"Lord Fourth Hokage, all the wounded have been moved to safety, but we may need ninja from the Medical Team to treat the poison in their bodies."
After checking the Root members' injuries, Zou Hyuga appeared before the Fourth Hokage to report.
The Fourth Hokage glanced at Zou Hyuga's bulging pack, nodded, and said, "Understood. Go guard the researchers for now."
After witnessing the experiments in the deepest part of the base, he had no interest in attending to such minor matters.
His face was utterly expressionless, a sign that his anger had reached its limit.
Human experimentation was being conducted in the Underground Base. The village neither approved of nor opposed human experimentation, but the experiments here involved civilians and even children.
That meant Danzo and Orochimaru, who had conducted experiments here, had abandoned the last moral boundaries expected of village ninja.
After reporting to the Fourth Hokage, Zou Hyuga entered the underground passage. With his Byakugan, he had naturally seen everything in the Underground Base, including the glass tanks in its deepest chambers.
He knew full well that the Fourth Hokage's discovery of those forbidden experiments would shake the village leadership.
The Fourth Hokage would not pass up this chance to suppress Danzo and Orochimaru. They would face restrictions on their authority, perhaps even further sanctions, and be pushed to the margins of the leadership.
Of course, even if powerhouses of the shinobi world like Danzo and Orochimaru conducted forbidden experiments, the village would not punish them too severely or restrict their personal freedom.
Continuing such research, however, would become extremely difficult. They would inevitably be placed under supervision.
But Orochimaru would never stop his experiments over that. An even greater conflict between him and the village was inevitable.
As Zou remembered it, Orochimaru had defected precisely because