The domineering Uchiha drove the Third Hokage mad!

Chapter 541 Orochimaru suffers a brutal backstab from Hiruzen Sarutobi

The base of the tree was dark and gloomy, filled with a chilling atmosphere.

Danzo Shimura strode to the desk, picked up the brush and ink, and began to write with swift, flying strokes of his fingertips.

The pen tip scratched across the paper, making a "shush" sound. The letter detailed Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan, and the tone was full of provocation, every word stirring up Orochimaru's anger.

"You made Orochimaru relinquish the credit and support Minato Namikaze to fight against Fugaku Uchiha. Hiruzen, you're really ruthless!" Danzo muttered, his eyes filled with malice.

After writing the letter, Danzo carefully folded it, put it into a sealed envelope, and handed it to the Root ninja who was waiting nearby.

The ninja was dressed in black, with a mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of cold, lifeless eyes. He remained silent, like a tool without any emotion.

"Go to the Sand Village battlefield and personally deliver this information to Orochimaru. It must not pass through anyone else's hands!"

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

The Root ninja bowed slightly, accepted the envelope with both hands, and without saying a word, his figure instantly transformed into a black shadow and disappeared into the dark base.

Silence returned to the root office.

Danzo Shimura sat alone at his desk, muttering to himself, "Orochimaru, you always thought Hiruzen Sarutobi valued you the most, that he would wholeheartedly support you. But you didn't know that he had been scheming against you, using you, and treating you as a pawn in his power balance!"

"Now that you know his scheme, that he's going to sacrifice your achievements to support Minato Namikaze, an outsider, what will you choose?"

"Will you choose to endure and retreat, continuing to be a docile pawn in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands, letting him manipulate you? Or will you choose to resist, join forces with me, reclaim everything that belongs to you, ascend the throne of the Fourth Hokage, suppress the Uchiha clan together, and seize control of Konoha?"

Danzo Shimura knew that Orochimaru was obsessive and absolutely could not tolerate being schemed against by someone close to him.

Once Orochimaru learns the truth, he will surely become enemies with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

At that time, Konoha will fall into internal strife, and he only needs to sit back and reap the benefits to gradually seize control of Konoha, realize his long-held ambition, and become the true ruler of Konoha.

At this moment, the Sand Village battlefield was filled with sand and dust.

When Orochimaru received the letter, he was standing in a makeshift office set up on the battlefield of Sunagakure.

He slowly took the envelope from the Root ninja, gently stroking the seal on it, and then slowly unfolded the secret letter sent by Danzo.

His narrow eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze slowly swept over every word in the letter. There was no anger or astonishment on his face, but rather a faint, cold, and eerie smile. As his gaze moved, the smile grew even colder.

In fact, the seed of suspicion had been planted in his heart long before Minato Namikaze led his team on their long journey to the Sand Village battlefield to provide support. However, he had never found any evidence and was unwilling to believe that his most respected teacher would scheme against him.

At this point, he was locked in a stalemate with Sunagakure. Although he was occasionally struggling, he was by no means at the point where he could not continue.

Minato Namikaze's appearance was so timely that it made him suspicious.

Now that Danzo's secret letter was in his hands, every word confirmed his previous suspicions. His long-held doubts were instantly confirmed, and the coldness and anger in his heart gradually spread.

"Hehehe, teacher, you've finally decided to try and take advantage of me."

Orochimaru spoke slowly, as if he had anticipated all of this, but deep in his eyes was the anger of being betrayed by someone close to him.

He was well aware of the layout of the major battlefields. The Cloud Hidden Battlefield was located on the eastern border of the Land of Fire, while the Mist Hidden Battlefield was adjacent to the south side of the Cloud Hidden Battlefield. The two places were only a few hundred kilometers apart, and with Minato Namikaze's speed, he could arrive in just half a day, which would be more than enough to support the Mist Hidden Battlefield.

Logically, after signing a ceasefire agreement with Kumogakure and quelling the war on the eastern front, Minato Namikaze's most important task should have been to immediately lead his troops to support the Kirigakure battlefield, alleviate the pressure on the western front, reduce the casualties and losses of Konoha ninjas, and end the war as soon as possible. This would have been the choice that best served Konoha's interests, and it would have been the choice that any ninja with a broad perspective would have made.

However, Minato Namikaze did the opposite. Instead of taking the nearby Hidden Mist battlefield, he led his squad across the entire Land of Fire to the Hidden Sand battlefield in the west, which was nearly a thousand miles away. This was completely illogical.

This seemingly illogical action, in retrospect, was entirely a deliberate arrangement by Hiruzen Sarutobi. The purpose was to allow Minato Namikaze to bask in the glory of the Sunagakure battlefield, making up for his shortcomings on the Kumogakure battlefield, and paving the way for his future competition for the Fourth Hokage.

Orochimaru was merely a pawn in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands, used to support Minato Namikaze.

Orochimaru's eyes glistened with tears... He lost both his parents at a young age and had been following Hiruzen Sarutobi since he was six... He never imagined that one day he would be betrayed by the teacher he trusted most.

He raised his hand to the windowsill, his fingers tracing the cool wood grain. His narrow eyes were half-closed, the gloom in them like an impenetrable mist, as he stared intently at the distant horizon. The cold, faint smile on his lips grew increasingly eerie.

"Hehehe... Teacher, you've rotted in the mire of power, long forgotten your original aspirations, forgotten how you taught us back then, and forgotten the ninjas who were supposed to protect Konoha."

His tearful eyes shimmered with an all-knowing indifference and heartache, and his fingers tightened, leaving a shallow mark on the wooden window sill.

In his view, Hiruzen Sarutobi's so-called "for the sake of Konoha" was nothing more than an excuse for his obsession with power and unwillingness to let go, a fig leaf he used to cover up his hypocrisy and selfishness.

In order to suppress the Uchiha clan, to support the obedient and docile Minato Namikaze, and to continue to control Konoha, he did not hesitate to scheme against his closest disciple, sacrificing the achievements he had earned through bloody battles, and sacrificing the blood and lives of the ninjas under his command.

This hypocrisy and selfishness made him increasingly disgusted, and also made him see Hiruzen Sarutobi's true colors.

"You keep saying I'm paranoid, that I'm crazy, but the truly paranoid one... has always been you... my dear teacher..." Orochimaru spoke slowly, his voice laced with a cold laugh, the sinister look in his eyes growing ever stronger.

"You fear the Uchiha will seize power, you fear my achievements will overshadow your authority, and you fear I will threaten your power in the future. So you try every means to weaken everyone's edge and suppress anyone who might threaten you, leaving only the docile and obedient Minato Namikaze, who listens to your every word, at your mercy!"

Orochimaru slowly withdrew his hand from the windowsill. The coolness of his palm spread from his skin to his heart, but it also suppressed the anger of being schemed against and betrayed. His narrow eyes regained some of their calmness, but the sinister look deep in his eyes had not faded at all.

He turned around, walked slowly to the desk, and tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop with a steady and slow rhythm. Each tap was like weighing the next move in a game of chess, and each tap was filled with cold calculation.

On one side is Hiruzen Sarutobi's scheming, Danzo's instigation, and the undercurrents surrounding the position of the Fourth Hokage.

With the battle in Sunagakure still raging and him caught between two enemies, he had no time to panic. He had to calm his offended emotions and sort out his thoughts before he could deal with this double predicament and protect his achievements and ambitions.

Orochimaru lowered his eyes and looked at the battlefield intelligence report of Sunagakure spread out on the table. He lightly stroked the words on the report, and the past and present situation of Sunagakure flashed through his mind. The calculation in his eyes became clearer and clearer.

During the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, Sunagakure was attacked twice by Konoha, suffering heavy losses and severely weakening its strength. It could only retreat to the Land of Wind to recuperate and never had the opportunity to take revenge.

This time, they took advantage of the fact that Konoha was besieged by Kumogakure and Iwagakure and was short-handed, so they dared to take the opportunity to attack the western border of the Land of Fire, hoping to make a fortune and avenge their grievances.

Now that the battles in Kumogakure and Iwagakure have ended, Konoha's main force may rush to the west to provide reinforcements at any time. Once Sunagakure learns of this, it will surely be filled with fear and will soon abandon its attack and flee back to the Land of Wind.

"But what should we do next? While Sunagakure is retreating, should we organize a force to hunt them down and completely crush them?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, tapping his fingers lightly on the table as he fell into deep thought.

The Sand Village has repeatedly offended Konoha. If we just let them retreat safely, it would be too easy on them.

If he could severely damage Sunagakure at this time, or even capture Rasa and his wife, this achievement would be enough to allow him to compete with Fugaku Uchiha and Minato Namikaze for the position of Fourth Hokage and firmly grasp the initiative.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he dismissed it. He knew perfectly well that his current situation made a hasty pursuit unwise.

Orochimaru slowly stood up, walked to the tent entrance, and looked towards the direction of the Sand Village camp in the distant desert, his expression becoming increasingly solemn.

The wind and sand tousled his long hair, but it did not affect his thoughts at all. His gaze seemed to penetrate the wind and sand and see everything in the Sand Village camp.

He knew perfectly well that his ninjas were already at their last gasp. The fierce battles of the past few days had left Konoha ninjas with heavy casualties, and most of the remaining men were wounded, greatly reducing their fighting strength.

It's already incredibly difficult to hold our ground and fend off sporadic attacks from Sunagakure; organizing a sufficiently powerful pursuit force is simply a pipe dream.

Moreover, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa and his wife Karura are both skilled in Magnet Release, which combines offense and defense, has an extremely wide range, and is incredibly lethal. Defeating them is by no means an easy task.

If they were to pursue them relentlessly, they might not be able to seriously injure Sunagakure, but instead they could put themselves on the defensive and be attacked by the remaining forces of Sunagakure, causing Konoha ninjas to suffer heavy casualties again.

In that case, he will not only fail to gain merit, but will also be accused of command error, which would be a loss for him.