"You should have already received the news sent from the village."
Orochimaru raised his hand to pour a cup of tea and pushed it toward Uchiha Gen, who had just stepped through the door.
"Yes, it seems Orochimaru-sensei's guess regarding the identity of the enemy who struck this time is the same as mine."
The moment Uchiha Gen saw Orochimaru's expression, he instantly knew that the latter already knew the inside story.
The two of them were the only ones in this office, which was also the command center with the strongest defensive forces in the entire fortress. The master and disciple could therefore speak their minds freely.
"Familiar with the Uchiha, possessing powerful infiltration and stealth abilities, and targeting the Sharingan—this is cut from the exact same cloth as that mastermind who stabbed you in the back long ago."
Orochimaru narrowed his slender eyes, and a brown python slithered out from his sleeve.
The snake opened its mouth and, using its long tongue, rolled out and spat out a glass jar, inside of which was sealed precisely the White Zetsu finger Uchiha Gen had obtained back then.
"It seems he thinks it's no longer feasible to strike at me, so he has changed targets and begun executing another set of plans."
Uchiha Gen's gaze was calm as he picked up the tea cup from the table and drank it down in one gulp.
"Based on the testing results of the cells on this severed finger, that unknown creature you mentioned possesses DNA identical in every way to the First Hokage's. Before the outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War, I participated as a researcher in the Wood Release resurrection project secretly launched by the Anbu, and I came into contact with the First Hokage's cells.
Even though this experiment