Chapter 36

By rights, Hiruzen Sarutobi should have been most wary of the Hatake Clan.

Why had he put his own son in Kakashi's team?

Before long, the jonin arrived one after another to collect their students.

Might Guy's team was led away by an ordinary jonin.

Two minutes later, a young man with golden hair walked through the door.

He took off the fox mask on his face and gave those inside a brilliant smile.

"Obito Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, you three, come with me."

Minato's voice was gentle.

The three had not spoken since the teams were assigned. Now they quietly stood and followed him.

Before leaving, Obito turned and waved repeatedly at Rin.

Minato sighed inwardly, feeling that this team probably would not be easy to manage.

"Who am I taking? Hurry up and come out!"

An impatient voice startled both Rin Nohara and Kurenai Yuhi.

They looked up and froze.

The person who walked in was Tsunade.

Tsunade, one of the Sannin.

"Lady Tsunade?!"

"What brings you here?"

"I-I'm so nervous..."

The three little girls were beside themselves with excitement.

This was the idol they had admired most since childhood.

Tsunade ruffled her golden hair and spoke with displeasure written all over her face.

"That ** Xuan Zhe insisted on giving me work. Said I had too much time on my hands and needed something useful to do."

The more she spoke, the angrier she became.

"The next time I see him, I'm going to beat him into the ground..."

"Heh... don't be so resentful. This might turn out to be quite an interesting experience."

A sinister voice sounded behind her.

Tsunade turned, raising her eyebrows.

"Orochimaru? Where did you come-from?"

"Heh... I'm here to collect someone too."

Orochimaru brushed past her, entered the classroom, and swept his gaze over it.

"That genius from the Uchiha Clan, come with me."

Shisui's little face was filled with shock.

Orochimaru?

Orochimaru, one of the Sannin?

Why had the man who hadn't appeared since the Second Shinobi World War suddenly shown up, and why was he going to be my teacher?

Even with Tsunade serving as a jonin instructor too, wasn't this far too strange?

Shisui felt a chill, unable to shake the sense that something was wrong.

"What's the matter? Don't want me teaching you?"

Orochimaru spread his lips and let out a sinister laugh.

The sound made Rin Nohara and the other two little girls shudder, goosebumps rising all over them.

"Hey, what are you up to this time?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and turned her head to glare at Orochimaru.

Even Shisui, a little brat of only five, had noticed something was wrong.

She had known Orochimaru for more than twenty years. Naturally, she understood his ways even better.

"Heh heh, I simply want to finish what Lord Second Hokage failed to accomplish back then."

Orochimaru spoke vaguely, his laughter strange.

No matter how much Tsunade thought about it, she could never have guessed-

Three years ago, immediately after the Second Shinobi World War ended, Orochimaru had answered Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo's call.

As a member of Root, he had become involved in the project to research and transplant the First Hokage's cells.

Orochimaru had certainly not agreed to join out of any great loyalty to Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō.

It was purely his instincts as a twisted scientist at work.

As for the matter Danzo had mentioned to him two days earlier-

What would happen if the two strongest Kekkei Genkai in the shinobi world, those of the Senju and Uchiha, were combined?

The mere thought already had Orochimaru beside himself with excitement.

Unable to find any reason to object, Tsunade could only watch Orochimaru take Shisui Uchiha away.

"Let's go too."

Tsunade pressed her temples. Not bothering to ponder the matter any further, she turned to the three girls.

"Yes!"

The three girls answered in unison.

Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Uchiha Fugaku, who had only recently become clan leader, held a meeting of the clan's upper ranks.

He summoned all the clan's elite of jonin rank and above.

He told them that he had entrusted Shisui Uchiha to Orochimaru to train.

"Orochimaru is the Third Hokage's student... Clan Leader, are you planning to make overtures to the Hokage?"

An Uchiha elder asked in a rather off tone.

The Uchiha Clan had finally produced a genius.

In their view, the clan should train him themselves, rather than handing him over to someone in the Hokage's faction.

Thus, quite a few of the Uchiha jonin present were very dissatisfied with Uchiha Fugaku's decision.

"Everyone, calm down and think this through. The Third is getting older, and sooner or later, a candidate for Fourth Hokage will have to be chosen. Who is the most likely candidate?"

At Uchiha Fugaku's words, quite a few of those who opposed him fell silent.

After about two minutes, everyone offered the same name without prior agreement:

"Orochimaru."

Although Minato Namikaze's reputation as the Yellow Flash was growing ever greater.

He still could not compare to Orochimaru, who had already distinguished himself greatly in the Second Shinobi World War.

As for Tsunade... just look at what had become of the Senju, the Uchiha's sworn enemies.

Would she ever get a turn?

"Exactly. If Orochimaru becomes the Fourth Hokage, Shisui will be the Hokage's student."

Uchiha Fugaku asked in a measured, steady voice:

"What do you think of my decision?"

To be honest, his calculations were quite shrewd.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was growing older, and sooner or later, a candidate for Fourth Hokage would have to be chosen.

Orochimaru currently had the best chance of taking the position.

Fugaku had his own assessment. He believed Shisui's future achievements would be no less than those of his forebear, Kagami Uchiha.

If Shisui could establish a connection with Orochimaru, the position of Fifth Hokage might fall to the Uchiha in the future.

After hearing Fugaku's explanation, the clansmen who had initially been agitated gradually quieted down.

The Uchiha Clan's members were arrogant, but they were not stupid.

Their clan did have more jonin than the other clans, but in all these years, it had not produced a single Kage-level powerhouse like Tsunade.

The position of Fourth was certainly out of reach. They could only set their sights on the Fifth.

Once they understood Fugaku's intentions, the meeting's outcome was settled.

Everyone dispersed.

From every angle, Fugaku's plan was quite thorough.

But he was, after all, a man of this world. He could never have imagined that when the selection for the Fourth came, Minato Namikaze would suddenly emerge and snatch the position from Orochimaru.

Right now, Xuan Zhe was pondering how to put Tsunade in the Hokage's seat first.

Fugaku's move of sending Shisui to Orochimaru had essentially been wasted.

There was an underground cavern on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.

"Lord Madara, the village has been quite lively lately."

A deathly pale thing grew out of the wall, its body twisted into a spiral with a pitch-black opening in the center. It extended half its body and spoke.

Another equally pale fellow, with only the left half of a face, emerged beside him and chimed in with a chuckle:

"The Uchiha have produced another genius. A pity... he's become a test subject for the First Hokage Hashirama's cells."

When it came to infiltration and gathering information, if this White Zetsu ranked second, no one in the world of Naruto would dare claim first.

Ever since Madara Uchiha had created him, he had been watching Konoha.

He had long since learned everything about Shisui's situation.

An old man seated on a throne of dead wood raised his eyelid slightly, revealing the Sharingan beneath his gray-white hair.

After a moment's silence, he gave a disdainful sneer.

Konoha had long since rotted through in the hands of Tobirama and those other fools-he knew that better than anyone.

Madara Uchiha had long since stopped caring about Konoha's petty affairs.

There was only one thing on his mind-the Eye of the Moon Plan.

Whether Konoha lived or died, he could not even be bothered to raise an eyelid.

Ultimately, he had White Zetsu watch Konoha day and night to find someone.

Someone who could serve as the third safeguard.

For his resurrection, Madara had prepared three contingencies in all.