"No, this old man still has one hope..." Shimura Danzō, too restless to sit still, paced in circles on the spot. As though he had suddenly remembered something, his eyes lit up. "That's right, the hope is Orochimaru. He's one of the candidates too!"
With that thought, Shimura Danzō suddenly felt enlightened!
Orochimaru was also one of the candidates for Fourth Hokage. Or rather, in the current Konoha, the only ones competing for the position of Hokage were Orochimaru and Namikaze Minato.
And as someone who had watched Orochimaru grow up—and who had made Orochimaru his deputy in Root—Danzō knew even better what advantages he possessed within the village!
Orochimaru might not look human at first glance, but that was only when he became exhilarated in battle.
Normally, Orochimaru was a cool and detached person, and there was a calm charm to people like that.
That charm had earned Orochimaru quite a few supporters in Konoha! Those supporters were the influence he had accumulated over more than twenty years in the village.
That influence was not to be underestimated!
Back then... before Shimura Danzō had dragged Orochimaru into Root—
When he had regarded Orochimaru as a formidable threat competing with him for the position of Hokage—
He had once secretly wondered what would happen if he forced Orochimaru to defect!
The conclusion was that even if Orochimaru defected, given his charisma and the years he had spent cultivating ties in Konoha... there would absolutely still be plenty of diehard loyalists in the village!
That mental rehearsal had given Danzō quite a fright. Startled by it...
That was why, at the time, he had persistently begged Hiruzen to send his most beloved disciple over to become his deputy.
Now, enlightened once more, Shimura Danzō thought: if he supported such a charismatic