A Famous Theory: Orochimaru's Hiruzen Sarutobi

The Shinobi World had gone some time without any major battles.

Konoha was unusually peaceful.

A skate shop had quietly opened on the streets of Konoha. The skateboards sold there had recently sparked a brawl, in what people called the Great Battle Caused by a Skateboard.

Recently, Zhengyi had nothing to do after his workouts, so he opened a few factories.

With his teacher Orochimaru providing the core technology, it took no time at all for him to establish a foothold in Konoha.

One type was a chakra-storage skateboard. It was a finely crafted piece of equipment, even incorporating ninja tools, so naturally it cost more. The nobles were the target market, and they were willing to pay 400,000 for one.

Zhengyi knew how things worked. A few days later, when villagers complained that the price was too high and asked him to lower it, he ignored them and raised it by another 20,000 instead.

The higher price actually boosted sales even more, just as he'd expected.

The other type was more affordable. You just had to coat your feet in chakra to get it moving. Pretty useless, right? But honestly, it was a great way to show off! It was all the rage among the kids at the Ninja Academy.

The factories also happened to make some childhood toys.

Take the bamboo-copter, a toy kids loved. All he had to do was brag that the wood used to make them came from Hashirama, and an ordinary piece of scrap wood could sell for dozens of times its usual price.

The high-end brand he'd built from the ground up was called Lin Zhengyi, while the low-end sub-brand was simply called Zhengyi.

It wasn't because his surname was Lin. It was because there was someone called little "Lin."

Anyone who'd played with Obito as a kid had to be at least a little bold. Zhengyi fancied himself Konoha's most devoted lover.

If he got the chance, he'd make sure Wang Wenwang was dead!

How dare he set his sights on my little Rin? I'll scatter his ashes to the wind.

Watching the steady stream of orders coming in from across the Land of Fire, Zhengyi felt delighted.

This was all capital he could use to become the Fifth Hokage and help his teacher compete for the position of Fourth Hokage!

A ninja going into business...

What a joke...

Konoha wouldn't dare let anyone else start a business in the same line as Zhengyi.

He'd monopolized both the gyms and the toy factories.

So when his shop opened, Zhengyi dared to tell everyone, "No factory owner in this line of business is more conscientious than I am."

"Inspect the accounts."

Before he could enjoy himself for even a few days, the arrival of a Root operative put an end to that.

Since Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't agree to raise taxes, they'd do it themselves.

With acting Hokage Orochimaru, Root leader Danzo, and Zhengyi as their mastermind, surely they could take on Hiruzen Sarutobi and his Anbu?

If Orochimaru agreed, they could even form a little faction of their own.

What Zhengyi hadn't expected was that Danzo would be so ruthless as to inspect his own people's businesses, too.

The Root operative was Nara Kyojin, whom Danzo had recruited from the Nara Clan. He was sharp and had a keen eye for numbers.

After taking stock, he classified Zhengyi as a high-income earner.

That was right.

Sixty percent of Zhengyi's business income was going to be taxed, too.

???

Oh, so that's how we're playing it.

Zhengyi was worried Nara Kyojin might show favoritism and classify businesses owned by Danzo's clansmen as low-income, so he followed him around the whole time.

With Zhengyi keeping an eye on things, the work went more than twice as fast.

By the time Hiruzen Sarutobi found out, the Sarutobi Clan's accounts had already been inspected, and they'd been classified as high-income earners, too.

There was no time to hold anyone accountable.

The Third Shinobi World War was about to reach its climax.

Far away, deep underground.

An old man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles watched as the Shinobi World entered a temporary ceasefire.

He could no longer sit still.

The Eye of the Moon Plan still needed an Uchiha who could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan!

Konoha was still far too comfortable. It needed more pressure.

The White Zetsu all mobilized, disguising themselves as shinobi from the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire had been peaceful for a long time.

The arrival of several White Zetsu put an end to that. Disguised as Konoha Ninja, they assassinated Cloud Ninja; then, disguised as Cloud Ninja, they assassinated Konoha Ninja.

The Cloud Ninja had easily quelled the workers' movement in the Land of Lightning, and it had already seemed to be over.

But after White Zetsu infiltrated the movement, they stirred it up again, creating the impression that Konoha was behind the trouble.

The methods of sowing discord were crude.

But who could have imagined there was another player in the Shinobi World's great game—an old man from beneath the earth?

The Fourth Raikage A didn't want to go to war with Konoha.

But everything happening in his country and along the border pointed to Konoha stirring up trouble.

Did they think that because they could defeat Sunagakure, they could defeat us, too?!

Then let's go to war!

Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki: Did they think that because they could defeat Sunagakure, they could defeat us, too?!

Third Mizukage: Then let's go to war!

Fourth Kazekage Rasa: Who drank all the water we brought back from Kikyo Pass?!

White Zetsu had committed who knew how many dirty deeds across the Shinobi World.

In the end, Konoha was the one who had to take the blame for all of them.

Early in Konoha's forty-seventh year.

Zhengyi had just celebrated his thirteenth birthday when war struck Konoha once again, a village already beset by disasters.

The three great villages of Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure all turned their forces against Konoha.

A believed he was a responsible adult! Compared to the village's future, the grudge over his father's death hardly seemed to matter.

Sorry, Konoha. You're simply too powerful. We can't let you keep growing stronger.

Iwagakure stopped fighting Kumogakure. Once the two villages turned all their shinobi against Konoha, it took less than a few days for Konoha to buckle under the pressure.

To the east was Kirigakure, a village that specialized in assassinating Konoha's talented young shinobi.

To the west was an ally that sat out the entire conflict, doing who knew what.

The two small villages of Amegakure and Kusagakure cheered them on, hoping to tear a chunk of flesh from Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was so worried that he'd lost count of how many hairs had fallen out.

Minato raced between battlefields until his legs nearly gave out.

Only then did Orochimaru realize that something was wrong. Konoha was on the brink of life and death, and they still expected him to handle paperwork at the rear?

He remembered the story Zhengyi had told him.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!

Orochimaru asked Hiruzen Sarutobi to let him join the fight. Would Hiruzen Sarutobi agree? Minato had finally caught up. If Orochimaru got involved, how was Minato supposed to shine?

Denied.

In the laboratory.

Orochimaru's heart was colder than the air.

Only research data that could be proven, piece by piece, never lied. That was the truth of the world.

So this was what it felt like to be betrayed by the person who mattered most.

Since his parents' deaths, Orochimaru had never known what it was like to choke back tears until now.

One foot had already stepped into the darkness, but a child called "Young Orochimaru" pulled him back. His memories drifted to that rainy day many years ago, when Teacher Sarutobi had held an umbrella over him.

What if he'd misunderstood?

Orochimaru was like a spouse who suspected their partner of cheating, but had no concrete evidence.

Until you caught them in the act, any conclusion was just a guess.

Orochimaru's current state: suspicious, no hard evidence, and the other person seemed both loyal and treacherous.

As he thought about it, Orochimaru proposed a famous theory: "Orochimaru's Hiruzen Sarutobi."

Until he caught him in the act and had definitive proof,

Hiruzen Sarutobi, as far as Orochimaru was concerned, existed in a superposition of "loyal" and "treacherous."

Either was possible!

Orochimaru couldn't help imagining it again.

Perhaps in some other timeline, he'd become the Fourth Hokage long ago.

And perhaps in another timeline, Teacher Sarutobi had supported Minato from the start and cast him aside. He'd defected and joined another village, whose leader was willing to give his research their full support.

Science really was fascinating.