HTP: Ch. 39

Once again being scolded harshly by the Five Elders, Sengoku's face turned dark with rage. He really wanted to shout at Kizaru, who was lazily sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, calmly filing his nails.

But before Sengoku could say a word, Kizaru, without even lifting his head, grumbled in his usual lazy tone. "The newspaper is probably going to be published tomorrow, right?"

He kept filing his nails at his own pace. "How scary. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I won't be an Admiral anymore."

In an instant, the words Sengoku wanted to yell were stuck in his throat, his face flushing red.

"Hahaha! I didn't expect you to be so bold!" Garp said, happily munching on rice crackers. Even he hadn't expected Kizaru to have such guts.

Akainu scowled, "You've brought disgrace to the entire Marine!"

Kizaru finally finished with his nails, blew on his fingertips, and said helplessly, "So scary. I recommended you for the mission that day, you know? But Sengoku didn't agree. I even had a cold that day."

Akainu was speechless. It's not like I could've caught up anyway...

Sengoku slammed the desk hard and shouted, "Enough! Right now, we need to find a solution!"

He turned to the corner of the room, where Aokiji was leaning back on the sofa, sitting properly with his hands folded over his stomach.

Aokiji hadn't said a word all this time. Sengoku called out to him, "What's your opinion?"

"Zzzzzzz." He was asleep. Because he was wearing sunglasses and sitting very properly, no one had noticed.

Sengoku's forehead was bulging with veins. "WAKE UP!"

"Huh? I agree." Aokiji woke up suddenly.

Seeing that Sengoku was about to explode, Vice Admiral Tsuru interrupted the farce. "That's enough. An Admiral attacking a Celestial Dragon is unacceptable."

Sengoku frowned, "What do you mean?"

"That's why, he didn't attack a Celestial Dragon."

The office fell silent.

After a few seconds, Kizaru's lazy voice rang out, "Would the Five Elders even accept something like that?"

Tsuru calmly said, "Let Sengoku handle it. Either way, losing an Admiral over something like this would be absurd."

Sengoku thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I'll call the Five Elders now. We can't afford any mistakes with the war at Marineford approaching."

---

Hiruzen summoned Asuma. He stared at his second son with a complicated expression.

Asuma looked a little awkward and averted his eyes.

"So… you lost again." Hiruzen sighed. "You had intel on Deidara and Sasori. If Jiraiya hadn't arrived in time, there could've been another incident."

Asuma offered a weak excuse, "Wasn't in good form that day."

Hiruzen was speechless. Typical Asuma, just not reliable. Unless he was being rebellious or in love, he barely fought properly.

"Why don't you go spend some more time with Kurenai lately?"

On the escort mission, Asuma's team was indeed ambushed by Akatsuki. To be fair, it wasn't really his fault. Who would've expected that several of the jonin for the escort were Sasori's undercover agents? During the fierce battle, one of them backstabbed and kidney-punched Hiashi.

Originally, with the Byakugan insight and techniques, along with Gaara's sand, the Konoha side was practically untouchable.

Deidara couldn't even break through their defenses. Against the combined force of the Hyūga's vacuum palms and Gaara's sand attacks, he was forced to constantly dodge.

Sasori was in an even worse spot, Byakugan was his natural counter. His chakra threads were cut with precision, and there was an elite medical-nin on the Konoha team.

In close combat, he couldn't beat Asuma either. Everything was in Konoha's favor. Deidara from the other side started getting worked up mid-fight. He was about to self-destruct, even shouting, "Sasori! Let me show you my ultimate art!"

Fortunately, Jiraiya arrived just in time. Using genjutsu, he disrupted Deidara's chakra and stopped the explosion.

Still, the enemies managed to escape.

After sending away Asuma, Hiruzen summoned Sasuke, who was surprised when he received the summon from the Hokage. He couldn't figure out why he was being called in alone.

Well, not exactly alone, besides Hiruzen, there was another dangerous figure with snake-like eyes: Orochimaru.

Sasuke looked up and saw Hiruzen signing documents.

"Sasuke, you're here. How's life been lately?"

He started by checking in on Sasuke's recent well-being. Then he got to the point.

"Orochimaru needs a disciple to inherit the Ryūchi Cave legacy. Would you be willing?"

Of course I would! Sasuke screamed inside. Watching Naruto summon toads and monkeys had made him envious for a long time.

But why him?

Naruto received special treatment because he was the Fourth Hokage's son.

A proper lineage, in a way.

But Sasuke? Just a lone survivor of a fallen clan.

Noticing Sasuke's doubts, Hiruzen thought for a moment and said, "Of course it's because the Uchiha clan gave their all with loyalty and honor. And you carry the Will of Fire. I think the Sixth Hokage will be chosen between you and Naruto."

Wait, was that an official declaration? Isn't the Hokage supposed to be elected?

After signing the summoning scroll, Sasuke felt overwhelmed with joy, his cheeks slightly red with excitement. He shouted. "Orochimaru-sensei!"

Orochimaru nodded, not too warmly. At this point, his attention had already shifted away from the Sharingan.

Compared to the Sharingan, Hiruzen seemed far more promising.

His earlier obsession with the Sharingan had just come from his trauma of being instantly defeated by Itachi. Otherwise, having seen Sage Mode, the Rinnegan, and Wood Release, he wouldn't have been so fixated.

As for passing down the Ryūchi Cave legacy now, that was at Hiruzen's request.

Hiruzen continued, "I heard you recently found a batch of scrolls and have been focusing your training on that. Don't forget, summoning beasts are just a support tool."

Those scrolls had been left behind by Itachi and were more aligned with Sasuke's path of evolution. Orochimaru's teachings, aside from the Ryūchi Cave stuff, weren't really effective for him.

All those years training outside, and Orochimaru still couldn't even beat Hiruzen.

Sasuke nodded, saying he would train hard and one day personally cut down Itachi.

Hiruzen didn't quite know how to respond to that. He choked a bit on his pipe smoke, coughed, and said, "Train hard. I believe in you."

After Sasuke left, he looked at Orochimaru and felt very pleased that he was willing to pass on the Ryūchi Cave summoning legacy.

"I believe you now also carry the Will of Fire. You may even have the makings of a future Hokage!"

Orochimaru was speechless. For years, he was the one giving others false promises, he didn't expect to be fed one himself as soon as he returned to Konoha.

He had heard this speech enough in the past to be sick of it. So he bluntly replied, "Years ago, I lost my chance. Among the so-called Five Generals, I was just the extra. I don't care about that title anymore. There's no need to dangle that carrot in front of me."

Hiruzen coughed awkwardly. His habitual "pep talk" backfired and made things a bit uncomfortable, so he changed the subject. "Also, about that research assignment I gave you, how's that coming along?"

Now that the unpleasant topic was over, Orochimaru responded, "Soon, we'll have a prototype ready."

Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction. It looked like Konoha citizens would soon be able to play the best mobile games.

At that moment, an ANBU agent arrived with a message: Kakashi and his team had returned to the village.