Analyzing the Timing of Orochimaru's Defection

"Shisui, you have to trust the Third Hokage. Teacher Orochimaru is the Third's disciple. Perhaps when we return this time, Teacher will be chosen to succeed him as the Fifth Hokage? If that's true, then none of these merits matter. After all, Teacher Orochimaru is about to become the Fifth Hokage."

Uchiha Yoruro had now transformed into an earnest Uchiha clansman devoted to the village and the Hokage, as though he were telling Shisui not to be so extreme.

Shisui also began to secretly doubt himself. Since when had he started doubting the village? He actually didn't trust Hokage-sama anymore. Damn it!

A deep sense of guilt immediately rose in his heart. Uchiha Shisui looked gratefully at this guiding light in his life. "Brother Yoru, thank you. I was being too extreme."

That was right. After Yoruro's round of smooth talk, Shisui believed he had become too extreme, his face full of shame. Yet Yoruro secretly shook his head. Once this guy saw Orochimaru return and discovered that all of Konoha had made no move to appoint a Fifth Hokage, this dissatisfaction would surface again with twice the force.

Breaking Shisui's faith in the Third Hokage's Will of Fire had never been something that could be done overnight. It required a long process—preferably one where Shisui witnessed everything with his own eyes.

Without him, the Uchiha Clan would never have gotten involved with Orochimaru. After Orochimaru returned to the village, Shisui would have been too busy worrying about how to earn the Hokage's trust for his clan to care about such things.

But things were different now. Orochimaru was not only respected by the Uchiha Clan; even within the village, while it might not have been one hundred percent, at least sixty to seventy percent of the ninja believed he was the future Hokage.

Place all of Shisui's hopes on Orochimaru, then build up an image of Orochimaru as a shining figure who secretly bore the darkness and pressed onward in hardship before Shisui's eyes. Heh heh.

Seeing Shisui drowning in shame and even self-blame, Uchiha Yoruro smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Shisui, you're still young. It's good to have your own opinions, but you can't blindly believe any one person. You need to look at things from every angle, understand?"

"Brother Yoru, I was narrow-minded."

This time, Shisui truly recognized his mistake. Uchiha Yoruro smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. We'll apply to return to the village this time. The border has stabilized anyway, and once we're back, we can't miss Teacher Orochimaru's ceremony of succession as the Fifth Hokage."

In a single sentence, he was making Uchiha Shisui completely believe one thing: Orochimaru's recall to the village was for the purpose of succeeding the Hokage. Once that hope filled his mind, he would learn just how beautiful his fantasies were—and how cruel reality could be.

When Shisui heard that Lord Orochimaru was returning to take up the position of Hokage, excitement immediately appeared on his face. He had no idea that what awaited him would be a dark experience.

"Brother Yoru, I will definitely witness Lord Orochimaru become the Fifth Hokage with my own eyes!"

Shisui's gaze was as resolute as could be, practically fanatical. He could already see the future reconciliation between the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage Faction, with the Uchiha gaining the village's trust once more.

However, Uchiha Yoruro beside him was secretly frowning in thought. After analyzing everything in his mind, he seemed to have discovered something different. After all, the only information he had about this period came from Old Thief Kishimoto's scattered scraps.

In the original story, there was no confirmed date for Orochimaru's defection, but a few scattered clues were enough to infer a rough timeframe.

When Orochimaru defected, the Third Hokage was in the village. Upon hearing the news, he immediately flew into a rage and led the Anbu to capture him. From this, one thing could be confirmed: Orochimaru was either in the village or nearby at the time. He definitely could not have been far away.

The second clue was a scene from the anime. Uchiha Itachi was training alone and was about to be pierced into a beehive by countless kunai. At that moment, Orochimaru, who had been watching in secret, was preparing to step in and rescue him.

At that time, Orochimaru had clearly not defected yet and was still wearing his forehead protector. It was unclear how old Uchiha Itachi was then, but one thing was certain: Uchiha Itachi awakened his Sharingan and avoided the countless kunai.

As the son of the clan head, Itachi's private training chamber would naturally have been within the clan grounds. The fact that Orochimaru could come there proved one thing: the Uchiha Clan had established ties with Orochimaru. Otherwise, Orochimaru could never have appeared so openly among the Uchiha.

And according to all sorts of information from the original story, Uchiha Itachi awakened his Sharingan at the age of eight. In other words, Orochimaru was still a Konoha ninja before Itachi turned eight.

"If that's the case, then there should be about two years left."

After carefully analyzing it, Uchiha Yoruro narrowed his eyes and smiled, while Uchiha Shisui beside him was still immersed in self-reproach.

Those two years were a concrete amount of time. Uchiha Itachi had been five during Nine-Tails Night, but Naruto's birthday was October 10th. Two months later, Itachi would have turned six, and they had only met him not long ago.

Three months of this year had already passed. Next year, Itachi would be seven, leaving a whole year, and the year after that, he would turn eight and awaken his Sharingan. Orochimaru should have defected after Itachi awakened it.

He still had roughly two years to fleece the sheep—no! To improve his strength.

Itachi was eight, five years older than the little brats. At that time, those little brats would have only been three.

At that thought, Uchiha Yoruro broke into an excited smile. Looking at Shisui beside him, amusement filled his heart.

"Shisui, when we return, let's personally witness the Fifth Hokage's inauguration ceremony."

Shisui smiled resolutely and nodded. "Don't worry, Brother Yoru. The Uchiha Clan definitely won't be absent when the time comes."

In his mind, Brother Yoru was Lord Orochimaru's disciple, which meant he would become part of the Hokage's inner circle. Wasn't that a bridge between the clan and the Hokage? Naturally, he was brimming with confidence.

Yet Uchiha Yoruro did not think so. Instead, his heart was filled with a cold sneer. After returning this time, what awaited Orochimaru would probably be suppression.

During the Chunin Exam in the original story, there were clearly quite a few students taking the exam who were older than the little brats, such as Neji and Spy Kabuto, who was still a bottom-tier genin at that stage.

When Orochimaru defected, the little brats had been three years old and perhaps had never heard of Orochimaru's legends. But what about the children who were a little older than them?

Clearly, Orochimaru had been buried away. Even all of Konoha had quietly been diminishing Orochimaru's prestige. At the very least, Yoruro dared say that Danzo and the Sarutobi Clan were definitely involved. Perhaps the Third Hokage had not intended it, but he certainly had not stopped it and had instead tacitly allowed it. There was no other reason: from the original story, it was clear that the Third had already believed Orochimaru was heading down an evil path. That could be seen from his recommendation of the Fourth Hokage.

Or perhaps it was not just Orochimaru. Even the existence of the entire Sannin had been downplayed. When the Sannin appeared in the original story, they were actually described as legendary ninja. Clearly, only the older generation of ninja still remembered them, while a gap had already appeared among the new generation.

Why downplay the Sannin's existence? Clearly, it was to consolidate the current pyramid of power within Konoha Village. Once the Sannin became involved, everything would have to be reshuffled. No one wanted that outcome.

"Heh heh, perhaps I've already deduced the truth." Uchiha Yoruro narrowed his eyes and smiled. But when Shisui heard this, he instead thought his big brother was referring to the village's imminent appointment of the Fifth Hokage.

Two people, one sentence, yet they were thinking of entirely different things—headed in opposite directions.

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