You rabble-rouser who's never even touched a kunai!

Orochimaru's smile vanished.

The amusement in his serpentine eyes went cold in an instant, like a snuffed-out candle.

Sure enough, taking even the slightest interest in this rioter had been foolish of him.

An ant who couldn't even extract chakra, relying on a little petty cleverness, had the nerve to push his luck and insult him too?

He turned around, his fingers beginning to form hand seals again, disdaining to spare Shuofang Si another glance.

Seeing this, Shuofang Si's heart tightened. He could tell that Orochimaru probably thought leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi like this would be better. He no longer intended to kill him and was preparing to simply leave.

That wouldn't do. If Orochimaru left just like that, all those insults would have been wasted.

No, perhaps it would be worse than that. He had mortally offended a Kage-level powerhouse. Once things quieted down, a mere rabble-rouser like him would be entirely at Orochimaru's mercy.

Although Tobirama had just dismissed the Third Hokage, control over Impure World Reincarnation was still in Orochimaru's hands. If Orochimaru released the technique now...

Tobirama and Hashirama would both turn to dust. What would happen to Konoha then?

He, the "hero who exposed the Third Hokage," was only a civilian. After the Third fell, the former Hokage vanished, and Orochimaru withdrew, what would the deposed Hiruzen Sarutobi and his clan do to him?

Getting planted like ginseng in the Nara Clan's medicinal garden, like Hidan, would probably be getting off lightly, wouldn't it? If they killed me outright in a fit of rage, I'd be screwed before I could return to the Main God.

His mind raced, and a flash of inspiration struck Shuofang Si. He immediately redirected his fire.

"Hey, what's this? You think I wasn't talking about you too?"

He suddenly turned toward the surrounding ninja, his voice rising sharply and making the nearest few flinch.

"Orochimaru's already come out of the barrier! Aren't you going to attack?!"

Shuofang Si pointed at Orochimaru, who was forming hand seals nearby, his face filled with disbelief.

"You wear Konoha forehead protectors and shout about the will of fire every day. Now a formidable enemy is right in front of you-the culprit who destroyed the village-and you're too scared to move?"

The ninja's expressions changed instantly.

"Are you ninja just hanging around here collecting a paycheck off us?"

Shuofang Si grew more animated as he spoke, spreading his hands like a shopkeeper demanding payment.

"Aren't the taxes I pay the daimyo every year used to fund your military?"

At those words, the surrounding ninja looked as livid as if they'd swallowed flies.

Damn it, easy for you to say! Why don't you go fight him?

Was Orochimaru someone ordinary ninja could handle? You rabble-rouser who's never even touched a kunai-you have no idea what you're talking about!

But before the ninja could object, Shuofang Si's words had already won the agreement of countless villagers.

The fear and anger that had been building up in the villagers-their loved ones buried beneath rubble, their homes destroyed-had been trapped in their chests with nowhere to go.

Insulting the Third had given them one outlet, but that had been about the "past." Insulting the ninja now was about what was "right in front of them."

These people wearing forehead protectors were taking military funding, yet stood motionless while the enemy strutted around right under their noses?

As Shuofang Si once again sounded the charge, Konoha's villagers wasted no time joining in.

"Useless cowards! What a waste feeding you!"

"You're eager enough to collect your pay, but when there's work to do, you're too scared to step up?"

"You don't even dare stop a rogue ninja right in front of you! What kind of Konoha ninja are you? What right do you have to talk about the will of fire?"

Earlier, once the genjutsu inside the arena had completely ended, the unconscious residents within had begun waking up one after another and gathering around.

The villagers outside had also seen the many ninja guarding this place, with the Hokage himself present. Since the shelters were too far away, they had flocked over as well.

The crowd had rapidly swelled from around two hundred to many hundreds, a dense mass packing the rooftop platform.

For a moment, outrage ran high, and the place erupted with noise.

Orochimaru's hands stopped mid-seal. The scene had caught his attention, and a glimmer of interest returned to his serpentine eyes.

But his interest wasn't in Shuofang Si. It was in the entire spectacle.

Hundreds of villagers pointing at their own ninja and berating them-he had never even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it.

He tilted his head slightly, as though watching a monkey show, and that cold curve returned to his lips.

With the villagers pointing in their faces and insulting them, all the ninja looked utterly aggrieved.

An older chunin finally couldn't take it anymore. His face flushed red as he shouted.

"Why are you blaming all of this on us? Hiruzen Sarutobi is responsible for the village ending up like this!"

He pointed at the Third Hokage, who sat collapsed on the ground inside the barrier, his face ashen. His voice brimmed with resentment.

"His failure to govern as Hokage caused one problem after another! Why should rank-and-file ninja like us have to pay for his mistakes with our lives?!"

Those words were like a match tossed into a powder keg.

The villagers instantly exploded.

"Is that supposed to excuse you cowering before the enemy? The Third was too cowardly to fight, hiding in the village every day!"

"Now the enemy's invaded the village! Isn't fighting them your duty? Someone in my family is a ninja too, and there's still no word from him-I don't even know if he's alive! What gives you the right to just stand here?"

The ninja lost their composure too.

One ninja violently tore off his mask, revealing a face covered in scars, his eyes red.

"Easy for you to say! This is Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, one of the most powerful rogue ninja in the shinobi world!"

"His killing intent alone makes my arms and legs go weak! Do you know what that feels like? Wouldn't charging at him just be suicide?"

"Exactly! The higher-ups neglected their duties and left Konoha in this sorry state. Why should we have to clean up their mess?" another ninja chimed in, his voice hoarse.

"We spend years fighting out there, and we've lost so many people! My squad was patrolling the border just last week. Three of us went out, and I was the only one who came back!"

"You have the gall to call us cowards? You think we're like the Sarutobi Clan's Three Thousand Ninja Army, taking only safe missions and never suffering casualties?"

"So you're just going to let the enemy escape? What did your teammates die for? So you could stand here arguing with villagers today?"

A gray-haired old man leaned on a cane, trembling as he pointed at that ninja. "My grandson only graduated from the Ninja Academy this year, and even he knows Konoha's ninja mustn't disgrace the village."

"That's because your grandson hasn't been on a battlefield yet! Say that again when an explosive tag blows his leg off!"

"What did you say? You dare curse my grandson?!"

Both sides abandoned all restraint, neither willing to give an inch.

The villagers accused the ninja of retreating in the face of the enemy, while the ninja accused the villagers of talking big because they weren't the ones risking their lives.

Shouts and arguments rang throughout the ruins, ten times more chaotic than when they had been berating the Third.

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Shuofang Si rubbed the shoulder that had been hit by a stone earlier and quietly took two steps back, away from the center of the powder keg.

Yet his gaze never left Orochimaru's direction-or, more precisely, Tobirama Senju.

Sure enough, he saw it.

Tobirama Senju's body moved slightly. Beside him, however, Hashirama Senju showed no reaction at all. He was still staring blankly at the chaotic scene, his face filled with despair.

Shuofang Si's heart suddenly raced. He had watched Naruto and knew that the Second was the inventor of Impure World Reincarnation. Sure enough, he could break free of its control.

Orochimaru had never fully pressed the control talisman into Tobirama's body. Now, while Orochimaru's attention was diverted, Tobirama was quietly undoing the restraints on himself.

Sure enough, who wouldn't be itching to watch a shouting match between villagers and ninja? And Orochimaru was an old Konoha native himself.

Just then, another light sphere appeared before Shuofang Si. One corner of his mouth lifted, and he reached out to touch it.

"B-rank side plot completed. Reward points: 5,000!"