Chapter 38

Without the genius Shisui Uchiha holding things up, Kakashi Hatake was the only one in this year's group who passed the Chunin Ninja Exams.

Minato Namikaze was quite happy. His student had been promoted, and he wanted to celebrate.

But money was tight, so he could only book a small private room at a barbecue restaurant.

The food and drinks were laid out, but none of his three students said a word.

Kakashi, Obito, and Asuma all had "leave me alone" written across their faces.

Not one of them wanted to talk.

Basically, none of them could stand the sight of the others.

They had been like this since Team Minato was formed. Months had passed, and nothing had changed.

The corner of Minato's mouth twitched, his smile a little stiff.

Was this really going to be all right?

-Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi paced back and forth, his head aching as though it might burst.

A few days earlier, Danzo had come to give him a report.

The experiments with Hashirama cells had ended in total failure.

Every test subject had died.

Including Shisui Uchiha.

Shisui was dead?

A sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out across Hiruzen's back.

Only then did he realize just how terribly wrong he had been to agree to hand Shisui over to Orochimaru and Danzo for their experiments.

The Uchiha Clan had finally produced a genius.

And just like that, he was gone.

How was he supposed to explain this to the clan?

If he mishandled this and the Uchiha rebelled, what then?

Truthfully, he was not all that afraid of the Uchiha turning against him now.

With the forces at his disposal, dealing with a single Uchiha Clan would not be difficult.

But the question was-what came after the fighting?

How would he explain it to the village's other clans? What would he tell the civilians?

Was he supposed to just say they had killed the Uchiha's genius in human experiments, and that was why the Uchiha had **?

Then the kindly old man persona he had maintained for so many years would collapse on the spot.

The other shinobi clans would be frightened too.

Who knew which one the higher-ups would go after next?

If the Uchiha really took the lead, what if the other major clans felt they had no hope of protecting themselves and rebelled too?

At most, the Uchiha were currently just a barrel of **.

But what they would ignite was the enormous pile of ** that was all of Konoha's shinobi clans.

"Hiruzen, calm down."

Danzo, on the other hand, remained composed, speaking unhurriedly from beside him.

"How can you still be calm, Danzo?!"

Hiruzen gritted his teeth, keeping his voice very low.

"How many times have I told you to be extra careful with the experiments?! If the other test subjects died, so be it, but now you've killed an Uchiha too! How am I supposed to explain this to their clan?!"

Danzo said without a trace of hurry, "We don't need to give them an explanation."

"Why not just change who gives them one?"

Hiruzen's expression changed instantly.

"What did you say?"

Danzo held up two fingers, his tone steady. "There are two options."

"First, we publicly announce that Shisui Uchiha died on a mission. The attackers were ninja from the Land of Wind, and their objective was to steal his Sharingan. We direct the Uchiha's anger toward the Land of Wind."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was completely stunned by what he heard.

"Have you lost your mind?"

They had only just signed a ceasefire agreement with the Land of Wind, and now they were going to frame them?

Danzo's expression did not change. "Another country would work too," he said mildly. "But the Land of Wind is the weakest of the five villages. Don't you think that makes it convenient?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi drew a deep breath, gritting his teeth to suppress his emotions. "And the second option?"

Unless he had absolutely no other choice, he did not want to take the first option. Wouldn't that just reignite the ** of the Third Shinobi World War?

"Then your student will have to suffer a little."

The corners of Danzo's mouth lifted slightly, and his voice grew softer.

"Pin everything on Orochimaru and declare him a rogue ninja. The Uchiha's hatred will naturally shift to him."

Hiruzen Sarutobi froze completely.

Wasn't that utterly inhuman?

Danzo leaned back against the sofa, his tone as casual as if he were discussing dinner. "Your relationship as teacher and student isn't what it used to be anyway. Compared to going to war with the Land of Wind, this approach involves the smallest losses."

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time.

When Danzo received no response, he got up and headed for the door. At the doorway, he glanced back and left him with one last remark. "Send someone to tell me when you've made up your mind."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was left alone in the office.

He sat in his chair, thinking for who knew how long.

The sun slid from overhead toward the west. The moon rose and set, and pale light once again appeared on the horizon.

Only when the morning light streamed inside did he clench his teeth and speak, enunciating every word.

"Anbu... go summon Orochimaru."

Beside a small river outside Konoha.

Rin Nohara, Kurenai Yuhi, and Kato Shizune knelt on the grass, their knees neatly together.

A fish on the verge of ** lay in front of each girl.

They gently pressed their palms against the fish, a faint green glow shining from their hands.

This was the Mystical Palm Technique, which only medical ninja could use.

Tsunade stood beside them, yawning as she instructed them. All she could think about was going to the ** to enjoy a few rounds.

Just then, a sudden burst of laughter came from the grass not far away.

The laughter sounded like someone having a fit, making all three girls tremble as they concentrated on their practice.

Beside the farmland, Xuan Zhe doubled over with laughter, his voice absurdly loud.

Rin Nohara and the other girls could not help looking back.

What had gotten into him this time?

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and barked at the three little girls, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and catch some fish! Stop dawdling!"

The three girls ducked their heads at her shout and could only roll up their trouser legs again and step into the river.

But they were still wondering-what could possibly have made Xuan Zhe that happy?

"This is brilliant! Staying in Konoha really does mean there's something new every day!"

Xuan Zhe clapped his hands, his face full of glee at another's misfortune.

Across from him, Orochimaru wore a rare speechless expression. "Xuan Zhe, I'm discussing a serious matter with you, not telling a joke."

Just two hours earlier.

He had been summoned to the Third Hokage's office, where he heard something so shocking that he nearly froze on the spot-the old man wanted him to defect.

More precisely, he was not supposed to actually defect, but to leave Konoha.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had kept an iron grip on the news of Shisui Uchiha's "death," the Uchiha Clan would find out sooner or later.

If no explanation could be given then, the two sides would certainly come to blows.

This Uchiha fuse could blow all of Konoha sky-high at any moment.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi needed a scapegoat.

He had summoned Orochimaru because he wanted him to take the blame-to tell the Uchiha that Orochimaru had conducted illegal human experiments, accidentally killed Shisui, and then defected.

That would divert the Uchiha's fire.

Of course, he would be a rogue ninja in name only. They would not actually hunt him down; he would simply work somewhere else.

Put plainly, they were shifting the blame.

Orochimaru had been dumbfounded when he heard it.

Although he had long known what sort of person his teacher was, he had never expected him to pull something this outrageous.

He was certainly happy to research Hashirama cells, but hadn't he followed their instructions throughout the entire experiment?

Now that something had gone wrong, they wanted him to take the blame.

As the saying went, "Once the hare is dead, the hunting hound is cooked." But that hare wasn't dead yet-Danzo had him hidden in Root's base.

But Orochimaru understood-even if he exposed the **, Danzo would never admit it.

Besides, he knew those two old partners, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō, far too well.

Whether he wanted to or not, he would have to take the blame.

Xuan Zhe could not stop laughing. He truly had not expected that old fox Hiruzen Sarutobi to pull such an elaborate stunt.

Making Orochimaru-the ** he had once been proudest of, or rather, had once favored most-take the fall for him.

He suddenly felt that the man was a little pitiful.

"You don't have to look so aggrieved, do you? You were planning to run away anyway, weren't you?"

The corner of Xuan Zhe's mouth lifted.

"Leaving sooner or later makes no difference."

Orochimaru's pupils abruptly contracted.