Famous Doctrine: Orochimaru's Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The shinobi world had not seen a large-scale battle for some time.

Konoha enjoyed a rare moment of peace.

On the streets of Konoha, a skateboard shop had quietly opened. The skateboards sold inside had recently sparked a chaotic brawl, commonly referred to as the "Great War Triggered by a Skateboard."

As it happened, Zhengyi had been bored after his workouts lately, so he opened a few factories.

With his teacher Orochimaru providing the core technology, he established a firm foothold in Konoha within minutes.

One type was a chakra-storing skateboard. This craft was exquisite, even incorporating ninja tools, so the price was naturally higher. Sold to nobles for their amusement, they would pay four hundred thousand ryo without blinking.

Zhengyi understood the game; when villagers complained a few days later and asked for a price drop, he ignored them and instead raised the price by another twenty thousand.

The sales actually improved after the price hike, exactly as he had predicted.

There was another type that was more affordable, which moved as long as one attached chakra to their feet. It was quite useless, right? But to be fair, it was definitely flashy! It became all the rage among the children at the Ninja Academy.

These factories also produced toys from their childhood on the side.

Take the bamboo-copter that children loved to play with, for instance. As long as you bragged that the wood used to make it was Hashirama-wood, a piece of ordinary, broken wood could see its value multiply dozens of times over.

The high-end brand he built was called Lin Zhengyi, while the low-end sub-brand was called Zhengyi.

It wasn't because his surname was Lin, but because there was someone named "Rin."

Those who played with Obito when they were young were all a bit wealthy, and Zhengyi considered himself the most devoted person in Konoha.

If he ever got the chance! He would definitely kill Wang Wenwang!

Daring to set his sights on his little Rin—he would scatter his ashes to the wind.

Looking at the batches of orders coming in from the Land of Fire, Zhengyi felt very pleased.

These were the assets he would use to help his teacher compete for the position of Fourth Hokage, and eventually, to secure his own path to becoming the Fifth!

A ninja doing business...

Just kidding...

No one in Konoha dared to launch projects in the same category as Zhengyi.

Both the gym and the toy factories had been monopolized by him.

So, when he opened for business, Zhengyi dared to shout at everyone, "In this category, no factory owner has a better conscience than me."

"Audit."

Before he could enjoy himself for more than a few days, the arrival of a Root member ruined his mood.

Since Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to increase taxes.

Then they would do it themselves.

With the acting Hokage Orochimaru, the Root leader Danzo, and the mastermind Zhengyi, how could they not clash with Hiruzen Sarutobi and his Anbu?

If Orochimaru agreed, they could even set up their own little faction.

It was just that Zhengyi hadn't expected Danzo to be so ruthless as to audit the businesses of his own people.

This Root member was Nara Kyojin, whom Danzo had squeezed out of the Nara Clan; he had a sharp mind and was very sensitive to numbers.

After tallying everything up, he classified Zhengyi among the high-income population.

Yes.

Zhengyi's businesses were also to be taxed at sixty percent.

???

Fine, that's how we're playing this, is it?

Zhengyi was also afraid that this kid Nara Kyojin would show favoritism and classify the businesses of Danzo's clansmen as low-income, so he followed him the entire time.

With Zhengyi supervising, the progress was more than twice as fast.

By the time Hiruzen Sarutobi found out, his Sarutobi Clan had already been audited and likewise included in the high-income bracket.

There was no time to hold anyone accountable.

Because the climax of the Third Shinobi World War was about to arrive.

Deep in an underground location.

An old man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles witnessed the temporary truce in the shinobi world.

He could no longer sit still.

The Eye of the Moon Plan still required an Uchiha capable of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan to be thrown into the mix!

Konoha was still too relaxed; it needed to be put under pressure.

The White Zetsu moved out in unison, disguised as ninjas from the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire had been peaceful for far too long.

The arrival of several White Zetsu shattered the peace, as they disguised themselves as Konoha ninja to assassinate Kumogakure ninja, and then as Kumogakure ninja to assassinate Konoha ninja.

The labor movement within the Land of Lightning had been easily quelled by Kumogakure and had already come to an end.

After the White Zetsu infiltrated the ranks, the labor movement was incited once again, creating the illusion that Konoha was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

The methods of sowing discord were crude.

Yet, who could have imagined that among the chess players of the ninja world, there was still an old man lurking from deep underground.

The Fourth Raikage A did not want to go to war with Konoha.

But everything happening domestically and along the borders pointed to Konoha stirring up trouble.

Did they think that just because they could defeat Sunagakure, they could defeat them as well?!

Then let war begin!

The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki: Do they think that just because they could defeat Sunagakure, they could defeat us as well?!

The Third Mizukage: Then let war begin!

The Fourth Kazekage Rasa: Who was it that drained the water supply when they brought us back from Kikyo Pass?!

The White Zetsu had committed countless despicable acts across the ninja world.

In the end, Konoha was the only one left to take the blame for these misdeeds.

Early in the 47th year of Konoha.

Zhengyi had just celebrated his thirteenth birthday, and the disaster-prone Konoha was once again facing a great war.

Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure—three major ninja villages—focused their fire on Konoha.

A believed himself to be a qualified adult! Compared to the vengeance for his father, the grand cause of the village seemed to count for little.

Sorry, Konoha, you are truly too powerful; we cannot allow you to continue growing stronger.

Iwagakure stopped its internal friction with Kumogakure, and once both villages turned all their ninja toward Konoha, the pressure on Konoha reached a breaking point in less than a few days.

To the east, there was Kirigakure, specializing in the assassination of Konoha's geniuses.

To the west, there was an ally who was coasting through the entire time, acting completely aimless.

The two small villages of Amegakure and Kusagakure were also cheering from the sidelines, looking to tear a piece of flesh off Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was so anxious that he didn't know how many hairs he had lost.

Minato had run his legs ragged rushing to reinforce various battlefields.

At this moment, Orochimaru finally realized something was wrong; Konoha was on the verge of life and death, yet he was still being kept in the rear to process paperwork?

He recalled the story Zhengyi had told him.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!

Orochimaru requested to Hiruzen Sarutobi that he be allowed to join the battle, but would Hiruzen Sarutobi agree? With Minato finally catching up, if he let Orochimaru show his strength again, how would Minato play his part?

Request denied.

In the laboratory.

Colder than the temperature was the heart of Orochimaru.

Only the research data that could be proven would not lie or deceive; this was the truth of the world.

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

Since the death of his parents, this was the second time Orochimaru felt what it was like to be choked up.

He had one foot stepped into the dark shadows, yet he was pulled back by the child known as "Young Orochimaru," his memory drifting to that rainy day many years ago, and the teacher, Hiruzen, who held an umbrella for him.

What if he had misunderstood?

Orochimaru was like a spouse suspecting their partner of infidelity, yet suffering from a lack of actual evidence.

Before truly catching them in the act, any conclusion was merely speculation.

Orochimaru's current state: suspicious, no smoking gun, the other party appearing both loyal and treacherous.

While lost in thought, Orochimaru proposed a famous theoretical doctrine: Orochimaru's Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Before catching the "smoking gun" of betrayal, for Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi existed in a superposition of "loyalty" and "betrayal."

Both were possible!

Orochimaru couldn't help but fantasize.

Perhaps in some timeline, he had long since become the Fourth Hokage.

Or perhaps in some timeline, Teacher Hiruzen had long since supported Minato and neglected him, leading him to defect and join another ninja village, where the leader of that village was willing to vigorously support his research.

Science is truly a marvelous thing.