A Confrontation in the Tent

"To solidify one's position, one must rely on virtue, ritual, and law; court the nobles and ninja clans; treat the jonin of the village with courtesy; marry a wife to leverage her family's influence; and win over the Hokage's wife..."

These are things a crown prince ought to do.

Anyway, Orochimaru has done none of them.

Looking at it this way, Zhengyi's mentality is starting to crack. How did Orochimaru manage to play such a good hand so poorly?

Next door, Minato went straight ahead and married a jinchuriki.

Furthermore, his achievements were so great they overshadowed his master, and the military knew only Minato, not the teacher.

He also used his personality to make the Hokage like him, gain the Hokage's favoritism, and subsequently bypass the eldest in favor of the younger.

Minato also had Jiraiya, a fellow Sannin, as his teacher. That man maintained good relationships with every clan head, could remember the names of every ninja in the village, big or small, and was even said to be friends with Uchiha Fugaku.

Such a perfect person with no flaws.

His teacher...

Damn it, if he were Hiruzen Sarutobi, it seems he would like Minato too.

Don't talk about it, just don't.

Listening to Zhengyi's analysis, Danzo suddenly felt like jumping into a lake; he might as well just honestly remain the leader of Root.

Or perhaps wait until Minato dies to consider the Hokage position?

But Minato is so young! By the time the grass on his grave is ten meters high, Minato might still not have abdicated; he would still be in his prime.

Orochimaru was truly unwilling to accept this; he had been deceived by Hiruzen Sarutobi earlier.

But with Zhengyi's analysis, the situation had indeed become clear.

The strengths and weaknesses of both sides were laid out in the open.

Orochimaru's advantage is that he can play dirty. Given Minato's personality and public persona, playing with the Nine-Tails is fine, but playing truly dirty is something he cannot do.

This is also Minato's greatest weakness. When Orochimaru plays dirty, everyone thinks it's normal. If Minato plays dirty, his persona collapses, and one could make an issue of it at any moment. The villagers of Konoha are skilled at creating gods, but they are also skilled at destroying them.

"Shall we just kill Minato?" Danzo asked with a sinister tone.

"Tsk." With that single sound, Zhengyi seemed to say a great deal.

At this point, where would there even be an opportunity?

Even if they could manage to kill Minato now, a broken and enraged Hiruzen Sarutobi would likely skip a generation and groom Kakashi, wanting nothing to do with the three of them—those pieces of trash.

"Launch a coup. I still have 1,200 ninjas in my hands, plus Root." Orochimaru thought he might as well just recall his troops from Kumogakure!!

"It's too late, Master. If so many of our troops suddenly return to Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi will surely notice and stop us."

However, this move wasn't entirely impossible, it would just require some time and strategy.

"Then what should we do?"

Orochimaru and Danzo turned their gazes toward the only man here with a political mind.

At a time like this, Zhengyi didn't bother with suspense.

"Since both sides have essentially shown their cards, there is no need to keep yielding everywhere. We must fight for every single ninja."

Hearing this, Orochimaru and Danzo nodded repeatedly.

Indeed, there is no need for us to yield anymore.

It's hard to tell if the two of them wanted to laugh.

For the next half hour, Zhengyi thoroughly discussed from start to finish what they should do and what they should not do.

Logically, one shouldn't need to be taught what not to do.

But who asked them to be standing in front of Danzo? If it weren't for him going out to ally with Hanzo and kill Yahiko, the subsequent total flattening of Konoha wouldn't have happened.

Heaven knows what else Danzo has done outside the main plot.

Zhengyi believed the most important thing they should do now was to find an international ally.

Having an ally standing behind them to shout and cheer would be beneficial for their reputation and everything else.

"Oh, Master, I still have Obito's Sharingan here. Please help me study it."

The Kumogakure front line.

Since the ninja clans were all transferred away by Hiruzen Sarutobi to serve Minato, those remaining here were all civilians.

With a steady supply of Yeast Protein Powder, and supplements that could be provided every few days as production increased, Orochimaru's subordinates were all big and strong.

Looking out, they were all muscular hunks like A.

However, the quality of their muscles was certainly not as strong as A's.

Orochimaru required the entire army to go shirtless and sunbathe for three hours every day to get enough vitamin D, so the originally fair or sallow Konoha ninjas had all turned a wheat-colored skin tone.

After Zhengyi recovered from his injuries, he traveled day and night upon receiving an order from Orochimaru.

Hayakawa Rin, Kurosaki Ren, and Tsukishima Yoru, three middle-aged men, were all trusted confidants of Orochimaru, and they were in charge of this ninja army.

Naturally, the status of these three confidants was below his own, as the self-proclaimed favorite disciple.

"What?! The Third Hokage wants to strip Lord Orochimaru of his military command?" Hayakawa Rin paced back and forth in the wilderness, anxious.

Kurosaki Ren and Tsukishima Yoru also looked at Zhengyi with concern.

This was something that had happened while Zhengyi was recuperating; what was meant to come would eventually come. Since Hiruzen Sarutobi could not find a direct excuse to suppress Orochimaru, he could only strip him of his military power.

It just so happened that Iwagakure was negotiating peace with Konoha.

With the pressure on Konoha's northwestern front eased, Jiraiya could be sent to lead ninjas to resist Kumogakure, and then Minato could lead an elite force to the Kirigakure front. Once Minato resolved the crisis in Kirigakure, he could then be sent to support the front against Kumogakure.

If this happened, Minato would achieve a grand slam throughout the Third Shinobi World War, his battle record would be maxed out, and who else but him could take the position of Hokage?

Therefore, Orochimaru's wings in Kumogakure had to be clipped.

Regarding this, the three of them—Zhengyi and the others—concocted a vicious plan.

Betray their teammate!

They were prepared to sell out Jiraiya.

As long as Jiraiya dared to come, they dared to sell him out.

Before long, a dark-skinned, muscular man arrived at this location, escorted by the Raikage's guard unit.

"Cooperation?" A had come to this place after receiving a letter from Orochimaru.

"Yes." Zhengyi nodded. "You are likely aware of the situation in Konoha; the Third Hokage intends to discard the elder in favor of the younger and is preparing to depose my teacher."

"Is that so? Then Hiruzen Sarutobi is truly despicable." A chimed in casually.

Although A did not want to play these devious games, he had reached an agreement with Orochimaru: as long as Orochimaru became Hokage, he would satisfy the demands of Kumogakure. In return, Kumogakure's requirement was to focus their attacks primarily on Jiraiya's ninja army during the conflict between the two sides.

A's demand was for two Byakugan. Perhaps because he trusted Zhengyi—who had fought him for an entire afternoon for the sake of his teacher's honor—A did not even ask Orochimaru to put anything in writing.

He felt that, having once sat in the position of a candidate for Hokage, Orochimaru should at least possess basic political credibility; otherwise, who would ever cooperate with him again in the future?