Around noon, the sun was high in the sky. The forest wasn't cool anymore, but hot and wet.
After a half-day of rushing, Orochimaru and his group, without stopping, finally got to their base on the border of the Land of Fire.
This series of big battles and marching, even for them who are high-level ninja with much better bodies than normal people, made them feel really tired.
After the ninja who was supposed to report went back, Shisui and the others went into the fort. They set up treatment for the injured and then quickly found rooms to rest.
But as the leader, Orochimaru couldn't relax like his people. He had something important to do.
He pushed open the door and went into the meeting room. The two Hokage advisors were already sitting at the long table. They looked like they wanted to ask why Orochimaru had come so suddenly.
Orochimaru spoke first, directly saying, "Start the way to talk to the village right away. I have something important I need to talk about with the old man right now."
Utatane Koharu's voice got stuck in her throat, and she almost passed out.
But she knew Orochimaru wouldn't joke about these things. Her face looked upset, and she said quietly, "Come with me."
Mitokado Homura also followed, curious about what important thing Orochimaru wanted to talk about.
They were in charge of the peace talks with Kumogakure, but it had been stuck for a long time. They had nothing else to do and plenty of time.
The three of them had just left the meeting room when a ninja from the intelligence team hurried over. When he saw them, he quickly said, "Elder, we just got news that Iwagakure Village has attacked Kumogakure. A thousand ninja suddenly attacked the Land of Thunder..."
"What?"
Mitokado Homura grabbed the intelligence ninja's shoulder. He used so much force that the ninja cried out in pain. "Are you sure? How could this happen so suddenly?"
"For real!"
The intelligence ninja widened his eyes and said quickly, "The Hokage is waiting for both of you."
"Okay, take me there quickly."
Mitokado Homura let go of his shoulder and urged him on, but then he heard Orochimaru chuckle.
"Iwagakure Village has moved, huh? They're pretty fast."
Under their gaze, Orochimaru licked his lips and said, "That's good, what I want to talk to the old man about is related to this."
The two Hokage advisors looked at each other and didn't say anything else. They hurried toward the intelligence base.
...
Behind a screen, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was smoking his pipe, puffing out smoke. "So that's the situation. What do you all think?"
"Hiruzen, this is a great chance."
Utatane Koharu heard from Orochimaru that the Land of Thunder had moved their forces and were pushing hard on the Iwagakure battlefield. Her eyes lit up. She wasn't being cautious like Kumogakure thought. She was thinking about attacking directly and taking out all of Kumogakure.
Of course, this might be because Orochimaru and Tsunade were here, which made her feel more confident.
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't say yes or no. He thought for a moment and then looked at Orochimaru, wanting to hear his opinion.
"I'm against it. Konoha can just watch Iwagakure and Kumogakure fight. There's no need to get involved."
Orochimaru smiled but didn't mention his agreement with Killer Bee.
It would be hard to explain why Killer Bee trusted him. He couldn't say he had let the Fourth Raikage go before. And anyway, the people here were sneaky and wouldn't care about that.
Villages only care about chances and benefits.
Utatane Koharu looked at Orochimaru in surprise. She didn't expect him to disagree. Based on how he usually acted, he should be more aggressive.
That jerk Orochimaru, why doesn't he ever agree with me? Is he doing this on purpose?
Orochimaru ignored Utatane Koharu's angry stare and smiled. "If Tsunade and I attacked together, we could probably destroy half of the Land of Thunder. But then what? Does the village have the strength to take over the Land of Thunder?"
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu frowned.
After the Nine Tails attack, the village lost a lot of high and mid-level ninja. They couldn't even send people to the Land of Thunder, and they couldn't fully protect the Land of Fire either. There were a lot of monsters and thieves, and the mission center had many unfinished requests.
In this situation, starting another war wouldn't bring any real benefits and would have problems.
But should they just let this great chance pass by?
"Don't push Kumogakure too hard."
Orochimaru glanced at the two of them. "Unless we can completely destroy them, they still have two tailed beasts, two beasts that their Jinchuriki can control. Aren't you worried they'll try to destroy Konoha with them?"
The two Hokage advisors were shocked and remembered the destruction caused by the Nine Tails attack.
"Anyway, after this battle, Iwagakure Village will probably be badly hurt, and Kumogakure won't be doing much better."
Orochimaru continued, "We just need to keep resting and recovering. Konoha has more potential than both of their villages."
"..."
These worries made them speechless and gave them a headache.
It wasn't that Orochimaru was making so much sense, but these problems were already there. He was just bringing them up again.
To be honest, even though Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura didn't like Orochimaru's actions, they really trusted his abilities.
He had shown this in many big events, and no one could question it.
They had brought up the idea of attacking Kumogakure to let Orochimaru work out the details and get the most benefits for the village.
But Orochimaru didn't have time for that. He was only here to stop the two Hokage advisors from sending troops to Kumogakure.
He didn't mind taking advantage of Kumogakure or Iwagakure, but he didn't want to waste his time on war after war.
But he saw Konoha as his garden. If these two old guys acted on their own and dragged the village into war, he couldn't just watch and let his precious plants get destroyed.
"Orochimaru, you're really different."
On the other side of the screen, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, took off his pipe, feeling a bit sad.
He wasn't completely convinced by Orochimaru, but it didn't really matter. If they wanted to seize the opportunity and attack, Orochimaru would be the best commander among the ninja nearby.
But he wanted to just watch from the sidelines.
"Hehe, I've never been interested in these fights."
Orochimaru said this seriously. Actually, he really meant it.
But Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura didn't seem to believe him. Their mouths twitched, and they almost laughed.
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