Sarutobi Takamasa was leading the Sarutobi Clan members toward their rendezvous point.
He was deeply uneasy as well, but Konoha had kept exploiting them, with clan members constantly being dragged away and hanged.
Most of the Sarutobi Clan members had lost the courage to keep living in Konoha.
If Orochimaru did not arrange somewhere for them to go, they would eventually be crushed to death under the oppression.
That was why Sarutobi Takamasa had so easily brought so many people out.
They had traveled through the night, and by now the sky was beginning to brighten. Some of the genin were utterly exhausted.
Sarutobi Takamasa could only wave a hand and order them to rest on the spot. Everyone lit fires, ate, and recuperated.
No one was in high spirits, and few people spoke.
Then, a vast shadow suddenly fell from the sky...
Konoha
If they had truly been pressed for time, Shamu's Shadow Clone could have used the Flying Thunder God to send Orochimaru back.
But Orochimaru was in no hurry.
So he returned together with the others.
It was the perfect opportunity to let the incident ferment.
After waiting another day, when Orochimaru and the others returned to Konoha, the entire village had already erupted into uproar.
The villagers were discussing it endlessly.
Every other shinobi clan, without exception, thought the Sarutobi Clan members had gone mad.
This was three thousand people, not thirty.
Where could so many people possibly go?
They could not exactly live on thin air.
Yes, they were all shinobi, so they would not starve to death surviving in the wilderness.
But they could not survive in the wilderness forever.
At the very least, they needed somewhere to settle. There were so many of them.
If a small village took in the Sarutobi Clan,