"Then do you know what crime you're being charged with?"
"Have they reached a verdict?"
"You used the Five Elements Seal when dealing with Gaara, and Orochimaru thinks there's something suspicious about it. He wants to find out what your relationship is with Sunagakure."
"Have you ever heard of a Sunagakure spy who'd risk his life to seal away his own village's ultimate weapon?" Keiichi shook his head, at a loss for words over the accusation.
As if I don't know what you did, Orochimaru.
This is the pot calling the kettle black.
"That's what I said, but Orochimaru went ahead with it anyway. And everyone thinks it's completely in character for him. Not a single person finds it surprising." Ibiki also found it utterly absurd.
"It can't be that simple, can it? Orochimaru's a big shot. Why would he go after a nobody like me right off the bat?"
"I'd say it's precisely because you're a nobody that he went after you right away."
"Heh, that's quite the argument." Keiichi shook his head in self-mockery.
No matter how much he thought about it afterward, Keiichi couldn't figure out why Orochimaru had singled him out.
Was it because he'd eliminated Shukaku, a major security risk, and the achievement had been so dazzling that it might overshadow Orochimaru's own glorious deeds?
That's so beneath him, isn't it?
"The reason's actually quite simple. You're just unlucky. Orochimaru picked you as a bargaining chip in his power struggle with the Leaf Village Jonin."
"Sir, what do you mean by that?" Keiichi straightened up and began to take things seriously.
"Orochimaru wants to establish his authority and show everyone that, as Acting Hokage, he has real power. Even if you've rendered a great service, if he says you're guilty, then you're guilty."
"But can