At the same time.
In the Uchiha Clan compound.
In the reception room of Uchiha Fugaku's home.
Since Hiruzen Sarutobi had brought the conflict out into the open, Orochimaru could no longer pretend nothing had happened.
So he brought Chihane and Might Duy with him to Uchiha Fugaku's home.
Though Might Duy looked simple and rather dim, that did not mean he understood nothing. His honest, dutiful nature had simply kept him from overthinking things, and he had grown used to accepting whatever came his way.
But when it came to making a choice like this, he still knew whom he should stand behind.
Throughout all his years of hard work in the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi had never helped him. His family had always struggled to get by, and even buying a training weight would leave him agonizing over the expense.
With Orochimaru, however, Chihane had helped him clearly understand his own strength.
More importantly, Orochimaru had shown him, an "eternal Genin" who had been looked down on for half his life, what respect felt like.
And thanks to the training plan Orochimaru, an expert in developing the human body, had designed specifically for him, he could clearly feel his strength improving again after years of stagnation.
(Might Duy's current base strength was at Chunin level, while Might Guy's was at Jonin level. Considering that Might Duy died when Might Guy was still young, and how diligently their bushy-browed line trained, Might Duy's own training methods probably weren't quite up to par.)
That made Might Duy firmly choose Orochimaru over Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Of course, even if he had not chosen Orochimaru, everyone else would have assumed he was one of Orochimaru's men anyway.
?
By then, Uchiha Fugaku had already told Chihane everything that had happened at the meeting.
"Chihane...