Seeing Danzo in this state, Orochimaru was deeply curious about what he had been through.
"Hehehe... Lord Danzo, what happened to you to leave you looking like this? This hardly befits the Darkness of Konoha..."
In Orochimaru's eyes, Danzo had always been even more sinister and ruthless than he was, willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goals.
His gaze had always been piercing, too. It would have been a stretch to call the current Danzo dispirited, but... he no longer had that sharpness of an unsheathed blade.
"I merely suffered an attack from the Blood Release Ninja!"
Danzo offered a cursory explanation, then said, "My affairs are unimportant. Let's discuss our deal!"
Hearing that Danzo had also been attacked by the Blood Release Ninja only made Orochimaru more interested in that ninja.
Still... at the mention of a deal, Orochimaru stopped asking about the Blood Release Ninja. Instead, he smiled and asked, "Very well... what do you need me to do? Research hashirama cells for you again?"
Danzo shook his head. "I'm not asking you to conduct research. I want information on the Akatsuki. Aside from that, you'll need to do me a small favor. Naturally... once you've handled both matters, I'll give you some hashirama cells."
With that, Danzo took out a storage scroll and waved it in his hand as a show of sincerity.
Orochimaru's eyes lit up at the sight of the scroll in Danzo's hand.
Once Orochimaru had studied the wonders of hashirama cells, he had been unable to let them go.
Originally... it had been Danzo who gave Orochimaru hashirama cells to research.
Most of the material, however, had gone into research and the creation of an arm for Danzo that could accommodate more Sharingan.
Orochimaru had used the small remainder to