Departure, The Fifth Hokage

Might Guy kicked the Kusanagi Sword away with one blow and stepped forward to shield Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The Death God behind Sarutobi Hiruzen lacked the strength to continue, and only had time to tear off both arms of Orochimaru's soul along with a few soul fragments.

"Orochimaru!"

Jiraiya roared, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.

"Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan!"

Orochimaru had no time to escape before the Rasengan tore him to pieces, leaving only a deep crater to prove he had ever existed.

"Seventh Gate: Gate of Wonder, open!"

Guy's blue steam swept across the entire field. The four maintaining the Four Violet Flames Formation had no time to react before a streak of blue light flashed past—and they were dead.

Mangled limbs flew everywhere, and the Four Violet Flames Formation was undone.

Jiraiya, in Sage Mode, held Sarutobi Hiruzen's body in his arms. Not a trace of his usual frivolous expression remained on his face, only grief plain beyond words.

Natural energy gave him extraordinary perception. In his arms, his teacher, Konoha's Third Hokage, the Shinobi Hero whose might had shaken the Ninja World, was already fading, his breath so weak it could no longer be called back.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did his best to open his eyes, looking at the ninjas before him who had already grown up, and a flash of relief passed through them.

His gaze lingered on Jiraiya's face for a moment longer, as if searching for the way he had looked when he was young.

"From this moment on..."

"Jiraiya... you are the Hidden Leaf Village's..."

"Fifth Hokage!"

At last, he exhausted the final remnants of his strength, forcing out his last words with halting lips.

"I leave everything... to you all..."

A silent atmosphere shrouded everyone. More and more ninjas gathered toward the venue, wordlessly joining this mourning.

Aoike had long since left, leaving only ruins everywhere.

Within the Akatsuki.

Pain pulled Aoike and Konan into a small meeting.

"So... Orochimaru, that traitor, just died like that?"

Aoike gave a derisive laugh when he heard that.

Looking at Pain's deadpan face, he said, "If we're talking about Orochimaru's greatest ability, it's definitely not ninjutsu or strategy, but his methods for staying alive."

"I'm afraid it won't be long before he shows up again, though he probably won't be in very good shape."

Pain's purple Rinnegan sized Aoike up and down.

"Then what do you plan to do next? Take revenge on Kumogakure?"

"No."

Aoike's fingers brushed over his eye sockets. The evolution of his Tenseigan was stuck at the final step, and the ocular power of his Mangekyō Sharingan had only recovered thirty percent.

Although his constitution was already that of a pureborn Otsutsuki, he had not obtained the power of "All Things in Nature."

To put it simply.

He currently lacked "yang," and it had to be yang from Asura's bloodline in order to harmonize with himself.

"Let's wait a little longer. Carry out your plan first. Once I'm confident, I'll naturally take action," Aoike said.

Pain nodded in satisfaction. As long as the successor he had chosen was willing to cooperate, there was no doubt it would save him a great deal of trouble.

"Speaking of which, you're really broad-minded. There are so many traitors in the organization, yet you can still rest easy."

Pain gave a disdainful snort.

"As long as I remain, they will all fear the power of god!"

Aoike made no comment. Thinking about it, Pain probably had never truly regarded them as companions either. They were all merely workers.

As long as they could carry out their missions steadily, Pain would not care about their little schemes.

After leaving Pain's room, Aoike let out a long breath.

Amegakure's weather was the same as ever, gloomy and overcast. When it rained, Pain would use the Rain Tiger at Will Technique to cover the village; his chakra reserves were simply absurd.

Aoike's own chakra reserves were only a little over fifty times Kakashi's right now, less than half of Naruto's.

Kakashi's chakra actually was not low. It was just that he had an extra Mangekyō Sharingan he could not turn off, which left his chakra reserves insufficient.

Aoike stood beneath a guide plate made of steel, watching the accumulated rainwater rush down, thinking about how to obtain Asura's chakra.

Before long, a faint fragrance drifted over beside him. Aoike turned his head, and blue-purple hair shifted in the dim light.

"Do you need me to go with you?"

"I'm not the kid from two years ago who only knew how to smash people with Susanoo anymore."

Konan fell silent, then turned her head and sized him up.

The child who had once barely reached her shoulder was now only a little shorter than her.

In terms of strength, he was even nearly on par with Nagato.

In Aoike's own words, in Tenseigan mode, his stats were slightly higher than Nagato's, but he had far fewer mechanics.

Without using Tenseigan Blast, he ≈ Deva Path Pain Pro.

When it came to controlling gravitational pull and repulsive force, his native Tenseigan was smoother, almost without any startup or end lag.

Logically speaking, since he was already standing at the peak of the Ninja World, he should not have had such an urgent need to increase his strength, right?

Aoike gave a faint smile at that.

"Do you still remember the first time we met?"

"Of course. Back then, you fell from the sky," Konan said, then froze. "You mean there are still... things beyond the heavens..."

Aoike blinked and said nothing more, leaving Konan to let her imagination run wild on her own, thoroughly indulging his craving to act like a riddle-spewing mystery man.

Today was the day of Sarutobi Hiruzen's burial. Everyone came dressed in plain black mourning clothes to pay their respects.

Those who were younger and had seen less of the world wore their grief and sorrow all over their faces; those long accustomed to partings by life and death had a hollow numbness on theirs.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had undoubtedly been Konoha's backbone, and having him suddenly removed left everyone deeply unaccustomed.

But frankly speaking, whether as a ninja or as Hokage, he had held his position long enough, and in the high-risk profession of ninja, he could be considered long-lived.

It had to be admitted that the ending Orochimaru planned was grand enough.

He had not let Sarutobi Hiruzen die in humiliation from illness or old age, but instead gave the Third Hokage a dignified exit as a hero. How much teacher-student affection was contained within that was hard to say (doge).

After the mourning ceremony ended, inside Konoha's conference room.

The fierce arguing nearly blew the roof off.

"Lord Jiraiya is the Hokage successor personally appointed by the Third Hokage. Every ninja present can testify to that."

"When Lord Hokage was leading us in a bloody battle, why didn't we see you anywhere?!"

"This old man happened to be carrying out a mission at the time..."

"Heh."

Danzo, struggling powerlessly, sat back down. This was Konoha's jonin meeting, and they were currently discussing Jiraiya's succession ceremony.

Danzo had originally been planning to profit while others fought, but he had not expected Sarutobi Hiruzen to have Jiraiya stationed in the village.

That made things difficult.

After Sarutobi Hiruzen's death, Jiraiya's prestige in the village was second only to Konoha's Lady Tsunade.

And during Orochimaru's attack, he had not only organized resistance against the invaders, he had also killed the ringleader, Orochimaru. On top of that, Sarutobi Hiruzen had passed the position to him, and many elite jonin and Anbu had witnessed it.

Now even Danzo had no way to obstruct Jiraiya's rise to power. All he could do was delay the process as much as possible through procedure.

If he openly opposed it any further, those ninja might really come up and tear him apart. There was nothing he could do; Danzo's act of turtling up had provoked public outrage.

"You really did leave me with a huge problem, Monkey."

Danzo lightly stroked the seal on his right arm with his left hand. Years of endurance had taught him that lying low was often harder than showing one's edge.

Right now, he had no chance to reach for the Hokage's seat.

Hiruzen was dead, and he finally realized that while the greatest obstacle on his path to becoming Hokage had disappeared, the backer he had relied on the most was gone as well.