After hearing Uchiha Feiyu out, Orochimaru's eyes flickered. For a rare moment, even he felt a chill crawl up his spine.
He thought it over carefully, and the more he did, the more it sounded like something that old bastard Danzo would do without blinking.
Kill the parents of a "promising seed," turn the child into an orphan, then guide their hatred while they're still hollow and easy to shape… once that whole process runs its course, nine out of ten rookie shinobi would end up brainwashed to the bone.
"So, Feiyu-kun… Danzo approached you before?" Orochimaru asked softly.
"No." Feiyu shook his head. "From the memories I dug up, Danzo probably decided my potential was too low and gave up halfway."
"Too low…?" Orochimaru repeated, brows lifting.
Feiyu's mouth curved. "Because after my parents died, my Sharingan was still only one tomoe. It didn't evolve. In Lord Danzo's eyes, that's 'low potential,' isn't it?"
Orochimaru's lips twitched.
Low potential?
No… that wasn't it.
If anything, it was because Feiyu was cold to the core. The kind of person who didn't care enough for grief to bite into him.
Of course, Orochimaru had no intention of saying that out loud. His "disciple" had been improving far too fast—just this grotesque level of genjutsu alone made Orochimaru suspect he'd lose in a straight contest. He wasn't in the mood to ask for a beating.
What a pity… he mused. His growth is too rapid. By the time I would've seriously considered him as a vessel… I'm already no longer his match.
And even if Feiyu were weaker than him, Orochimaru doubted he would ever truly choose Feiyu as a container.
A boy like this—who treated other lives with such effortless indifference—was more dangerous than any technique. One wrong step and you wouldn't just lose your body… you'd get played like a fool first.
Orochimaru casually picked up a file. The records inside were exactly what you'd expect from Root: pages and pages of filth.
Child abductions—targeting talented kids with no backing. Before taking the child, they'd arrange for the parents to "die" first.
Secretly prying at clan techniques. Kidnap a shinobi mid-mission, then use Yamanaka methods to rummage through their mind and strip out their jutsu.
And then there were the records about the White Fang.
Not just rumors or "public sentiment," but details: Root genjutsu users fanning the flames, and a neat little plan for coaxing Sakumo's teammate into turning around and biting him on the neck.
If Sakumo's soul hadn't been residing inside the White Fang short sword in Kakashi's hands, reading this would've probably driven him into self-loathing and fury all over again.
Feiyu flipped through the documents with a faint smile, as if he were reading a comedy.
Then his hand tightened.
Crack.
Danzo's neck twisted the wrong way and stayed there.
Danzo, still trapped in Feiyu's illusion, didn't even get to struggle properly. Only at the edge of death—when his brain screamed and his instincts tore free—did his eyes finally clear.
But by then his body was already useless. He could only glare at Feiyu with that dead, unblinking hatred—until the last breath left him.
Feiyu didn't hesitate. He harvested Danzo's soul cleanly, then burned the corpse to ash with a single blaze.
"You said you wanted two things, didn't you?" Feiyu murmured.
"Destroy the Uchiha… and become Hokage."
Danzo wasn't covered in spare eyes yet. No extra lives. No cheap tricks. Once he was dead, it was over.
Orochimaru glanced at the ash and gave an indifferent shrug. "He was useful… but if he has a grudge against you, it's better to kill him early."
Then Feiyu turned his gaze toward the rest.
"Next are Root's shinobi," he said. "Killing them outright would be a waste."
His smile widened slightly.
"Let them help Lord Danzo fulfill his wishes."
Root's numbers weren't that large—two, maybe three hundred at most, and half weren't even at headquarters. Feiyu only needed to summon small groups in, ten… twenty times, and he could take them apart and put them back together at will.
Danzo's brainwashing education had created perfect tools.
All Feiyu had to do was use Five-Senses Control and make them recognize him as Danzo.
After that, even the most absurd order would be carried out with complete devotion.
Feiyu gathered every file Root possessed into a pile, leafing through them one by one, and asked casually:
"Teacher… if I spread all of this across the village, what do you think would happen?"
Orochimaru's grin turned ugly. "Konoha would shake."
Then, with a faint hiss of amusement: "But the old man throws his pot so cleanly… none of this sticks to him."
Feiyu nodded, unhurried.
"Sure. It won't 'stick' to him. But tell me—after so many horrifying things happened inside Konoha, do you really think the Hokage knew nothing?"
His gaze was calm—too calm.
"If he knew and didn't deal with it, then he's rotten to the bone."
"And if he didn't know…" Feiyu chuckled. "Then he's a fool."
"If the files spread, in everyone's eyes… will the Third Hokage look evil… or stupid?"
Orochimaru's smile stretched in open schadenfreude.
Either label was poison.
Once it was stamped onto Sarutobi Hiruzen, the "unshakeable" authority he'd held for decades would crack like old stone.
Night fell quietly.
Over a hundred Root shinobi gathered at the outer edge of the Uchiha district, shadows among shadows.
Time crawled. When the moon finally rose—
A deafening explosion erupted from the direction of the Hokage Tower.
The sound shook the entire village awake.
"What was that?!"
"The Hokage building—something happened there!"
"An assassination—someone's trying to kill the Hokage-sama! Hurry, support!"
Shinobi spilled out of every rooftop like fleas.
Even the Uchiha district erupted into chaos—and in that chaos, the Root squad slipped in like a knife between ribs.
They didn't announce themselves. They didn't hesitate.
They saw Uchiha and attacked.
"What—?! Urgh—!"
"Careful—why are ANBU attacking us?!"
"Bastards, they're not ANBU—those are Root masks! What are they trying to do? Is Konoha trying to wipe out the Uchiha clan?!"
"Enough talk! They're heading for the family zone—kill them!"
Root shinobi never liked words. On mission, they were silent machines—heads down, killing.
At first the Uchiha held back, thrown off by the ANBU-style gear. But as more bodies hit the ground, restraint snapped.
And the moment they realized Root was pushing toward the civilians…
The Uchiha went mad.
One after another, they burst out terrifying power.
Root called themselves "elite," but truthfully they were elite chūnin at best. Danzo's training made their floor high—but their ceiling low.
Once the Uchiha fought without shackles, Root immediately fell into the mud.
Numbers. Quality. High-end combatants.
They simply couldn't match a clan like the Uchiha head-on.
Root's only advantage was that they didn't fear death—and they didn't care about collateral. High-power ninjutsu detonated without restraint, even with Uchiha civilians caught nearby.
Half an hour later, when the last Root mask finally fell—
Half the Uchiha district had been smashed into rubble.
But that wasn't what made the Uchiha furious.
What truly ignited their rage was what they found afterward—
The bodies of the dead Uchiha were gone.
Not a trace.
On the other side of the village, Feiyu moved like a ghost through the shadows, using Five-Senses Control as cover while he "cleaned up."
Seventy-plus Uchiha corpses went into his possession in one sweep.
Meanwhile, at the Hokage Tower—
Orochimaru stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose face had gone dark as ink, and smiled like a madman.
"Teacher," he said lightly, "what are you waiting for? Your guards? ANBU?"
"This time Root brought over fifty shinobi. For at least ten minutes, no one is coming."
Compared to slaughtering the Uchiha, Orochimaru was more interested in his old teacher. So when Root split into two forces, he chose the Hokage building.
"Orochimaru!" the Third Hokage roared, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "Why would you do this?!"
The blackness on his face wasn't anger—it was venom.
Orochimaru's Silver-Scaled Viper had bitten him in a sneak strike.
Because the news of human experimentation hadn't spread yet, Hiruzen hadn't come prepared. He'd thought Orochimaru came to report something. Instead, Orochimaru struck without warning.
Fortunately, after Orochimaru had developed the Silver-Scaled Vipers, Konoha's medical department created anti-venom serum to prevent accidental fatalities. And at that time, Orochimaru had never imagined he'd defect—so he hadn't bothered to "keep a hand behind his back."
Otherwise, with that toxin, Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't be fighting at all.
He'd be lying down waiting to die.
Even with serum, the poison was monstrous. It tore away nearly half of the Third Hokage's chakra and dragged his physical function into the mud. Worse—he was old. Some of that loss might never recover.
Facing his former student, Hiruzen truly felt the weight of years.
Orochimaru's laughter was low, sharp. "Heh… Teacher. Do you really not know why I'm attacking you today?"
"Or are you pretending?"
He raised his hand.
Nine Silver-Scaled Vipers twisted together, merging into a crooked, living silver snake sword that pointed straight at the Third Hokage.
"Need a reminder?"
"Uchiha."
"Hashirama cells."
"Human experimentation."
Hiruzen's heart sank, but his face stayed steady.
"Orochimaru… what are you talking about? Have you conducted human experimentation?"
Orochimaru's grin turned feral.
"As expected of Konoha's most righteous Hokage—can't touch a speck of darkness."
"But do you take me for an idiot?"
"As Hokage, if you truly knew nothing about what Danzo and I were doing…" he spat the words, "then the only thing I can say is—old man, you're a useless fool."
Hiruzen clenched his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
He couldn't even rebut it cleanly.
"…Nonsense!" he barked at last. "Orochimaru, it seems I can only restrain you and make you calm down!"
By now, some of the toxin had faded. Hiruzen slammed his hands together in seals.
Bang!
A massive monkey appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Enma," Hiruzen snapped, voice like iron. "Transform. Adamantine Staff. We fight."
"That's more like it, old man." Orochimaru's voice dripped with delight. "Talk later. Let the one still standing speak."
In the next breath—
Master and student charged.
…
Carrying a huge scroll, Feiyu arrived quietly near the Hokage building.
Root's forces were already suffering heavy casualties. Konoha's ANBU finally broke through Root's blockade and flooded into the tower grounds.
Feiyu, relying on genjutsu and his own presence-smearing methods, slipped in with them.
The Hokage building had already been blasted into a flattened ruin.
Sarutobi Hiruzen gripped the Adamantine Staff, his body covered in wounds, swaying on his feet.
Orochimaru looked worse.
His legs had been smashed into bloody pulp—and several peeled "skins" lay discarded on the ground where he'd shed his body again and again.
"Orochimaru…" Hiruzen forced his breathing steady, staring at the disciple he'd once cherished. His voice was hoarse. "Do you have anything else to say?"
Orochimaru chuckled, the sound broken and wet. "Heh… heh heh…"
"Sarutobi-sensei… you really are you."
"Even with a successful ambush at the start… I still can't beat you."
He lifted his gaze, eyes glittering with malice.
"But that's fine."
"At least now…" he whispered, "you'll have enough time to regret it."
Hiruzen drew a long breath.
He did regret it—more than Orochimaru could know.
He never expected his plan regarding Orochimaru would leak. Never expected Orochimaru would retaliate with something this violent.
Today alone, Konoha had bled heavily. And worse—other villages would see the cracks.
The war wasn't over.
Hiruzen already knew what came next: a renewed storm of attacks.
"…I do regret it," he admitted at last, eyes hardening. "I regret not dealing with your problem sooner."
"And now… I'll correct my mistake."
He raised a hand toward the ANBU rushing over.
"Seize Orochimaru," the Third Hokage ordered, voice cold. "Imprison him."
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