Orochimaru's Discovery

Regarding Danzo having Minato secretly monitor him, Shiraishi chose not to confront Danzo directly.

The cooperation between the two was based on mutual exploitation; Danzo used Shiraishi's help to become Hokage, while Shiraishi used Danzo's personality to incite war.

In Shiraishi's eyes, Danzo was already a dead man. Once his value had been squeezed dry, only one future awaited him: being consigned to the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

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

The Konoha troops stationed toward the Hidden Stone had already withdrawn in an orderly fashion. As the leader of that front, Orochimaru returned to Konoha five days after the peace talks concluded.

For this return of Orochimaru's forces, Konoha held a welcome ceremony of the highest caliber.

Although the village had won the war against the Hidden Stone, it had not gained many practical benefits. Coupled with the heavy casualties among the ninja, there was some resentment within the village toward the Hokage and the high-ranking officials.

To boost morale, and even more so to prepare for the battle with the Hidden Cloud, Danzo held this grand welcome ceremony to stir up public sentiment.

Orochimaru was not interested in such a boisterous scene. After responding with perfunctory cooperation, he took his leave early and returned to his laboratory.

Compared to war or the village, Orochimaru's interests and energy were entirely focused on scientific research, especially his pursuit of immortality.

Back in the laboratory, Orochimaru first carefully inspected the area to ensure no one had intruded, then cleared out a large number of failed samples.

After finishing this, Orochimaru left the laboratory and secretly headed to the underground base of Root.

Orochimaru's purpose for this trip was simple: to restart his experiments, he needed significant funding and experimental materials, especially living subjects.

Danzo had always been Orochimaru's biggest patron and supporter; he had swindled a massive amount of funding from Danzo under the guise of researching Hashirama Cells and the Sharingan for him.

As soon as Orochimaru entered the underground base of Root, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had returned to the base shortly before, received word while processing affairs.

Facing his disciple's arrival, Hiruzen Sarutobi was not surprised. Before swapping bodies with Danzo, he, as Hokage, had already grasped intelligence regarding the deep ties between Orochimaru and Danzo.

Setting down the scroll in his hand, Hiruzen Sarutobi waited for Orochimaru's arrival. He was also curious: just how much cooperation had there been between Danzo and Orochimaru? How many forbidden experiments had the two conducted behind his back?

Not long after, Orochimaru entered the room.

Closing the door tightly, Orochimaru approached Hiruzen Sarutobi, a slightly perverted smile appearing on his face.

"It is time to give me the next round of funding."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently at Orochimaru. Seeing his former beloved disciple turned into this state, he felt a deep ache in his heart.

If there was anything Hiruzen Sarutobi regretted, it was that after the Second Great Ninja War, he had overlooked his disciple's psychological changes and even arranged for him to enter Root to monitor Danzo—a decision that could be called his greatest regret.

The secret cooperation between Danzo and Orochimaru could not see the light of day. Therefore, the matters of their collaboration, especially records regarding the experiments, were not documented in the files kept by Root.

Facing Orochimaru's demand, Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned slightly and deliberately spoke in a tone of dissatisfaction: "I need to see results."

"Isn't that child called 'Kinoe' my result?" After Orochimaru finished speaking, his long, snake-like tongue flicked out to lick his lips.

Having swapped identities for so many days, Hiruzen Sarutobi's understanding of Root had gradually improved. He knew who the child Orochimaru spoke of was, knew that the child possessed the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, and inferred from this that Danzo and Orochimaru were likely conducting experiments involving Hashirama Cells.

"One is not enough, and that child's Wood Release is far inferior to the First Hokage," Hiruzen Sarutobi retorted.

Hearing this, the smile on Orochimaru's face vanished. His snake-like eyes stared at Hiruzen Sarutobi with hidden malice.

"Do not be too greedy, Elder Danzo. You and I both know that before Kinoe, there were no successful cases of Hashirama Cells."

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

"Thirty million ryo, and at least ten ninja," Orochimaru said.

Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was shaken. With so much money involved, and living experiments to boot, just how much had Danzo and Orochimaru hidden from him?

"That is too much, Orochimaru," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with dissatisfaction.

Orochimaru curled his lips, threateningly saying: "I have already made significant progress regarding the transplantation of the Sharingan. Are you prepared to give that up?"

Sharingan? Hiruzen Sarutobi was even more shocked internally. He looked at the disciple before him, filled with grief.

Where had his once clever and sensible disciple gone?

Hiruzen Sarutobi tried his best to restrain the changes in his expression, but Orochimaru keenly noticed the look of grief that flashed in his eyes.

That look reminded Orochimaru of his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

This discovery made Orochimaru raise his guard. He tentatively asked: "Are those corpses prepared?"

The question Orochimaru asked was a secret known only to him and Danzo. The corpses he referred to involved the village's Kekkei Genkai and secret ninja clans; once exposed, both of them would become rogue ninja of Konoha.

Facing this question, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was unaware of the truth, could not answer. He could only choose to use vague terms: "Still in preparation."

Hearing the answer, Orochimaru's expression remained flat, but he understood perfectly in his heart. He had already determined that the person before him was not Danzo.

This ninja before him actually dared to deceive so many people in Konoha and within the Root base by impersonating Danzo.

This fellow, whether in terms of disguise technique or sheer nerve, was quite something!

Thinking of this, a spark of interest rose in Orochimaru. He did not strike immediately, but instead pretended not to have noticed, continuing: "Is that so? Then do not keep me waiting too long."

"I will get them to you as soon as possible. But as for the funding just now, you asked for too much. The village is currently preparing to crush the Hidden Cloud and cannot spare that much capital," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, following the flow of the conversation.

"That is your problem, not mine. If the funding is not in place, all experiments will have to stop," Orochimaru threatened.

"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen Sarutobi imitated Danzo's manner, slamming the table with a flash of anger on his face.

Orochimaru did not take this fake before him seriously. He had not exposed him yet simply because he wanted to see what this guy was trying to do.

At the same time, he wanted to know where the real Danzo had gone.

Orochimaru turned and left directly, acting as if he did not hold Danzo in any regard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up, watching his disciple's retreating figure, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

As Orochimaru opened the door, a Root ninja hurried over and reported: "Lord Danzo, Lord Orochimaru, the Hokage has arrived."