Ichiraku Ramen

Not far from Konoha Hospital stood the Konoha Shinobi Cemetery, and near the cemetery was Konoha's Memorial Stone.

After taking Kabuto from the hospital, Orochimaru took a detour here.

He had thought of another of his disciples. Now that he was about to take in a new one, he could not help feeling sentimental. Since it was nearby, he had come to take a look.

Before the Memorial Stone, his eyes quickly found a name engraved upon it—Nawaki.

"...Do you want to become Hokage?"

Kabuto froze for a moment. Cold sweat still beaded on his uneasy forehead. After thinking it over, he answered, "I've never thought about it."

Kabuto did not think he should become Hokage. He was a practical person and did not believe an orphan picked up outside the village could become Konoha's Kage.

His greatest hope now was to live well with the director.

He believed his desires were modest.

"You have the qualifications to become Hokage." A hand once again landed on Kabuto's head and rubbed it.

Kabuto could not help frowning as he endured it.

"After all, you're my disciple."

"I wasn't born in Konoha."

"That doesn't matter. You're an orphan created by the Shinobi World War Konoha went through."

"..."

Kabuto lowered his head speechlessly.

Of course, he understood that Orochimaru was fabricating an identity for him. For someone who was about to become the Fifth Hokage, that would not be difficult.

Besides, so many people had died in the previous Shinobi World War. It would be easy enough to arrange an identity for Kabuto as the child of a Konoha family killed in battle.

In other words, Kabuto would have a pair of nominal parents in the village from now on, even though they were already dead.

"I don't desire to become Hokage."

"That's because there's little you desire in this village. When you come to desire more from the village, you'll desire to become Hokage too, just like the countless people who grew up here."

"Teacher Orochimaru! I'll definitely become Hokage!" Nawaki's bright voice and his radiant, sunny smile flashed through Orochimaru's mind.

Then came the image of lively Nawaki acting on his own. Through carelessness, or perhaps excessive pride, the disciple Orochimaru had cared for had died in the explosion of an Explosive Tag.

It had been such a casual death, so casual it felt like a joke played by fate.

Life was something that could be destroyed so easily.

Whether Nawaki or Dan.

"Let's go."

As Orochimaru turned away, Kabuto hurried after him. As they walked, he could not help looking back at the slanted Memorial Stone. He also saw a white-haired young shinobi silently walk up before it...

After Orochimaru left, only Sandaime, Nonō, and Kinoe remained there.

Nonō looked toward Sandaime.

Though Lord Orochimaru had told her to take care of Kinoe, she felt that someone as important as Kinoe required Sandaime's opinion before she could know what to do.

"Just as Orochimaru said, Tenshin, take good care of Kinoe."

"Yes, Lord Third."

Nonō answered solemnly. Then, after gathering herself, she walked with the same seriousness toward Kinoe, who stood silently to the side.

She could not help being serious. After all, she knew Kinoe was a Wood Release Ninja. As an intelligence expert, she naturally understood what a Wood Release Ninja meant to the village.

It was the power that had founded the hidden villages and ended the chaotic age. One could even say it was a symbol of Konoha.

But Nonō soon noticed Kinoe's tense posture and saw his restraint and discomfort.

After all, he was no longer a Root shinobi.

Having grown accustomed to staying in Root, he was surely at a loss now, and so he could not help becoming restrained.

Seeing Kinoe's state of mind, Nonō smiled gently.

"Can you take off your mask?"

"..."

Kinoe silently looked toward Sandaime.

In Kinoe's eyes, he needed to receive an order from the Third Hokage.

Sandaime nodded. "From now on, listen to Tenshin."

Kinoe breathed a sigh of relief.

He understood.

He only needed to treat this woman as his superior.

Once he thought of it that way, he calmed down considerably. He raised a hand and removed his mask, revealing a face that could only be described as blank, with lifeless eyes.

"..."

This was a typical Root shinobi—someone who had erased as much of himself as possible and brought the tool-like nature of a shinobi to its fullest extent.

As an elite born in Root, Nonō had seen too many shinobi like this. Most were selected orphans born from the chaos of war.

Again and again, she had watched orphans be turned into tools. Those who failed were cruelly discarded, while those who were damaged or deemed worthless were discarded as well.

After witnessing such scenes time and again, she no longer wanted to see them.

That was why she had wanted to adopt these orphans, to keep them from the fate of being treated as tools.

A child like the one before her was exactly what she dreaded seeing.

So she smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents.

"Kinoe, is it?"

"Yes." Kinoe lowered his head in answer, like a subordinate obeying an order.

"You don't need to be so restrained."

Nonō continued with a smile, "I hope I can see you smile."

He raised his head and revealed a smile that looked kind, yet still carried the emptiness in his eyes.

Anyone even slightly perceptive could tell it was a fake smile.

Sandaime saw that smile too and took a drag from his cigarette.

Grrr.

"Are you hungry?" Orochimaru asked Kabuto beside him.

Kabuto lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, then nodded.

"Then I'll take you to get something to eat."

"But Lord Orochimaru—"

"Call me Teacher."

"...Teacher, don't you have something to do?"

"It doesn't need to be so urgent. Making them wait a little longer will also let them see their place clearly. I'm the Hokage. I'm the one who leads them, not the other way around."

"I see."

Kabuto instinctively began pondering who Lord Orochimaru... his teacher, intended to lead.

Since his teacher had emphasized that point, did that mean the people he was going to meet had conflicts with the Hokage faction and Konoha's upper ranks represented by his teacher?

His teacher seemed to have said earlier that he was going to take in another disciple he had already chosen.

And being the Hokage's disciple was no simple status.

So was he going to use the status of the Hokage's disciple to exchange benefits with those people?

Then his teacher's goal was to ease the conflict with them, so that he could lead them better.

Just as Kabuto was thinking this over,

Orochimaru patted his shoulder.

Kabuto came back to himself and looked at the ramen shop before him.

On the hanging white curtain, he could see the words: Ichiraku Ramen.

As Orochimaru lifted the curtain and stepped inside,

"Hey, Orochimaru. Long time no see."

Kabuto, who followed him in, looked at the uncle who greeted Orochimaru with a broad smile. He looked cheerful, yet somehow greasy as well.

After Teacher Orochimaru sat down, the uncle draped an arm over Orochimaru's shoulder and nudged him with his elbow, speaking with the familiarity of an old friend.

"Not bad. You actually became Hokage."