The sun shone brightly over Konoha. In the Hokage's Office, Fugaku and Orochimaru sat facing each other.
Seeing Orochimaru in the Hokage's seat, with his pale face and chilling gaze, always struck Fugaku as faintly absurd.
"It seems you've fully settled into your new role," Fugaku said.
Orochimaru smiled. "There was nothing to settle into. Once my position changed, the way I thought about things changed with it.
"Besides, I spent some time learning from my teacher. Konoha is peaceful right now, and there hasn't been anything too difficult to handle."
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and an Intelligence Officer hurried in.
"Hokage, an urgent encrypted letter has arrived from the Land of Wind."
Orochimaru and Fugaku were both surprised. The Land of Fire received vast resources from the Land of Wind each year, so any disturbance there concerned the Land of Fire's Senior Officials.
Those resources affected the funding Konoha received annually from the Land of Fire's Capital. It was the enormous gains secured by the Staircase Mountain Treaty that allowed Konoha to develop without worry and train large numbers of Ninja.
Orochimaru tore open the envelope and translated the letter using the Codebook.
His expression grew grave. "The Shinobi World is about to be thrown into turmoil again. The Third Kazekage has disappeared, and all of Sunagakure has mobilized.
"Rumors are spreading through Sunagakure that Konoha planned this, ambushing the Third Kazekage to weaken the village and make it easier to enforce the Staircase Mountain Treaty."
Fugaku smiled faintly. "Sunagakure has forgotten the pain now that its wounds have healed. The Staircase Mountain Treaty clearly didn't teach them a lasting lesson.
"But Konoha isn't what it was before. Wiping out Sunagakure and extending the treaty would be easy."
"With you here, Fugaku, I believe victory