Danzo's Trail

"Defected? Who?! Danzo?!"

Inside the secret room, Kō stared in shock at Orochimaru, clearly struggling to process this weighty information.

He had imagined countless possible Danzo, but this was the one thing he had never considered!

Although he had already sensed something was amiss when Kabuto introduced himself as the head of the Konoha Intelligence Bureau "Root" in the office.

After all, Root was Danzo's lifeblood; how could he so easily hand it over just by changing its name?

Kabuto, who should have been operating covertly in the Ninja World as a spy, brazenly went on a mission to Mist Village as the head of the Root. There must have been a major unexpected event behind this.

But he never expected the answer to be so unexpected!

That old wall lamp who had held sway over the power center of Konoha for decades, actually defected?!

Kou suppressed the shock and surging doubt in his heart and locked his Mangekyō Sharingan back onto Orochimaru.

Things have turned out completely unexpectedly.

But now is clearly not the time to be immersed in shock.

He looked into Orochimaru's empty, snake-like eyes and commanded in a deep voice:

"Tell me everything you know about Danzo! What exactly happened to him in Konoha!"

Orochimaru nodded mechanically, his pale face expressionless.

His hoarse voice slowly echoed in the sealed stone chamber:

"Danzo approached me the day before the Uchiha Clan was wiped out."

He offered ten pairs of Sharingan as a bargaining chip, wanting to make a deal with me.

Let me implant a sufficient number of Sharingan into the arm that I personally transplanted for him.

In Kou's eyes, the shock he had just felt was instantly replaced by a surge of bone-chilling killing intent.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that was about to burst from his throat deep in his chest, then looked coldly at Orochimaru, signaling him to continue.

"However..."

Orochimaru abruptly changed the subject, and a smug, almost gleeful smile involuntarily crept onto his numb face, which was controlled by the Mangekyō Sharingan.

"When I arrived at the agreed-upon location with Danzo at the appointed time, he was already suffering from Hashirama Cells backlash, severely injured and on the verge of death."

According to him, the one who severely injured him was the Third Hokage Hokage, Teacher Sarutobi.

"... Third Hokage?"

Hearing this familiar name, his words were filled with undisguised surprise.

Was it that indecisive Old Man severely injured and nearly killed Danzo?!

Kou's brows furrowed tightly; he seemed to have grasped something in his mind, and he murmured softly:

"Is it because of the Uchiha Clan Massacre?"

The Uchiha Clan Massacre was the most tragic internal event in the history of Konoha. It is indeed plausible that the Third Hokage finally took action against Danzo after reaching his breaking point.

But... something seems off.

As he pondered this conclusion repeatedly in his mind, his brows furrowed slightly.

How exactly did that soft-hearted Old Man make up his mind?

Based on my understanding of that Old Man, he shouldn't have made the decision to turn against Danzo when Konoha was severely weakened after losing the Uchiha Clan...

After pondering for a moment, Kou decided to suppress these questions that he couldn't figure out for the time being, and turned his attention back to Orochimaru, waiting for him to continue.

Orochimaru's voice continued to echo in the secret room:

According to Danzo, on the night the Uchiha Clan was massacred, he originally went to the Uchiha Clan Compound according to his established plan.

His goal was to collect a sufficient number of Three Tomoe Sharingan from the battlefield ruins of the Konoha Military Police Force before Teacher Sarutobi arrived.

But when he arrived at the scene with his men, there was nothing there except for bloodstains.

As he listened to Orochimaru's words, the thoughtful look in his eyes vanished instantly, and he was suddenly jolted.

Orochimaru continued slowly, saying:

"Including the corpses of the Uchiha slaughtered by Uchiha Itachi, all the corpses of the Uchiha who died that night... all of them seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving not a single one behind."

But before Danzo could figure out what was going on, before he could try to use the deliberately left-behind Uchiha orphan as leverage to interrogate Itachi, who had just left,

The Konoha Anbu, led by Teacher Sarutobi, found him.

Based on the evidence at the scene and the existing information, Teacher Sarutobi immediately determined that Danzo was Danzo it all.

At this point, a hint of schadenfreude involuntarily crept into Orochimaru's otherwise emotionless words:

"No matter how Danzo tried to explain, Teacher Sarutobi didn't believe him... which is understandable."

Under those circumstances, no one could possibly believe his one-sided account.

"After that, Danzo and Teacher Sarutobi naturally clashed."

"Danzo revealed during the battle the Hashirama Cells I transplanted into him, as well as the few Sharingan he had secretly collected over the decades."

"Relying on the Uchiha Clan's forbidden technique Izanagi, he barely escaped from Teacher Sarutobi's pursuit."

"Under the desperate cover of the remaining Root members, he barely made it to the meeting place we had agreed upon beforehand."

But when Danzo arrived before me with only a dozen or so remaining Root Danzo, he was already critically injured and on the verge of death.

After listening quietly to Orochimaru's account, the shock and killing intent in his Mangekyō Sharingan gradually subsided.

He quickly processed all the information Orochimaru provided in his mind, then slowly closed his eyes.

A conclusion quickly came to mind.

Danzo, that old bastard, really got himself scapegoated.

The corpses of all the Uchiha Clan members vanished into thin air within a mere half hour.

Looking across the entire Ninja World, there is only one person who can do this...

"Uchiha Obito!"

Kou slowly uttered the name, the complexity in his tone making it difficult for even himself to discern whether it was more anger or confusion.

He believed he knew the owner of that name better than anyone.

Whether it was the silly, hot-blooded fool who used to follow him and Rin around, and who would be late when helping old ladies cross the street, or the madman now wearing Spiral Mask and spouting "a fake world" and "Infinite Tsukuyomi,"

He, Uchiha Kuro, dared to say that he understood Uchiha Obito better than anyone else in the world.

But now it seems... perhaps I was wrong.

Collecting the corpses of the entire Uchiha clan was definitely not a casual act that Obito on a whim.

Based on my understanding of Obito now, he would never do anything without a clear purpose.

Those corpses must have been used somewhere, in some plan they themselves couldn't have imagined...

Thinking of this, Kou's heart sank.

That feeling of trepidation I had when I first came to Obito's side seemed to be quietly resurfacing...

Kou slowly lowered his head, the image of the cheerful boy and the hateful young man constantly switching in his mind.

He recalled the look of deep trust in Obito's eyes when he looked at him not long ago, and he couldn't help but frown deeply.

"Obito, what... exactly do you want to do?"

Admittedly, Obito's actions completely exceeded his expectations.

I can no longer treat that dangerous guy with the same arrogant attitude of knowing everything about him as I used to...

Thinking of this, Kou slowly shook his head, temporarily suppressing the question that he couldn't answer at the moment, and then raised his eyes again to look at Orochimaru in front of him:

"After you met Danzo, what happened next? And where is he now?"

Orochimaru continued his report with a blank expression:

"After Danzo with me, he hoped that I could help him control the backlash from the Hashirama Cells and stabilize his right arm, which was gradually being devoured by the Hashirama Cells."

I refused his request on the grounds that he had failed to deliver the Sharingan as agreed.

Finally, he handed over five elite members of the Root to me for experiments, promising to lure Uchiha Itachi into a trap I had set in exchange for me temporarily stabilizing his injuries.

At this point, a hint of greedy desire appeared on Orochimaru's otherwise lifeless face:

"To increase my chances of taking over Uchiha Itachi's body, I accepted this deal."

Listening to Orochimaru's story, a hint of undisguised disdain flashed in his eyes.

Using his most loyal subordinates as Danzo... No wonder he's such a bastard, Danzo.

This kind of outrageous behavior, when it comes to Danzo, is really not surprising at all...

He suppressed his disdain, then looked coldly at Orochimaru, waiting for him to continue.

Orochimaru's empty snake eyes gleamed with a faint golden light under the lamplight.

"I was seriously injured after the operation to surround and kill Uchiha Itachi failed."

"It was at this time that Danzo proposed further cooperation to me."

He used the information gathered by the Root from various parts of the Ninja World regarding several geniuses with rare Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques as leverage, along with the condition that they join forces with me to counterattack Konoha and seize Sasuke Uchiha, in an attempt to establish a long-term cooperation with me.

The information he provided was indeed quite valuable; even I couldn't help but feel a little tempted.

Including the genius of the Mist Village Kaguya Clan from Kirigakure, Kimimaro, and the rising star of the Iwagakure Explosion Corps, Deidara...

At this point, Orochimaru paused, then slowly began to speak:

"And through memories extracted from civilians in the Land of Grass, it was discovered that someone who appeared near Uchiha Kuro was suspected to be a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan..."

Before Orochimaru could finish speaking, a long, slender hand grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground.

"Thump!!"

Orochimaru's back slammed heavily against the stone wall behind him, making a dull thud.

The stacks of documents on the corner of the table were shaken off by the impact, scattering pages all over the floor.

Kō stared intently at the face before him, which was turning ashen from suffocation, his Mangekyō Sharingan spinning wildly.

His eyes were filled with chilling killing intent.

Danzo!!

He growled through gritted teeth, his grip on Orochimaru's throat tightening uncontrollably.

Looking at Orochimaru's even paler face, he growled in a low voice, filled with murderous intent:

"Where is Danzo now?!"

Orochimaru's lips twitched slightly as he suffocated.

He didn't struggle; his hands remained limply at his sides. He simply stared back at Kou's furious face with his numb and empty snake Mangekyō Sharingan.

His throat was being choked so tightly that every word he uttered was extremely difficult to say.

But under Kou's Mangekyō Sharingan, every subtle twitch beneath his purplish lips was clearly visible.

"Danzo is currently hiding in... the Land of Rice Fields."