Leaving

After a few hours, the Hokage arranged a meeting with Jiraiya.

This was a meeting Jiraiya had requested. Quite curious to hear what his student wanted, the Hokage readily allowed it.

"Sensei, what do you plan to do about Orochimaru? He has left the village, and one of my contacts picked up that he was near Kumo a few days earlier." Jiraiya started the meeting with a grave voice.

The Hokage's eyes widened with surprise. He had indeed not been able to find that intelligent student of his. So… This was the reason. Moreover, near Kumo? He didn't doubt the information Jiraiya provided him.

He was aware that Jiraiya may have many faults, but he wouldn't lie about something which endangered the village.

"Did he mention anything to you before he left the village? Is he on a spy mission?" As he didn't receive an answer for a period, Jiraiya continued.

"Keep tracks of him. If you find out that he has betrayed Konoha, show him no mercy!" Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a bone-chilling voice.

Jiraiya was a little startled before he nodded his head.

"Alright… But there was another thing I want to tell you, Sensei." Jiraiya's voice was quite light-hearted at the moment, so the Third Hokage relaxed a little.

"Speak."

"I will be sending my apprentice, Minato to Ame. But… not as a part of the elite shinobi that you are sending. Meaning, he won't be accepting any orders from Hanzo."

The Third Hokage raised one of his eyebrows in question, but he didn't interrupt Jiraiya. He was waiting for him to finish speaking.

"He will be managing my spy network inside Ame. I want to mould him into a spy-master for Konoha." Jiraiya finished speaking soon enough.

These words did make the Third Hokage fall in deep thought.

This wasn't a bad proposal; the boy was smart and mature from a young age; he was also quite powerful for his age-group. If this boy started to meet Jiraya's contacts in Ame, there would eventually be someone other than Jiraiya who would have some hold of his network.

Currently, even the Third Hokage had little to no idea about Jiraiya's spy network. The code words they used or anything else. It would be better to prepare in case Jiraiya was unavailable for some reason, or something happened to Jiraiya.

"Alright, you have my approval." The Third Hokage accepted readily.

"Thanks, Sensei." With that, Jiraiya jumped out of the window. A tick mark appeared on the Third Hokage's head as he saw Jiraiya using a window instead of the door.

Before he could even shout at his student, Jiraiya had disappeared.

As Jiraiya left, the Hokage murmured with a low voice, "Orochimaru…"

Orochimaru was his disciple in which the Third Hokage took the most pride. It was because this disciple was the most cunning out of the three he had taught. The Third Hokage had spent a lot of time in moulding Orochimaru into the next Hokage after himself.

However, he had slowly realised that Orochimaru held no loyalty for Konoha. No… It would be better to say he was just apathetic towards it. He felt neither love nor hate for Konoha. Orochimaru just felt that it was convenient for himself to stay there. After having realised Orochimaru's feelings towards Konoha, the Third Hokage had given up on handing over the seat of Hokage to him.

Now, he was looking for another successor. The only one who fitted the current description would be Jiraiya, the toad sage, Tsunade, the Slug Sannin, and Hatae Sakumo, the White Fang.

However, he also held a glimmer of hope in some young talent rising up with strong power, someone who could be entrusted as the leader of Konoha.

Meanwhile, after having met up with the Third Hokage, Jiraiya had come to the Senju Clan Manor to meet up with Araki.

He informed him of his conversation with the Third Hokage.

Upon hearing the entire story, Araki scowled in response, and he said, "Why did you go and tell that old fool about it? I think you should be aware of how much I hate that monkey by now."

Jiraiya looked into Araki's eyes and said strongly, "Araki, I think you should keep better control over your emotions. I know you hate sensei, but remember that you can't allow it to influence your thinking or future decisions. It is unbecoming of a leader."

Araki quietly listened to Jiraiya's words. He knew the man was right. Since the day he had met that old monkey, he would get angry just by hearing his name or his title.

"Alright…" He softly muttered while accepting Jiraiya's advice.

To this, Jiraiya was lightly surprised. He was expecting an outburst from Araki. It went far too smoothly that he had trouble believing his eyes.

"Anyway, I guess I will tell you of the reason as well. As you know, Minato wants to become a future Hokage." Araki nodded at this statement.

"I have been aware that Sensei was personally moulding Orochimaru to inherit his position after him. However, now that Orochimaru has now left the village, sensei would naturally start thinking of other people for the Hokage's post. I think he might be considering my name, Sakumo's name, or even Tsunade-Hime's name. However, he is unlikely to make any decision until he feels his power slipping. And for that to happen, another decade would pass."

To this, Araki simply snorted and thought 'He definitely won't be alive to see the next decade! Not if I can help it!'

Although these were the thoughts in Araki's head, he didn't interrupt Jiraiya. Jiraiya continued from where he left off, "I wanted to give a hint to Sensei that Minato could grow up to be a reliable person who could be handed the seat of Hokage."

Araki rolled his eyes in response after Jiraiya finished speaking, "By that time, the Third Hokage would be long buried in the ground. I would have enough of a say in who becomes the Hokage. You could have left it to me, you know."

To this, Jiraiya shrugged and replied, "I must do all I can for my apprentice."

"Alright. Was that all you said to him? You didn't mention anything about a Senju Clan Member joining Minato, right?" Araki knew Jiraiya wouldn't be so stupid to mention that, but it never hurt to ask.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't mention anything about the Senju Clan." Jiraiya waved off Araki's worries quite casually.

Araki then asked Jiraiya, "So, what are you planning on doing now? I don't think the Hokage set you free from any duties."

"Yeah… Sensei has told me to keep track of Orochimaru's trails and find out if he betrayed Konoha or not. If Orochimaru has indeed betrayed Konoha, then I must show him no mercy when dealing with him."

Araki gave him a smile, "That's relieving. It means Orochimaru won't die any time soon…"

After they concluded their conversation, Jiraiya met up with Minato and informed him of a few things before leaving Konoha.

Minato and Uzumaki Isao left for Ame soon enough.

And as for Araki? He left Konoha, leaving Kushina and Tsunade in charge of the Senju Clan Manor. He was sure that Kushina and Tsunade would be able to keep the Senju Clan Manor safe in his absence.