The Perplexed Hiruzen Sarutobi

The Third Shinobi World War ended today.

When Orochimaru ordered Minato to return to the village and Minato replied that he had to keep an eye on Kirigakure, Orochimaru knew what Minato had decided.

The two sides were keeping each other in check.

Orochimaru had a firm hold over the families of the frontline shinobi and the logistics.

If Minato stayed away and refused to return, there was nothing Orochimaru could do about him.

The situation had become this serious.

One dawn, just as the sky was brightening, Zhengyi quietly led Anbu back to the village.

Konoha in November.

With the war over, taxes gradually began to fall, but the inheritance tax remained, specifically to curb the growth of the shinobi clans.

The infighting among the higher-ups did nothing to affect the atmosphere in the village.

Ever since Orochimaru became Hokage, the villagers' lives had visibly improved.

Orochimaru had moved everything from his former underground laboratory that could be brought into the light to the surface. He called it the Konoha Experimental Bureau and openly recruited staff, funding its research from the village's accounts.

The villagers had once resented these wasteful projects, but once Orochimaru started producing results, those complaints vanished in an instant.

News from the laboratory came out from time to time.

Orochimaru had successfully bred dairy cows today, greatly increasing milk production at Konoha Farm.

Orochimaru had solved the problem of drowsiness today. A bean called a coffee bean contained something called caffeine. Shinobi could take it on missions to perk up immediately, get into the fighting spirit, and reduce fatigue.

And so on...

Following Orochimaru's advice, the people of Konoha regularly ate meat, eggs, and dairy, along with various vegetables and natto as needed! They discovered it really worked!

No wonder he was the Fourth Hokage!

Long live Lord Orochimaru!!

"A bicycle? You need your teacher for something this simple?" In the laboratory, Orochimaru listened to Zhengyi's description and wondered if his student was a bit slow.

You just did this, then that, and a bicycle was ready, wasn't it?

Add some chakra or use electricity, and you'd have a bicycle that didn't need pedaling!

Though he never said it aloud, Orochimaru could tell that Zhengyi often thought he was stupid, and figured he must have been a fool to let the Third Hokage deceive him for so long.

All Orochimaru could say was that dialectical thinking was useful. Everyone had their own strengths, and you couldn't use what someone else was good at to compare with what you were good at.

His own path was to seek the truth of the Shinobi World.

In less than half an hour, Orochimaru had made a bicycle by hand and sent Zhengyi off to play with it.

Neither master nor student feared Minato's forces. At worst, both sides would suffer.

Orochimaru tossed Zhengyi a bicycle, then went off to study ninjutsu. Today's research topic was ninjutsu! He managed his time very efficiently: fifteen hours for researching ninjutsu or technology, one hour to eat slowly and thoroughly, and the remaining eight hours to sleep.

"Ah! It's Lord Zhengyi."

"Hello, everyone."

Zhengyi rode a bicycle around Konoha, nodding to each villager who greeted him.

He felt Konoha's style was a strange mix, half feudal and half modern.

And even that hint of modernity came from his teacher becoming Hokage and getting the people of Konoha to start taking science seriously.

It was too difficult for Konoha to rely on his teacher's research alone.

One person's energy was limited.

His teacher had to research physics.

His teacher had to research biology.

His teacher had to research ninjutsu.

His teacher had to research everything, so Konoha's development was especially slow! It was nowhere near what Zhengyi had expected.

Konoha ought to have a hundred flowers blooming, with technological progress advancing by leaps and bounds.

And so the Zhengyi Prize was born.

Lin Zhengyi and Zhengyi Brand, both under his command, had grown into sizable enterprises. He planned to set aside part of the money they earned to support Konoha's development.

Anyone who contributed research to Konoha and made a major breakthrough in an important field could receive money, depending on the circumstances.

There were also the Zhengyi Literature Prize and the Zhengyi Peace Prize.

These awards weren't just for Konoha. Zhengyi planned to open them to the entire Shinobi World.

It was just that his wallet was a little tight.

There wasn't quite enough money to cover the whole Shinobi World.

Bicycles appeared out of nowhere and became a sensation across the Land of Fire, turning into the favorite form of transportation for its people.

Faster than walking and less tiring than running!

They declared bicycles the greatest invention in the world.

The market couldn't keep up with demand.

Word had it that the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire loved his bicycle so much that he'd even sawed off all the door sills of the Feudal Lord's Mansion just to ride it around.

Watching bicycles become popular on Konoha's streets, Zhengyi felt as if a vibrant world, alive with possibility, lay before him.

Village Celebration Day.

Some of Minato's people had returned.

Shikaku said that on such an important holiday, they absolutely couldn't give Orochimaru an excuse to strike first. They'd be better off returning to the village on their own terms.

To prevent Orochimaru from making a move against them in the village,

Minato and his group marched through the main gate with drums and gongs, practically eager to let all of Konoha know they were back.

And they succeeded.

"It's the Yellow Flash!"

"You're finally back. It's still best to be home, isn't it?"

A crowd packed the entrance to Konoha to welcome their heroes, all jostling to get close and ask Minato and the others how they were doing.

Orochimaru remembered that scene for a long time.

If he didn't get rid of Minato, how long could he remain Hokage? A year? Two?

But he couldn't make a move against Minato and the others on Village Celebration Day.

He had even prepared a feast to reward Konoha's heroes.

They didn't dare eat it. They really didn't dare.

At the table, Minato only dared to eat the rice balls Kushina had made for him.

And so it was the 47th Year of Konoha.

Orochimaru and Minato were wary of each other and guarded against each other. Neither trusted the other.

No one knew what the future held for Konoha.

The higher-ups were filled with unease, but the villagers knew nothing about it. They all believed that life would keep getting better.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was being kept under watch in a quiet corner of the Land of Fire. Since Orochimaru hadn't done anything reprehensible lately, the Third Hokage felt he'd worked hard all his life and decided to take it easy.

The only way he could keep up with Konoha was by reading the newspapers.

The recent papers were getting more and more fantastical.

They said that following the diet Orochimaru had provided could extend the average lifespan by twelve years.

What's more, people's chakra rapidly declined once they reached a certain age. Following Orochimaru's diet could slow that decline.

"Was I right or wrong to stand firm and choose Minato as Hokage back then?"

In the quiet of these past few days, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been thinking about it, but he couldn't seem to find an answer.

Could Orochimaru have done a better job?

He didn't know.

The former Konoha F4.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been sent off to retire.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had been given idle posts by Orochimaru.

Only Danzo had chosen the right side and remained active in Konoha's political sphere.

The absurd thing was that Orochimaru had brought that gloomy old man out into the open.

Orochimaru didn't have many people to work with. When you had to pick the best from a weak pool, Danzo was a seasoned veteran with enough ability, so Orochimaru had no choice but to make greater use of him.

The gloomy old man had returned to the surface once more. When the dazzling sunlight seared him, he found he was a little unaccustomed to it.

With the sun overhead, Danzo just couldn't feel at ease. He had dreamed of daylight for so long, so why was he afraid now that the sun was shining?