You'll Know Soon Enough

Orochimaru was brimming with confidence, certain of victory as he looked at Houka with smug satisfaction.

At that moment, it was as though he stood atop the crashing waves of an era, swallowing up mountains and rivers, holding the sun, moon, and stars in his grasp...

He was getting carried away.

Orochimaru lowered his head slightly. "Houka-kun, now, tell me your choice."

Houka closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he had no choice. No matter how unwilling he was, he had to keep up this false pretense with Orochimaru until Minato Namikaze was revived!

After a long while, he opened his eyes. "Then... let's cooperate."

"Very good. Then next, let's discuss the details of assassinating the Third Hokage, Houka-kun!" Orochimaru was thrilled.

Houka immediately changed his tune and began complaining bitterly. "Orochimaru, the Third Hokage is Konoha's strongest Hokage! Not only is he proficient in ninjutsu of all five elements, he has also mastered all sorts of combined ninjutsu, forbidden jutsu, and Sealing Jutsu. His Summoning Beast is from the ninja monkey clan—powerful enough to transform into a staff that can grow or shrink, lengthen or shorten, and poke whoever it wants! And he has Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, by his side, along with an entire Anbu guard detail. We can't provoke him, we really can't!"

Seeing Houka's exaggerated expression, Orochimaru was both irritated and amused. He could not help but snort. "Don't worry, I will—"

Houka hurriedly cut him off. "Orochimaru, there's something I must make clear beforehand: there can never be any reconciliation between Danzo and me, and I will absolutely never cooperate with him!"

In the original story, although Orochimaru was disgusting, he at least successfully redeemed himself later with Uchiha Sasuke's help. But Danzo's ugly spectacle of struggling to