That afternoon.
The Hokage Building.
The Hokage's Office.
Inside the Hokage Building, which symbolized the pinnacle of power in Konoha, the four people who represented the village's former leadership had gathered yet again.
But unlike their usual meetings, two of these four people who had controlled Konoha for years had already willingly become Orochimaru's spies.
"I was only gone for two days. How did the village end up like this?"
Facing the two elders who had stayed behind, Hiruzen Sarutobi dropped the fake smile he reserved for the villagers and questioned them bluntly.
He had spent far too long smiling today. His face was tired, and so was his heart.
Everything that had happened recently had gone far beyond his expectations and completely overturned his original plans.
According to his original plan, he should have firmly rejected the Three Great Shinobi Villages' demand that Konoha hand over Chihane Hatake at the Five Kage Summit, then secured war reparations for Konoha.
After returning to the village, he would have spoken up for Chihane and Orochimaru, persuading the villagers to stop rejecting them and earning their gratitude in the process.
That way, Orochimaru would still have been his good student, Chihane his good grandstudent, and he himself Konoha's good Hokage. Everything would have been wonderful.
But how had things changed so drastically? Now he bore the title of cowardly Hokage, while Orochimaru and Chihane had become the village's heroes.
All I wanted was for Konoha to develop steadily. Why couldn't they understand?
Why did everyone have to oppose me now?
Whenever he recalled what he had encountered on the way back, anger welled up inside Hiruzen Sarutobi. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Unable to fully control his emotions, he complained to Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, "Didn't