Kushina’s requests were all things Kei could agree to.
After all, Konoha was the one footing the bill. Kei didn’t have to spend a single coin.
Moreover, the more Kushina described Uzushiogakure, the more it sounded like a smaller version of Konoha.
That was exactly what Kei wanted to see.
Everyone around Kei believed that Konoha was already in the palm of his hand.
But Kei himself placed Konoha, Orochimaru, Kushina, and Danzō on equal footing.
The current Konoha could only be considered an ally.
After all, defeating a group of people only required strength.
Ruling a group of people, however, required a popular foundation.
Kei had no foundation from which to rule Konoha.
Therefore, Konoha could only be an ally.
It was like Hans defeating Gaul.
And maintaining a balance of power among one’s allies was something every great power relentlessly pursued.
Hans had failed to do this.
Kei wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
It wasn’t fair.
But it was reality.
The art of dealing with others lay in the skillful use of language and, even more importantly, in understanding human relationships and social conventions.
Fairness had never been the standard by which the world operated.
Yet people were always trying to measure the world according to whatever they personally believed was fair.
If Kei and Kushina could still be said to have some degree of friendship, then his relationship with Orochimaru was more a matter of mutual understanding.
Conversations with Orochimaru were always comfortable.
Whatever Kei said, Orochimaru understood.
Whatever Orochimaru said, Kei enjoyed listening to.
There was always something thought-provoking about the words of this man.
Looking at Orochimaru before him, Kei spoke first.
"Mr. Orochimaru, I’m sorry to have disappointed you. I failed to take your wishes into consideration this time."
Orochimaru had previously asked Kei to at least allow the Third Hokage to die with some dignity.
Unfortunately, events rarely unfolded according to plan.
Hiruzen himself hadn’t wanted to leave with dignity.
He wanted to cling stubbornly to life.
Kei couldn’t allow that.
Orochimaru did not dwell on the matter.
"There’s no need to trouble yourself over it, Kei."
He understood exactly what Kei meant.
The fact that Kei was willing to apologize to him was already a sincere gesture.
Whether Kei apologized or not, what had happened was already an established fact.
Still, emotionally, Orochimaru couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
"Throughout history, even when leaders are turned into stone statues after death, those statues will eventually weather and crumble."
"To die at Kei’s hands can at least be considered a form of dignity for my teacher."
The words of the Cold Lord contained no trace of warmth, yet somehow they were filled with human sentiment.
"Heh."
Looking at Orochimaru like this, Kei understood that he still cared about the matter.
But Kei had no intention of giving Orochimaru any further explanation.
There was no point.
He took a sip of tea and changed the subject.
"Then, Mr. Orochimaru, what are your plans for the future?"
Kei wanted to know whether Orochimaru intended to remain in Konoha and pursue his scientific research.
Unfortunately, Konoha did not welcome Kei.
Naturally, it would not welcome Orochimaru either.
The Third Hokage still possessed considerable prestige.
After his death, Konoha was destined to fragment.
Especially since the succession had not been a peaceful transition.
The purge of the Third Hokage’s faction by the remaining people of Konoha would not change simply because of Uchiha Kei’s wishes.
It might have been Kei who had won the war, but the Konoha that emerged after the reshuffling would inevitably enter another round of political redistribution.
And this time, a huge portion of the political pie had already been smashed apart by Kei.
The newly empowered politicians would come up with every possible argument to turn anything associated with the Third Hokage into a crime, and then use that as justification to seize more power and status.
Whether the Third Hokage had actually been right or wrong was irrelevant.
The purpose was to use the issue to suppress political opponents.
In this struggle, Orochimaru—who had done little to help the Third Hokage during the conflict—would naturally be labeled as someone with his own share of wrongdoing.
He would therefore be deemed unqualified to sit at the table and divide the spoils.
It wasn’t that Orochimaru had actually committed some great offense.
It was simply that the people of Konoha believed that if they could disqualify one more person from receiving a share of the pie, everyone else’s portions would become larger.
Thus, Konoha’s subtle rejection, its smiling-but-insincere interactions, and its polite yet dismissive treatment were all quietly telling Orochimaru to get out of the village.
Thinking about this, the emotionless Orochimaru could only smile bitterly.
"Well..."
"I was willing to see Kei take action in the first place because I find moving things interesting."
"When I see something moving, I become curious."
"When I see something that doesn’t move, I become bored."
"Konoha is like a decaying windmill."
As he spoke, Orochimaru reached out and caught a strand of wind.
Astonishingly, the wind curled obediently around his fingertip.
"A windmill that doesn’t turn may occasionally possess a certain charm."
"But in truth, it has no real value as a spectacle."
"In any case, I wanted to see you become a gust of wind that could turn this decaying windmill of Konoha."
At this point, Orochimaru’s disappointment was unmistakable.
"Unfortunately..."
"The decaying windmill is filled with dust."
"Even after it begins turning, it remains nothing more than rotten wood."
"I want to leave Konoha Village."
Kei understood what Orochimaru meant.
It was like someone who behaved arrogantly at home but was polite and courteous to everyone outside.
People understood that their parents loved them.
That love allowed them to act without restraint.
They could hurt their parents however they wished, knowing that their parents would still indulge them.
People outside the family, however, wouldn’t tolerate such behavior.
It was another form of bullying the weak while fearing the strong.
The people of Konoha knew that Orochimaru still cared about the village.
That was why they dared to treat him so brazenly.
Not openly, of course.
But they took advantage of Orochimaru’s reluctance to harm Konoha and used it to benefit themselves in all sorts of ways.
The Third Hokage couldn’t use this method against Kei.
But the people of Konoha could use it very effectively against Orochimaru.
That was human nature.
It was also one of the reasons Kei had no desire to take Konoha under his direct control.
Dealing with these people simply wasn’t as straightforward and satisfying as dealing with his own subordinates.
"Leave Konoha?"
"Mr. Orochimaru, have you really thought this through?"
Kei was genuinely surprised that Orochimaru wanted to leave Konoha.
With nearly two thousand shinobi following him, Orochimaru wasn’t without the ability to fight for his position in Konoha.
Yet he had chosen to compromise instead.
That was very unlike Orochimaru.
But after Orochimaru gave him his reason, Kei accepted it.
"Yes."
"The daimyō of the Land of Fields has passed away."
"He had only one daughter, and she inherited his position as daimyō."
"The new female daimyō could no longer tolerate the Fūma Clan’s recklessness in the Land of Fields, so she invited me to establish a hidden village there."
Kei’s eyes immediately lit up.
Now this was interesting.
There was definitely gossip here.
The Land of Fields lay to the north of Konoha.
It was a tiny country, only a fraction of the size of the Land of Fire, bordering the Land of Fire, the Land of Frost, and the Land of Moon.
It was such a tiny place that its territory wasn’t even larger than Konoha Village itself.
The country produced little of note.
Its economy depended primarily on agriculture, while its military relied on rogue shinobi and the Fūma Clan, a shinobi clan.
As for the claim that the Fūma Clan had become increasingly unrestrained because the daimyō had died, Kei didn’t believe it.
When the daimyō had still been alive, the Fūma Clan had already been the strongest military force in the Land of Fields.
Naturally, they had already been arrogant.
In fact, they had been even more brazen than Kei had ever been in the Land of Fire.
And now Orochimaru was actually willing to go to such a remote backwater.
And he wasn’t even doing it because he had nowhere else to go.
Something wasn’t right.
Very, very wrong.
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