Orochimaru's Discovery

As for Danzo having Minato secretly watch him, Shiraishi chose not to confront Danzo directly.

Their partnership had always been mutually beneficial. Danzo used Shiraishi's help to become Hokage, while Shiraishi took advantage of Danzo's character to provoke a war.

In Shiraishi's eyes, Danzo was already a dead man. Once every last bit of value had been squeezed out of him, only one future awaited him: entering the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

Over the next few days, under Danzo's arrangements, Konoha maintained a relaxed appearance while tightening security behind the scenes, making its final preparations for the war against Hidden Cloud.

The Konoha forces stationed along the Iwagakure front had already withdrawn in an orderly fashion. As the leader of that front, Orochimaru returned to Konoha on the fifth day after the peace talks concluded.

Konoha gave Orochimaru's return with his troops the grandest welcome ceremony possible.

Although the village had won the war against Iwagakure, it had gained little in the way of tangible benefits. Combined with the heavy casualties among its shinobi, this had stirred some resentment toward the Hokage and the village leadership.

To boost morale—and, more importantly, to prepare for the coming clash with Hidden Cloud—Danzo made a grand spectacle of the welcome ceremony to lift the people's spirits.

Orochimaru had no interest in such a boisterous affair. After going through the motions, he took his leave early and returned to his experiments.

More than war or the village, Orochimaru's interest and energy lay in research, especially his pursuit of immortality.

Back in his laboratory, Orochimaru first inspected it carefully to make sure no one had broken in, then disposed of a large number of failed specimens.

After finishing, Orochimaru left the laboratory and secretly headed for the Underground Base of Root.

His purpose was simple. To restart his experiments, he needed a large amount of funding and test subjects, especially living ones.

And Danzo had always been Orochimaru's biggest benefactor and supporter. Under the pretext of researching Hashirama Cells and the Sharingan for Danzo, Orochimaru had swindled a vast amount of funding from him.

As soon as Orochimaru entered Root's Underground Base, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had returned to the base not long ago and was handling official business, received word of his arrival.

Hiruzen wasn't surprised by his disciple's visit. Before he and Danzo had switched bodies, he had already learned, as Hokage, that Orochimaru and Danzo were deeply entangled.

Setting down the scroll in his hands, Hiruzen waited for Orochimaru to arrive. He was also curious about how much the two had been working together, and how many forbidden experiments they had conducted behind his back.

Before long, Orochimaru entered the room.

He shut the door firmly, then approached Hiruzen, a somewhat perverse smile spreading across his face.

"Time to give me the next installment of funding."

Hiruzen stared at Orochimaru. Seeing his former beloved disciple become like this pained him.

If Hiruzen regretted anything, it was overlooking his disciple's changing state of mind after the Second War and then assigning him to Root to keep an eye on Danzo. That had been the decision he regretted most.

The secret collaboration between Danzo and Orochimaru could never see the light of day. So their dealings—especially the records of their experiments—had never been documented in Root's archives.

At Orochimaru's demand, Hiruzen furrowed his brow and deliberately replied in a displeased tone, "I need to see results."

"Isn't that child called 'Kinoe' proof of my success?" Orochimaru said, then extended his long, snake-like tongue and licked his lips.

After spending so many days in Danzo's body, Hiruzen had gradually learned more about Root. He knew which child Orochimaru meant, knew that the child possessed the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, and had inferred that Danzo and Orochimaru might be conducting experiments involving Hashirama Cells.

"One isn't enough. Besides, that child's Wood Release is nowhere near as powerful as the First's," Hiruzen retorted.

At that, the smile vanished from Orochimaru's face. His snake-like eyes fixed on Hiruzen, concealing a venomous glare.

"Don't be too greedy, Elder Danzo. You and I both know that before Kinoe, there had been no successful cases involving Hashirama Cells."

"How much more support do you need?" Hiruzen asked deliberately.

"Thirty million ryō, and at least ten shinobi," Orochimaru replied.

Hiruzen remained calm on the surface, but his heart jolted. That much money, and living human experiments too—how many things had Danzo and Orochimaru done behind his back?

"That's too much, Orochimaru," Hiruzen said with displeasure.

Orochimaru's lips curled. "I've already made considerable progress with Sharingan transplants. Are you planning to give up?"

The Sharingan? Hiruzen was even more shocked. He looked at his disciple before him, his heart filled with sorrow.

Where had his clever, well-behaved disciple gone?

Hiruzen did his best to control his expression, but Orochimaru still keenly noticed the sorrow that flickered in his eyes.

That look reminded Orochimaru of his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The discovery made Orochimaru wary. He tentatively asked, "Are those bodies ready?"

Orochimaru was asking about a secret known only to him and Danzo. The bodies he mentioned were connected to the village's Kekkei Genkai and Secret Techniques clans. If the truth came out, they would both be branded missing-nin of Konoha.

Hiruzen knew nothing about the matter and had no answer. He could only reply vaguely, "They're still being prepared."

Orochimaru's expression remained calm, but he understood. He had confirmed that the person before him wasn't Danzo.

This shinobi had actually dared to fool so many people in Konoha, right here in Root's Base, and impersonate Danzo.

His disguise was remarkable, and so was his nerve!

That thought stirred Orochimaru's interest. He didn't attack outright, but pretended not to have noticed and continued, "Is that so? Then don't keep me waiting too long."

"I'll get them to you as soon as I can. But the funding you just asked for is too much. The village is preparing to crush Hidden Cloud, so it can't spare that much money," Hiruzen said, going along with it.

"That's your problem, not mine. If the funding doesn't come through, all the experiments will have to stop," Orochimaru threatened.

"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen mimicked Danzo, slamming his palm on the desk as anger flashed across his face.

Orochimaru didn't take the impostor before him seriously. He had held back from exposing him because he wanted to see what the man was after.

He also wanted to find out where the real Danzo had gone.

Orochimaru turned and left without another word, acting as though Danzo was beneath his notice.

Hiruzen stood up and watched his disciple's retreating figure, his eyes clouded with mixed emotions.

Orochimaru opened the door. A Root shinobi hurried over and reported, "Lord Danzo, Lord Orochimaru, the Hokage is here."