Jiraiya's decision

As the Hokage and Jiraiya reached the location where the explosion occurred, they saw an entire area scorched in black colour.

However, there seemed to be a thick Wooden Sphere in the middle of this area. The Hokage and Jiraiya didn't need to think that much to know whose it was.

Araki soon opened up the Wood Sphere and appeared in their vision. He looked at the forest around him and clicked his tongue in disappointment, "I guess I should compensate for destroying such a beautiful place."

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

He shouted the name of the technique. But unlike how he had used it against the Three Great Village, this time, hundreds of trees started to grow in the radius in which he had detonated all trees. The distance between the trees was fixed, so there would be no issue of nutrients even after he left them alone.

The Hokage and Jiraiya remained hidden as they peeked at Araki. This was outside the Hokage's expectation that Araki could already use this Jutsu with his own chakra. From the reports of the spies, Araki could only use this Jutsu against the Three Great Villages through the Kyuubi's Chakra.

This was beyond the Hokage's or Jiraiya's expectations that Araki would be able to do this. Moreover, after restored the detonated area to some extent, Araki turned towards the direction of the Hokage and Jiraiya, he gave them a smile. A mocking smile they understood was directed at them.

The Hokage knew that Araki wanted to say that their pitiful concealment couldn't prevent them from his senses.

He felt like his heart was burning with anger upon seeing that condescending gaze.

Araki though didn't come to say anything to the Hokage, he merely turned his body and proceeded to move towards the Senju Clan Manor. Kushina was waiting for him back there.

After Araki had left the area, Jiraiya looked at the Third Hokage before saying with a serious gaze, "Just who had attacked Araki here in Konoha? Have someone from the other Great Villages entered Konoha right under our nose?"

The Third Hokage groaned a little as he didn't know how he should explain this to Jiraiya. He knew that if he mentioned it to Jiraiya, Jiraiya would force him to take an extreme measure.

Even though this Danzo's Root ANBU was quite a pesky in some matters, they had their uses as well. There were many things which he couldn't do as Hokage and could be left in Danzo's hands. Even if someone did find the blame, they could only blame Danzo and his Root ANBU.

However, he was also aware of the character of Jiraiya. His information gathering skills were top-notch. If he really wanted to figure out who was behind this attack on Araki, he wouldn't need a long time. At most, a few days.

Weighing both sides for some time, the Third Hokage answered Jiraiya, "The ones who attacked him were probably Danzo's Root ANBU. If my guess is right, Danzo wanted to capture Senju Araki to control Uzumaki Kushina, the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki."

"And since Sensei does know of this, why have you not acted yet? Why has the Danzo not been warned?" Jiraiya asked while narrowing his eyes. He knew there were some things the Third Hokage was hiding from him.

"There has never been any public attack on Senju Araki. This was the first time Danzo had initiated a public attack. I wouldn't take any action against Danzo as long as his actions were within reason." The Third Hokage easily gave out an excuse.

Snorting at the answer he received, Jiraiya said, "I will be the judge of that whether this was the first time Danzo attacked Senju Araki publicly or not. However, do tell me what action you plan on taking against Danzo now?"

The Third Hokage remained silent before decisively saying, "I will disband the Root ANBU. That should be enough…"

"Hmph… I see the situation now. I also understand why you want Minato to interact with Uchiha. You want to sow discord between the Senju and Uchiha, don't you? Well, sensei, looks like I am not going to follow this order. My apprentice can love anyone he wants. I am not going to ask him to follow her just to follow your sick little schemes. Find someone else to do your dirty work." With that, Jiraiya left the area, leaving an extremely angry Hokage behind.

This was what the Hokage was scared of the most. Jiraiya had nearly seen through a lot of his schemes. As long as he was given enough time, he would see through all of them.

The Senju Clan's prestige was so great that even as a Hokage, he couldn't touch them. And just because of that high prestige, the Uchiha's reputation which had been degraded through the combined efforts of Senju Tobirama and Sarutobi Hiruzen had started recovering.

It felt like Senju Araki was becoming a significant obstacle in many of his schemes.

Meanwhile, in another part of the village, Danzo was changing his hideouts immediately. He had a feeling that if given some time, Senju Araki would come here to kill them all.

Although Danzo was confident in taking on Senju Araki one-on-one, he knew that he couldn't prevent Senju Araki from killing a large number of his subordinates.

It had taken a long time until he could seize this much power from that fool of Hokage. He wasn't willing to work from the bottom again.

That was why he had taken the decision to change all his hideouts. This time, he was going to create a hideout under the ground. It should be safe from Senju Araki's senses…

In another corner of the village, a pale man with slitted pupils and golden eyes smiled, "Looks like his power has reached the appropriate level. Any more, and it could be dangerous to me."

This man was naturally, Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin. He started thinking 'After I acquire Araki's body, I could inject Senju Hashirama's cells which I received from that black thing into Araki's body, boosting its prowess even further. Maybe then it would transcend the limit of mortals.'

He then started thinking of his Living Corpse Reincarnation technique. He had created that technique with the help of Danzo and that black thing named Black Zetsu. Danzo provided him with prisoners while Black Zetsu provided him with some of his own insights.

Araki had no idea that his current actions had caught the interest of the Snake Sannin. Well, even if he knew, he would probably remain indifferent to it.

Orochimaru may be above Araki in terms of raw power at this moment, but Araki still had some hidden cards under his sleeve.

And, Hatake Sakumo let out a sigh after that explosion. This was a signal from Araki to him. In these years, he had asked Araki to not make his move against Konoha as long as he wanted to be his apprentice.

He couldn't really do anything about the Root ANBU going to Senju Clan Manor just to die. But, he could prevent Araki from personally getting rid.

But, this seems to have come to an end. This explosion meant that Araki believed he was strong enough to take on anyone in the village. That he would retaliate immediately if someone goes against him.

And he had an idea of who Araki's first target will be.