As Danzo analyzed the situation, the village was no longer under their control, at least as things stood now. But that did not mean there was no solution.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's original plan had been a success. The only problem was Chihane Hatake standing in the way.
According to Hiruzen Sarutobi's original plan, neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade had any desire to become Hokage, but they could groom Jiraiya's student, Minato Namikaze, to become the Fourth Hokage.
As a civilian-born Ninja, Minato Namikaze had no power base in the village. Once he took office, their Council of Elders could continue controlling Konoha from behind the scenes.
The plan had actually been very successful. If Minato Namikaze ran for Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya would surely choose not to support either candidate.
And today's vote had made the village's jonin's leanings clear.
Monkey still had a decent grip on the village. Even with Orochimaru and Jiraiya both speaking out against him, he had still managed to gain the upper hand in the vote.
As long as the original plan succeeded, Konoha would essentially remain in their hands.
And as long as Konoha remained in their hands, sooner or later, he would have a chance to claim the Hokage's seat.
The only reason things had turned out this way today was the emergence of one unpredictable factor that had brought them all together.
That unpredictable factor was Chihane Hatake!
After careful analysis, Danzo realized that Chihane was, in fact, the source of everything that had happened.
Orochimaru might have had ambitions before, but without a faction of his own, he had always remained under Danzo's control.
Even the materials for all the experiments he had been conducting had come from Danzo.
But ever since Hiruzen Sarutobi had entrusted Chihane Hatake to Orochimaru, everything had changed.