"Old man! You really used this forbidden technique. Do you really want to kill me?"
Orochimaru was slightly losing his composure.
He was now hardly afraid of any ninjutsu. The only thing that could kill him was this very rare secret technique similar to the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
His teacher really wanted his life!
"You have defiled your soul, attacked Konoha, your sins cannot be forgiven."
"I shouldn't have let you escape from the village back then, which led to today's disaster."
"I can only do my best to atone for it. As long as I take you away, Konoha's crisis will resolve itself!"
Hiruzen initially did not intend to die with Orochimaru.
As he continued to fight, he found that Orochimaru far exceeded his expectations and even mastered forbidden techniques.
Keeping Orochimaru around would be too dangerous for Konoha, so he had no choice but to prepare to drag Orochimaru down with him to the grave.
Of course, the main reason was that Orochimaru had deliberately intimidated him.
During the battle, he repeatedly mentioned what kind of terrorist attacks he would launch against Konoha by joining forces with Sunagakure and Takigakure. Once Hiruzen failed to win quickly, Konoha would be destroyed.
Moreover, he was trapped by barriers. Only then did Hiruzen mistakenly believe that there was indeed a massive attack in Sunagakure, and Konoha faced a great danger of being destroyed!
The more he fought, the more anxious he became, and the more he fought, the more panicked he grew.
In the end, he realized that he truly could not defeat Orochimaru, so he chose to exchange his life for Orochimaru's.
If Hiruzen had known that the entire "Plan for the Collapse of Konoha" was solely focused on the enemy, how could he have been so eager to seek death?
With only a few hundred Ninja from Sunagakure and Takigakure, the surprise attack caught Konoha off guard.
It was truly waiting for Konoha to burn to the ground; this manpower was not enough to patch Konoha's teeth!
Even the total number of enemy forces across the venue was not enough for Guy to attack alone.
How could he destroy all of Konoha?
"Old man, you're so foolish! You can't even see such a large attack?"
Orochimaru laughed angrily, finally understanding why his teacher was so desperate.
Did he really make him afraid? Did he really think he could destroy Konoha?
"B-But you are not hesitant to bring the Jinchuriki from Sunagakure. Don't you want to destroy Konoha?"
Hiruzen calmed down a bit and vaguely felt that Orochimaru did not want to destroy Konoha, but he still had doubts about his methods.
"I want you to see that the mastery of Jinchuriki and the power of Bijuu in Sunagakure have surpassed Konoha! But even though you are old, you are still stuck in your own ways and unwilling to make progress."
"Even the next Hokage does not have an accurate successor. If you continue like this, sooner or later, Konoha will die at your hands!"
Now that he had said it, Orochimaru did not hold back.
This was one of his underlying goals in launching the "Plan for the Collapse of Konoha."
Otherwise, Hiruzen would not have been reminded at the beginning of the war that it was better to appoint the next Hokage's successor as early as possible.
Moreover, Orochimaru had already joined Akatsuki and defected from it.
After seeing the comprehensive strength and terrifying ambitions of Akatsuki, along with Pain's unfounded power, he became more aware of Konoha's current decay and weaknesses.
Konoha like this would sooner or later die at the hands of Akatsuki!
That's why he tried to rely on the "Plan for the Collapse of Konoha" to push Konoha's progress and spur reforms.
At least it would allow Konoha to stand firm in the next storm that hit the ninja world and not be completely destroyed by other forces.
As for defeating Hiruzen and proving himself laterally, that was merely a side goal.
❀❀❀
"Orochimaru, you're not here to destroy the village?"
"Sensei, if I really wanted to destroy Konoha, would I only bring this many people?"
Orochimaru grew increasingly silent.
Who would have thought that a joke would ultimately turn into a fatal situation? He truly wanted to destroy Konoha; although he did not have enough manpower, he still had some Impure World Reincarnation puppets!
He must have directly formed an entire army of Impure World Reincarnation to attack Konoha. Who would face Hiruzen alone in this intense one-on-one fight?
"You..."
Hiruzen was also very surprised, realizing that he had overestimated Orochimaru's ambitions.
Orochimaru did not take Konoha seriously at all. He only wanted to use Konoha as a threat to force him to take action with all his strength.
In the end, anyone who thought about it would force the Dead Demon Consuming Seal out.
If it weren't for Tobirama and the others stopping him, he might have taken Orochimaru with him and turned into a delicious cake for the God of Death.
"Enough!"
"You both are idiots!"
Tobirama, who was beside them, finally understood and shouted, cursing.
"We have to elevate personal conflicts to the level of the entire village."
As Tobirama spoke, he pulled out a water whip out of habit. It seemed the side effects of the last brutal beating against Danzo had not faded.
Hiruzen felt numb seeing it.
If Tobirama-sensei really wanted to slap him, as a student, he could only endure it. Moreover, he could not refuse at all!
"By the way, Orochimaru, why did you defect back then?"
Hashirama looked at Orochimaru innocently and asked.
Orochimaru sneered and glared at Hiruzen:
"Then you should ask Sarutobi-sensei. He didn't allow me to learn forbidden techniques, and he blocked all forbidden techniques in Konoha."
"I could only learn in secret, then he would find out and force me to betray the village."
Hiruzen's expression changed drastically, and he quickly explained:
"You clearly studied forbidden techniques in secret and even participated in live experiments!"
Orochimaru replied, "That's really funny. As if you and Danzo are any different. To reproduce the Wood Element, you also conducted experiments on humans personally, but ultimately failed. You hurriedly blocked the information and destroyed the records."
"Sensei, what qualifications do you have to oppose me? You are only allowed to study taboo things, but I am not allowed to touch taboo things?"
Hiruzen immediately denied: "No, I am not."
Tobirama glared at Hiruzen: "Saru, I never taught you to lie. If you do, just do it. As Hokage, do you have no responsibility at all?"
Hiruzen was stunned, lowering his head in shame, and shocked.
Why did Tobirama-sensei know about this? This should be confidential information.
Of course, Hiruzen did not know.
Tobirama from Parallel 2 had long been involved in Parallel World 4 and knew all the scandals that Hiruzen and Danzo had committed in their early days.
Seeing this, Hashirama poked Tobirama and sighed softly.
"Is this really caused by forbidden techniques and forbidden research? Tobirama, let me tell you. You shouldn't create so many forbidden techniques."
Tobirama shouted: "Brother, shut up!"
"Researching forbidden techniques is not the point. The point is how to use them?"
"Impure World Reincarnation is indeed dangerous, but I also use it to protect the village! How can ninjutsu develop if we keep getting stuck in our own deadlocks? How can the village progress?"
"Don't forget, other villages won't stay where they are now!"
Hashirama was shocked and shook his head helplessly.
He really could not argue with his younger brother unless he used his fists to make a difficult argument.
Moreover, Tobirama's theory about the progress of ninjutsu indeed had certain practical significance.
If you do not make progress yourself, you cannot stop your enemies from progressing either.
"Learn the rights and wrongs of forbidden techniques, and we will talk about it later."
"Saru, where is the next Hokage heir you chose? Let me meet him too."
Tobirama ignored the topic and spoke to Hiruzen.
At this age, there was no hope for Hiruzen like that. It would be better to meet the next generation of Hokage successors and train them first.
Hiruzen fell silent: "Tobirama-sensei, this..."
"Huh? You don't have an heir?"
"Ugh..."
"You are so ready to be Hokage until death that you can't even choose the next Hokage successor?"
Tobirama was very angry, feeling how could Hiruzen be so foolish?
The most important thing to avoid was ambiguity in the power transition.
Before dying, he deliberately appointed Hiruzen as the next Hokage publicly, just to avoid the turmoil of the Hokage transition.
As for Hiruzen, he was already very old, and it had been more than ten years since Minato died.
He hadn't decided on his replacement?
How greedy was he for power? Or did he really think he wouldn't die? Or was there really no one to choose from?
"There are so many ninjas in this village, and you can't even find a suitable successor?"
"I..."
Hiruzen opened his mouth.
Many candidates crossed his mind, but in the end, they were rejected one by one.
Danzo? Hiruzen was the first to exclude him. He was of the same age as him and had done so many dirty deeds. He was truly unfit for the grand image of Hokage.
Jiraiya? An irresponsible pervert who traveled all year round and refused to return even after trying many times. Moreover, his ability to handle governmental affairs was very poor, combined with his laziness, he was not suitable to be Hokage.
Tsunade? She was a gambler who had not shown up for more than ten years and still did not know where she was gambling. Although her status was suitable, Hiruzen was very afraid of jeopardizing the entire village, let alone he was still afraid of not being fit for the Hokage position due to still suffering from blood loss.
Kakashi? Not bad. Unfortunately, since Minato's death, he had become passive for years, his strength had not increased much, and his prestige and fame were not enough.
There was really no one left!
Seeing this, Orochimaru beside him also showed a slight smile.
He couldn't help but find it amusing how hesitant Hiruzen was in his old age when he had clearly been braver and more decisive than anyone when he was young.
"Sensei, I told you before. Your doubts will only harm the entire Village of Konoha!"
Tobirama turned to look at Orochimaru and suddenly got an idea.
"Orochimaru, right? Do you want to become Hokage?"
"Me?"
Orochimaru was surprised. He wanted to refuse freely, but unconsciously his heart moved a little.
At that time, he also made the position of Hokage his life goal.
"What? You don't want to? Don't you want to surpass your teacher?"
Tobirama's pressing question seemed to have found the right password, causing Orochimaru's heart to tremble.
"Of course. It's just that Sarutobi-sensei never took me seriously."
Tobirama nodded and glanced back and forth between Hiruzen and Orochimaru.
The final decision was made directly:
"Since you are thinking about it, that's for the best. I have decided. Orochimaru, you will inherit the position of the Fifth Hokage!"
Orochimaru: "o(ﾟДﾟ)っ?!!"