Meeting the Uchiha

"What?! Ten Jonin?"

Even with Orochimaru's composure, he was angry. Were they sending him to his death with only ten Jonin? The Uchiha Clan was a notorious ticking time bomb, too. Mishandle them, and they might blow up in his face before they even hurt the Iwa shinobi.

Besides, if Hiruzen Sarutobi came to reinforce them later, even a victory would probably be credited entirely to the Third Hokage. What would be left for him?

At that moment, Orochimaru began to doubt whether Hiruzen Sarutobi actually wanted him to succeed as Hokage.

"There's no other choice, Orochimaru. The village really is short on fighting strength right now, and we still have to guard against surprise attacks on Konoha from the other villages. I can only assign you ten Jonin, but I can give you two thousand Chunin and Genin. And I can guarantee that if we win the war, you'll succeed me as Hokage."

Seeing Orochimaru's anger, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he might refuse unless he was properly persuaded, so he once again dangled the Hokage position before him.

"Two thousand Chunin and Genin? They wouldn't be as useful as another ten Jonin!"

Hearing that Hiruzen Sarutobi would give him only two thousand Chunin and Genin, Orochimaru could barely contain himself. Even with the Hokage position being dangled before him, he had no intention of throwing his life away for nothing.

Iwagakure could field ten thousand shinobi to surround the Raikage, let alone Konoha, the wealthiest village. Even excluding its Jonin-level fighters, Konoha had over twenty thousand Chunin and Genin alone.

It also had nearly three hundred Jonin, keeping its strength firmly in first place among the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

"Enough! Orochimaru, you're an experienced shinobi now! You need to learn to solve problems yourself. The Uchiha Clan has over a hundred Jonin and hundreds of Chunin and Genin. Together, you have enough to fight Iwagakure. Do you expect me to finish them off before sending you in?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Orochimaru would never agree if this continued, and their conversation would get nowhere. He could only adopt a stern tone and force Orochimaru to accept the mission.

If possible, he would rather not have let things become so strained between them. After all, they had been teacher and student for over twenty years. Their differing positions were to blame!

Orochimaru had developed ideas of his own, and they ran contrary to his.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Orochimaru understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's meaning: he was going, whether he liked it or not. He stopped calling him his teacher, gave a curt reply, and turned to leave.

"Hmph! It seems you've forgotten who gave you everything you have!"

Watching Orochimaru leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help feeling angry. He felt that Orochimaru had slipped completely out of his control, and he muttered those words with a dark expression.

The Small Woods on the Back Mountain

"One-Sword Style: Iai-Lion's Song!"

With the Kusanagi Sword in hand, Chihane brought his blade down hard on the Iron Target before him.

Bang!

A dull thud rang out. The Iron Target flew off the ground, traveled five or six meters through the air, then crashed heavily to the ground. Where the blade had struck, the man-sized target had bent almost in half.

"Phew! Still no good! I'm nowhere near being able to cut through steel."

Even after putting all his strength into it, he still could not cut through steel. Although Chihane had expected this, he could not help feeling disappointed.

Whoosh!

Orochimaru appeared behind Chihane, his face dark and practically announcing, I'm in a bad mood. Don't provoke me!

"What's wrong, Teacher Orochimaru? What did Lord Hokage want with you?"

Seeing Orochimaru's gloomy expression, Chihane guessed that something serious must have happened. He had trained with Orochimaru for three months, but he had never seen him lose control of his expression before.

"The war is about to begin! Go home and get ready!"

Orochimaru did not want to say much more.

After giving Chihane some brief instructions for his training, he vanished. "Is the Third Shinobi World War finally beginning? I've been waiting so long for it..."

Thinking of all the effort he had put into preparing for this war, Chihane felt his blood surge with excitement, as though his entire soul had begun to burn.

Unable to hold back, he raised his sword and began training.

Konoha

The Uchiha Clan Compound

Situated on the outskirts of Konoha, the Uchiha Clan Compound alone occupied almost a fifth of the village's area. Inside, it was practically a small village of its own, with everything from restaurants and clothing stores to ninja tool shops. No wonder they looked down on the villagers and always identified themselves by their clan when outside. The environment they had grown up in had shaped their outlook.

As descendants of the Sage of Six Paths who had inherited his eyes, the Uchiha Clan had never welcomed outsiders into their compound.

Today, however, they received an unexpected visitor.

"As expected of the Uchiha! If I hadn't seen it myself, I would never have imagined such a magnificent clan compound existed in Konoha."

Following a shinobi from the Konoha Military Police Force through the Uchiha Clan Compound, Orochimaru surveyed the prosperous surroundings and voiced his admiration to his guide.

"Haha! Even during the Warring States Period, our Uchiha Clan was a dominant power in the shinobi world. With our heritage passed down and steadily developed, prosperity like this is only natural."

Hearing Orochimaru, one of the Konoha Sannin, marvel at their compound, the police shinobi could not resist showing off their long history. His words also carried the pride unique to the Uchiha Clan.

Orochimaru could hear the pride in the police shinobi's words, as well as the arrogance behind it. His opinion of the Uchiha Clan dropped another notch.

Not a single top-tier fighter in the clan, yet they're still so arrogant, clinging to their clan's glory! That glory belonged to the days when Madara Uchiha was here, earned through battle after battle.

Now they're nothing but a caged paper tiger, and they're actually proud of it. It seems they won't amount to much. Of course, he needed their help now, so he would not say any of this aloud.

Soon, Orochimaru followed the police shinobi to the very center of the Uchiha Clan Compound, where the clan head's reception room was located.

"Clan Head, Orochimaru is here."

When they reached the entrance, the shinobi guarding the door went inside first to report to Uchiha Kageyama, the head of the Uchiha Clan.

"What is Orochimaru doing here?"

"Show him in!"

Uchiha Kageyama was puzzled by Orochimaru's visit. They had always stayed out of each other's affairs, after all. Still, he had someone welcome Orochimaru inside first.

"Clan Head Kageyama, sorry for the intrusion."

After entering the clan head's home, Orochimaru saw Uchiha Kageyama already waiting inside and stepped forward to greet him with a friendly attitude.

"What a rare guest. Orochimaru, what brings you to our Uchiha Clan?"

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Uchiha Kageyama took the initiative and asked Orochimaru why he had come.

"You don't know yet, Clan Head Kageyama? I thought you would have known long ago. Teacher Sarutobi should have informed every clan in Konoha already. Didn't you receive the notice?"

Orochimaru spoke to Uchiha Kageyama with a feigned look of surprise.