Shimura Danzō was still forcing himself to remain composed, and he made no attempt to hide it. After all, this was not something he could conceal:
"That's right. Root does have such a drug, but supplies are extremely limited. Root won't use it unless absolutely necessary. Those drugs are still stored in the Root Base and haven't been used. Yet you drag some random old man here, claim he's the ninja who attacked the Third Hokage, and pin the blame on our Root Ninja. What are you playing at?"
As Shimura Danzō continued making excuses, Orochimaru showed no impatience. Instead, he looked rather interested.
"Danzo, don't be so quick to deny it. As for whether this old man was one of the attackers, we need only hand him over to the Analysis Team to find out. Remember, none of these people have the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. The Analysis Team should have an easy time examining them."
With that, Orochimaru instructed the Anbu Ninja to take the old man to the Analysis Team to have his memories examined.
Now Shimura Danzō began to panic. Knowing at the time that these men were certain to die, he had deliberately removed their Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals to prevent their bodies from becoming a liability if someone happened to take them away.
But Shimura Danzō had never imagined that anyone could survive such power, let alone capture one of them alive.
Yet Shimura Danzō had no way to stop it. Interfering would only prove he had a guilty conscience, leaving him unable to defend himself. By contrast, even if they examined the man's memories now, they could not prove that he had given the orders. He could simply shift the blame onto his subordinates.
It would, however, make it rather difficult for Shimura