The Recorder for Root's old experiments was named Zemu.
He had not participated in human modification. He had only recorded how long plant cells survived in different chakra environments.
The experiments had originally aimed to accelerate tissue repair in battlefield medicine.
Later, the project had gradually shifted toward making the cells actively adapt to ninja bodies.
Zemu had first sensed something was wrong when the experimental files began omitting the recipients' names.
Only numbers remained in the records.
Failure was recorded as rejection.
Death was recorded as termination.
Who had undergone the experiments, whether they had volunteered, and whether their families had been informed-all of it disappeared.
Danzo admitted that Root had conducted limited adaptation research.
"War demands more powerful means of recovery."
"All experiments have been stopped."
Shikaku asked, "Why were they stopped?"
"The success rate was too low."
"Where did the failed subjects go?"
Danzo fell silent for a moment.
"They were handled according to classified procedures."
That was not an adequate answer.
Root's experiments might not have been what rescued Obito, but they did involve missing identities, missing consent, and deaths that had never been formally accounted for.
The threat posed by Madara was greater, but that did not mean violations within the village could wait until every outside enemy had been dealt with.
Fugaku supported pursuing accountability separately.
Some of his clansmen did not understand.
Simply linking Root's experiments to Madara's underground modifications would directly prove that Danzo had long participated in a scheme targeting the Uchiha.
Yet Fugaku rejected that seemingly advantageous shortcut.
The living White Zetsu provided the most direct evidence of the technical differences.
Under isolated conditions, the Medical Squad exposed it to two inactivated samples in turn.
One came from a failed Root subject.
The other came from the underground support structure