Chapter 68 (Patreon)

Knock, knock.

“Come in,” Minato said from behind the Hokage’s desk.

The office door opened, and Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped inside.

The moment he entered, his gaze shifted toward Yujiro.

For a brief second, he stared at him in silence.

Then Hiruzen withdrew his eyes and turned to Minato.

“Minato, I heard you’re preparing to move against Orochimaru.”

“Wait.”

Yujiro’s voice cut in lazily.

Hiruzen’s face flushed at once.

“What is it this time?” he snapped. “I knocked before entering. I’m not smoking either.”

Yujiro raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you getting so worked up? I only wanted to ask one thing. What did you just call Minato-sensei?”

Hiruzen frowned.

“Minato.”

“Minato-sensei is the Hokage now,” Yujiro said, rising to his feet with the black blade in hand. His voice remained calm, but there was no warmth in it. “If you have a report or a request, then address him properly as Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen clenched his jaw and glared at him.

“Report, Hokage-sama.”

Yujiro smiled.

“Why are you looking at me? I’m not the Hokage.”

Hiruzen’s expression darkened further. He turned his gaze toward Minato.

“Report, Hokage-sama.”

Minato pressed down the smile threatening to appear on his face.

“What is it, Sandaime-sama?”

“I will personally take command of the operation to capture Orochimaru,” Hiruzen said in a low voice, forcing down the anger in his chest.

“That won’t do,” Yujiro said before Minato could respond.

Hiruzen’s eyes sharpened.

“And why not?”

“Because I’m the ANBU Commander,” Yujiro replied with a faint smile. “You are not.”

His tone remained casual, but every word landed like a blade.

“And forgive me for being blunt, but you are no longer the Hokage either. You are a retired old man with far too much time on his hands.”

“Yujiro!”

Hiruzen’s anger finally erupted.

Yujiro’s eyes cooled.

“Why are you shouting? Are you the ANBU Commander?”

“...No.”

“Are you the Hokage of Konoha right now?”

“...No.”

“Then what authority are you trying to use against me?”

Yujiro’s smile turned sharper.

“You aren’t Hokage anymore, yet you still wear the Hokage robes every day as if you can’t bear to take them off. What is it, Sandaime? Do you want the seat back?”

Hiruzen’s face turned grim.

He did not answer.

Seeing that silence, Minato felt something heavy settle in his chest.

Silence, in this situation, was already an answer.

Yujiro watched Hiruzen for a moment, then suddenly changed his tone.

“If you want to take part in the operation against Orochimaru, it isn’t impossible.”

Hiruzen immediately raised his head.

“You said it yourself,” he said quickly. “You can’t take it back now. After all, Yujiro, you are the ANBU Commander.”

He had just been suppressed by Yujiro using that very position.

Now that the same position worked in his favor, Hiruzen felt as though the resentment in his chest had finally found a way out.

Yujiro smiled lightly.

“Since there are no objections, we’ll begin the operation tonight.”

His gaze swept across the room.

“At that time, ANBU will deploy five hundred elite jōnin.”

Hiruzen’s expression froze.

Yujiro continued calmly.

“One hundred from the Hyūga clan. One hundred from the Uchiha clan.”

“I will lead the unit personally. Kakashi and Shisui will assist me.”

His smile did not change.

“Tonight, we strike at the snake’s den and crush it.”

“What?!”

Cold sweat instantly appeared on Hiruzen’s forehead.

Five hundred elite jōnin from ANBU.

On top of that, the Hyūga and Uchiha clans would both be involved.

And Yujiro himself would lead the operation.

If that force truly moved against Orochimaru, then Orochimaru would not escape.

He would die.

Yujiro tilted his head slightly and looked at Hiruzen with faint amusement.

“What’s wrong? Do you have an objection?”

“Well...” Hiruzen forced himself to speak, his voice lower than before. “Yujiro, Orochimaru is still my student. In this matter, could you allow me to lead the operation?”

Yujiro looked at him quietly.

Hiruzen’s attachment to Orochimaru had already passed the point of reason.

It was almost a sickness.

Of course, there was no real need to kill Orochimaru immediately.

But this matter could still serve as a test.

A test to see whether Hiruzen Sarutobi still had any chance of being saved.

Yujiro did not hate Konoha itself.

What disgusted him was the leadership sitting above it.

The civilians were not at fault.

The fault lay with those who guided what the people saw, heard, and believed.

Ordinary civilians could only judge good and evil through the words passed down by Konoha’s higher-ups.

Over time, those words became the village’s common sense.

And the ones who shaped that common sense were the very people now clinging to their old authority.

The old men of Konoha who relied on their seniority.

The ones who acted as though surviving the previous wars made them untouchable.

If the Second Hokage had not stayed behind to cover their escape back then, what would have become of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others?

Yujiro had nothing but contempt for Konoha’s upper ranks.

If they kept their heads down and lived quietly, he would not bother with them.

But if they dared provoke him, then there was nothing to discuss.

He would cut them down.

He did not care whether they were elders, advisers, or former Hokage.

If they became his enemy, he would kill them.

“Yujiro,” Hiruzen said again after Yujiro remained silent for too long. His voice had lowered even further. “I’m asking you. Please.”

Yujiro finally nodded.

“Fine. Then we’ll cooperate with your command tonight.”

Hiruzen let out a slow breath and nodded heavily.

Then he turned and left the Hokage’s office.

His back looked strangely weak, as if he had aged more than ten years in a single moment.

Yujiro watched him go and curled his lips.

“What a performance.”

The words reached Hiruzen clearly just as he stepped outside the office.

His fist tightened.

The anger burning in his chest was almost impossible to contain.

Yujiro’s voice drifted out after him.

“Don’t forget. Assemble in front of the ANBU base at nine tonight.”

Hiruzen did not turn back.

Even if he had to grit his teeth until they cracked, he forced himself to leave the Hokage Building.

Only after Hiruzen was gone did Minato exhale softly.

He did not think Yujiro had gone too far.

Everything Yujiro said was the truth.

More than that, Minato also hoped this incident would wake Hiruzen up.

But could he truly wake up?

Minato had entrusted this matter to Hiruzen months ago.

And what had come of it?

Only more victims.

“Yujiro,” Shisui asked, looking at him, “are we really going to follow Sandaime-sama’s command tonight?”

“Of course,” Yujiro said with a smile. “Let’s see how the Sandaime performs.”

Then he turned toward Minato.

“Oh, right. Minato-sensei, you should disguise yourself as an ANBU shinobi and come with us.”

Minato nodded firmly.

“Understood.”

After all, this operation involved capturing Orochimaru.

If Minato went personally, there would be fewer chances for anything unexpected to happen.

Nine o’clock that night.

In front of Konoha’s ANBU base.

Yujiro had already gathered every ANBU member.

During the past month, ANBU’s numbers had expanded greatly.

At present, they had five hundred elite jōnin, along with another eight or nine hundred ordinary ANBU operatives.

This time, however, Yujiro had summoned only the elite unit.

These shinobi came from various clans.

The Uchiha clan.

The Hyūga clan.

The Yamanaka clan.

The Aburame clan.

The Nara clan.

The Inuzuka clan.

And others as well.

There were also elite shinobi who had risen from civilian backgrounds.

Shisui stood at Yujiro’s left.

Kakashi stood at his right.

Minato, disguised as an ANBU operative, quietly hid himself among the five hundred elite shinobi.

At exactly nine o’clock, Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared in full shinobi combat gear.

If he had come wearing the Hokage robes again, even he would not have been able to maintain that old pride of his.

Besides, he had not come here to lecture anyone tonight.

He had come to command Konoha’s ANBU in the operation to capture Orochimaru.

“Tonight’s operation will be commanded by Hiruzen Sarutobi,” Yujiro announced loudly.

He did not even bother to call him Sandaime.

“Yes, Commander!”

The five hundred elite ANBU responded in perfect unison.

Hiruzen’s expression remained heavy as he felt the overwhelming combat strength gathered before him.

A cold sweat threatened to form in his palms.

If every shinobi here truly moved against Orochimaru, then even Orochimaru would be worn down through sheer force.

Orochimaru...

Hiruzen lifted his hand and shouted.

“ANBU, hear my order. Follow me. We begin the operation.”

The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished.

At the same time, Yujiro’s group and the five hundred elite ANBU disappeared from the area.

Meanwhile, in an underground passage outside Konoha.

Orochimaru looked at the Root shinobi who had come to deliver a message, the corners of his mouth curling faintly upward.

“So, Sensei intends to personally lead ANBU to arrest me tonight?”

“Yes,” the Root shinobi answered without emotion.

“I see.”

Orochimaru nodded.

The Root shinobi swiftly left the dark, damp passage.

“Sensei is coming to capture me himself?”

Orochimaru looked at the results of his research spread out before him and smiled faintly.

“You inform your disciple in advance, then bring shinobi to arrest him afterward. Sarutobi-sensei, you truly are far too soft.”

As he said this, a trace of contempt appeared on Orochimaru’s face.

After that, he began gathering the scrolls inside the secret room.

He was preparing to defect.

Outside Konoha, Hiruzen led five hundred elite ANBU as they began their search.

“Sandaime-sama,” an ANBU from the Hyūga clan quickly appeared beside him. “This area was already investigated thoroughly before.”

In his eyes, this was supposed to be an arrest operation.

So why were they wasting time searching a base that had already been cleared?

“Nonsense,” Hiruzen said sharply, his face dark. “You claim it was investigated, so that means nothing was missed?”

The Hyūga ANBU fell silent.

“Orochimaru is my student. Do you understand how cunning he is?”

Hiruzen’s voice grew heavier.

“This entire area must be searched again. Carefully.”

“...Understood.”

The Hyūga ANBU frowned slightly, but he still returned to his position.

Farther away, Minato heard Hiruzen’s words and lowered his gaze in deep disappointment.

In the end, he had overestimated Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He had truly changed.

Was he deliberately delaying the pursuit to buy Orochimaru time to escape?

Was he trying to blunt ANBU’s movements from the inside?

Thinking of that, Minato looked toward Yujiro beside him.

Yujiro only smiled lightly.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Let him play his part.”