Hiruzen Sarutobi's Brain Trust

"Think about your wives and children!"

"Is there any future in being a rogue ninja? It will only ensure your children can never hold their heads high!"

"Even if you're alone and miserable without a family, don't you want to find a girl from a major village? In a dead-end profession like a rogue ninja, do you think you could ever marry someone from Konoha?"

Zhengyi was on the front lines near Kumogakure, helping Orochimaru recruit soldiers.

The rogue ninjas felt immense pressure listening to Zhengyi's words, as if a moral shackle had suddenly been placed upon them; they felt that if they didn't marry and have children, their family lines would end...

Before Zhengyi spoke, these rogue ninjas hadn't felt any shame; they had actually thought being a rogue ninja was quite good! Free! Unsupervised.

But it seemed just as Zhengyi said: if they wanted to marry girls from major villages, they truly had to shed their status as rogue ninjas first and obtain a legitimate, stable residency in a major village.

There were quite a lot of rogue ninjas in the shinobi world—those who fled after committing crimes, those forced to defect after being betrayed by their villages, those who defected after failing to seize leadership—a whole heap of them.

These were the people Zhengyi needed to recruit, giving those who were homeless a place to go.

With Konoha as their backing! Anyone who came could be registered as a Konoha resident; who wouldn't be tempted?

In the past, Hiruzen Sarutobi was afraid of offending others and ruining Konoha's reputation, so he never dared to accept rogue ninjas.

But who was he? Who was Danzo? Who was Orochimaru?

Was there even a reputation left to speak of?!

The rift between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru in Konoha was no longer a niche issue. After the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire tried to mediate several times and found it useless, he could only let them be.

At this moment, Orochimaru's goal was to strike for the position of Hokage!

There were no shortage of rogue ninjas who fantasized about joining Orochimaru's camp, hoping to rise to power through the merit of supporting a new leader!

The village's tax on the wealthy had already been collected to ninety percent.

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't dare do things that would offend people, so he could only listen to the reports from Root regarding how much was actually collected.

Orochimaru and Danzo lined their own pockets, and for a time, they were not short on money at all.

Orochimaru's faction was developing very quickly.

In just a short time, it had grown from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred people, and this number was still rising by several people every day.

"Third Hokage, you should call Zhengyi back! Do not allow him to go out again." Shikaku Nara went directly to the Third Hokage's home today.

But what could Hiruzen Sarutobi do?

In the days Zhengyi had been away, the combat effectiveness of Orochimaru and Danzo had clearly dropped significantly.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's view, these two were still easy to handle.

As long as he deliberately acted exasperated and gave them a resentful glare while pretending to be helpless, Orochimaru and Danzo would immediately get cocky and lower their guard against him.

When it came down to it, while these two seemed sinister and cold, like high-IQ individuals, their political minds were honestly not as talented as Minato's.

Minato > Danzo > Orochimaru. Orochimaru used all his intelligence on experiments.

That was roughly how Hiruzen Sarutobi ranked them in his heart.

"We cannot just sit by and watch Orochimaru occupy the Northeast Land of Fire, Third Hokage." Shikaku Nara had watched Zhengyi recruit soldiers and shake down local nobles.

Logically speaking, ninjas usually felt some awe and inferiority toward nobles.

Because the village relied on nobles to issue missions to make money and relied on nobles to provide funds for survival.

But Orochimaru, Zhengyi, and Danzo—these three were more reckless toward the nobles than the last; Shikaku Nara didn't know if the three of them truly had the confidence or if they simply didn't know the consequences of doing this.

"If this continues, Minato's advantage as the Hokage candidate will slowly disappear. Third Hokage, it seems you can no longer hesitate."

"If we don't get results now! In a year, Orochimaru's influence will have become a towering tree. He will have his people inside the village and his soldiers outside. Even if Minato becomes Hokage, do you think he will be able to command Orochimaru?"

Shikaku Nara's analysis was very thorough.

Everything the Orochimaru faction was doing now was reasonable expansion.

If they didn't nip Orochimaru's rise in the bud now, in the future...

Shikaku Nara meant that he hoped to hold the Hokage election now, and then have Minato lead the troops personally as Hokage to end the Third Shinobi World War!

Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a sigh; he knew these things too. "However, Shikaku, given Minato's current prestige, I cannot guarantee he can beat Orochimaru one hundred percent."

After all, Orochimaru had participated in the Second Shinobi World War; he had the seniority. If Orochimaru used his seniority to suppress Minato, there was a high possibility Minato would lose.

He wanted to play it safe.

Minato had to achieve a clean sweep, and with his help, Minato would definitely win.

"I see." Shikaku Nara nodded helplessly. Indeed, back then, Minato and he were still studying, while Orochimaru had already performed many meritorious deeds.

Wait...

In just an instant, Shikaku Nara thought of a counter-strategy.

"Third Hokage, shall we persuade Jiraiya to compete with Orochimaru for Hokage?"

"Him?" Hiruzen Sarutobi clicked his tongue and shook his head. It would be a miracle if the slacker Jiraiya agreed to be Hokage.

"That is not it, Third Hokage. Jiraiya competes with Orochimaru for the Fourth Hokage, but he only holds the title. You would still teach Minato how to handle government affairs hand-in-hand. After a transition of two or three years, have Jiraiya pass the position of Hokage to Minato."

"There are many benefits to this."

"First, if Jiraiya becomes Hokage, Minato will be the direct successor of the Fourth Hokage, making it very difficult for Orochimaru to compete against him."

"..."

"Sixth, Jiraiya has his own prestige, and with the support of both Minato and yourself, Orochimaru's advantage of seniority will no longer be enough."

Hearing this from Shikaku Nara, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly saw the light.

That's right!

Jiraiya only needed to carve his face onto the Hokage Rock to provide even greater legitimacy for Minato's candidacy.

"You truly live up to your reputation, Shikaku!" Hiruzen Sarutobi praised.

Everyone has a strategist, but I see that Shikaku is worth several times more than Zhengyi. If I pair Shikaku with Minato—one for civil affairs and one for military—Konoha will surely usher in several more decades of prosperity.

"You are too kind, Lord Third."

Since Shikaku Nara had practically thrown the strategy for making Minato the Hokage into his face, the ever-receptive Hiruzen Sarutobi took advantage of this period of peace in the ninja world to urgently recall the jonin stationed abroad.

As for Jiraiya's opinion? It wasn't important.

It wasn't as if he was being asked to sit in an office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi still felt a bit of disdain for Jiraiya; if it weren't for the sake of Minato, would he really want to carve that unlucky wretch who spent his days wandering the red-light district onto the Hokage Rock? It was simply too embarrassing for Konoha.

He was terrified that some woman from the red-light district would drag a child over, point at the Fourth Hokage on the Hokage Rock, and say, "Child, that is your father."