"We want both!"
"Keep dreaming!"
As the one at the center of it all, Minato stayed silent. He was afraid of angering them by speaking; this Rock Ninja was erratic and unpredictable.
"Who are you saving?!"
The White Zetsu Rock Ninja said as he pushed the kunai forward again.
The other Rock Ninja's hand trembled as he pushed inward, too.
The kunai's tip pierced Minato's temple, drawing blood. He let out a muffled groan of pain.
"Don't you dare touch them!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart clenched. How was he supposed to choose?
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Can't make a choice? Then you can both die!"
"Thir—"
"Minato!"
"I choose Minato!!!"
"Monkey!! Why would you choose Minato? What use is he?"
The people who supported Minato breathed a sigh of relief.
They'd bet right!
The Third Hokage really did favor Minato.
But what about Orochimaru...?
Zhengyi and Danzo exchanged a glance. Surely Orochimaru would join them in taking down Monkey now, right? Neither of them thought Orochimaru would die.
Besides, Zhengyi had already sent people to rescue him. Judging by the time—
It was time.
Orochimaru smiled calmly. He should have seen this coming, shouldn't he?
When had it started?
He and his teacher had nothing left to talk about.
All they had to discuss was business, and it was always me telling you what to do.
He'd wanted so badly for his teacher to notice something was wrong and pull him back in time.
Why?!
Teacher Sarutobi!!!
After saying it, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't dare meet Orochimaru's icy gaze.
Mitokado Homura slapped his forehead. Why had he actually chosen?! Couldn't he see that the enemy wouldn't spare either of them?
The fewer powerful shinobi there were in the Shinobi World, the easier it would be to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Madara found it troublesome whether Orochimaru or Minato became Hokage. He felt that, under normal circumstances, Obito's brains probably wouldn't be enough to outmaneuver either of them.
So with such a great opportunity right in front of them, why wait to kill them?
"Kill them, then move on to the next plan."
Madara had just given the order.
"Fire Release! Great Fireball Technique!"
"Chidori!!"
Obito and Kakashi, who Zhengyi had sent down to the foot of the cliff to climb up and provide support, burst into action.
The blazing fireball and the shrieking Chidori struck from either side, each searching for a target.
But the Rock Ninja beside Minato reacted with lightning speed. At the very last moment before the Fire Release Ninjutsu hit, he narrowly escaped with the Substitution Technique, leaving behind only a charred log.
The White Zetsu Rock Ninja felt how fragile life was. He was about to die!
To complete Lord Madara's mission,
he chose to trade his life for another's. He had to take Orochimaru with him, at least. He thrust his kunai forward, driving it straight into Orochimaru's temple, while Kakashi's Chidori pierced his chest and killed him on the spot.
The battle was over in an instant.
The two swept past like ghosts, yanked the ropes free, and caught the hostages as they came loose.
"Go!"
Without hesitation, Obito and Kakashi, having rescued their targets, didn't linger to fight. Using the cliff for cover, they Body Flickered back to the Konoha group.
The remaining Rock Ninja were dumbfounded. What had been the point of all that, then?
Wouldn't it have been better to hand both of them over to Lord Tsuchikage and get promoted?
Our captain has led us to ruin!!
Before they could do anything, the Konoha shinobi, already furious, rushed in and tore them to pieces.
"Teacher, are you hurt?" Minato was still in Obito's arms.
Feeling his student's solid chest and arms, Minato experienced the greatness of life for the first time. When Obito had first become his student, he'd been as skinny as a little chick. Now he was capable of standing on his own and saving him.
"Arigato, Obito."
Obito raised his eyebrows at Minato, looking rather pleased with himself.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was checking Minato's temple. "Where's the Medical Ninja?"
Blood was still seeping from the wound, and he was furious. Minato had barely ever been injured in all his years as a shinobi, yet today he'd been hurt by some useless fool who couldn't even hold a kunai without trembling.
"Coming!" Rin hurried over and applied the Mystical Palm Technique to her teacher's wound.
"You saved your teacher in the nick of time. Amazing, Obito!"
"Haha, it was nothing."
Minato was surrounded by people: the Hyuuga brothers, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Mitokado Homura...
Meanwhile, over by Orochimaru, nobody even knew he was dead.
Kakashi held Orochimaru, a kunai still sticking out of his head, blood streaming down.
"My condolences." Kakashi placed Orochimaru on the ground, his eyes weary.
He thought of his father.
Orochimaru must have meant a great deal to Zhengyi—like a father to him.
When Zhengyi graduated from the Ninja Academy, Orochimaru had personally come to take him away. Otherwise, according to what Obito had found out, the Third Hokage would have assigned Zhengyi to a desk job.
A desk job would have meant his strength would never improve.
When Orochimaru died, Zhengyi felt his eyes grow hot for a moment.
His relationship with Orochimaru was complicated. They used each other. Orochimaru found him useful, and Zhengyi thought Orochimaru could bring him technology to strengthen himself.
But the deeper their interests became entwined, the deeper their feelings for each other grew, too.
Remembering everything that had happened,
he thought of how Orochimaru always made time during his experiments to meet Zhengyi's needs and build the things he wanted.
What a good man, Teacher Orochimaru!!
Thinking this, Zhengyi knelt down, gathered Orochimaru into his arms, and burst into tears. "Teacher Orochimaru!!"
Who was the most devoted student?
Who would be the one to cry after Orochimaru died?
Ghk!
All anyone could hear was Zhengyi's loud, anguished sobbing.
He cried even harder than Gohan had when Trunks died.
"Teacher!!!"
With that one outburst, he'd become the only person Orochimaru cared about. Anko, Nawaki, and whoever else could all step aside.
Who was lying on the ground? Orochimaru!!
Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't kill him, Sasuke couldn't kill him, Four-Tails Naruto couldn't kill him, Itachi couldn't kill him... He'd stubbornly survived all the way into Boruto.
When it came to staying alive, Orochimaru could do anything you could imagine—and plenty you couldn't.
So now it was his turn to make a show of it.
"This can't be real, can it?" Anko stood frozen, unable to believe her teacher had died.
"Can't be helped. You were just unlucky," Danzo said with a regretful shake of his head. The kunai had gone straight into his brain—how could he still be alive?
Even the First would end up a vegetable after that.
It seemed he wouldn't be able to transplant Hashirama Cells into himself after all. But! Root had secretly hidden away one of Orochimaru's experimental subjects—a successful Hashirama Cells experiment.
The subject was a bit weak, but Danzo really did have someone who could use the Wood Release that only the First had mastered!
Orochimaru was definitely not dead.
From the perspective of his own fake death, he watched the various people of Konoha react.
Some of his subordinates wavered when they saw he was dead, hesitating over whether to defect to Minato.
His teacher had a Medical Ninja treat Minato's temple—a wound that would have healed on its own. The teacher he had once revered most was fussing over that blond-haired brat.
An immense loneliness engulfed Orochimaru.
No!
There was still someone who would cry for him.
But...
His teacher wasn't blind. Couldn't he tell real crying from fake?
Heh.
The next moment, a little snake wriggled out from Orochimaru's temple in Zhengyi's arms, and the wound healed without a trace.
"Ah!!! Teacher!!!!"
He gave Zhengyi, who was still crying, an annoyed look. He wanted to see how long the act would last.
"Teacher Orochimaru..." Nearby, Anko cried, taking a bite of her food and a sniffle in between.
Orochimaru glanced at her. She was genuinely crying—and genuinely stupid.
Before you continue