Correct Theory
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious at Danzo's words, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then looked past Danzo at the other Two Advisors and said, "Homura, Koharu, what are your thoughts?"
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged a glance, then Mitokado Homura looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said, "Let's recruit Orochimaru's old subordinates into the Anbu. With the Cursed Seal, they can be Anbu for life."
Although Utatane Koharu didn't say anything, she nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly turned to look at Danzo. Only then did he understand Danzo's purpose: Danzo had taken a liking to Orochimaru's subordinates.
Although Mitokado Homura mentioned recruiting members into the Anbu, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that these people would eventually join Root. He, Hiruzen Sarutobi, needed to be in the sunlight and couldn't bear any shadows; he couldn't bring himself to place Cursed Seal on his subordinates.
Facing Hiruzen Sarutobi's fierce gaze, Danzo fearless, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi with unwavering determination.
The two looked at each other for a moment, and finally Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Give me the list, I need to confirm it."
Danzo felt a slight sense of relief upon hearing this. Thankfully, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still the same Hiruzen Sarutobi. He then took out a list from his Ninja Tool Pouch.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi saw that Danzo had even prepared the list in advance, his anger intensified, but he ultimately restrained himself.
He took Danzo's list, crossed out about half of the names, and then returned the list to Danzo.
Danzo glanced through it and found only half was missing, but he didn't pay much attention, as this was expected. However, noticing that one name was also crossed out, he said, "Hiruzen, Anko..."
"Anko is still a child!" Before Danzo speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi almost roared, silencing him.
Danzo, then said no more. His objective had been achieved; losing one Anko was insignificant. Before acquiring these people, Danzo didn't want to provoke Hiruzen Sarutobi any further.
The rest was easy. Orochimaru's subordinates on the list joined the Anbu, half-forced and half-voluntary. Some of them were then selected by Hiruzen Sarutobi. These people had relatively less contact with Orochimaru and would live in Konoha as normal Anbu members.
The rest were all Danzo and placed in the Root. From then on, the Root, which had been empty for a long time, became abundant again.
Along with the restoration of Root's strength, Danzo's ambition also recovered.
Konoha acted very quickly this time. By the time news reached Iwagakure, Konoha had already returned to calm. Even Yichen didn't expect the Konoha High-ranking officials to act so quickly and decisively this time.
Yichen had originally planned to make some noise while Orochimaru was defecting, but in the end, he didn't even get a single piece of information beforehand.
The matter was too serious, Ōnoki immediately convened High-Level Meeting with his four advisors.
Upon entering the conference room, Yichen discovered that, in addition to Ōnoki and their four advisors, there were three other people present at this High-Level Meeting.
The group consisted of two women and one man. The man was Kitsuchi, Yichen's former captain. The two women were around the same age as Kitsuchi and were both Jonin strength.
Once everyone had arrived, Yichen spoke first, asking Ōnoki, "Lord Tsuchikage? Has the Advisor Group been expanded?"
Ōnoki shook his head and said, "Aki, Miko, and Kitsuchi are not advisors; they are Tsuchikage Assistant, responsible for assisting Tsuchikage in handling daily affairs. They have the right to participate in High-Level Meeting, but they do not have voting rights."
Yichen and the others nodded, expressing no objection to Ōnoki's arrangements.
After introducing the three Tsuchikage Assistant, Ōnoki gestured for Aki about recent events in Konoha.
After hearing that Orochimaru, a disciple of the Hokage, and one of the most promising Kage-level experts to succeed the Fourth Hokage, had actually defected, Ikura, Mei, and Sakato looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, all three of them turned their gaze to Yichen.
They all remembered what Yichen had said years ago: Konoha's losses on the battlefield were not as great as their internal strife.
As expected, Yichen's prediction was proven correct once again. Throughout the entire Third Shinobi War, Konoha did not lose a single Kage Level, but not long after the Third Shinobi War ended, one of Konoha's Kage Level ninjas defected.
To be honest, for the Iwa ninja, the defection of a Kage Level ninja from Konoha is more gratifying than the death of a Kage Level in battle.
If Orochimaru were to die in battle, Konoha would only lose one Kage Level. However, since Orochimaru has now defected, many ninjas and even clans within Konoha would be implicated. This intangible impact would be enormous, and he would drain Konoha's resources for a long time.
Even though Konoha is peaceful now, for a long time to come, a large number of Anbu will be stationed in the village to guard against various forces within the village and to monitor targets that may be involved with Orochimaru.
Furthermore, the defection of a Kage Level ninja would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the morale of the Konoha ninja.
Ikura as the three of them were about to speak, Aki added, "Besides Orochimaru, Jiraiya has also disappeared. It's speculated that Jiraiya went to search for Orochimaru."
Saka was overjoyed and said, "So, Legendary Sannin have left Konoha?"
Saka couldn't help but be unhappy. When their generation first came to power, Konoha's strength was at a low point. Whether it was Iwa ninja, Cloud ninja, or even Sunagakure, they all coveted Konoha's dominant position.
However, all his ambitions were shattered after the emergence of the Legendary Sannin. Hiruzen Sarutobi's battle record was not high, but the achievements of his three disciples earned him the title of Ninjutsu Doctor.
It can be said that the Legendary Sannin became the inner demons of the older generation of ninjas.
Now, upon suddenly learning that the Legendary Sannin had all left Konoha for various reasons, Saka and Mei were no longer able to remain calm.
Similar to Saka's feelings were the three Tsuchikage Assistant, including Kitsuchi. They were younger than the Legendary Sannin and practically grew up listening to Legendary Sannin stories. During their childhood, their elders had high expectations for them, hoping they would surpass the Legendary Sannin.
When they were young, Kitsuchi and the others did indeed dream of surpassing the Legendary Sannin, but as they grew older, none of them harbored such fantasies. Now that they know the Legendary Sannin have all left Konoha, their feelings are all very complicated.
On the contrary, Ikura and Yichen grew up during the war years, when the village controlled entertainment and gossip, so Yichen and the others felt less connected to the Legendary Sannin.
After a while, once everyone had calmed down, Ōnoki said, "Yichen, I listened to your advice back then and changed our strategy towards Konoha, and it was indeed the right thing to do. First there was White Fang, then Orochimaru; the losses from Konoha's Internal Strife were indeed greater than those from external battles."
After a pause, Ōnoki said, "Yichen, Ikura, do you think it's possible to deal with Jiraiya and Tsunade who are away from Konoha?"
What Ōnoki said was somewhat plausible. Previously, the Ninja World didn't have much confidence in defeating Kage Level opponent, but things changed after the precedent of the Third Raikage.
The Third Raikage was practically the most outstanding Ninja World. Most importantly, the Third Raikage was a master of both offense and defense, making him one of the most difficult ninjas to kill. Since even the Third Raikage was killed, it's understandable that Ōnoki focused his efforts on Jiraiya and Tsunade.
After thinking for a moment, Yichen said, "The Legendary Sannin have all signed contracts with the Three Great Sage Locations. When they are in danger, they can use the Reverse Summoning Technique to escape an ambush. So I don't think it's reliable to ambush the Legendary Sannin."
Ikura nodded and said, "The giant Summoning Beast of the Legendary Sannin are not easy to deal with either. This time, when Konoha and Mist ninja attacked the Third Raikage, the number of ninjas killed by the Third Raikage was actually not that many, but the number of ninjas who died at the hands of the Eight-Tails was very large. It can be seen that ninjas who can summon giant Summoning Beast are not suitable for the tactic of attacking in groups."
After thinking about it, Ōnoki gave up. Ōnoki didn't know about the Reverse Summoning Technique that Yichen mentioned, but what Ikura said was true. Although Iwa ninja had a lot of ninjas, they were unwilling to lose too many people for a plan that they didn't know if it could be realized.
After a while, Yichen added, "However, if we get news of Jiraiya or Tsunade, we can pass the information on to other ninja villages, such as Cloud ninja."
"I imagine the Fourth Raikage would be interested in this kind of information; he probably really wants to launch a coordinated attack on Jiraiya as well."
Ōnoki and the others thought it made sense, and that's how the matter was settled.
However, Aki and Miko looked at Yichen with some strange expressions.
Advisors like Ōnoki and Ikura were already used to Yichen's thought process. But Kitsuchi and the other two never expected Yichen to be this kind of person.
Especially Aki and Miko, they had very little contact with Yichen, and only knew that Yichen was a genius similar to Ikura. They never expected that Yichen's heart was black.
No wonder some people in the Ninja World call Yichen the Fox of Stone; now it seems that title is quite reasonable.
After discussing for a while, the group realized there was nothing more to gain, so they ended the meeting.
Finally Ōnoki said, "Let's keep an eye on the movements of the other ninja villages first. Ikura, secretly gather an elite force to deal with any unforeseen circumstances."
Everyone nodded and then dispersed.
Among the other ninja villages, aside from Sunagakure choosing to remain neutral like Iwa ninja, Mist ninja and Cloud ninja were indeed somewhat restless.
Among the Cloud ninja, the majority, represented by the newly appointed Fourth Raikage, Yotsuki A, constituted the War Faction. If Konoha hadn't handled the Orochimaru defection incident so decisively, the Cloud ninja might have already launched an attack.
There's been very little activity in Kirigakure; it seems Yagura has been busy rebuilding the Kirigakure since taking over. After all, Orochimaru and Yichen's invasion had a significant impact on Kirigakure, and the Mizukage needs to appease the people right now.
However, Yagura's inaction does not mean that the Mist ninja are inactive; the lower and middle ranks of the Mist ninja harbor great resentment towards Konoha's betrayal.
This feeling intensified, especially when some frontline ninjas returned to their villages and learned that their loved ones and friends had been harmed or even killed.
Many Mist ninja specifically choose missions where they might encounter Konoha ninja, and then secretly cause trouble.
However, the major decisions of war and peace between the two nations are not something that a few disgruntled Genin and lower can influence.
Yagura was well aware of the gap between Mist ninja and Konoha. He knew that Mist ninja, with the strength of a single village, would only be courting death if it tried to confront Konoha head-on. Therefore, Mist ninja ultimately refrained from any major actions.
Finally, although all countries were prepared to intervene at any time, no one was willing to be the first to take the lead.
As a result, after a period of silent confrontation, the parties dispersed. If Yichen hadn't been a high-ranking Iwagakure, he probably wouldn't have noticed these subtle maneuvers between the Five Great Ninja Villages.
"Sigh, the Ninja World is indeed not peaceful. It's not good to always look at the Ninja World through the lens of the Third Shinobi War and Fourth Shinobi War World Wars in the original work. Judging from this situation, if any high-ranking member of a ninja village gets carried away, the Fourth Shinobi War will break out." Yichen thought to himself, while reminding himself not to rely too much on the original plot.