"I-I'm just a little girl passing by to pick mushrooms," Hiruko said in a high-pitched voice, trying to play innocent.
"I heard the commotion and came to see what was happening..."
To be fair, Hiruko's bandaged appearance did resemble a white-haired loli, making it easy for the uninformed people to jump to conclusions.
As for Hiruko's true gender and appearance... that was another matter.
"Hiruko? Is that you?" Hiruzen pointed at the cloaked figure, his face was full of astonishment.
"Hiruzen, you bastard! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?!" Hiruko's pitiful act vanished, his face twisting into a furious scowl!
'First you pretend not to recognize me, giving me false hope.'
'Then, just as I start playing the part of a little girl, you point me out. You were just waiting for me to humiliate myself, weren't you?!'
"Hiruko? Monkey, was he one of your subordinates during your tenure? Is he a Rogue Ninja?" Tobirama asked, noticing Hiruzen's reaction.
Hashirama, hearing this, began cracking his knuckles.
'Rogue Ninja, huh? They aren't always bad. Maybe he has a good reason? It was just like Madara running away from home. But if you had no extenuating circumstances... then it wasn't a big deal.'
'As long as you survive an elbow strike, you can be forgiven.'
Facing the combined presence of the First and Second Hokages, who each pinned one of his shoulders, Hiruko seemed to transform into a trembling Konoha girl and paralyzed with fear.
However, neither Hokage paid any attention to Hiruko's reaction.
Their eyes were fixed on Hiruzen, awaiting their former disciple's explanation.
Better to hear the truth from Hiruzen than listen to Hiruko's babbling.
"Here's the situation," Hiruzen began. "Hiruko was in the same class as Tsunade and the others, but his talent was inferior even to Jiraiya's. Driven by a desire for power, he mastered the forbidden Chimera Technique. When I discovered this, I dispatched the Sannin to pursue him, but he escaped and vanished. I never imagined he'd still be alive after all these years. Judging by his appearance, it seems he's mastered the technique."
Hiruzen sighed. "First Hokage, Second Hokage, this marks yet another failure during my tenure."
"Don't worry about it," Hashirama reassured him. "Given your long service, a few mistakes are understandable. Besides, we've scolded you enough already."
Tobirama had grown accustomed to these revelations.
After witnessing the Uchiha clan's annihilation, nothing else could shock him.
"Why does this story sound familiar?" Hashirama scratched his head, deep in thought.
"Familiar how?" Hiruzen blinked.
He had never shared Hiruko's past with anyone.
Hiruko had always been a peripheral figure, known mostly for his survival skills.
During the Sannin's pursuit, they had likely spared his life out of lingering camaraderie from their academy days.
Hiruzen had never given him much thought.
If Hiruko hadn't reappeared today, Hiruzen doubted his deathbed memories would have recalled him.
Oh, right, he's dead.
When Momoshiki killed him, his deathbed visions hadn't featured Hiruko at all!
"Ah, I remember now!" Hashirama clapped his hands together, his eyes lighting up. "Isn't this just Orochimaru's story?"
"..."
Uh.
It did sound similar to Orochimaru's tale.
But Orochimaru had copied Hiruko, right? After all, Orochimaru had been among the Sannin who pursued Hiruko after his defection.
"Chimera Technique? You defected just for learning a forbidden technique?" Tobirama noticed a glaring flaw in Hiruko's logic.
"Huh?" The terrified Hiruko froze.
But upon reflection, Tobirama's statement was valid.
The vast majority of forbidden techniques in the Book of Seals had been developed by this very man.
Among them was the Edo Tensei, which the Third Hokage had denounced as a desecration of the dead.
Yet even after becoming Hokage, Hiruzen never retaliated against the Second Hokage, nor did he strip him of his political authority.
"I'll go fetch Orochimaru."
With that, Tobirama vanished.
Minutes later, Orochimaru was brought before them.
Seeing his former classmate, Orochimaru grinned. "What a pity. Whether it's fusing Bloodline Limits or developing your own faction, you're still miles behind."
Why the delay?
Because Orochimaru had insisted that Tobirama also capture Hiruko's three subordinates, who had been under his surveillance.
Three ninja, bound and gagged.
Their names were simple: One, Two, and Three.
"Orochimaru! Victory goes to the victor, defeat to the vanquished! You don't need to mock me!" Hiruko shouted.
"Damn it! I never expected you'd summon the Hokages with Edo Tensei. All I wanted was to chase after your shadows—what's wrong with that?!"
Orochimaru's taunts pushed Hiruko over the edge.
His deepest vulnerability lay in the suggestion that he was inferior to the Sannin—a childhood complex that still haunted him.
"Am I wrong? You defected long before I did, yet after all these years, you're left with only these three subordinates. I joined the Akatsuki first, then established Otogakure, which has surpassed your scale by leaps and bounds. Oh, and by the way, as a rogue ninja, the Akatsuki never even tried to recruit you. That speaks volumes about your capabilities."
Orochimaru's matter-of-fact tone shattered Hiruko's defenses!
Lies wound, but truth cuts like a blade.
Just as Hiruko was about to erupt in an assault, he realized he couldn't remove the bandages on his face.
He spotted Makoto holding a roll of duct tape, which he had somehow wrapped around Hiruko's face without him noticing.
Seeing Hiruko's bewildered stare, Makoto pocketed the tape and explained, "The way you look when you remove your bandages is too ugly. It might scare the children."
'Too ugly.'
'Might scare the children...'
Hiruko's defenses crumbled again.
Decades had passed.
His strength hadn't caught up to the Sannin, his influence had stagnated, and his once-handsome face had become deformed, like that of a monster.
Hiruko felt an urge to swing from the ceiling like a pendulum, to engage in a tug-of-war with the rafters!
Just as Hiruko was on the verge of collapse, Orochimaru made a move.
He unfurled a scroll on the ground.
One by one, small jars lined up across the paper.
"Come now," Orochimaru said to Hiruko. "Didn't you want to complete your five Bloodline Limits? Choose one."
"?"
Hiruko stared at the jars on the ground, even spotting the Sharingan—the very Sharingan he had longed for—sealed within one!
'Is this the difference?'
'Is this the gap between me and the Sannin?'
He had spent decades gathering four somewhat powerful Bloodline Limits and fusing them into his body.
And here was Orochimaru, offering a buffet of them!