After listening to Hiruzen Sarutobi lay it all out…
The three of them sat in a long, stunned silence.
So that was why their teacher had always insisted on being conservative.
So that was why the Hokage had suddenly flipped overnight, like a different man wearing the same face.
It all had an explanation now.
Tsunade and Jiraiya traded a look. The emotions in each other's eyes were a mess.
On the topic of why they didn't want to become Hokage, they shared the same answer.
It wasn't just the workload.
Deeper than that… the shadows cast by the previous Hokage were simply too bright.
Hashirama Senju was the God of Shinobi. His name didn't need any embellishment.
And Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, might not have had Hashirama's raw power, but the jutsu he created and the systems he built were a full era ahead of the rest of the shinobi world.
In some ways, the fear he inspired in enemies was only half a step below Hashirama's.
Because the God of Shinobi was strong, yes, but he loved peace too much.
Tobirama… Tobirama was the kind of man who could drag your dead loved ones back into the world and turn them into bombs.
Somewhere in the back of their minds, Jiraiya and Tsunade had both carried thoughts not so different from Hiruzen's.
If they became Hokage, could they surpass the ones who came before?
Even if you didn't compare them to Hashirama and Tobirama, just looking at Hiruzen in his youth, the talent and ability he'd shown…
They probably couldn't catch up.
Orochimaru's gaze softened.
Compared to Jiraiya and Tsunade, he didn't carry the village on his shoulders the same way.
What mattered more to him were the bonds between himself, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Tsunade.
Especially Hiruzen, the man who was both teacher and father to him.
Once upon a time, his sensei had taught him everything without holding anything back, valued him above all others.
And then one day, that person drifted farther and farther away.
That distance had hardened into a knot inside Orochimaru's chest.
And geniuses were proud.
Orochimaru had never intended to apologize, and he'd never believed he was wrong.
He'd planned to accomplish something huge, something undeniable, force his teacher to see it. Then right and wrong would speak for itself.
But today, Hiruzen had been so open, so honest.
It made one thing clear.
He still saw Orochimaru as a trusted student.
And on top of that, he'd brushed off Danzo's "evidence" almost casually, and shown concern for Orochimaru in front of everyone…
A faint, sour ache rose in Orochimaru's chest.
Hiruzen watched all three reactions without missing a thing.
At this point, he'd given them a clean enough explanation for why his personality had changed so abruptly.
From here on out, even if he did things that didn't match the old version of himself, it wouldn't feel like it came from nowhere.
It was basically what he'd expected.
With their teacher-student bond as the foundation, even if there had been misunderstandings and distance before, as long as nothing irreparable had happened, it could all be talked through.
This was different from the village at large.
In front of the crowd, Hiruzen couldn't show this. The most he could show was restraint.
Shinobi needed a reliable leader, not an old man asking for sympathy.
But with these three, showing a little weakness would pull them closer.
They were teacher and students, not just boss and subordinates.
If he stayed too closed-off, too perfect, it would create distance. If he had flaws, he felt real, human. That would stir something protective in them, make them want to give back.
"Sensei… you've worked so hard."
Tsunade spoke slowly. There was a faint sheen of tears in her eyes. "You've already done everything you can. Don't push yourself until you break…"
So he'd once been under so much pressure that death felt like relief.
And she, as his student, hadn't realized.
Or maybe she'd noticed a hint of it… and still hadn't reached out in time.
That was unforgivable.
Jiraiya's eyes hardened. His voice dropped, steady and serious. "Sensei, don't underestimate me. I might be your dumbest student, but I can still help carry some of it."
Orochimaru spoke quietly. "Sensei, I'll help you."
Hiruzen smiled. "Good. Hearing that from you three… it makes me feel like I have ground under my feet again."
"Right now, Konoha has a lot of problems."
"The first big one is factions. The clans don't trust the village leadership, and they don't cooperate. The Hyuga Clan is like that. The Uchiha Clan is worse, they're practically bristling with resistance."
"And even clans like the Inuzuka, Aburame, Kurama, they're willing to work with the village… but the bond still isn't tight enough."
He looked at them. "Why do you think that is?"
"Because they don't have the Will of Fire?" Jiraiya offered after thinking hard, cautious like he was stepping onto thin ice.
Hiruzen laughed. "Good student. I didn't know Mount Myoboku taught you an S-rank forbidden technique."
He took a slow drag on his pipe. "The 'labeling' method. Even I don't pull that out lightly as Hokage."
His eyes crinkled. "And here you are, using it without anyone teaching you."
Orochimaru lifted a brow. "So Mount Myoboku's great toad sage is so mighty that you're ready to strip people of their Konoha citizenship now?"
He tilted his head. "If you became Hokage, Konoha would lose a third of its population in a year."
Tsunade couldn't hold it. "Jiraiya, you're probably the one with the least Will of Fire. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Jiraiya flinched under her stare and waved both hands. "Fine, fine. You're pure-blooded and righteous, you're always right…"
He shot Orochimaru a glare. "Snake, I didn't mean it like that. I just couldn't figure it out."
Hiruzen nodded toward Orochimaru. "Then what do you think?"
"Because there's no future in it," Orochimaru said, voice low and cool.
He gestured lazily with his cup. "In terms of 'high level,' Konoha really only has four people that count. Sensei and the three of us."
"Maybe add one more, the Jonin Commander, Shikazan Nara. And he barely has a presence."
"The First passed it to the Second. The Second passed it to his student, Sensei. And Sensei's other three students sit right beside him."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "The Nara Clan is Sensei's base. Where exactly is the space for anyone else?"
"If you're a Jonin looking at that, even if you don't resent it, when your path upward is sealed shut, emotions are going to grow in the dark."
Jiraiya opened his mouth, then closed it again.
Orochimaru didn't look away. "You, as the Hokage's student, can choose not to become Hokage. That's your freedom. I'm not judging you."
"But do you know what that identity is worth?"
His voice sharpened slightly. "How many clans would sell everything they own just to have what you have?"
Tsunade's fingers twisted together without her noticing.
Sure, her grandfathers and her teacher had basically done all her lifetime's work for her.
But hearing it said like that still sat wrong in her chest.
Hiruzen laughed and scolded Orochimaru lightly. "Well said. No wonder you managed to gather a little 'clique' around you."
He nodded. "Orochimaru's basically right."
"Konoha's promotion path is too narrow. We need to wake up the clans and civilian shinobi alike, show them sincerity. Make them believe there's room for them."
Jiraiya nodded immediately. Simple-minded as he was, he loved policies that sounded fair. "So you're saying other clans get into the top too? I'm in."
Tsunade frowned. "Then do we bring in the Uchiha Clan? The Hyuga Clan?"
Her eyes sharpened. "If they gain power and still do whatever they want, what then?"
"It could feed their ambition."
Jiraiya stared at her, shocked. He'd thought she spent her days on medicine, gambling, and drinking. Since when did she have a brain like this?
Orochimaru's pupils drew into thin slits. "It's serious. If we wait until they're already inside the upper ranks and start opposing from within, even if we kill them afterward, Konoha will be crippled."
Hiruzen looked pleased.
Smart. Strong. Capable of following his thinking.
A perfect right-hand man.
And from what Hiruzen could tell, what Orochimaru wanted, at least right now, came down to two things: support for his research, and a clear path toward being heir.
Neither conflicted with Hiruzen's goals.
At least, not yet.
"We need layers," Hiruzen said. "Not just four people making every decision. We need a new promotion track among the Jonin as well."
He spoke steadily, building the shape of it in the air.
"Out of a little over a hundred Jonin, we create a new tier. Around twenty of them."
"These twenty get better待遇, better treatment. Those with administrative skill enter management, and they're given the right to participate in and propose village affairs."
"And those who don't want to touch paperwork, the ones built for front-line combat, get subsidies in battle resources."
"That solves most Jonin promotion bottlenecks."
"As for keeping the membership clean…"
Hiruzen's voice cooled. "The candidate list will be selected by me, the Hokage. That step won't go wrong."
Jiraiya blinked. "But that still means the Hyuga and Uchiha are going to get seats, right? If we ignore them again, then…"
Tsunade nodded slightly.
Jiraiya said it bluntly, but he wasn't wrong. If this reform still excluded the Hyuga and Uchiha, it might make the conflict worse.
If they couldn't enter the decision layer, and you didn't even let them become core Jonin, then what were you leaving them?
Orochimaru seemed to realize something. His eyes flashed, bright with interest, and he leaned forward. "Sensei. You thought of this already, didn't you?"
Hiruzen smiled and nodded.
"Thought of what?" Jiraiya snapped, instantly impatient. "Stop speaking in riddles, Orochimaru! Just say it!"
He scooted closer until he was nearly nose-to-nose.
"Too close, idiot."
Orochimaru shoved him back with obvious disgust, though there was a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "It's simple. You put the aristocratic clans who lean toward the village, or who can only survive by leaning toward the village, on the list."
"Remember? Sensei publicly brought Hizashi Hyuga into Anbu."
"As a member of the Hyuga Branch House, once he accepts the Hokage's protection, he becomes one of the best candidates."
Tsunade's eyes widened. She slammed her fist on the table. "That's it."
Jiraiya slammed his too. "No, what's it? Why do you both get it?"
He looked between them like they were conspiring. "He's Hyuga Branch House, isn't he? He's got the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead…"
"Who would dare use the Caged Bird Seal on Anbu directly under the Hokage?" Orochimaru said, amused.
His voice turned sharp. "Do they want to spy on village secrets, or do they want to rebel? The Hyuga Main House doesn't have that kind of courage."
Tsunade picked it up immediately. "Right. If Hizashi Hyuga can challenge the Main House without being punished, he naturally becomes a third faction inside the Hyuga Clan."
And finally, Jiraiya caught up.
His eyes went wide. "His back will have an endless stream of Hyuga Branch House behind it… and they'll have to support the old man, because they need the Hokage's protection."
"And the other neutral clans, all they want is a path upward. They won't fight the person opening the road for them…"
Jiraiya bared his teeth, half awe, half pain. "Yeah… no. I really can't be Hokage. Old man, how do you even come up with this stuff?"
Tsunade took a deep gulp of sake and burst out laughing. "Because it's starting to feel like Sensei's heart is as dark as Second Grandpa's, just like First Grandpa always said!"
Hiruzen couldn't help laughing too.
Back when Hashirama was alive, he loved rejecting Tobirama's ideas, always saying Tobirama was too ruthless, too crafty…
"As for the Uchiha Clan," Hiruzen said, "I still haven't found the right candidate. For now, we start with the obvious doves."
"Until I have someone suitable, the Hyuga and Uchiha won't enter the decision layer."
He tapped ash from his pipe.
"But the decision layer itself needs to expand."
"Me, Danzo, Orochimaru, one person chosen from the neutral clans, and Hatake Sakumo."
"Koharu and Homura will be assigned elsewhere, but their seats stay reserved. That will help the Hyuga and Uchiha develop dove factions…"
Jiraiya shuddered for no reason.
Thank god he wasn't from some big clan. Thank god he'd been taken in as a student. Otherwise he'd be drowning in this.
"Hold on," Jiraiya suddenly yelled, finally catching up to the part that mattered. "Sensei, why is the snake getting into the upper ranks too? Don't stick me under him!"
Orochimaru's lips curved. "A very good design, Sensei."
Sensei had casually handed him a seat. That meant Hiruzen had never truly discarded him.
"Orochimaru shouldn't be in?" Hiruzen asked Jiraiya, smiling like it was the funniest thing in the world.
"He should…"
Jiraiya wanted to argue, but Orochimaru's thinking really did align with Sensei's too well. So he huffed instead. "I'm just too lazy for this kind of work."
"The structure is solid," Orochimaru said. "But how do we make it real?"
His gaze sharpened. "Subsidies for Jonin, calming the elders, all of that costs resources. It costs money."
"Is the village treasury that full? Or did the Daimyo's Mansion agree to send extra funding?"
Hiruzen looked at him with clear approval.
It sounded like cold water, but it was the right question.
Plans that only lived in the air meant nothing. Everything had to stand on reality.
"Exactly," Hiruzen said. "Without money and resources, even the best system won't land."
"So we earn first, then reform."
He looked at them and asked, "In the Land of Fire, who's the richest?"
"The daimyo," Jiraiya answered instantly.
"Correct, but the daimyo is just the richest individual," Hiruzen said. "As a class, it's the noble families across the Land of Fire who hold the real wealth."
Jiraiya thought for a moment. His expression shifted into alarm. "Sensei… you're not planning to kill the nobles, are you?"
Tsunade immediately lost it again. "Jiraiya, are you trying to murder my family?"
She jabbed a finger at him. "Are you going to slap a 'no Will of Fire' label on them first, too?"
"There are still descendants of my grandfather and my father in the Daimyo's Mansion!"
Jiraiya panicked and waved his hands. "No, no! I'm not saying that. I'm just worried Sensei's going extreme…"
Hiruzen and Orochimaru both laughed out loud.
"Our population isn't large enough to take over the Land of Fire's entire system," Hiruzen said. "Declaring total war on the nobles would be a loss."
"It would also drive them to defect to enemy countries. And enemy daimyo would pour their support into other hidden villages. That would be handing money to our enemies."
"And as Tsunade said, the Daimyo's Mansion includes relatives of the Hokage."
The relationship between the daimyo and a hidden village was delicate. Not only because the shinobi world's chaos affected population and demanded a kind of unity…
But because the Daimyo's Mansion absorbed part of each village's "Kage" bloodline.
Touch one piece, the whole thing moved.
"So," Hiruzen said, "we need the nobles to hand over money willingly."
"And that part," he continued, "is where you three come in."
He opened his palm. A small chunk of earth appeared, and he set it on the table.
"Do you know what this is?"
Jiraiya and Tsunade stared at it, then looked at each other. For once, even Orochimaru looked confused.
"That's… dirt?" Jiraiya said carefully. "Sensei?"
Hiruzen leaned back and began speaking with complete seriousness.
"This," he declared, "is the special pill Konoha developed through research. It comes from Hashirama Senju's self-healing genes, refined with Tobirama Senju's scrolls, perfected through the work of Konoha's number one medical ninja Tsunade and our research expert Orochimaru…"
"Tested for safety by Lady Mito Uzumaki."
"Wholeheartedly recommended by Ryuchi Cave, Mount Myoboku, and Shikkotsu Forest, the three great sage regions."
"It gently nourishes the body, extends lifespan, clears hidden ailments… and it even has a warm, invigorating effect."
He placed the lump of earth on the table like it was a treasure.
And waited.