"Damn you, Sarutobi! Why?! Why did that bastard do this?! Aaargh!"
Back at the Root Base, Shimura Danzō once again became a master of desk clearing, sweeping everything off his desk and onto the floor in one motion.
"Heh heh, Elder Danzo, what's done is done. Why get so angry? You'd be better off thinking about how to wring more compensation out of my teacher."
Shimura Danzō whipped around and fixed Orochimaru with his one remaining eye.
"Orochimaru, did you already know this was how it would turn out?"
"That's not quite fair. I only found out when I got there. I merely had a feeling beforehand."
"A feeling? What do you mean?"
An unusual emotion flickered through Orochimaru's eyes as he spoke.
"My teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is no longer the mighty Shinobi Hero he once was. He has lost the boldness he had back then, and grown rather more greedy for power."
As he spoke, he recalled how reluctant his teacher had been to relinquish the Hokage position at the handover ceremony.
Even a year after Minato took office, ANBU, an organization directly under the Hokage's command, had remained under his teacher's control.
Despite being Hokage, Minato often had no one at his disposal beyond his four Hokage Guards, leaving him to handle things himself.
"Well, enough of that. Elder Danzo, I've done what you asked of me. Isn't it time you fulfilled your promise?"
Orochimaru smiled wickedly.
"Don't tell me none of it counts because you didn't become Hokage. After all, our agreement only required me to support you, not to guarantee you the Hokage position.
Of course, you can choose not to honor your promise. Even if you don't, there's little I can say about it.
But in that case, I'm afraid my experiments will have to