Thus, the task fell to Yin Jie, Orochimaru's disciple.
After all, this was Orochimaru's private business, and his experiments had reached a critical stage, making it impossible for him to be away for long.
Of course, if Orochimaru revealed Tenzo's existence to Danzo Shimura, who coveted the power of Wood Release, then Danzo would certainly make a move and dispatch enough Root ninjas to the Land of Water to retrieve the sealed scroll containing the hidden corpse of a Kaguya jonin.
Given Danzo's character and the power he controlled, he might even order his subordinates to capture another Kaguya jonin alive.
However, Orochimaru would not do that.
That was because his relationship with Danzo Shimura was nothing more than mutual exploitation.
Such a partnership could sometimes be solid, but at other times, it was fragile.
If Orochimaru had not believed that Danzo's existence and the Root under his control still had some use to him, then with Orochimaru's temperament, he would not have thought much of Danzo at all.
That was why he had chosen to secretly keep Tenzo, the sole successful result of the Wood Release experiment, for himself.
After all, putting himself in Danzo's shoes, if Danzo rather than Orochimaru had discovered Tenzo, Danzo would clearly have made the same choice.
Just like in the original story, it was not until years later, during the Shippuden era, when Orochimaru encountered the Wood Release ninja who had changed his name to Yamato, that he discovered that one of the sixty infants from his Wood Release experiment had survived—and had successfully mastered Wood Release.
Furthermore, Orochimaru's inability to leave the village also had a little to do with Yin Jie.
After all, around this time last year, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had discovered that his good buddy Danzo Shimura