- Most of the clans will probably try to get along with Nara," Utatane nervously paced the room, "it's not like you're begging for favors from the arrogant Hyuga, but Shenesu will be much easier to negotiate with, and that trickster won't let it go!
The aging kunoichi felt that the time was not far off when power would fall back into the hands of the clans, and that only made her more anxious - the clans might well recall the years of systematic weakening, affecting not only her but her family as well, if Sarutobi were to be replaced by their protégé. It didn't matter who it would be.
- Koharu, calm down," Hiruzen puffed irritably, aware of the thoughts of his companions, "we have time, and I have not lost the support of the jonins, things can still change and the balance can be reversed.
- Whatever you say, Hiruzen, whatever you say," the elder turned to him.
- Then get to work," Sarutobi looked around at his companions.
Nodding, the elders left, closing the door behind them, and the Third Hokage turned his chair to the window, looking thoughtfully at the faces of his predecessors carved into the rock.
- Did you hear that? - He suddenly asked into the void.
Among the three veterans who had been in the office earlier, he was the only one who had sensed the presence of the observer, but recognizing his identity, he did not alert the others.
- Yes, sensei, - answered the broad-shouldered white-haired shinobi, appearing behind the window and after a moment penetrating through it into the room.
- Your thoughts? - Hiruzen asked his student calmly.
- You screwed up, Sarutobi-sensei," the toad hermit replied seriously, settling down on the window sill, "you thought you were the smartest and the most cunning, but the situation didn't develop the way you expected. Politics may be a dirty business, but to undermine the prestige of the village for the sake of a dubious result...," Jiraiya shook his head, not at all like the gregarious merrymaker he appeared to most of his acquaintances, "demon with it, my reputation, but you have damaged my relationship with two of the strongest or potentially strongest shinobi in the village, which had been building up for quite some time.
Hiruzen, who knew his student well, knew that Jiraiya was holding back in his assessment, and if he didn't respect the man who had practically replaced his father so much, he would have used different words.
- What can you do, Jiraiya, I'm getting older and my mind is not as sharp as it was in my youth," Sarutobi said sadly, looking at the extinguished pipe, "I still have strength, but I'm starting to make mistakes, and I don't have a successor to pass on the post to, unless you change your mind?
- No, Sarutobi-sensei, the post of Hokage is not for me, I'll be of much more use outside the village than sitting in this chair," the sannin snorted, "it's Orochimaru who wants the hat, not me.
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