Not Enough Nutrients, Feed Them Criminals

The joy that the peace treaty brought to Konoha gradually faded as time passed.

When the specific details of the treaty spread among the villagers and ninjas, that joy vanished completely, and resentment began to fester in the shadows.

Konoha had won the war against the Hidden Stone, but as the victor, Konoha had received almost no compensation.

This result left the low-level villagers dissatisfied, the mid-level ninja clans complaining, and the Konoha high command under immense pressure.

Konoha had lost a large number of ninjas in this war; the dead needed pensions, their descendants needed care, and those disabled ninjas required long-term subsidies.

Not to mention the ninja clans who had contributed the most—these clans, having sacrificed many of their own to achieve great merit for the village, were equally eager for financial compensation after the war.

Each of these expenses required an astronomical sum of money.

Three years of war had not only drained Konoha's economic reserves but also left the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, who had been continuously transfusing funds to the village, unable to provide any further financial support.

Under these circumstances, with no compensation coming from the Hidden Stone, it was clear that for the next few years, the ninjas and villagers of Konoha would have to endure hardship.

Perhaps many low-level villagers and ninjas could not foresee such a long-term predicament, but through the propaganda of certain interested parties, rumors that the village would have to tighten its belt and live through hard times began to spread.

For a time, Konoha was rife with undercurrents and growing resentment.

Facing such a situation, Danzo, who had now reincarnated as the Hokage, remained as steady as Mount Tai, showing no signs of anxiety.

As for the reason, it was quite simple.

These leaked treaty details and the rumors spread by interested parties were all intentionally arranged by Danzo.

He wanted to stir up the resentment of the ninjas and villagers first, making them understand that their interests were about to be harmed, and then redirect all their anger and demands toward the external threat of the Hidden Cloud.

If they wanted to obtain sufficient economic compensation, ensure the interests of their clans, and prevent their future lives from being affected, then they had to unite, act in concert against the outside, defeat their final enemy, the Hidden Cloud, and recover all their losses from them.

This was Danzo's plan; it was not profound, but it was an absolutely practical arrangement for manipulating the hearts of men.

Shiraishi did not participate in Danzo's schemes; he had guessed the plan simply by observing the village rumors and a few subtle clues.

Regarding this, Shiraishi did not pay much attention. For Danzo and for the war, Shiraishi only wanted a result, not the process.

This was also the reason why Shiraishi chose to support Danzo rather than seizing the body of the Third Hokage or the future Fourth Hokage himself.

Managing an organization and plotting a war required too much energy and time.

He was a cultivator, a demonic cultivator, not some ambitious careerist; what he wanted was the massive amount of souls brought by war, not the direct rule of a ninja village or a country.

Now, most of Shiraishi's energy was focused on Orochimaru's experiments.

Under the temptation of immortality, Orochimaru had temporarily halted all his other research, pouring all his time and energy into the cloning experiment.

Just as Orochimaru had initially judged, cloning Shiraishi's body from this strand of essence blood was extremely difficult.

In one week, all of Orochimaru's multiple attempts ended in failure.

Fortunately, every failure brought Orochimaru more experience.

After spending a full week and failing dozens of times, Orochimaru's experiment finally met with success.

Upon receiving the message, Shiraishi arrived at Orochimaru's secret laboratory immediately.

Inside a cylindrical cultivation tank filled with transparent green liquid, Shiraishi saw the successfully cultivated embryo.

Orochimaru stood beside the tank, explaining the situation to Shiraishi.

"The blood you provided is very..." Orochimaru paused to find the right word, then said, "Miraculous!"

"In my view, it and the cells left behind by the First Hokage are simply two extremes."

Speaking of these studies, Orochimaru radiated a unique brilliance, his eyes filled with an indescribable fanaticism.

Shiraishi did not speak; he listened silently to Orochimaru's introduction, his eyes fixed on the embryo in the tank.

"Hashirama Cells possess extremely vigorous vitality. Once they come into contact with nutrients or enter a living body, they divide and propagate continuously; such vitality is unprecedented."

"The blood you provided is the exact opposite. It contains a certain powerful force within it, but unlike Hashirama Cells, it is not active."

"I only understood the reason after many experiments."

"This blood also possesses vigorous vitality; the reason it is not active is entirely because it has been in a state of energy deprivation."

At this, Orochimaru raised his hand to point at the embryo in the nutrient tank and continued: "Look, when I placed it in the cultivation tank and injected a large amount of nutrient solution, its powerful vitality began to manifest."

Shiraishi nodded; through his divine sense, he could feel the vigorous vitality emanating from the embryo.

"But now, our experiment faces another problem: the existing nutrient solution cannot satisfy the nutrients required for the embryo's development," Orochimaru mentioned the new problem he was facing.

"Since I put it into the tank, in less than a day, I have replenished the nutrient solution five times, and the interval between each replenishment is shortening."

"If it continues to develop like this, soon these nutrient solutions will be completely unable to meet its needs. In that case, due to insufficient nutrition, the embryo might die or fall into a dormant state and stop growing."

Orochimaru looked at the embryo in the tank with admiration, saying in an incredulous tone: "It is hard to imagine how powerful the owner of this blood is. Just a cloned embryo requires such massive energy; it is like a bottomless pit that is never satisfied."

"So, as long as the nutrients required for the embryo's growth are met, there are no other problems?" Shiraishi asked.

Orochimaru looked at Shiraishi, "As it stands, that is the case."

Shiraishi said calmly, "I will solve this problem."

"How do you intend to do it? The nutrient solution I have is already the highest grade in the entire ninja world. For an average creature, a single tank is enough to satisfy their consumption for several months," Orochimaru asked curiously.

Shiraishi stepped forward and placed his hand against the glass wall of the incubation tank, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Since the nutrient solution isn't providing enough sustenance, we simply need to find some ninjas to feed it," Shiraishi said, his tone calm despite the chilling nature of his words.

Orochimaru's pupils constricted into slits. As a mad scientist, he lacked any moral squeamishness; what interested him now was the method Shiraishi would use to feed ninjas to the embryo inside.

Shiraishi looked toward Orochimaru, pointed at the incubation tank, and asked, "If I carve some incantations onto this, it won't damage it, will it?"

"As long as you don't compromise the integrity of the tank, there will be no impact." The curiosity in Orochimaru's heart grew even more intense.

"Stay right here and don't move; I'll be back shortly," Shiraishi said finally, then turned and walked out of the laboratory.