"What?" Kakashi's pupils constricted after hearing the Root leader's account, and he demanded even more agitatedly, "How could there be such a cruel rule?"
Sarutobi was both shocked and furious. He had never imagined that Danzo would carry out such brutal training within Root. "Danzo, no matter your purpose, this has completely gone astray!"
In truth, training methods similar to those of the Blood Mist should not have appeared so early. Root had originally been the Anbu training camp, jointly supervised by both sides. Although Danzo could place his own people within the Anbu, he had not dared to act recklessly. However, after Nawaki became the Anbu Minister, the two departments separated completely. The Anbu gained its own training grounds, and once Danzo was left unsupervised, he adopted this method of selecting members through mutual slaughter in order to strengthen Root.
Compared to Kakashi and Sarutobi's intense reactions, Orochimaru was far calmer. He merely curled his lips and surveyed everyone present with great interest, as though watching a play.
The surrounding Root members swarmed forward again, launching a joint assault on Kakashi.
"An order to slaughter your comrades is wrong. The person who gives such an order is not worthy of your loyalty at all! Lord Hokage is right here. You can abandon the mission and expose Danzo's crimes with us!"
As Kakashi used the White Fang Sword Technique to fend off the Root members around him, he tried to persuade them.
Sarutobi also spoke at the right moment. "If you are willing to abandon the darkness and return to the light, everything in the past can be forgiven."
Unfortunately, all they received in response were numb, icy stares. Not a single Root member showed any sign of wavering.
The vast majority of the Root jonin present had been controlled