After the meeting ended, the Third Hokage stayed alone in the Hokage's office, gazing at the portraits of the previous Hokages on the wall. He remained silent for a long time.
After a while, the door to the Hokage's office opened. Anko Mitarashi walked in and glanced at the portraits of the past Hokages.
She sighed and said, "Lord Hokage, I'm truly sorry!" Anko felt genuinely remorseful. She believed she had let the village down by not perishing alongside Orochimaru.
The Third Hokage sighed and said, "Are you referring to not dying with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death?" "Anko, you no longer have any ties to Orochimaru. There's no need to feel guilty." Anko was taken aback for a moment.
"But Orochimaru's appearance will surely lead to war against the village," she said. The Third Hokage replied helplessly, "I know that, but there's nothing we can do. Right now, there's no one in the village who can stop him, not even me, I'm afraid." At this moment, the Third Hokage felt his age catching up with him, and he knew his combat abilities had significantly declined.
Moreover, Orochimaru had been a rogue for many years, and the Third Hokage had no idea how powerful he had become. Anko looked up at the photo of the Fourth Hokage on the wall and sighed, "If only the Fourth Hokage were still here."
Although the Fourth Hokage didn't have the same level of prestige as the Third, his strength was well-known. It was thanks to him that Konoha won the Third Shinobi World War. It could almost be said that the victory was largely due to the Fourth Hokage's power.
Anko believed that if the Fourth Hokage were still alive, he could stop Orochimaru. The Third Hokage shook his head bitterly and said, "The Fourth Hokage has already sacrificed so much for the village." "And that was thirteen years ago."
For a moment, the Hokage's office was enveloped in a long silence. After a while, the Third Hokage's thoughts drifted to Yoruha, who was still on a mission outside the village. He smiled wryly and said, "If he were here, maybe he could stop him, but it's just such a coincidence."
The Third Hokage even suspected that Orochimaru had deliberately chosen to attack the village when Yoruha was away. Although the Third Hokage didn't fully understand how strong Yoruha had become, the fact that Yoruha could easily defeat Kurosuki Raiga, suppress a rampaging Naruto, and master various powerful sealing techniques and the Flying Thunder God Technique, as well as wield the powerful Rasengan and Chidori, indicated that he had Kage-level strength.
If he were in the village, he might indeed be able to stop Orochimaru. Anko, standing behind the Third Hokage, listened to his murmuring with some confusion. "Who is the person you're talking about, Lord Hokage?" She wasn't very familiar with Yoruha.
Yoruha's rise to Chunin was mostly noted by the ninja clans, and Anko hadn't paid much attention to such matters. So she was unaware that Konoha had someone like Yoruha.
After all, Yoruha's reputation was mostly known among those familiar with Kakashi or the higher-ups of Konoha. The Third Hokage clearly didn't want to elaborate. He simply said ambiguously, "If he were here, I can guarantee Orochimaru wouldn't succeed."
Anko frowned, unsure of whom the Third Hokage was referring to. "Are you talking about Lord Jiraiya?" she asked after thinking for a while, as Jiraiya was the only other person she could think of who might stop one of the Sannin.
"Remember, you have no connection with Orochimaru, so there's no need to feel guilty," the Third Hokage said, not wanting Anko to be burdened by her past association with Orochimaru. Anko kept wondering who the person the Third Hokage mentioned could be.
But she had no leads. Clearly, the Third Hokage didn't want to say more, so Anko could only leave the Hokage's office. After she left, the Third Hokage gazed at the portraits on the wall.
"I originally wanted to see you become Hokage with my own eyes, but it seems I won't have the chance," he murmured, standing up and picking up the Hokage's hat. He had decided to personally take action to stop Orochimaru from destroying the village.
The Third Hokage felt he might die because he knew Orochimaru's strength and was aware of his own current physical condition. He was no longer as strong as he was in his youth. He wasn't confident he could defeat Orochimaru.
But right now, he was the most likely person in Konoha to stop Orochimaru. He had to step up. After the meeting, the mood among Konoha's jonin was low.
After all, their opponent was Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, whose name they had heard since childhood. They didn't know how to stop him. At Konoha Hospital.
Kakashi entered Sasuke's hospital room. Seeing Sasuke still unconscious, Kakashi was worried. "I wonder if my seal worked. If Yoruha were here, he could definitely deal with that curse mark."
Yoruha didn't know that in the hearts of Kakashi and the Third Hokage, he was already considered so reliable. In such times, he was seen as the only hope. If Kakashi and the Third Hokage knew that Yoruha thought of himself as only having the strength of an elite jonin, they would probably be shocked.
After staying in the room for a while, Kakashi encountered Sakura and Naruto coming to visit Sasuke. The relationship among the three had improved significantly compared to before. Sakura had already clarified her relationship with Sasuke, and Naruto knew, though he was reluctant to accept it.
Seeing Sakura's happy expression, he could only accept it. But because he accepted it, he understood more clearly the boundaries of their relationship. So, interacting with each other was less awkward than before.
Moreover, thanks to Yoruha, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were much stronger than they were at this point in the original story. Sasuke's strength was already close to that of a jonin, or at least at the level of a special jonin. Sakura had reached the level of a typical chunin.
Naruto had the strength of an elite chunin, and if he performed well, he could reach the level of a special jonin. This was without considering his berserk state, where his destructive power could reach kage level, and his combat ability could reach jonin level. However, due to Yoruha's seal, the risk of Naruto going berserk had been greatly reduced.
But even with such strength, when facing Orochimaru, the three were still crushed by him. This was normal, considering even elite jonin like Kakashi couldn't resist Orochimaru. Just the killing intent from Orochimaru made Kakashi feel like he was being killed multiple times.
As soon as they entered, they saw Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, when will you teach me to train?" Naruto immediately approached and asked.
Sakura, on the other hand, went to Sasuke's bedside, looking at the unconscious Sasuke with concern. Kakashi leaned against the windowsill and said calmly, "We'll talk about it after Sasuke wakes up." Naruto looked at Sasuke on the bed and fell silent.
After a long while, Naruto lowered his head and asked in a somber tone, "Kakashi-sensei, is that Orochimaru really strong? Even Sasuke isn't his match." Although Naruto wouldn't admit it out loud, he knew very well that Sasuke was the strongest among the three of them.
Even after mastering the Rasengan, he still couldn't defeat Sasuke. Because Yoruha had given Sasuke many methods to train his Sharingan, and Sasuke trusted Yoruha deeply. He diligently followed Yoruha's training methods.
As a result, his ocular power was far stronger than it was at this point in the original story. Additionally, Yoruha had him focus on training the Body Flicker Technique. So among the three, Sasuke was undoubtedly the strongest now.
Yet such a strong Sasuke was instantly defeated by Orochimaru. Naruto wasn't there at the time, so he found it hard to believe. But seeing Sasuke suffering from the curse mark, he couldn't help but hate Orochimaru.