Although Orochimaru was now Konoha's de facto ruler, he was not yet the Hokage. By the usual rules, he could only wait outside for now.
Even though Uchiha Fugaku had already placed the Daimyo under genjutsu, the samurai who went to announce their arrival did not recognize Orochimaru, so the Daimyo naturally had no idea he had come.
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Orochimaru a slight nod, then entered the reception room with the two elders behind him.
Just after Hiruzen Sarutobi entered the meeting room, one of the oddly dressed men standing nearby suddenly spoke. "That scrawny old man is Konoha's Hokage? Looks like Konoha really has no one left! Hahaha!"
As soon as he finished, the other strangely dressed men beside him joined in his laughter, casting provocative looks at Chihane and Orochimaru.
Even the samurai guarding the door chuckled along with them.
Only the plainly dressed monk merely lifted the corners of his mouth without joining in the mockery.
Aside from that monk, who came from the Fire Temple and had already been chosen as its next abbot, the others were all jonin who had deserted various small villages for one reason or another.
The people they had always hated most were ninja from the major hidden villages.
Compared with those major villages, they had no dedicated instructors to guide them in becoming ninja, nor did their villages have any systematic body of teachings to pass down.
Ninja from small villages like theirs knew few ninjutsu, even if they were jonin.
Instead, most practiced twisted forbidden techniques their villages had modified themselves, barely gaining the strength of a jonin that way.
If their abilities were judged by Konoha's standards, they would probably rank as nothing more than ordinary special jōnin.
It would have been fine if all the small