"Forget everything you just saw and heard."
After Orochimaru entered the door with Tanaka, Hizashi ordered the clan members who had just seen the Sannin to forget everything they had just witnessed and heard.
"Yes."
Both the openly stationed guards and the hidden sentries nodded in agreement.
After giving these instructions, Hizashi quickly turned around and followed after them.
Watching the two figures ahead, one tall and one small, conversing harmoniously, he couldn't help but sigh once again.
His disciple was truly leading the Hyūga clan to heights that rightfully belonged to them, time and time again.
He understood very well.
Without Tanaka, neither Tsunade nor Orochimaru would even bother to glance at the Hyūga clan.
They wouldn't even spare them a look.
It was just like during the main house's rule, when Hiashi was in power.
Which of the Sannin had ever presented the Hyūga clan with the Kusanagi Sword upon meeting them?
Which of them had ever declared that they would change their surname to Hyūga?
Which of them had ever visited the Hyūga estate?
Which of them had ever offered to train 100 medical ninja for the Hyūga clan?
None of them.
Not a single one.
It was only because of Tanaka that Orochimaru gifted the Kusanagi Sword and personally visited. It was because of him that Tsunade went to great lengths to protect the Hyūga, even leading to the rumor of "Hyūga Tsunade."
Hizashi had seen all of this clearly and understood it completely.
If the Hyūga clan lost Tanaka, even if the Caged Bird was abolished, they would still be insignificant in the eyes of the great powers, and the Sannin wouldn't spare them a second glance.
"What brings you here so urgently, Orochimaru-sama?"
After they both sat down in the hall, Tanaka directly asked about Orochimaru's purpose.
After their previous encounters and the conversation they had just had, he had developed some understanding of Orochimaru.
He also understood the best way to interact with this Sannin: Get straight to the point.
Small talk was for deceiving subordinates and enemies, not for dealing with people on the same level, especially those qualified to stand beside him.
"What do you think of the Third Hokage?"
Orochimaru was quite pleased with Tanaka's straightforwardness.
He pursued immortality and all the ninjutsu of the world.
With a limited lifespan, he dedicated every moment to chasing longevity and knowledge.
Because of this, he valued his time greatly.
And it was only because Tanaka continuously surprised him, proving his worth again and again, that he was willing to invest so much time and thought into him. If it were anyone else, even Minato, Orochimaru wouldn't have bothered.
"The main house of Konoha."
"The Caged Bird of Konoha."
Tanaka casually tossed his forehead protector onto the table.
Had he been in the era of the First, Second, or even the Fourth or Fifth Hokage, he would never have treated this forehead protector with such disregard.
But he didn't care.
Ever since he awakened his past memories, he had found himself in the timeline where Hiruzen ruled.
As for the Third Hokage, it was difficult for him to feel any respect.
A person who, even before meeting him, was already analyzing, probing, suppressing, and planning to control him—how could he possibly like such a person?
"Hehehehehe... Looks like I wasn't wrong about you. We are the same kind of people."
Orochimaru's snake-like pupils gleamed with excitement. He was very pleased with Tanaka's frankness and sharp response.
If Tanaka had been evasive and started talking about the Will of Fire, he would have already stood up and left.
As for the Kusanagi Sword, he would have simply accepted that he had misjudged.
"Are these the kinds of conversations I should be hearing?"
Orochimaru was happy, but Hizashi was terrified.
Even though he was the Hyūga clan leader, a person of high status, he felt that this conversation was something he shouldn't be privy to.
If this weren't his own home, he might have already found an excuse to leave.
"The Third Hokage has changed."
"When rumors about the White Fang started spreading throughout the village... when he abandoned his mission to save his comrades, only to be met with public scorn, I understood."
"The hero I once remembered had already been corrupted by the power of the Hokage."
Orochimaru completely ignored Hizashi's twitching eyelids and continued speaking to himself.
"So what?"
Tanaka picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea.
"The one originally meant to be your opponent in the jonin examination was supposed to be Minato, but the Hokage instead chose his own son."
"He's willing to sacrifice his own child to pave the way for Minato, just to make sure that before Minato becomes the Fourth Hokage, not even a single feather of his is tainted."
"Not even a speck of dirt."
Orochimaru let out a mocking laugh.
In his eyes, was a Hokage something that could be nurtured?
No.
A Hokage had to be forged through battle.
A Hokage raised in a greenhouse, no matter how talented, would never be the same as one who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.
The former was nothing more than a puppet of the so-called Will of Fire.
The latter was a true Hokage.
That was why, in reality, only three Hokage had ever truly held supreme power over Konoha—Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen.
After them, whether it was Minato, Tsunade, or even Kakashi as the Sixth Hokage, they were all merely chosen and groomed.
Even Naruto, who would one day become the strongest in the shinobi world, was still treated as insignificant by any random special jonin working on scientific ninja tools in Konoha.
Not to mention, among the Konoha Council members, two of them would survive all the way into the Seventh Hokage's era, constantly advising Naruto on how to run the village.
"So, does this mean you plan to run for the position of Fourth Hokage?" Tanaka looked at Orochimaru with interest.
"Tanaka, are you interested in power?"
"Yes. But not for the sake of power itself—rather, because neither of us wants someone standing above us."
Orochimaru suddenly changed his tone, his hoarse voice carrying a complex emotion.
"Hokage… I could be one, but he would never let me."
"I could accept the White Fang as the Fourth Hokage, but I cannot accept Minato as the predetermined choice for that position."
His words were shocking.
If even a single sentence from what he had just said spread throughout Konoha, it would cause an uproar.
Orochimaru would immediately face suppression from Hiruzen.
Yet, he still chose to speak openly in front of Tanaka.
Because after just one encounter, he could already see that the way Tanaka thought was far beyond what an eight-year-old child should be capable of.
So, when dealing with him, Orochimaru never treated him as a child—but as an equal.
No wonder...
Tanaka looked at Orochimaru in front of him, and he understood.
Whether it was the Second or the Third Great Ninja War, Orochimaru had never been absent. He had fought through both wars from start to finish.
Yet in the future, he would fall from being one of the Sannin to conducting experiments on Konoha's own ninja—eventually becoming a missing-nin hunted by all.
At its core, it was because the Third Hokage had betrayed him.
Konoha had betrayed him.
The shinobi world had betrayed him.
The idea that "the Third Hokage saw the ambition hidden in Orochimaru's eyes and therefore didn't let him become Hokage" was a story only naive people like Naruto would believe.
Ever since Tobirama, the position of Hokage had always been predetermined.
Hiruzen was chosen by Tobirama.
Minato was chosen by Hiruzen.
Tsunade was chosen by Koharu, Homura, and Jiraiya.
Even the transitional Hokage, Kakashi, and Naruto himself were predetermined.
The only Hokage who had ever truly fought for the title were only two, the First Hokage and the Second Hokage.