"Orochimaru, and Lord Biwako too, actually... the one who should apologize is me..."
The speaker was Jiraiya, travel-worn and covered in dust.
When news of the Konoha Incident and the Third Hokage's death in battle reached Jiraiya, it was already a day ago. He had only just arrived in Konoha late last night.
This was the first time he had returned to Konoha for this long without going to peep at the women's bathhouse.
Jiraiya believed that if he had still been in Konoha at the time, perhaps the Third Hokage would not have died in battle.
Though in truth, the Third Hokage had already harbored a will to die back then. Even if Jiraiya had been present, the Third would most likely still have chosen to perish together with Shimura Danzō.
"But... Orochimaru, have you really decided to start a war against the other villages?"
Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru.
During the funeral just now, Orochimaru had used the Third Hokage's death to guide the hatred of the village's ninja and civilians toward the other ninja villages, so Jiraiya naturally believed Orochimaru intended to ignite a war.
Over the many years the Third Hokage had been in office, Konoha had won three ninja world wars. Then, after growing old, he had decisively retired at the height of his achievements and handed the position of Hokage to Orochimaru. After that, for more than ten years in the Ninja Academy, he had trained generation after generation of new ninja, and over the years, his prestige had become exceptionally high.
Compared with the Third Hokage in the original timeline, although the Third in this world also had stains such as Danzō, his contributions to Konoha far outweighed his faults.
What was more, he had successfully made Danzō take the blame for all his