章 17: The Hokage's Candidate
After Yami left the office, Hiruzen turned his attention to Minato, who had stayed behind for some reason.
"Is there something else you want to discuss, Minato?"
"Oh, yeah…" Minato hesitated but finally asked, "Hokage-sama, do you know anything about Roots?"
Hiruzen, who had just placed his smoking pipe in his mouth, nearly choked. "Cough… how do you know about that name?" His tone became more serious and wary.
Roots was Konoha's dark secret organization, known only to the Hokage and his senior advisors.
"Hmm," Minato noticed the change in the Hokage's attitude but continued. "Well, Yami told me about it. He said the examiner who attacked him was from Roots."
Hiruzen couldn't hide his surprise. He didn't expect a mere Genin to know such a significant Konoha secret. How did Yami manage to get information about Roots, which was hidden from thousands of Konoha's ninjas? Did he use his transparent escape to spy on the village's secrets? Could he be a spy?
These questions filled Hiruzen's mind, and he wanted to rush and find Yami to question him. Despite its dark nature, Roots played a significant role in keeping the village together. If Konoha's ninjas ever found out about it, they might lose faith in the Hokage and the village.
Hiruzen didn't care much about his position as Hokage; he was already too old for it. If he found someone worthy to succeed him, he would have stepped down already. But alas, there was no one up to the position and its responsibility yet. If elite ninjas found out the truth about Roots, it might jeopardize the village's safety. Hiruzen didn't want to deal with internal strife while war loomed on the horizon.
If Yami were still in the office, he would have noticed a few red spots surrounding Hiruzen's soul. Poor Yami had no idea that a few words spoken in anger had made him a suspect of treason, targeted by the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama!" Minato called, seeing Hiruzen silent for a while.
"Did he mention anything else besides the name, anything at all?" Hiruzen asked. He first needed to figure out how much information Minato knew before dealing with Yami's situation.
Not understanding the Hokage's intention, Minato answered honestly. "No, he didn't say anything else."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
After confirming that Minato had no idea what Roots was, Hiruzen internally breathed a sigh of relief. He still had to ensure Minato wouldn't investigate and possibly uncover more.
"Don't worry, I'll personally investigate this matter. You don't need to involve yourself."
Minato keenly understood the hint the Hokage was giving him. He was basically telling him to stay out of this matter and not investigate Roots.
'It looks like it involves one of Konoha's secrets since the Hokage is personally asking me to stay out of it,' Minato thought, yet he couldn't help but have some doubts. If it involved Konoha's secrets, how did Yami know about it?
"I understand, Hokage-sama."
Despite his doubts, Minato didn't disobey the Hokage and left the office.
****
Boom!
After Minato left, Hiruzen slammed his palm against the desk and cursed. 'Damn you, Danzo.'
Despite Danzo's overbearing actions that could be seen as a direct challenge to his authority as Hokage, Hiruzen found himself helpless to do anything about him. Ignoring the fact that Danzo could spread rumors about Roots if pushed too much, just the threat of Konoha facing the full force of the other four villages meant he couldn't fall out with Danzo right now.
Despite his despicable nature, Danzo was still a Konoha shinobi, and quite loyal to the village. In times of war, he would do everything in his power to protect it from the other villages. But his actions this time exceeded the limits and must be stopped before he thought himself above the Hokage.
And there was still Yami's matter—how did he know about Roots? Just thinking about how to deal with it gave Hiruzen a headache. Even though he managed to convince Minato to stay out of the matter, if something happened to Yami, Minato would surely involve himself and investigate.
"Ah, trouble comes one after another." Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, smoking his pipe, pondering how to deal with Yami's situation without arousing questions and rumors.
"You shouldn't stress yourself too much and instead take care of your health. You're not young anymore."
Just as he was deep in thought, he heard a familiar voice he hadn't heard in a while. Looking at Orochimaru who just entered the door, Hiruzen genuinely smiled.
"If you lose your temper all the time, you'll age faster."
"Hahaha, don't treat me like an old man. I'm only in my fifties. I feel like I can live another fifty years." Hiruzen smiled. "It has been a while, how have you been?"
Perhaps because he hadn't seen his student for a long time, he was a little happy and forgot his bad mood.
"No, what I mean is that you should have decided on the candidate for the Fourth Hokage earlier, Sensei."
Unfortunately, Orochimaru didn't seem interested in catching up.
"The candidate for the Fourth Hokage?"
Hiruzen's smile faltered. He didn't know since when, but he began to understand his student's thoughts less and less.
"Orochimaru, do you really want to be Hokage?"
Looking at his most beloved but also most troublesome disciple, Hiruzen's eyes became distant. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about letting Orochimaru inherit his position as Hokage. However, ever since Tsunade's brother, Nawaki, died in front of Orochimaru, he seemed to be changing his control. Therefore, there was always a voice in his heart telling him—
Orochimaru is not a suitable candidate for Hokage.
"It seems that many people want to be Hokage lately…" Hiruzen said.
Orochimaru didn't immediately answer and slowly walked to the window, looking at the streets of Konoha below.
"I want to live longer, learn all kinds of ninjutsu, become the Hokage like my Sensei, and enjoy the feeling of being admired by everyone. Is that not possible?"
"I didn't say you can't do it, but you can only become Hokage if you are recognized by the majority of people. And now you have drifted away from most people in the village, just like Danzo."
"Recognized by the people you say?" Orochimaru couldn't help but sneer. "Ninjas have always been about strength. Besides, wasn't it only because of a word from the Second Hokage that Sensei became one? What is the need for recognition now?"
"I had no choice at that time. The Second Hokage sacrificed himself, and the village needed someone to stand up!"
Hiruzen looked solemn as he explained himself. He was planning to continue lecturing his troublesome student before he remembered Konoha's situation.
"Orochimaru, if you really want to be Hokage, then help Konoha win against the alliance between Iwagakure and Kumogakure in the next war. Then not only will I nominate you, but everyone in the village will nominate you to become Hokage."
"I see." Orochimaru nodded casually. "I didn't say I wouldn't help you, Sensei."
Winning the war would surely guarantee his position as Hokage. But to be honest, Orochimaru wasn't much interested.
His only reason for becoming the Hokage was due to the massive resources he would be able to access once he became one. As for the position's responsibilities, he was neither interested nor had the time for them. That was why he and Danzo made a secret deal that once Orochimaru became the Hokage, he would pass the position to Danzo in exchange for Danzo fully supporting and funding him.
Orochimaru stretched his hand out of the window and just happened to catch a yellow leaf blown by the wind.
"Where is Danzo now?"
After hearing that Orochimaru was willing to join the war, Hiruzen felt relieved, and his bad mood eased up a little.
"It looked like one of his subordinates discovered critical information about Iwagakure, so Danzo went to personally investigate before reporting back."
"The war is about to start, and Danzo has time to go do the investigation himself."
Hiruzen wasn't a fool. He knew that Danzo was purposely avoiding him. Despite his anger, he didn't go look for trouble. After all, Konoha still needed an organization like Roots to deal with some things that were inconvenient for him to handle.
"Hmm, are you going somewhere?" Orochimaru asked after he saw Hiruzen standing up.
"You should have heard about the incident during the Chunin exam. I'm going to meet the Genin that was involved," Hiruzen said, walking toward the door.
"Oh, can I accompany you, Sarutobi-sensei? By the way, I can also learn your 'Way of Hokage'..."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't object. Orochimaru's presence could prove to be useful in keeping his Hokage image in front of Yami. Perhaps he could use this situation to his advantage.
*****
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