Konoha, in a dark underground secret room.
"Oh, it's the so-called Will of Fire again!" A shady old man with half of his body wrapped in bandages sneered while looking at the document in his hand.
"Tsk tsk, what an amazing talent! A civilian Shinobi who has been in the Academy for only half a month can actually defeat sensei's son!" The Shinobi standing behind the shady old man said, and a pair of snake pupils flashed with fluorescent light.
"If it were you, you should be able to do it too." The bandaged old man turned back and asked indifferently, "Right, Orochimaru?"
"Hehe." Orochimaru sneered, but didn't answer. Instead, he greeted the other party's gaze again and asked, "Is Danzō-sama very optimistic about him? Do you want him to be a member of the Root?"
"Optimistic?" Danzō said with cold and arrogant tone, "Hmph, I'm not optimistic about the person Hiruzen is optimistic about!"
"People who can't be ruthless, no matter how good their talent is, won't become a qualified Shinobi, and... hmph..."
'And? In fact, it's actually because of the Will of Fire...' The corner of Orochimaru's mouth curled up slightly, and he secretly despises in his heart.
He clearly remembers that when Danzō out stretched his hand towards Jiraiya's disciple, his always indecisive teacher unexpectedly acted resolutely and cut off all the branches of the roots which are sticking out of the ground, making someone felt heartache and looked for his teacher desperately.
Otherwise, with the amazing talent displayed by Namikaze Minato, how could Danzō pretend that he didn't see it!
Even if you were assassinated, you didn't care, however, if it's about the "Will of Fire", but you will never back down...' Orochimaru's eyes flashed with a haze, and he sighed inwardly, "Sensei, in your eyes, what is the village like?"
Two people with different thoughts are thinking about their own thoughts , causing the already silent underground chamber secret room to fall into dead silence again.
After a while, Danzō the document in his hand aside and said, "What did you think about the things I told you last time?"
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I have to think about this kind of thing. After all, that's not someone I can deal with easily!"
"That's right, whether it is Namikaze Minato or Shimizu Sōseki, they're just minor characters who are poisoned by that bastard Hiruzen. The only one worth paid attention to is that guy called Konoha's White Fang!"
"One weak Hokage is enough. If we even let that kind of weak loser take over the Yondaime Hokage's position, it will only pull Konoha down into the abyss." Danzō became more and more excited as he said that, and his whole body seemed to bloom with a "holy" brilliance, "For Konoha, we must get rid of him!"
Orochimaru on the side seemed to be taken aback by the "holy" brilliance and was astonished, 'Does he really think he is doing that for Konoha?'
As if he finished venting his dissatisfaction with Sandaime, Danzō regained his composure and said, "Since you are here, it means you have made a decision. Tell us your conditions."
Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth, and then said, "I want Shōdaime's cells."
Danzō turned his head abruptly, and then stared at Orochimaru, "That experiment has been called off, you should know it, right?"
Orochimaru smiled and said, "Danzō-sama, are you really willing to give up the means of controlling the Kyūbi? For Konoha, a small price and sacrifice are all worth it!"
Danzō was silent for a moment, and then grinned, "I really want to know what kind of expression on Hiruzen's face when he knows that his favorite disciple is of the same type as me."
Orochimaru didn't care about Danzō's ridicule, and just sighed, "Fate always leads people to different paths!"
...
Outside, the battle between Sōseki and Asuma surprised many people, but it only stop there. The eyes of the adults wouldn't stay on children all the time.
It seems that the peaceful life is on the right track again.
Ding ding ding~.
"The class is finally over. The theory class is really boring."
"That's right, when will we have the actual combat class?"
"Hey, you guys should give some respect to Yagami-sensei."
"It seems so. Then, let's go out and play the violent football that Sōseki told us last time."
"Okay, okay, I want to be on Sōseki's team."
"Hateful, you were already on the same team as the class leader yesterday, it should be our turn today."
There are not many classes in the first grade, and there is enough time between adjacent classes for them to vent their excess energy.
In the classroom, Sōseki watched this scene with a smile.
Obviously, his small-group plan has begun to bear fruit.
The herd mentality is universal, especially in childhood when people's minds are still immature.
When he has established an excellent, reliable and friendly image, and labeled himself as someone perfect, these little students who were still ignorant about interpersonal relationships would naturally gather around him
Of course, there are still exceptions.
"Mizuki, don't you want to play together?" Sōseki invited someone in the corner with a smile.
Although he is jealous in his heart, Mizuki didn't dare to openly refute Sōseki's authority in the class, so he just pretended he didn't hear it.
However, this alone has made many people unhappy.
"What's your attitude, bastard, Sōseki is talking to you!"
"Stinky guy, I really want to beat you up!"
Mizuki didn't expect at all that he would be targeted for just venting his dissatisfaction. For a while, he apologized at a loss. Without any other choice, he can only apologize helplessly, "That… I'm sorry, I just feel a little uncomfortable, it's not on purpose..."
Listening to Mizuki's voice that is full of grievances and resentment, Sōseki said, "Don't be like that you guys. Everyone is a classmates and classmates should take care of each other and help each other."
As if he didn't see Mizuki's strangeness, Sōseki looked at him "sincerely" and said, "Mizuki, I'm so sorry, I apologized to you on their behalf, but I can actually see that you really want to join us, right? If you have any concerns, please tell me. After all, people like us can only rely on our friends around us."
Mizuki's body trembled slightly, but he still didn't look up.
Sōseki didn't care either, and after he finished speaking, he took the lead and walked outside, but after passing by Kurenai's seat, he stopped for a while and glanced in her direction.
"Kurenai, do you want to go together?"
"Huh? Me?" Kurenai was a little moved, but after looking at the boys around Sōseki, she finally shook her head and said, "This is you boys' sport, so I won't take part in it."
"Well, next time I will also design some games suitable for you girls to play." Sōseki smiled and walked out of the classroom while thinking to myself, 'It has been confirmed that Shinku-senpai completed the mission yesterday and already returned to the village. These few days are his days off, so I can almost start the plan...'
'I wonder how far the current psychological suggestion has progressed. If 's too late, I may have to step up efforts...'
"Sōseki, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that Sōseki is absent-minded, Asuma on the side asked.
"It's nothing, I just noticed some...unfriendly eyes." Sōseki didn't show any strangeness, as he just turned around and looked behind him.
Asuma also turned his head and followed Sōseki's gaze.
At this moment, outside the classroom on the two floors above them, a few boys who look like bad kids are sitting on the guardrail and pointing at them.
"Those guys are in the third grade, and like to bully new students." As the son of Hokage, his information channels are naturally much better than those of Sōseki's.
"Bullying the new students?" Sōseki asked, rubbing his chin in thought.
"A lot of students in the second grade have been bullied by them, but..." Asuma folded his arms and snorted disdainfully, "With me, Sarutobi Asuma here, let's see if they dare to provoke us!"
There were indeed few people around who were afraid. Not to mention Asuma's identity who is the son of Hokage, just the strength shown by him and Sōseki in the previous battle far exceeded the level of normal students.
"Academy's bullies?" Sōseki glanced at the bad kids with a meaningful look, and then smiled and walked with everyone toward the playground.
A/N 1: In that part of Yakushi Kabuto's arc, it was still in the Third Shinobi World War, and the Uchiha Clan had not yet been destroyed, but Danzo was already dressed as a bandaged old man.
A/N 2: Although in the Anime Danzō tried to assassinate Sandaime after the Kyūbi's Attack, but looking at his skilled way of operation, I feels there is reason to think that it is not the first time for him to do that. After all, as a good close friend full of love and hate with Sandaime, it is impossible that Danzō does not know Sandaime's strength, but in the Anime, Danzō actually "naively" thinks that relying on Yamato and his weak subordinates will be enough to assassinate Sandaime. Considering the logic of the characters behavior, there are two possibilities I concluded. One is that Konoha was too strong before and has been targeted, so Sandaime and Danzō deliberately showed their love and hate towards each other, giving the outside world a false impression of civil strife and weakness. And the second possibility is that Danzō is constantly testing Sandaime's bottom line. But no matter what the possibility is, it should be understandable that Danzō has already tried to assassinate before the Kyūbi's Attack.