Zhengyi, Commander of the Kirigakure Front

Unlike the succession ceremonies for the other villages' Kage and the previous Hokage,

the ceremony for Orochimaru's ascension, at Zhengyi's suggestion, took a scientific approach.

Every villager who came to watch received a free can of Whey Protein Powder, thirty eggs, a bag of red dates, and 250 grams of beef!

Everyone in Konoha who could still walk showed up. Free stuff was the best, after all. They each clutched their share as they watched Orochimaru from below the Hokage Building.

Zhengyi leaned against the railing on the top floor of the Hokage Building. From this day on, he would uphold absolute justice and bring liberation and freedom to the villagers.

Orochimaru, meanwhile, gave a speech. He'd brought a blackboard, on which he'd written the minimum amount of nutrients he recommended villagers consume each day.

It was quite an unconventional approach.

The other Kage relied on speeches to tell the masses what their political leanings would be!

But Orochimaru used the Nutrition Matrix to tell people! From now on, Konoha would no longer be ignorant. We would use dialectics in everything, and materialism in everything! We would define everything with scientific rigor!

He'd proposed three "everythings."

What a distinctive Fourth Hokage! He was determined to make the village prosper... so it could fund his experiments.

Orochimaru's face was carved into Kage Rock, becoming part of history.

Minato and Jiraiya had wracked their brains, but still couldn't figure out how Orochimaru had become Hokage.

How could the Third possibly have agreed to Orochimaru becoming Hokage?

Had Orochimaru staged a coup?!

But according to the news from Konoha, Orochimaru had peacefully assumed the position of Fourth Hokage!

The whole thing was bizarre!

How had Orochimaru peacefully become Hokage? Wasn't the old man going to do anything?!

"Teacher Jiraiya!"

Minato had already told Jiraiya about the future he'd seen.

In the Country of Roran, Naruto had told him about many things to come. He'd begged Minato through tears to save Jiraiya, who would one day die in battle at Amegakure.

Unfortunately, Naruto and Yamato were both illiterate—and ignorant of history, too. Their knowledge was limited, and the information they'd given Minato was nowhere near enough.

He was supposed to become the Fourth Hokage in the future, but now Orochimaru had taken the position. The future had changed.

What would happen to Naruto's timeline, then?

Minato was very clever, but strictly speaking, he was only half-literate. How could he know anything about parallel timelines or a multiverse?

"Minato! I still support you. Orochimaru becoming Hokage..."

Jiraiya knew a great deal, and he'd already begun to suspect Orochimaru had been behind the disappearances of people from the Land of Fire.

Could someone like that really make a good Hokage?

"But, Teacher, what can we do, even if we're full of resentment?" Minato was overcome with frustration and helplessness.

He'd lost to scheming and underhanded tricks. Anyone would be furious.

And it seemed Minato had concluded that Orochimaru was behind the Nine-Tails Incident. He and Orochimaru were sworn enemies now. He couldn't serve Orochimaru, but he didn't want to betray the Konoha he loved, either.

"Teacher Jiraiya, I really don't know what to do."

For the first time, Minato felt lost about Konoha's future.

Who could bring peace to Konoha? Who could give the villagers of Konoha a prosperous life?

"I'm lost, too." Jiraiya felt the same way. The Child of Prophecy hadn't even become Hokage—he'd been pushed aside. Who could he complain to about that?

Could everything Minato was going through now be a trial? Did he have to endure all these trials to understand the truth of the world and bring true peace to the Shinobi World?

Many of Minato's supporters were thinking of giving up on him. Their opponent had already won and taken control of Konoha. Should they surrender to Orochimaru?

Now that Orochimaru was Hokage, one of his first orders was to make Zhengyi commander of the Kirigakure front.

He wasn't sending Zhengyi to seize power. He was sending him to earn merit under the title of commander.

Dozens of Konoha Anbu were also assigned to protect Zhengyi!

This was like stumbling into the emperor's palace by accident. The commander was thirteen, and dozens of Anbu were concealed nearby wherever he went.

What chilled the Kirigakure front-line ninja even more was that Orochimaru played favorites to the point of making things up. He had the newspapers report that, at the age of twelve, Zhengyi had led Konoha Ninja in several incursions into the Land of Lightning, saving Konoha from a desperate situation.

Who would believe that?

Twelve years old! Such an impressive feat!

Then why hadn't the Third put it in the papers last year?!

He'd really gone to a lot of trouble to drum up some accomplishments for his student.

Sigh...

Zhengyi was past the age of youthful bravado and showing off to prove how amazing he was. He wasn't about to train troops or do this and that just to show off.

Tsk...

What was the point?

It was far too lavish.

Every day in Kirigakure, he just drank tea, read the papers, and handled transport and logistics.

As long as the Konoha shinobi didn't cause trouble for him, he mostly stayed out of things.

Well, he did get involved sometimes.

Every now and then, he'd call in a few Uchiha and question them.

"Do you want to awaken your eyes?"

A certain handsome Uchiha: "?"

That's right, all the Uchiha Zhengyi called in were good-looking.

Each of the Second Hokage's students and disciples had inherited at least a little of his skill.

Zhengyi seemed to have inherited a special knack for dealing with the Uchiha, along with a deeper understanding of them.

Based on his research, it seemed that the more beautiful an Uchiha was, the more easily they awakened their eyes. Beautiful Uchiha drew people's attention to their eyes, making it easier to cast genjutsu. That meant they were more likely to survive on the battlefield. It was the law of nature!

Applause, if you understand.

His years with Orochimaru hadn't been for nothing.

"Bastard! We Uchiha aren't playthings for you big shots to amuse yourselves with!" The handsome Uchiha thought Zhengyi was trying to take advantage of him.

Back when Obito was still alive, he'd said that a man named Zhengyi used to love carrying him around and sleeping beside him as a child because he was afraid of the dark.

So it was you!

Afraid of the dark, my ass! You had ulterior motives! You were after the Uchiha body.

"Are you sick?" Zhengyi looked the handsome Uchiha up and down. He was good-looking, sure, but he was a man.

He tossed the guy a book. Suit yourself.

"What does this mean?" The man took the book from Zhengyi. He didn't know whether to leave or ask what was going on.

Actually, if he made a small sacrifice and got something for the Uchiha in return, that might not be so bad.

When Zhengyi ignored him, the Uchiha man decided not to make a fuss. He stood where he was and started reading.

Half an hour later!

He walked out with a pair of Two-Tomoe Sharingan. He glared at everyone with a murderous aura, as if he wanted to beat them to death.

"What are you looking at?!"

A companion tried to check on him, but he glared them away, too.

The book was about NTR.

It told the story of a devoted couple and their adorable daughter. The Uchiha man had thought it was going to be a heartwarming novel.

But then the wife's first love came back from overseas, and the daughter started calling him Dad. The three of them tormented the male protagonist in all sorts of disgusting ways.

The ending.

The wife and daughter knelt and begged her husband to forgive them. He said he didn't love them anymore, making sure they both regretted what they'd done.

"I regret your fucking mother..."

Useless!

Idiot!

Fuck you!!!

Why don't you just die?

Watching that spineless cuckold, the proud Uchiha finally awakened his eyes.