Chapter 21

(MC POV)

Jiraiya reverse summons back to Konohagakure and the smile on my face relaxes back into it's normal position. Thankfully I managed to scare him away otherwise he definitely would have found the massive amount of nature energy being created in Dakubon Pit. This isn't the right time to expose my plans to build an artificial sage region otherwise Hiruzen will definitely interfere and question what I'm doing, he might even send me to guard some military post somewhere remote on the border of the land of Fire.

Every S-Rank shinobi in Konohagakure has their own small force or some type of high position within the political sphere. Hiruzen is the 3rd Hokage and commands the Anbu as well as the Sarutobi clan. Danzo is the leader of Root and has a tight grip on the civilian council and is head of the Shimura clan. Tsunade is the only remnant of the Senju clan, one of the founding clans of Konohagakure and is the only current summoner of Katsuyu, the leader of Shikkotsu Forest, one of the three sage regions.

Orochimaru is the only current summoner of Ryuchi Cave and is the summoner of Manda, a legendary summon on the same level of strength as Katsuyu and Gamabunta, he also has a close connection to Danzo as well as Hiruzen. Jiraiya is the only summoner of Mount Myoboku and the only summoner of Gamabunta, he also has a close connection to the 3rd Hokage. These S-Rank shinobi are all tied to one another through some type of emotional bond.

Hiruzen and Danzo are old friends and teammates under Tobirama. Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya are teammates under Hiruzen. The only S-Rank in the history of Konohagakure who isn't tightly connected with one of the political leaders was Sakumo. He didn't have his own force or high standing within the village, he was popular among the common people but the common people aren't the ones in power. Now he is dead due to a political scheme from Danzo and the only thing that he's remembered for is being a failure of a shinobi who committed suicide out of shame.

I don't have any influence in Konohagakure, this is a very big problem. The best way to stabilize my position in Konoha is to make allies. The current options aren't very good, realistically I can only either side with Danzo or Hiruzen. Out of the two I'd prefer to ally with Danzo, Hiruzen simply won't allow me to do the things I want while Danzo has no bottom line in the things he's willing to do.

As long as I don't try to destroy Konohagakure and give him a piece of the rewards from my research he won't care about what I'm doing. I need to stall for time untill I gain ownership of this village and the land where I'm building Dakubon Pit. I've already managed to convince the clan heads by paying them with some of the loot I stole from the land of Water and now I only need the permission from the Fire Daimyo.

Untill then I can't let Jiraiya stay here so I made him go on a wild goose chase looking for Orochimaru. Thankfully it worked and he ran off, from his facial muscles I could tell that he was surprised I can absorb nature energy. I only needed to act extremely arrogant and cold and he immediately assumed I had learned snake sage mode from Ryuchi Cave. By the time he realizes I was intentionally fucking with him and that I don't know sage mode I'll already have taken complete ownership of this village and Hiruzen will be able to do nothing about it.

Of course this also exposes my strength but that can work in and against my favor. My worth to the village is greater than the three legendary sanin so Hiruzen will be more inclined to give more benefits to me. However Hiruzen also doesn't trust me as much as any of the other S-Rank shinobi in the village so I'll be ostracized in terms of important missions as well as information.

I know Hiruzen's personality well, he's a kind old men weathered by losses and pain. Most of his children have died in war and he feels a deep connection to the people of Konohagakure. The man is a pacifist and doesn't like fighting or war and sympathizes with the common people who suffer due to the actions of the higher ups. This causes him to have a type of conundrum when war does occur and he wins. The peasants suffer, completely powerless to the ninja who dictate their lives, this is a fact throughout all the five great nations.

When the time for discussing treaties and land disputes comes he will always give in to the other side. This is not the result of stupidity or idiocy but his kindness towards all life. Hiruzen knows that people will suffer, whether it's from his side or the enemies. So instead of taking advantage of being the winner he always spares his opponents, he doesn't want to take away the lives of the innocent or harm their already miserable lives.

To put it simply this man doesn't have any care for money or power, he only wants to protect his family, Konohagakure, and protect the people of this world from the atrocities of war that plagues us to this day. Due to this he won't argue with Onoki or the 3rd Raikage, there simply isn't any reason to him for why he should. In the eyes of the other nations they most likely see Hiruzen as weak but I most certainly don't. If Konohagakure was ever destroyed, the people of the land of Fire in danger of being exterminated. I have no doubt Hiruzen take the risk of going directly up to the other four Kage and kill every one of them, even at the cost of his own life.

Every person who has made it to the level of S-Rank is incredibly interesting to me. Their philosophies are so unique and different from the average perspective that they make me think over my own experiences in life in different ways. People are far more complex than some character you see on screen, I came here expecting that, but even so I've been blinded by my own bias and have failed to see things through like how I always should when assessing a person.