not dead.

  But Orochimaru was one of the Sannin, after all.

  His hands moved swiftly to form seals. In the sed, the tile shuriken pierced through Orochimaru's "body." Several small snakes, cut into pieces, writhed and struggled on the ground.

  Orochimaru's real body had quickly distaself from Hiruzen at the doorway.

  He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

  "Lord Hiruzen... even at ye, your shurikeill this fast and deadly." Orochimaru's expression turned grim. The earlier shuriken attack had made him feel the io kill.

  Such a ruthless, unreserved killing i... It seemed his deeds had been exposed.

  But why?

  Although there's no wall in the ninja world that doesn't leak, he had always hidden his taboo experiments well. Why had two parties discovered them today?

  "Orochimaru, why did you do such things!"

  As the dust settled, Hiruzen's figure became visible. Wearing his ninja armor, he stood at the door with the Adamaaff in hand.

  His tone was filled with the anger of someone disappointed abroken.

  "Ah, so it seems you already know, Lord Hiruzen."

  "Who tipped you off? The Fourth Hokage? No, it couldn't be; the Fourth doesn't have that capability. So, it was Gojo Kaigetsu, that guy."

  Answering his owion, Orochimaru solved his doubts.

  Indeed, Minato Namikaze was an ho kid, always ag openly and respectfully toward him as one of the Sannin. He wouldn't secretly iigate his private matters.

  But sideri events...

  First, Gojo Kaigetsu's "unknown fate" and disappearahen the formution of the "Blitz Pn," and the Fourth Hokage's sudden ge in attitude toward him.

  Everything became clear!

  There was no unknown fate; it was all orchestrated by Gojo Kaigetsu! Perhaps that mysterious masked man was one of his subordinates, sent to lure Orochimaru into revealing himself.

  So sinister.

  Was there any siy left between people in this ninja world?

  Orochimaru was furious. Ever sihat day when Gojo Kaigetsu left him a strange scroll with odd intations, he should have realized.

  This person must not be left alive! He should have killed him sooner!

  "Even now, Orochimaru, you show no sign of remorse. You're just trying to get information from me to find out who exposed your forbidden deeds?"

  "nning reveer esg?"

  "If I repented here, would you spare me, Lord Hiruzen?" Orochimaru sneered. "And don't exclude yourself, Lord Hiruzen~"

  "Speaking such righteous words, but it was you who first opehe door to a new world for me, showihe myriad possibilities of Wood Release in human experimentation."

  "Whether it's volunteers or those 'volunteered,' you're the one who opened Pandora's box. Now you want to talk about repentance? If anyone should repent to the deceased, it should be you, the main culprit."

  "In the underworld, the Grim Reaper has a rule: whoever harms others in life will be submerged in their victims' blood. Ohe Sage of Six Paths visited the underworld and found the blood only reached my legs. Surprised, he asked, 'You've harmed so many; why does the blood only reach ys?' I would tell him, 'Because I'm standing on the shoulders of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha!'"

  Hiruzen fell silent, his expression turning bad by the moment.

  Orochimaru's psychological attack had worked.

  It ast Hiruzen did not wish to recall-perhaps the most misguided decree of his tenure as Hokage.

  Not only had it cost the lives of many young ninjas loyal to the Will of Fire, weakening Konoha's forces, but it had also unleashed all of Orochimaru's evil tendencies.

  Hiruzen slowly spoke:

  "I have never ceased to suffer for the sins I bear, and when I realized the Wood Release experiments were impossible, I immediately halted them. I am certain I will ehe underworld after death to atoo those lost in the Wood Release experiments and to the First Hokage."

  "But no matter what, my heart is clear as a mirror; everything I've done has been for Konoha."

  Hiruzen's voice paused, then grew more intense:

  "But you, Orochimaru... Despite explicit prohibitions, you tihese forbidden experiments i. To satisfy your own selfish desires, you turhe ninjutsu you learned from Konoha against your rades."

  "You've pletely betrayed the Will of Fire, ruly loyal to Konoha, utterly losing the principles of a Konoha ninja."

  "Tonight, I will personally put ao your evil."

  "Well... don't uimate me, Lord Hiruzen."

  Having figured out the cause and effect, Orochimaru's inner pressure didn't alleviate.

  Esg from Lord Hiruzen was something he wasn't fident about.

  It's like participating in an uricted ninja fighting tour; sidering age factors, even if their actual strengths were simir...

  But past experiences of beien by Hiruzen still cast a shadow over Orochimaru's heart. In real bat, this shadow would act like a debuff, stantly affeg his performance.

  To put it crudely, he had "Hiruzen-phobia."

  However, looking at his surroundings, he was sealed within a barrier, and outside, there might be many Konoha ninjas waiting for him.

  If he didn't bring out his true abilities now and tio fear his past weaknesses, he would die.

  But this also showed Orochimaru a glimmer of hope.

  Only Hiruzen had e. He didn't know why, but ing to front him alone while maintaining the Triple Barrier Seal with three shadow es and without any backup seemed overfident.

  Orochimaru's eyes gradually became resolute as he looked at his teacher's wrinkled, murderous face:

  "This battle..."

  "I will win."

  ....

  Gojo Kaigetsu was hiding in his safe house, listening to Gin's report.

  pared to ninjas, ordinary people delivering messages were more inspicuous.

  "To be ho, I go out now. The fish I wao catch have all taken the bait. Those capable of assassinating me-one is practig Wood-style teiques in an underground b, and another is hiding in Amegakure as 'Kami.'"

  "But I still haven't go. Do you know why, Gin?"

  Gin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Your thoughts are as deep as the o, my lord..."

  "Because I wao enjoy being the mastermind for a while. It's a bit intense, but I must say it's quite thrilling."

  "I go out tomorrow~"

  Gojo Kaigetsu stretched zily. "So, what's the current situation?"

  "During the st observation, Orochimaru's residence was extremely quiet. I didn't get too close to avoid drawing attention."

  "But it seems no different from usual; there's no third party on the se."

  "Very quiet, huh..."

  Gojo Kaigetsu pondered.

  He sighed softly, shaking his head and muttering to himself: "Minato's heart isn't hard enough, nor ruthless enough."

  "He still wants to give the Third Hokage and Orochimaru some dignity. He shouldn't have allowed them a one-on-one frontation."

  "If it were me, I'd have gathered all the Anbu, made an annouo the vilgers, and ihem near Orochimaru's house to watch the show."

  To kill Orochimaru-

  More precisely, to "invite, execute, and recruit him."

  Ever since Orochimaru caused Konoha's prosperity to drop by 500 points, Gojo Kaigetsu had decided this. Previously, he cked influeo ehe pn's smooth execution and risked being targeted by Danzo.

  But now, Gojo-sama held a position sed only to one in Konoha.

  Orochimaru was a dangerous double-edged sword.

  He feared power but not virtue.

  Used well, he erfect researcher; used poorly, he was an explosive tag that could detonate Konoha at any time.

  Although future events showed that Orochimaru didn't harbor hatred toward Konoha nor inteo be its enemy, he simply wao research immortality and dispy the power Hiruzen had denied him, leading to the "Konoha Crush Pn."

  In the end, Gojo Kaigetsu still didn't uand the y of destroying Konoha to showcase his research to Hiruzen.

  If Orochimaru loved the vilge, he could have handed over his research results to Konoha to offset his crimes and se his status as a rogue ninja. If he didn't love the vilge, why did he casually spare Kakashi and other pursuing ninjas during his defe?

  Who could guarahat the future Orochimaru wouldn't act erratically in a twisted timeline?

  Gojo Kaigetsu ofteted that he arrived in the ninja world a bit te. If he had e earlier and fually ged Orochimaru's mi, wouldn't that have been wonderful?

  Remove Orochimaru's identity as a ninja and cultivate him as a ninja stist from a young age. With "official authorization" from Gojo-sama and experimenting on Water Ghosts obtained frur trade... it would have been a happy ending.

  Like Kabuto, who was ned to study in the orphanage.

  But now, Orochimaru had long since bee corrupted.

  Su Orochimaru couldn't earn Gojo-sama's trust.

  From believing in ninjutsu to believing in ninja sce, from believing in ninja sce to chasing after Sasuke Uchiha... Orochimaru's life was full of twists and turns.

  Gojo Kaigetsu firmly believed:

  "Besides talk-no-jutsu, one ot ge another person through words. broken bones are the best lesson."

  "Therefore, break all of Orochimaru's bones!"

  To tame such a ninja, one must first shatter his existing beliefs and colpse his ninja way.

  For this, Gojo Kaigetsu had pnned everything i. Once Minato, the Third Hokage, aku captured him, it would be Gojo-sama's turn to "recruit him."

  In Konoha with Gojo Kaigetsu, ninjas needed only one belief: standing before the Hokage Rod believing in the Will of Fire! Of course, a new Will of Fire imbued with Gojo's characteristics.

  Gojo Kaigetsu was a mature adult ninja who uood the principle of "having it both ways."

  He wanted Orochimaru to tribute to researg future wars while ensuring the purity of the Will of Fire.

  The things Orochimaru had done couldn't be absolved in the new Konoha; they were crimes that enraged both man and god.

  To shape the ideology of the new Will of Fire, Gojo Kaigetsu needed Orochimaru to "die."

  Let the ninja Orochimaru die and strip him of his abilities as a ninja, allowing him to be reborn as a ninja stist.

  Exiling him to an underground b to duinja sce research as ato was the best oute for Orochimaru.

  If he didn't cooperate, then he would die.

  Orochimaru's priority in the vilge was no lohat high.

  What he could do, Kabuto could also do. What Orochimaru could develop, Kabuto could develop too! He was essentially a young Orochimaru, and one raised by Gojo Kaigetsu, stantly ied to his mentor.

  Time wasn't an issue! It was just a matter of sooner or ter.

  Gojo Kaigetsu could wait a few years for Kabuto to grow up and take over Orochimaru's role in Konoha.

  Thus, all hidden dangers of the "Konoha Crush Pn" would be eliminated.

  Looking at the major events in Konoha, what's left now?

  The mastermind behind the ails Night is practig Wood-style underground; the pnners and executors of the Uchiha massacre have been exiled takure or are filled with gratitude. The only major eve is the Konoha Crush Pn.

  As for the one plotting to carry the big rice (Akatsuki's leader), he wouldn't appear for aen-plus years.

  Currently, Konoha's main risks are the threats of ninja wars from Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

  If, due to timeline vergence, Hiruzen still softens as Orochimaru escape, leading to another pursuit...

  "The's py a game of cat and mouse."

  Gojo Kaigetsu was fident of victory.

  The Susanoo Gundam had already been dispatched to stand atop a utility pole, ready to act at any moment.

  And Minato, who might soften but would still act when necessary.

  If a weakened Orochimaru, injured by the Third Hokage, could still escape from the hands of the Susanoo and the Yellow Fsh, then Orochimaru truly deserved to be the freest man in the ninja world, and Gojo Kaigetsu would accept it!

  "In any case~ be mindful of your as. Let Orochimaru 'die' once, but not too thhly. Minato, if it's you, you should uand what I mean."

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