They claimed they would investigate the matter thoroughly, but it was actually a secret operation, with no great fanfare.
Thus, within Konoha, aside from Hatake Sakumo, Dan Katō, and the Anbu members responsible for the investigation, no one else knew about this Anbu operation.
That included Shimura Danzō. He had absolutely no idea that he was about to take the blame for Orochimaru.
But if there truly was nothing suspicious about him behind the scenes, then this incident would have nothing to do with him.
Although Shimura Danzō had previously cooperated with Hiruko, he was not the sort of person to place all his hopes on one individual.
Root had its own scientific team as well, and they had been secretly researching Hashirama Cells all along.
So it was not only Hiruko who needed test subjects; Root's scientific team needed them too.
As it happened, today was the day Root members returned from abroad after capturing test subjects.
The Anbu's original plan had been to follow the locations where people had gone missing and investigate the surrounding areas.
Yet they never expected to run into Root members returning to the Land of Fire with their test subjects.
The instant the Root members saw so many Anbu, they decisively abandoned the captured test subjects and fled.
Since the Root members were disguised, the Anbu naturally had no way of knowing that they belonged to Root.
They only thought they had caught the perpetrators in the act.
Most of the Anbu pursued the Root members, while those left behind gathered and comforted the captured people.
You could say that Root members were generally not very strong, but there was no denying that their indoctrinated "loyalty" was remarkably thorough.
Several Root members who had been struck by the Anbu fell behind.
Knowing they