Chapter 88.6- One Thousand Hands

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“How are things looking for him?” I asked, staring down at the body of the last of my cousin’s surviving teammates.

He’ll live. And somehow without permanent damage. The healing he was able to receive on site was nothing less than miraculous.” Kagame said, running her hands over his body. And wasn’t that the kicker. Having looked through the site of the attack and tried to place things together, both Uraume and Shika were in agreement that Orochimaru had been the first to get hurt. The remnants of Katsuyu’s skin that had been grafted to him from his burns left little guessing as to how he survived.

Tsunade had been healing him. She’d probably been healing him even at the time she died. In some ways, he was her last act. And that was why I could not do what the wise thing would be in this situation and get the threat off the table.

“See to it that he makes a full recovery” I ordered, closing my eyes and letting out a breath. For better or worse, Orochimaru was all that remained of the Sannin.

“Are you certain about that?” I heard Kagame’s insidious whisper. This old hag.

“Absolutely” I said, perhaps more sharply than I should have. But her smile just widened like she’d gotten something out of me.

“Your Granduncle would consider this a mistake. He was the one pushed as the alternative to you for the position, was he not? Whenever you make a mistake, whenever things go wrong, whenever you seem even the slightest bit unpopular, people will start whispering in his ear again, propping him up. Allowing him to live is a clear and persistent threat to your reign” She said, but if she wanted to convince me of something, then she had taken the wrong tact.

“Then I must be perfect then. I will be perfect. I will be, because I will have no choice but to be. Let him live to see how much better I will be than him at doing the job. Let those who supported him realise that they backed the wrong horse. Let my doubters have the means to speak, and nothing to say” I said.

“Confident.”

“Can’t be Hokage without a bit of confidence” I cut in.

“And arrogant too”, she continued, similarly uncaring for what I’d said.

“Perhaps you are right and you are less like your uncle than I thought. I see it now. You are no Hashirama, not by a long shot. Instead, you remind me more of his friend, Madara.”

“Madara Uchiha? Now I know you are crazy” I scoffed.

“Madara thought he was unbeatable too. He thought he could do no wrong. Don’t forget how Madara ended though. Because he went alone, while your Grandfather went with his brother. No matter how it might seem like it for now, you are not alone, and you do not have to act like you are” She said.

“I know I’m not alone.”

“Then let us pray you do not forget it” She said, and then was silent for a few seconds before she perked up again..

“Just say the word though, and we can paralyze him from the neck—“

“Kagame. Please. Just heal him. Get him back to fighting fit please” I practically begged.

“Only because you groveled for it”

A/N: Chapter ends with a look at how things are going for our favourite snakity snake snake.