Uzumaki Mito waited for an answer.
She waited for a full five minutes.
In the end, she let out a long sigh and said,
"Given the situation now, if I wanted to kill you, could you give me any reason why I shouldn't?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent.
Then, silently, he shook his head.
He couldn't answer Uzumaki Mito's questions.
Naturally, he couldn't offer any reason to oppose her desire to kill him either.
In the past, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been Hokage.
And Uzumaki Mito had been the jinchūriki.
He represented Konoha's greater situation.
For the sake of the village, Uzumaki Mito had no choice but to remain silent, swallowing all her doubts and grievances by herself.
She couldn't even tell Uzumaki Kushina.
But now—
Uzumaki Mito had already died once.
What did she still need to care about?
Even Senju Hashirama, when facing Uzumaki Mito, could only apologize repeatedly in shame and tell her how much she had suffered.
He didn't dare say anything like asking her to spare the monkey for Konoha's sake.
After Uzumaki Mito stepped back, Uchiha Yoru kicked Uchiha Fugaku aside and walked up to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But after thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly realized something.
The cruelest things Hiruzen Sarutobi would do to the Uchiha clan—
Hadn't happened yet.
Whether it was the matter involving Uchiha Kagami or the dozens of Sharingan, all of it had clearly been done by Shimura Danzō.
At most, Hiruzen Sarutobi could be blamed for failing to supervise him.
The Second Hokage had already said as much.
There was no point repeating it.
Uchiha Yoru actually smiled.
No matter what, he had already prevented many tragedies.
Hyūga Hizashi.
Uchiha Shisui.
And many, many other unlucky people he didn't even know about.
You all owe me thanks.
He turned toward Sakumo Hatake.
"Hmm."
"Senior Sakumo, I don't think I have much else to say."
"Your turn."
Sakumo Hatake was an extremely humble and courteous man.
For all this time, he had quietly remained at the side, patiently waiting.
Hearing Uchiha Yoru's words, he nodded gratefully and walked up to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
This honest-looking middle-aged man asked,
"Why did you target me?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi answered hoarsely,
"I didn't think you would die…"
Sakumo Hatake's fighting style had always gone straight for the vital point.
His manner of speaking was the same.
He asked again, this time more forcefully,
"Why?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi swallowed, moistening his dry throat before answering.
"Just as they said."
"Your reputation was too high."
"Too many people wanted you to become Hokage."
"I…"
"I had no choice."
Sakumo Hatake nearly choked from anger.
Even his voice became noticeably louder.
"Third Hokage, you knew me."
"You should have known that I had no desire to become Hokage!"
"I only wanted to be an excellent Konoha shinobi!"
"All I wanted was to protect Konoha properly!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head and looked at the furious man.
"Sakumo…"
"When I stepped forward before Sensei all those years ago, I never intended to become Hokage either."
"Just as there cannot be two suns in the sky…"
"Konoha cannot have two centers."
Sakumo Hatake fell silent.
"Then why did you use such despicable methods to suppress Senior Sakumo?"
Uchiha Yoru asked.
"You issued a fake mission, deliberately created a moral trap where every possible choice was wrong, then forcibly framed him afterward."
"Wasn't that far too crude?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice sounded utterly lacking in confidence.
He awkwardly forced himself to explain.
"Sakumo was a flawless Konoha shinobi."
"Danzō and I thought of many methods."
"None of them worked."
"So we could only use something like that."
"I had no choice…"
Yoru shook his head repeatedly.
"You're the Hokage."
"Every other sentence is 'I had no choice,' 'there was nothing I could do.'"
"And after all that, the only solution you could come up with was destroying Konoha's finest shinobi."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi…"
"Were you actually a spy sent here by another shinobi village?"
Yoru could no longer continue.
He thought of the Uzumaki Kushina kidnapping incident.
Then he thought of the future Hinata kidnapping incident that had yet to happen.
Apart from sneering, he no longer had anything he wanted to say.
When Konoha was in an excellent position, Hiruzen's first thought was to suppress its outstanding shinobi.
When Konoha was in a bad position, his first thought was to sacrifice Konoha's shinobi in exchange for peace.
And yet Konoha's terrible situation was itself the inevitable consequence of him suppressing outstanding shinobi for the sake of preserving his own authority.
Not only did he never accept responsibility for that—
He instead pushed more innocent shinobi toward death.
Under his leadership, Konoha's shinobi truly had miserable lives.
The village's finest shinobi would struggle tirelessly, win victories on the battlefield, and become heroes of Konoha—
Only to be targeted by the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō.
Then forced either into exile—
Or suicide.
Ordinary shinobi would conscientiously fulfill their duties and successfully stop the enemy's conspiracy—
Only for the Third Hokage to force them to commit suicide merely to appease the enemy.
No wonder the intelligent members of the Nara clan were all unbelievably lazy.
The more Uchiha Yoru thought about Hiruzen Sarutobi's actions and the starting point of his reasoning—
The more he felt an infuriating familiarity.
A nauseating familiarity.
And the more he thought about it—
The more he felt Hiruzen Sarutobi deserved to die.
And among those present, Uchiha Yoru was far from the only one who wanted him dead.
Senju Hashirama held Uzumaki Mito in his arms and calmly urged,
"Tobirama."
"This has dragged on long enough."
"Make your decision."
Hearing Senju Hashirama's words, Senju Tobirama immediately shuddered.
Senju Hashirama placed enormous importance on family, friends, and emotions.
He could be absentminded and naive.
He was filled with idealism, always believed in the goodness of people, and wholeheartedly yearned for peace.
Senju Tobirama, by contrast, had a cold personality.
He valued logic, purpose, rules, and order.
His thoughts tended toward the darker side.
He believed human nature was inherently flawed and always kept one hand guarded against everyone.
Yet between the two Senju brothers—
The one who always smiled, Senju Hashirama, was actually the truly ruthless one.
Because Senju Hashirama was a genuine idealist.
For the sake of his ideals, he could sacrifice his own life without hesitation.
And he could just as readily make other people sacrifice theirs.
During the establishment of Konoha, the number of people who died at Senju Hashirama's hands was no smaller than the number killed by Uchiha Madara.
Considering Wood Release's nature as the ultimate battlefield-clearing ninjutsu, Hashirama had probably killed even more people.
Anyone who dared stand in the path of his ideals—
He would eliminate without hesitation.
Even Uchiha Madara had once been killed by his own hand.
So crushing one mere monkey?
There was naturally no need to hesitate.
Ironically, it was Senju Tobirama—
The one who had spoken so many ruthless words and shown Danzō absolutely no mercy—
Who had not actually prepared himself to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Faced with the greater trend of Uchiha Yoru's unwavering insistence that Hiruzen must die—
Tobirama knew that resisting it would be extremely difficult.
Yet subconsciously, he had still been delaying.
He had hoped some turning point might appear.
Perhaps more people would believe Hiruzen Sarutobi did not need to die.
Perhaps they could create enough counterbalance against Uchiha Yoru to make him change his mind.
Even if they could only preserve the monkey's life—
That would have been enough.
Unfortunately—
A turning point did indeed appear.
But it was Senju Hashirama who changed his mind.
He, too, wanted the monkey dead.
The First Hokage was the only person present whose strength stood on the same level as Uchiha Yoru's.
Once those two shared the same opinion—
There was no longer any possibility of reversing the outcome.
Senju Tobirama was not an indecisive man.
Once he saw that the final trace of hope had vanished—
A kunai taken from Tsunade accurately pierced Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
Ending his suffering in the shortest possible time—
That was Senju Tobirama's final act of care toward Hiruzen Sarutobi as his teacher.
Hiruzen Sarutobi died.
He didn't suffer much at the end.
His death was silent.
…
In any world—
The biggest fist represented the greatest truth.
In the shinobi world, having the biggest fist could mean having more shinobi.
It could also mean having stronger shinobi.
And strength among shinobi was always relative.
In truth, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha Year 45, was not weak.
Among the Five Kage, he could comfortably rank within the top two.
Unfortunately—
No matter how strong Hiruzen was, Uchiha Yoru was even more absurd.
Once Yoru gained the strength to solo the entire Konoha instance by himself—
Hiruzen Sarutobi's policy of hostility and suppression toward the Uchiha clan reached a dead end.
He was not Konoha's strongest.
Yet he stubbornly chose to oppose the shinobi who actually was the strongest.
And since Hiruzen refused to rationally step down and allow someone more capable to take over—
His death became inevitable.
But a Hokage dying in internal conflict would inflict tremendous damage on Konoha.
It could even cause the village's morale and cohesion to collapse, leading Konoha to disintegrate on its own.
In the original history, Orochimaru had made use of his status as a missing-nin to complete that final step.
Then he had even used a convenient "return from the dead" trick to cleanse his own identity and rejoin Konoha's shinobi ranks.
The entire process had gone so smoothly that it would have been impossible without the tacit approval, and even active assistance, of the overwhelming majority of Konoha shinobi.
But now—
Uchiha Yoru had no intention of taking on the label of missing-nin.
He still wanted to live comfortably in Konoha.
And since he represented Konoha's current greater situation—
Naturally, his wishes had to be respected.
After reviving the dead First and Second Hokage and discussing it with them—
The two former Hokage could endorse Uchiha Yoru's decision.
Then the Second Hokage could personally execute the Third Hokage.
This was the best possible solution to Konoha's dilemma.
What did it mean to prioritize the greater good?
This was what it meant!
As long as Uchiha Yoru himself represented the greater good, then no matter how troublesome his demands were, everyone else had to revolve around him and find ways to solve the problem.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's body gradually grew cold.
Homura Mitokado was taken into custody by the Snake Unit.
The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, announced—
Root was an illegal organization.
Effective immediately—
It was dissolved.
Although Koharu Utatane still remained inside the village, she was powerless to reverse anything.
She did not even possess the ability to create meaningful unrest.
The era of Konoha's Third Hokage—
Had ended.
Uchiha Yoru bent down and picked up the Hokage hat from the ground.
He dusted off the dirt.
Removed the broken twigs and dead leaves clinging to it.
Then—
He handed it to Orochimaru.
"Congratulations."
Orochimaru naturally accepted it.
He smiled.
"Heh."
"What is there to congratulate me about?"
Yoru raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"You don't like being Hokage?"
"Yoru-kun, you know me."
"How could I possibly enjoy being Hokage?"
"It's exhausting."
"Hard."
"And endlessly troublesome."
"Other than those few years when I was a child, I've never seriously thought about becoming Hokage."
Orochimaru sighed.
He placed the Hokage hat on his head.
Then he looked gloomily toward Nawaki, who was happily chatting away with Tsunade.
"I'm only fulfilling my student's dream in his place."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, Uchiha Yoru couldn't help feeling emotional.
Orochimaru really was an excellent and responsible teacher.
Jiraiya was an excellent teacher too.
Unfortunately, he was far too irresponsible.
He would teach someone and then run off.
Afterward, he barely asked about them again.
If he had even half of Orochimaru's sense of responsibility—
Akatsuki would inevitably have become an important wing of Konoha.
Minato Namikaze would never have casually followed his wife into death.
And Uzumaki Naruto certainly would not have endured such a miserable childhood.
With that thought—
Uchiha Yoru made his final decision.
"Even though you don't like being Hokage…"
"As payment for clearing your path to the position, you'll still have to accept one disciple I recommend."
Orochimaru nodded.
"Uchiha Kagami's grandson, Uchiha Shisui, correct?"
"I agree."
Yoru smiled in satisfaction.
"He's a good kid."
"Just a little too naive."
"I'll leave him in your care."
Orochimaru smiled.
"I'll teach him properly."
"But I can't guarantee he'll definitely become the Fifth Hokage."
"I understand."
Yoru replied,
"I'm not insisting on that either."
"What I want is only hope."
"With hope serving as the carrot, disciplining the Uchiha clan becomes more than half as difficult."
"It'll be much easier than relying entirely on brute force to suppress them."
…
The moment Uchiha Yoru picked up the Hokage hat and handed it to Orochimaru—
And Orochimaru personally placed it on his head—
Those two actions immediately became the focus of the entire battlefield.
The symbolism was enormous.
Konoha's greatest military power—
Had handed Konoha's highest political authority—
To the village's wisest leader.
Perfect.
The Snake Unit shinobi in particular practically had light shining from their eyes.
As a force personally established by Orochimaru, they were naturally his absolute confidants.
At a single order from him, they had secretly returned from the Land of Hot Water to Konoha without hesitation.
Their relationship with Orochimaru was simple.
When he prospered, they prospered.
When he suffered, they suffered.
If Orochimaru failed to become the Fourth Hokage, then as his trusted subordinates, both their own futures and the Snake Unit's fate would become uncertain.
But if Orochimaru became the Fourth Hokage—
The Snake Unit would undoubtedly enter a period of explosive growth.
And they would gain tremendous benefits alongside it.
…
The Tiger Unit shinobi were equally delighted.
Uchiha Yoru had told them long ago that, because of everything that had happened previously, the Uchiha clan had no realistic chance of producing the Fourth Hokage.
Their targets were the Fifth and Sixth Hokage.
He would contribute to the struggle over the Fourth Hokage position—
In exchange for one Uchiha child becoming the Fourth Hokage's disciple.
Now—
The Fourth Hokage's hat had literally been handed over by an Uchiha shinobi.
There was no possibility that the new Hokage's disciples would exclude the Uchiha.
In truth, for the Uchiha clan, becoming Hokage had always been more of an obsession than anything else.
As long as hope existed—
That was enough for the deeply proud Uchiha.
…
Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama both breathed sighs of relief when they saw this.
Barring some unforeseen disaster—
Konoha's future should remain stable for at least twenty years.
"Brother."
"Do you think twenty years from now Orochimaru might become like his teacher?"
"A cowardly bastard obsessed with power?"
"Tobirama."
"Let the Konoha shinobi of twenty years from now solve the problems of twenty years from now."
"It's not like another monster like Uchiha Yoru is going to appear in Konoha twenty years from now, right?"
"That's difficult to say."
"Sigh…"
…
Jiraiya wore a solemn expression.
At the same time, endless disappointment filled him.
His position this time had become extraordinarily awkward.
He had obeyed his teacher's orders and the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, coming here to participate in an unbelievably difficult battle.
Yet the final outcome was—
The previous Hokage were revived.
They declared his teacher guilty.
Then the Second Hokage personally executed the Third Hokage.
Uchiha Yoru, the man Jiraiya had fought, became a hero of Konoha.
His classmate Orochimaru became the predetermined Fourth Hokage.
Tsunade received a precious moment of complete family reunion.
And what did Jiraiya receive?
Exhaustion.
Terrible information about his three disciples.
News of Konoha's crushing defeat in the Land of Rain.
And even doubt regarding the prophecy itself.
In the prophecy he had once believed in, everything he did was supposedly for the sake of the entire shinobi world.
Naturally, that should also have included achieving a better outcome for Konoha.
Guided by that prophecy, Jiraiya had always considered his own purpose consistent.
But now—
Something was wrong.
Reality proved that the person targeted by the Great Toad Sage's prophecy was currently trying to save Konoha.
Uchiha Yoru was stopping a Third Hokage who had already caused many tragedies from creating even more.
That left Jiraiya completely confused.
Was Uchiha Yoru doing good things now, only to somehow become evil in the future?
Or—
In the eyes of the Great Toad Sage, was the future Konoha itself destined to become a force that harmed the shinobi world?
Jiraiya fell into an extreme contradiction.
His mind became completely muddled.
…
For Tsunade—
She was pleased to see Uchiha Yoru and Orochimaru close to one another.
After seeing Dan Katō and Nawaki again—
After witnessing the death of her teacher—
And especially after knowing that the kunai responsible for his death had come from her—
Tsunade finally felt the knot in her heart dissolve.
Her resistance toward Konoha disappeared.
She wanted to go back and live there again.
The Hokage would be her classmate.
He had the support of the strongest combat force in the village.
Konoha's political structure would be extremely stable.
She wouldn't need to worry about anything.
Tsunade wasn't short of money.
She had no need to accept missions just to make a living.
In the future—
If she wanted to gamble, she could gamble.
If she wanted to drink, she could drink.
If she wanted to sleep in, she could sleep in.
Half the village consisted of property belonging to her family.
The entire medical system was filled with her students and their students.
Everyone in the village respected her when they saw her.
And if she became truly bored—
She could accept a mission for entertainment.
Or go to the hospital and torment the medical-nin for fun.
Now that—
Would be a comfortable life.
Dan Katō and Nawaki looked enviously toward Orochimaru.
They spoke at almost the same time.
"Orochimaru-senpai is becoming Hokage."
"Sensei is becoming Hokage."
"That's great."
Then—
The two looked at each other.
Suddenly, they smiled together.
The conflict between younger brother and future brother-in-law completely disappeared.
Seeing that—
Tsunade's heart softened.
Yet tears once again flowed uncontrollably down her face.
What a beautiful moment.
It was simply far too brief.
But no matter what—
The Third Hokage was gone.
Next would come the era of the Fourth Hokage—
Orochimaru.
The future—
Was full of hope.
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