I am the new Hokage of Konoha.

"Ah~~"

In the blink of an eye, all the members of the Dark Guard present collapsed, blood gushing from both ears.

The ape demon fared slightly better, but could only barely hold on.

The only one who can still contribute to the fight is Hiruzen Sarutobi.

At that moment, Orochimaru moved swiftly, flashing past the latter and fleeing towards the outside of the base.

"Kill him, Sarutobi! This is your only chance!" At that moment, Enma shouted at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood still, only glancing out of the corner of his eye at Orochimaru, who had already arrived at the door.

In an instant, a series of faces from the other person's childhood, adolescence, youth, and other memories surfaced in his mind.

Rationally, he knew exactly what to do.

But the reality is that he can't bring himself to harm this disciple whom he watched grow up and taught everything to.

At this moment, Orochimaru also paused slightly at the door, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who remained motionless, a hint of emotion flashing in his eyes.

"So, teacher, you still can't bring yourself to do it!"

Withdrawing his gaze, Orochimaru ran away without looking back.

Having witnessed all of this, Enma looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in disbelief and said, "Sarutobi, you...!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his head and remained silent for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

After that, the area fell into a deep silence.

In the corner, a small blue and white slug, after witnessing all of this, retreated back into the shadows.

"What a touching scene of master-disciple affection!"

Not far from Orochimaru's base, standing on a tree branch, and with the help of a slug on his shoulder sharing vision, Yun Ting, who had witnessed everything firsthand, sighed.

As expected, things turned out exactly as he had predicted.

Hiruzen Sarutobi ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it.

If it were the original story, he would have let Orochimaru go because of his own selfish reasons, even though he was the highest leader of Konoha, and he was still able to suppress the impact to the minimum.

But now, I am still the fourth generation.

Such behavior is tantamount to deliberately handing over a fatal weakness.

Anyone with even a modicum of political acumen would never let this opportunity slip by, to strike while the enemy is weakened and kill him.

Moreover, the entire plan originated from his own Yunting.

This is also why he entrusted the Orochimaru matter to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Clearly, the latter did not disappoint him.

Moreover, Yun Ting planned to personally arrest Orochimaru as the final step of the plan.

In such a comparison, Hiruzen Sarutobi, as the third generation, would have no chance of turning the tide.

This is why Yun Ting is waiting here.

"Tokuma, have you tracked down Orochimaru himself?"

Yun Ting only brought Hyuga Tokuma with him on this mission, precisely because the latter's Byakugan was needed to locate Orochimaru.

"Lord Hokage, we've found Orochimaru!" Hyuga Tokuma said quickly, opening his Byakugan.

Yun Ting smiled slightly: "Then, let's officially begin the snake-catching operation!"

Chapter Twenty-Six: Catching the Snake

Lush trees flashed past me.

Although Orochimaru had broken free from the Third Hokage at this time, he still felt a sense of crisis after experiencing countless battles.

The source of this sense of crisis was none other than the Fourth Hokage, Senju Kumo-tei, who surprised him greatly.

In fact, at first, he hadn't thought about defecting from Konoha so soon, since his experiments had only just begun.

At first, they only captured ordinary people, not the more conspicuous ninjas.

In his understanding, Konoha's investigation efficiency wouldn't be that fast, especially considering Danzo's Root organization's cover-up.

But things happened so quickly, as if a dark hand had been lying in wait for its prey to appear.

There was no other way, so he went along with it.

For him, who has already been exposed, leaving early or late is naturally better.

Having been familiar with everything in Konoha, he was well-prepared and confident that he could escape successfully.

That's exactly how it went.

The only somewhat unexpected thing was that it wasn't Senju Unting who came to arrest him, but his own teacher.

But upon reflection, he realized that this was nothing more than a laughable outcome of a political struggle.

"What a pointless struggle! There are many intelligent people in the world, but they always waste their time on this endless struggle for power and profit. Yet they never think that compared to eternity, these things are nothing."

Orochimaru gave a cold laugh and continued to accelerate forward.

Not long after, he sensed that pursuers were closing in from behind by the snakes he had left behind, including the Thousand-Handed Cloud Court he had been pondering.

"So that's why you weren't here before. You were waiting for me here. You have quite the appetite, aren't you afraid of bursting at the seams?"

Despite saying that, Orochimaru not only did not stop, but instead increased his speed.

Although he was not afraid of Senju Undeni at all, this place was still too close to Konoha. If he wasted too much time, he would be easily caught up by the pursuers.

He was never a reckless person.

A kilometer away, Hyuga Tokuma, who was following closely, suddenly said anxiously, "Hokage-sama, Orochimaru has suddenly accelerated!"

Yun Ting frowned slightly.

He's alright, but for Hyuga Tokuma, this is already his limit; if he continues, he'll only fall further and further behind.

Fortunately, a kilometer isn't a long distance.

So he patted Hyuga Tokuma on the shoulder and said, "You've done a good job. Leave the rest to me. Tokuma, you're in charge of going back to fetch reinforcements."

Having said that, Yun Ting suddenly increased his speed, chasing after Orochimaru at almost twice the speed before.

"So fast! As expected of the Hokage." Hyuga Tokuma, who had stopped, exclaimed in shock as he looked at Yun Ting's retreating figure.

Then, a hint of worry appeared on his face.

After all, the enemy ahead was one of the legendary Sannin, renowned throughout the ninja world.

He dared not delay any longer and quickly turned around to fetch reinforcements as Yun Ting had instructed.

......

In front.

Orochimaru frowned slightly as he watched the figure approaching from behind.

"He is the Hokage after all; I underestimated him somewhat."

He had some understanding of Senju Unting's strength from the previous three battles, but he hadn't expected him to have made such a significant improvement after some time.

But that alone is far from enough to stop him.

Orochimaru looked around and realized that he couldn't get rid of them anytime soon.

Since that's the case, he decided to stop for now and quickly resolve the problem of Thousand Hands Cloud Court.

If given the opportunity, he wouldn't mind killing a Hokage and gaining a Senju body.

It should be noted that the latter is extremely rare in this day and age, and can be said to be extremely precious.

Behind them, seeing Orochimaru gradually slow down, Yun Ting, understanding the other party's intentions, also made preparations.

A shady open space.

Orochimaru, still wearing his Konoha Jonin uniform, stood there quietly, waiting.

Soon, a gust of wind swept by, and Yun Ting, dressed in the Hokage's robes, appeared before him.

"Yo~~ Isn't this our beloved Fourth Hokage?" Orochimaru spoke first, teasing in his uniquely hoarse voice.

Yun Ting smiled faintly: "It's only been a short time since we last met, and Mr. Orochimaru has actually become a rogue ninja of Konoha. How unpredictable things are."

Orochimaru also laughed and said, "We also have to thank the Fourth Hokage for his contributions."

"If you were truly innocent, you wouldn't have ended up in this situation today." Yun Ting's smile faded, and he said coldly, "I am not the Third Hokage, and I will not allow someone as great a threat to Konoha as you to leave. Konoha gave birth to you, raised you, and all the knowledge, skills, ninjutsu, and even your corpse that you possess are Konoha's wealth. You must not be allowed to take them away."

"So, Orochimaru, do you choose to surrender, or do I have to do it myself? If it's the latter, I wouldn't mind bringing back a corpse."

The atmosphere became exceptionally tense at that moment.

Faced with Yun Ting's ultimatum, Orochimaru was taken aback at first, then let out a rather low, sinister laugh:

"These younger generations really have no respect for their seniors. The Fourth Hokage? What an incredibly prestigious name. Most ninjas would probably feel powerless to resist him."

"But that's someone else, not me! Although I don't particularly like the title of the Three Legendary Sannin that Hanzo gave us, Your Excellency Fourth Hokage, do you really know who is standing in front of you?"

"Ridiculous politics has given you the title of Hokage, but it does not represent the reality of Hokage."

"Today I wouldn't mind killing a Kage and becoming the shortest-lived Hokage in history."

By the end, Orochimaru's golden snake eyes were filled with icy killing intent.

Having participated in World War II and World War III and experienced countless opponents, the new Hokage before him was still too inexperienced.

Since the other party is willing to seek death, he is willing to grant their wish, just as he has done so over the past thirty years, when countless people have fallen beneath him.

Orochimaru.

In response, Yun Ting remained calm, but his words conveyed an exceptionally firm resolve.

"Next, I will make you understand the meaning of the word 'Hokage' in a new way."

"Very soon."