The chat group admin really knows when to take action.

Naïve ideas will eventually disappear as one matures.

"Fourth Hokage, if you don't know how to deal with the Root ninjas, let me handle it! I've been in Root for a very long time, and I know the right thing to do here."

Orochimaru spoke slowly, clearly trying to curry favor with the Fourth Hokage.

Minato Namikaze still didn't quite trust Orochimaru.

Jiang Nan gave a thumbs up.

"No problem, Fourth Hokage. After my intervention... after my gentle persuasion, Orochimaru has deeply realized how wrong his original path was, and now he wants to be a good person."

Although they didn't understand what had happened, Jiang Nan had said so, and the Fourth Hokage had agreed.

But he still asked.

What are you planning to do?

The question was naturally directed at Orochimaru.

"It's very simple, the seal of eradicating the root of tongue-related calamities."

The seal of eradicating the root of tongue disaster

A sealing technique used exclusively by Konoha's Anbu "Root". Danzo placed a cursed seal on the tongue of a Root member. If the person affected by the seal said anything about him, they would be paralyzed, unable to speak or move.

Danzo used this to restrain his subordinates, preventing them from revealing secrets about him.

Namikaze Minato nodded.

Orochimaru, as the second-in-command of Root, is skilled in many things, including the Tongue Trap Seal.

As a meticulous scientist, Orochimaru has a very deep understanding of various ninjutsu.

Orochimaru had naturally studied the Tongue Curse Seal, a sealing technique used to control others.

In order to develop a cursed seal that could revive him, he researched many types of ninjutsu.

Soon, under Minato Namikaze's watchful eye, Orochimaru completed the seal to sever the root of the tongue's calamity.

All the Root ninjas who witnessed this battle were controlled.

"Fourth Hokage, what do you plan to do next? If Danzo suddenly dies, my teacher will be angry. As the Hokage, he might put pressure on you. Don't forget that most of the power in the Anbu is now in my teacher's hands."

Jiang Nan thought about it for a moment; it was truly troublesome politics.

"or……."

Jiang Nan scratched his neck.

This gesture means very simply: take them down.

Orochimaru's pupils contracted; he was still a disciple who respected his teacher.

"Teacher does crave power, but I don't think it's gotten to that point yet. There's also the matter of dealing with Root. Even if you, Fourth Hokage, take over all of Root, Teacher, who craves power, will definitely stop you, or he'll have the Root ninjas join the Anbu and be controlled by him."

Orochimaru, as one of the Legendary Sannin, was naturally a high-ranking member of Konoha.

He's quite good at politics, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to establish his own Otogakure (Sound Village) when he defected.

"Since you put it that way, what are your thoughts, Orochimaru?"

Minato Namikaze doesn't discriminate between being stupid and being foolish.

He could clearly sense that Orochimaru had his own ideas.

Orochimaru smiled slightly, revealing a wicked expression.

"It's so easy to talk to smart people. The two of us can cooperate. You can help me take control of Root and make me like Danzo in the past, while I will become the sharpest knife in your darkness, just like Danzo and the Third Hokage in the past."

Orochimaru had no vision of the future, which is why he came up with the best way to deal with Root.

In any powerful village, there will always be some who do dark things.

Moreover, his research must continue, and the roots can support his research.

This is a win-win solution.

Orochimaru believed that Minato Namikaze would agree.

But Minato Namikaze shook his head; he had seen the future.

Many strong individuals will emerge in the future.

The roots are no longer of much significance.

Even with the group leader's assurances, Minato Namikaze was still somewhat uneasy about Orochimaru. After all, he knew Orochimaru's situation very well, and Minato really couldn't bring himself to delegate such authority.

Jiang Nan was currently strolling around the roots; politics was the most troublesome thing, and he didn't care about it at all!

Let Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru discuss it amongst themselves.

Orochimaru thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Then what do you plan to do? We can't ignore the roots, otherwise my power-hungry teacher will definitely take over the roots, and we must react quickly. I suspect that my teacher may have already noticed something is wrong."

Danzo was a good friend of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

One light and one dark.

The Fourth Hokage is still alive.

The pathetic things the Third Hokage did haven't happened yet.

The Third Hokage was indeed an outstanding Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi will inevitably discover Danzo's death; it's only a matter of time.

Orochimaru's current identity is actually quite sensitive.

He was the Third Hokage's disciple, the most outstanding one. The Third Hokage invested so much effort and had so many expectations in him.

He even entrusted him to his best friend, Danzo.

When Orochimaru defected, the Third Hokage was able to capture him, but he let him go because he was soft-hearted.

You have to understand that at that time, Danzo blamed all the bad things he had done on Orochimaru.

Those bad deeds alone were enough for Orochimaru to execute him 100 times over.

It is precisely for this reason that if Orochimaru were to become the leader of Root, the Third Hokage would not only not oppose him, but would actually support him.

Because this was his disciple, and being power-hungry, he would naturally assume that Orochimaru would be on his side.

Danzo was a close friend of his, and someone he trusted.

Orochimaru was his most outstanding disciple, and he trusted him completely.

This is politics.

Mutual competition.

Minato Namikaze thought about it a lot.

He now has the Uchiha clan at his disposal.

Having taken control of Root, the power-hungry Third Hokage was bound to do something, perhaps even joining forces with the Konoha leadership to put pressure on him, considering that the Konoha leadership were all friends of Hiruzen Sarutobi from the same period.

If they put pressure on each other, even the Fourth Hokage wouldn't be able to ignore their opinions.

Minato Namikaze quickly made a decision.

"Orochimaru, Danzo's affair must be covered up. I will help you become the new leader of Root, but you can't do those things anymore. Let those things be buried with Danzo's death! Human experiments, Hashirama cells, Sharingan research, you should understand what I mean, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru nodded. He saw a new path. Now he realized how foolish it was to study Hashirama's cells and recreate the glory of the God of Shinobi!

They don't know how to look forward, how to envision the future, or how to explore the unknown.

It's foolish to lock yourself in the glory of the past and only study things that existed in the past.

Even without seeing the future, Orochimaru could foresee that there must exist a power in this world stronger than the God of Shinobi.

That was the unknown, that was a fascinating mystery.

Chapter 50, The Game Begins

Danzo is dead.

Somehow, this matter reached the ears of the retired Third Hokage.

In the 48th year of Konoha, the Third Hokage was already over fifty years old.

They survived World War I, World War II, and World War III.

Fifty years old is considered quite old in the ninja world.

The Third Hokage was deeply saddened upon learning of the death of his old friend Danzo.

Danzo was also his childhood friend. They were both students of the Second Hokage and had cooperated with each other in various battles. Even after he became Hokage, he was willing to set up a special branch of the Anbu and let Danzo control it. He didn't even ask Danzo what he was doing.

Moreover, he would turn a blind eye to the shady things he did.

But this very close friend died.

However, more than the death of his friend, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was worried about who would take control of Root.

Once you've tasted the power, it's incredibly difficult to let go.

The retirement of the third generation is also due to the emergence of more outstanding individuals among the younger generation.

The White Fang of Konoha, the Golden Flash, the Legendary Sannin...

The most popular Minato Namikaze is still his own grand-disciple.

He is old.

Konoha needs an infusion of fresh blood and renewal to ensure its prosperity.

It turns out that Hiruzen Sarutobi is indeed getting old.

After the Fourth Hokage died, he became Hokage again, and afterwards he did one incompetent thing after another.

The Hidden Cloud Village kidnapped the princess of the Hyuga clan, but ended up sending the clan leader's younger brother to his death.

He relentlessly suppressed the Uchiha clan, forcing them to rebel, which resulted in the extermination of the entire clan and the creation of Sasuke, the Avenger.

It's important to know that Konoha Village was originally founded jointly by the Uchiha and Senju clans.