Orochimaru wouldn’t believe a word Uchiha Kei said any more than he would believe a ghost’s.
Uchiha Kei simply wasn’t the kind of person who possessed such lofty moral principles.
And yet, everything this man of questionable character was saying and doing at this moment was simply too infectious. Even Orochimaru’s heart, which had long since lost most of its human emotions, couldn’t help but be stirred by Kei’s words.
Even though Orochimaru firmly believed that this bastard Uchiha Kei was up to something and was lying through his teeth, he was still influenced by what Kei said.
Perhaps if he were ten years younger, he would have followed in Kei’s footsteps and witnessed this grand undertaking that reached beyond the heavens.
Unfortunately, he was no longer the young man he had once been. He had seen far too many politicians like Kei, people who filled their mouths with lofty talk of justice.
"Kei-kun, if you keep this up, I’m going to start questioning your sincerity toward your ally."
Kei, who had been putting on such an impressive display, was immediately displeased.
I’m not putting on this act for you! Can’t you just play along with me for once?
If you have something to say, couldn’t you say it in private? No wonder you’re a villain. You’re seriously unpleasant. You deserve to get beaten half to death and brought back to life over and over again in the future.
"What exactly do you mean by that, Orochimaru?"
Seeing that Kei was somewhat irritated, Orochimaru remained completely composed.
Having become quite familiar with Kei, Orochimaru rarely displayed such human emotions, but now he smiled and said,
"Kei-kun, although I don’t understand you very well, I do know that you’ve never been the kind of person who lives solely for the sake of all mankind. At the very least, allies should be honest with one another. If you want me to cooperate with you, you have to let me understand what you’re trying to accomplish."
Having been seen through, Kei wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest.
He returned to the room, closed the door, and lowered his voice as he muttered to Orochimaru,
"Fine, you’re right! I just want to give the Third Hokage a taste of the same methods he’s planning to use against me. Since your teacher hasn’t raised the banner of justice yet, I thought I’d wave my own righteous banner first and put a little pressure on the Third. Otherwise, he might never make any progress!"
Yes, Kei believed that now that they had become enemies, he had to choose his political slogans carefully.
And they had to be extremely righteous.
Otherwise, he could easily be branded the villain and attacked from all sides.
Therefore, Kei had moved ahead of the Third Hokage and established his own political platform.
His goal was to secure a path to advancement for all ordinary shinobi.
As for whether, after succeeding, he would eventually turn against the shinobi who had helped him rise and place himself above them—that was a matter for after the revolution succeeded.
Kei absolutely couldn’t make the same mistake as the Third Hokage. They were already on the verge of war, yet his own subordinates still didn’t understand what they were fighting for.
That made it far too easy for them to turn against him.
In Kei’s heart, he looked down on the Third Hokage immensely.
If their positions were reversed, and Kei were the Third Hokage, this whole mess would have been settled within three days. The entire Uchiha Clan would probably already be sitting down to a funeral feast.
Yet the Third Hokage had dragged things out for several months.
Orochimaru was somewhat speechless as Kei casually explained his plans against the Third Hokage.
So, Uchiha Kei is actually hoping for war to break out as soon as possible.
"It seems, Kei-kun, that you’re rather eager for a civil war. Could it be that you’re confident you can win?"
When it came to sheer military strength, Orochimaru still wasn’t optimistic about Kei.
Kei merely shrugged.
"Not really. I just want to see how Sarutobi is going to explain himself to the people when he’s under pressure from both a civil war and an external war at the same time."
"Hmm?"
Orochimaru didn’t quite understand.
Recently, he had been spending most of his time escaping reality through his experiments, and as a result, he was somewhat lacking in intelligence about current affairs.
Kei looked rather pleased with himself.
This was the advantage of having a broader perspective.
When handling a situation, one couldn’t afford to focus on only one thing. After all, who knew which cloud might suddenly bring rain?
"Haha, Orochimaru-san might not know this, but the Sand shinobi and Mist shinobi are about to attack. I wonder what kind of bargaining chips Konoha is going to use to bring this war to an end this time."
Orochimaru suddenly understood.
So that’s how it is.
Konoha wasn’t merely facing enemies from within. An external threat had appeared as well.
It seemed that fate was not on the Third Hokage’s side.
However, Kei was also being overly confident.
Even if the military strength of the Land of Wind and the Land of Water were combined, they were still inferior to the Land of Fire.
And this war would be fought on the Land of Fire’s own territory.
"Kei-kun, we’ve defeated a coalition of four nations before. The Sand and Mist shinobi alone aren’t enough to force Konoha to fight with everything it has."
Kei nodded.
"That’s right. The Sand and Mist shinobi may be able to take some advantage, but there’s absolutely no chance they’ll be able to defeat Konoha. But what kind of bargaining chips will Konoha use to deal with a joint attack by the Sand and Mist?"
"Mm..."
Orochimaru fell silent.
Perhaps he was digesting the implications behind Kei’s words.
There was a fundamental difference between the Mist and Sand attacking Konoha separately and the Mist and Sand launching a coordinated assault against Konoha.
But regardless of which situation it was, the Third Hokage would have to divert part of his forces to deal with them.
That meant the Third Hokage could no longer possess overwhelming military strength with which to resolve the problem posed by Uchiha Kei.
"Kei-kun, do you really have to take things this far? You’re trying to drag Konoha down with you!"
Kei shook his head.
"Of course not. I’ve already said it. Konoha is the Uchiha’s Konoha. I’m merely teaching Sarutobi, the man currently managing it, a lesson."
"What lesson?"
"I want Lord Sarutobi to understand that no matter how much he boasts, Konoha has never actually won a war under his leadership."
Kei added another inexplicable statement.
"What do you mean?" Orochimaru pressed.
"It’s simple. I want Sarutobi to understand one principle: anyone can start a war, but only the victor can decide when it ends. The Second Shinobi World War wasn’t a war that Konoha ended on its own terms. So if Sarutobi insists on starting a civil war, then the civil war won’t end simply because Sarutobi decides that it should."
"You want to erase the Third Hokage’s achievement of leading Konoha to victory in the Second Shinobi World War?"
Orochimaru was somewhat shocked.
"Kei-kun, why do you think my teacher will compromise with you?"
Kei, however, didn’t think his idea was remotely unrealistic.
"Because the Third Hokage’s weakness is too obvious. He cares about Konoha far more than I do."
Indeed.
Uchiha Kei might claim that Konoha belonged to the Uchiha, but he didn’t truly care whether Konoha lived or died.
The Third Hokage, on the other hand, had no choice but to care.
Konoha represented the political ideals he had spent decades protecting.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru understood.
In the end, the Third Hokage would certainly compromise.
For some reason, Orochimaru’s mood suddenly improved.
Perhaps it was because he knew that Konoha would remain safe while his teacher would be the one forced to swallow the bitter pill.
At this point, their meeting seemed to be coming to an end.
Orochimaru stood up.
"I suddenly feel that standing on the side of the victor is an excellent choice. So, Kei-kun, is there anything else you need me to do?"
As an ally, one had to have value as an ally.
Otherwise, what would be the difference between him and the Italians?
Orochimaru wanted to increase the value of his own contribution.
"Not particularly, Orochimaru-san. When you have some time, study the Tailed Beasts. Perhaps we’ll have a use for them someday."
Kei said that he didn’t need anything else, but he still gave Orochimaru a request.
Orochimaru nodded.
"Then, until next time, Kei-kun."
Kei saw Orochimaru off.
"Until next time, Orochimaru-san."
And so, the meeting came to an end.
Watching Orochimaru’s departing figure, Kei suddenly felt somewhat exhausted.
At that moment, a voice filled with helplessness and a hint of sorrow came through the air.
"Kei-kun, if possible, please leave my teacher, Sarutobi, some dignity."
Kei neither agreed nor disagreed.
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