Konoha.
Sarutobi Clan Compound.
"Outrageous!"
Utatane Koharu slammed her palm onto the low table, making the teacups rattle.
Her wrinkled face had twisted into a knot.
"What is Chiba doing?"
"Bringing back a Missing-nin like Orochimaru would have been bad enough, but he's even making him out to be a hero?"
Mitokado Homura chimed in as well, his tone brimming with indignation.
The two of them took turns raging at the empty air.
As if raising their voices would restore the dignity they once had as Konoha's upper echelon.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the shadows, slowly puffing on his pipe.
Tap. Tap.
The flickering embers in the bowl cast light across his aged face.
"Have you said enough?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped out his pipe, his voice as hoarse as rusty gears.
The room instantly fell silent.
Utatane Koharu glared, panting heavily.
"Hiruzen."
"Are you just going to stand by and watch Chiba fool around?"
"This is a slap in the face to our generation!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a cold laugh, and a trace of gloom flashed through his cloudy eyes.
"A slap in the face?"
"If he didn't do this, it might be our heads rolling instead."
Mitokado Homura froze for a moment, not understanding.
"What do you mean by that?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen refilled his pipe with tobacco, his movements unhurried.
"Did you really not know about Orochimaru's experiments back then?"
"Do you have no idea what Danzo was doing?"
The two old Advisors stiffened at once, as though someone had gripped their throats.
Of course they knew.
In fact.
They had approved some of the funding for those experiments.
"Chiba needs Orochimaru now."
Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, obscuring his expression.
"If he doesn't pin all the blame on Danzo, how is this mess supposed