The next morning, heavy rain fell over Konoha.
Heroes' Cemetery was still packed with shinobi. Countless shinobi held black umbrellas and braved the downpour to attend the Third Hokage's funeral, remaining silent amid the mournful music.
The Third Hokage had not been the First Hokage, who founded the village, nor the Second Hokage, who laid its foundations.
Yet he had been Konoha's longest-ruling Hokage. Without exaggeration, in a profession where the average lifespan was only thirty or forty years, the Third Hokage's rule had spanned the lives and deaths of many shinobi.
During his long tenure, the Third Hokage had led Konoha to its peak, only for it to gradually fall into decline.
Therefore, many shinobi's first reaction to the Third Hokage's death had been disbelief. They had then come voluntarily to Heroes' Cemetery to attend the funeral of the Hokage who had sacrificed himself for the village.
Besides the Land of Fire's higher-ups and Konoha Village's shinobi, shinobi from other villages had also attended the funeral.
There were even shinobi from Sunagakure among them. As they looked toward the Third Hokage's burial site, their expressions were exceedingly complicated, and they did not know what to say.
After surrendering to Konoha, they had gradually learned that Orochimaru was the mastermind behind the Konoha Crush Plan.
Although their Kazekage had also been dissatisfied with Konoha, he had died at Orochimaru's hands before setting out for the Chunin Exams. Even his corpse had been used, leaving them humiliated beyond measure.
But compared to that humiliation, they needed to consider reality more.
How to select a new Kazekage after the Kazekage's death, and how to ensure Sunagakure would not be expelled from the Five Great Shinobi Villages—these were matters far more worthy of consideration than humiliation.
Besides Sunagakure, the Sarutobi Clan's shinobi were