Civilians in Konoha, forging their own paths

After entering the command tent, Orochimaru waved his hand to let his assistant leave, leaving only Orochimaru and Dihuangmaru in the tent!

"Senior Orochimaru, please prepare some food and tea for me before we talk. I haven't had anything hot for a long time!" Dihuangwan took off his mask and said embarrassedly.

Orochimaru shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, then called his assistant in and asked him to prepare some food for Dihuangmaru. Soon, hot meals and soup were brought in. The assistant left, and Orochimaru and Dihuangmaru were the only ones left in the tent.

Watching Dihuangwan wolfing down his meal, Orochimaru did not laugh at the way he ate, because as they were both fighting on the battlefield, Orochimaru knew how rare it was for the soldiers to have a hot meal!

After Dihuang Wan had his fill, Orochimaru poured a cup of tea for Dihuang Wan and himself, and then they sat facing each other! Only then did their conversation officially begin!

"Mr. Dihuangmaru, the battle between Jiraiya, Tsunade, and I and the Salamander Hanzo and the battle between you and the Salamander Hanzo should have taken place on the same day!" said Orochimaru.

"Yes, when I was fighting with Hanzo of the Salamander, he mentioned the battle with the three predecessors and asked me to be prepared for death!" Dihuangwan didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, so he didn't tell the whole truth and didn't mention that he had secretly watched the entire process of the Three Ninjas' famous battle.

"I didn't expect that the three of us would be in such a mess at the hands of Salamander Hanzo, but Dihuangmaru-kun fought him to that extent! I went to see the Little Water God Lake you left behind later! Dihuangmaru-kun, I have to say, your strength shocked me!" Orochimaru took a sip of tea and said slowly.

Although his speech was slow, one could still hear the unrest in his heart from his words!

"Lord Orochimaru, there is no need to be so modest! The fight between me and Hanzo of the Salamander was only carried out after you had consumed a large amount of his chakra. You were facing Hanzo of the Salamander in his prime! Moreover, although the Water God Palm attack changed the terrain, it did not cause any damage to Hanzo of the Salamander. My chakra was also completely consumed. I lost the strength to fight again, and could only retreat!" Dihuangwan was telling the truth.

Orochimaru looked at Dihuangwan deeply. He could see that Dihuangwan was very calm, without a trace of pride or arrogance.

He was wondering, if he were to face Salamander Hanzo alone and achieve the same result as Dihuangwan, would he be able to keep a calm mind like Dihuangwan? His answer was, probably not!

To be honest, Orochimaru was a little jealous of Dihuangmaru at this time. He was not jealous of his battle record, but jealous of his mentality. This is the true heart of a strong man!

"With Dihuangwan-kun's current strength, I'm afraid he will be qualified to run for the position of Hokage after the war is over!" Orochimaru suddenly said this, and then stared at Dihuangwan intently, as if he wanted to see Dihuangwan's true thoughts.

"No!" Without any hesitation, Dihuang Wan responded directly!

"I have no intention of running for Hokage! To me, the Hokage is a bondage, I just want to be myself!" Dihuangwan said.

Orochimaru obviously did not expect Dihuangwan to answer so straightforwardly. He thought that Dihuangwan would think carefully before answering.

"What about Orochimaru-senpai? Do you want to become Hokage?!" Before Orochimaru could ask again, Dihuangmaru asked back.

"Me?" Orochimaru was stunned and hesitated.

Does he want to? He wants to! At least now, he wants to!

After taking a sip of tea, Orochimaru said, "My strength is not enough to be nominated on the list of candidates for Hokage."

Dihuangwan saw through it but didn't say anything. He also took a sip of tea and said, "If Senior Orochimaru wants to, maybe I will support it!"

Orochimaru was startled. Looking at Dihuangwan's serious expression, he drank two sips of tea, suppressed his anxiety, and said, "Dihuangwan-kun is really a joker. The Third Hokage is in his prime. As his disciple, I am still far from being as good as him!"

"However, I will remember what Dihuangmaru said!" Orochimaru smiled.

Orochimaru knew that if he had a Kage-level strongman supporting him, it would be a great help. At that time, with the support of his teacher, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, he would have a great chance of succeeding the position of Hokage!

"Haha, of course, I think Senior Orochimaru is more suitable for that position in all aspects! Now that you are in the position of commander-in-chief of the northern front, I'm afraid this is the training of you by the Third Hokage! You know, as three of the three ninjas, Senior Jiraiya and Senior Tsunade have not yet reached the position of commander-in-chief!" Dihuangmaru said.

Tsunade is just a deputy, dealing with the Sand Village poison problem. Don’t even mention Jiraiya, he’s in the Rain Country taking care of the kids!

Orochimaru was very pleased with Dihuangwan's words. Now he is not as cunning as in the anime timeline!

Orochimaru felt that the two of them were having a very pleasant conversation!

"Mr. Dihuangmaru, this is the transfer order given to you by the Third Hokage. Please take a look at it first!" said Orochimaru.

Dihuang Wan took the scroll and read it. Inside was a letter of appointment appointing himself as the deputy commander of the northern line.

"I didn't expect that the Third Hokage would trust me so much and let me be the deputy commander. As your deputy, I hope you will give me some advice!" Dihuangwan said to Orochimaru.

"Mr. Dihuangmaru is too modest. I know that the Third Hokage gave you three choices. One of them was to join the United Front Department to be trained as a think tank, military strategist and commander!" said Orochimaru.

"I didn't expect that senior even knew this!" Dihuang Wan was a little surprised.

"Of course, when you joined the Anbu, you wanted to join my team. I didn't expect that the teacher changed his mind and let you join the Anbu team directly under the Hokage!" Orochimaru's tone was full of resentment towards the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen. It was obvious that he was very dissatisfied with his teacher's sudden change of mind!

"So that's how it is! I didn't expect there were so many stories behind my original choice! However, I benefited a lot from those years in the Anbu. No matter what, I have to thank the Third Generation!" Dihuangwan said.

"But Dihuangmaru, I'm very curious about your strength now, and I want to fight with you in person!" Orochimaru said, sticking out his tongue.

"No problem, but let's wait until tomorrow. As your deputy, I don't know much about the current battlefield situation on the northern front. Please tell me about the current situation first!" Dihuangwan did not refuse Orochimaru's invitation to compete, but postponed it to tomorrow.

"Okay! Hmm? That's not right! It was obviously you, Dihuangwan, who was late for half a month. How come now it's me who is delaying you from understanding the battlefield situation?!" Orochimaru suddenly realized that he had not yet blamed Dihuangwan for being late!

“Hahahaha!” Dihuang Wan had no choice but to respond with his signature silly smile, trying to get away with it!

"Since I want to tell you about the battlefield situation, then call all the people in the command center in and talk about it together, so that you can understand it more comprehensively!" Orochimaru said.

A moment later, Orochimaru summoned his assistants and military advisers into the tent, and Dihuangmaru participated in the first combat meeting of his life.