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Orochimaru—

Chapter 486 The Wrong Path

Orochimaru—

A man dressed in fiery red clothes, with long white hair and a greasy appearance, drew out his voice as he charged towards Orochimaru.

As his voice rang out, Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi simultaneously stopped what they were doing and looked at the man.

It has to be said that he holds a very high place in their hearts, and they are willing to stop what they are doing and wait for him to arrive.

"Psychic art!"

As Jiraiya ran, he bit his finger and pressed it down, and a giant toad landed next to Orochimaru's python, silently hissing at it.

Although it's not far from the town, this area is already woodland, so summoning large creatures won't affect the people of Konoha; at most, it will just startle them a little.

"This guy……"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, looking at the reckless Jiraiya, pressed his head in exasperation and waved to the ANBU ninja standing nearby, giving the order, "Evacuate the people, make sure everyone stays away from here."

"Yes!"

The ANBU ninjas responded and left, while gathering the rest of the group to surround the woods to prevent anyone from accidentally wandering in and causing injury or death.

"Really are……"

Tsunade, who arrived right after Jiraiya, couldn't help but rub her forehead when she saw that this guy had actually performed a summoning ritual right in Konoha.

While it's not entirely fair to only talk about Jiraiya, since Orochimaru also performed a summoning ritual and summoned a giant python, from a discernible point of view, Orochimaru didn't summon Manda; he simply summoned a regular python, which doesn't pose a significant problem.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, directly summoned Gamabunta, making it seem like a major battle was about to begin.

"Sister, you mustn't summon it."

Chiaki raised an eyebrow and reached out to stop Tsunade, who was also itching to join in. Tsunade chuckled and scratched her head before quickly scurrying to Hiruzen Sarutobi's side.

"Old man."

Tsunade greeted Hiruzen Sarutobi, who opened his eyes wide and looked at her, nodding with relief, "It's good that you're back."

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced behind Tsunade and asked, "Where's Chiaki? Has she returned too?"

"Third Hokage, I'm back."

Chiaki appeared behind Tsunade, holding the hand of the future, and bowed slightly to Hiruzen Sarutobi, his eyes flashing.

"Just come back."

When facing Chiaki, Hiruzen Sarutobi said the same thing, exactly the same thing he said to Tsunade.

Chiaki pursed her lips, looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in his tight-fitting clothes, and tentatively asked, "Third Hokage, is there still room for maneuver regarding Orochimaru's matter?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Chiaki with his aged gaze, and after staring at her for several seconds, he slowly looked away. He then looked up at Orochimaru, who was standing high on the head of the giant python, and said helplessly, "Yes, but it's unnecessary."

Orochimaru chose to leave on his own; he was moving forward for his dreams and goals, and no one could change that.

If there is any chance of reconciliation, then either of them must yield and choose to abandon their own option.

But will Hiruzen Sarutobi give up?

He has Konoha behind him; he will not give up.

Will Orochimaru give up?

His sacred expression said it all; he wouldn't give up.

Since neither side is willing to give up, what's the point of maneuvering? What's the point of trying to change things?

"……Um."

Clearly, Chiaki understood this as well, but she still wanted to try, "Perhaps... it could be done secretly...?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at her with a sigh, and said helplessly, "Chiaki, you should still remember how you managed to stay in Konoha..."

"The second-generation teacher ultimately destroyed everything. The basement of the Senju mansion was completely sealed off, leaving no trace except for you."

"do you understand?"

clear.

It cannot be, it is not allowed.

This is the principle of Konoha, and also the principle of the ninja world.

Chiaki silently raised his head and looked at the two people facing off on the high place, just like Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Future gently touched Qianqiu's hand. She knew how many regrets the girl beside her had, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Tsunade sighed, stepped forward, and began to examine Hiruzen Sarutobi's body. The four of them silently looked up at him. This stage now belonged to Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

The giant python opened its mouth wide and silently hissed at the toad Wentai, flicking its tongue and constantly threatening him.

Meanwhile, Toad Wentai simply puffed on his pipe, looking at the giant python with disdain.

Only the weak utter such a roar.

Only the weaker party would resort to such intimidation to scare the other party away.

Even from a biological perspective, snakes are the natural enemies of toads, but the huge difference in strength has changed everything.

"why?"

Jiraiya stood atop Gamabunta's head, looking at Orochimaru with a pained expression, "Tell me, you didn't conduct human experiments."

"laugh."

Orochimaru scoffed, looking at Jiraiya with an expression as if he were an idiot.

Jiraiya knew exactly what this meant, but he still couldn't believe it.

"Isn't there any other way, Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya tried to communicate with Orochimaru, but Orochimaru shook his head.

"Jiraiya, for an idiot like you, there are indeed many ways to move forward."

Even if we reach the end of the road, we will not give up and will rely on brute force to smash our heads until we are bloodied.

"But I can't do that."

Orochimaru squinted at Jiraiya, "Why do you have to bang your head against a wall that you can go around? Why do you have to bleed before you learn to back down?"

"I can jump over walls and get stronger in other ways, so why wouldn't I do it?"

Jiraiya clenched his fist and growled, "But this method is wrong!"

"Don't you think it's too cruel to use other people's lives to prove your own path?"

"cruel?"

Orochimaru tilted his head in confusion. "For your so-called lack of cruelty, the ninja world ultimately had to spend many years and smash through the heads of countless geniuses to open up a new path. Isn't that cruel?"

"I can help countless people in my own way. Isn't that more sacred than what you do?"

Jiraiya fell silent. He and Orochimaru were both at the Kage level, so they naturally knew how difficult the road ahead would be.

Orochimaru simply used a different method to move forward, so what did he do wrong?

The problem isn't Orochimaru, but rather the world that can't accept his methods.

"It seems you have nothing more to say, Jiraiya."

Orochimaru shook his head regretfully. Jiraiya, having recovered from his shock, stubbornly said, "Even so, I still think you shouldn't have done that!"

"This is wrong!"

"Everyone's path is wrong; only the one who ultimately succeeds is right. Jiraiya."

Orochimaru smiled and said, "That's enough for now, goodbye."

Chapter 487 Hokage Election

Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, who made great contributions in the Fourth Shinobi World War, was actually conducting human experiments!

When the news was officially released and Konoha announced that Orochimaru had become an S-rank rogue ninja, the entire ninja world was shaken.

The fact that the other major powers were overjoyed meant that the weakening of Konoha's strength meant an increase in their own countries' strength.

Some people originally wanted to recruit Orochimaru, but they eventually gave up.

There's no way around it; human experimentation is just too notorious.

Whoever recruits Orochimaru will have to bear the stigma of human experimentation and face public anger.

This is a difficult thing to explain.

There is an old saying that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. The people are the foundation of a nation, and this is true even in this world made up of ninjas.

Aren't ninjas originally ordinary people?

all the same.

Danzo was naturally pleased with Orochimaru's defection.

For him, this means one less enemy. Although it may have some impact on Konoha in the short term, it's not a big problem.

The Ninja World War has just ended, and all countries are severely weakened, so no major war is expected in the short term.

If we seize this time and focus on development, we can completely erase the impact of Orochimaru's departure.

Danzo felt even more confident about becoming Hokage.

However, Danzo's confidence quickly swelled.

With Orochimaru's departure, the Legendary Sannin of Konoha began to fall apart.

Just a few days ago, an argument broke out in the Hokage's office, and Hiruzen Sarutobi even slammed a table down.

The reason was that Jiraiya was not very satisfied with the current situation, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was already in a bad mood because of Orochimaru's matter, so the two sides clashed.

This conflict led Jiraiya to declare that he would leave the village to confront Orochimaru and clarify things.

Even if his path wasn't necessarily the right one, Jiraiya believed that the path he took was the normal one, the one that ninjas should take, not the one Orochimaru took.