"Hiss..."
The white snake coiled up on the long table, flicking its tongue as its vertical pupils turned toward Yakushi Kabuto.
"You contacted me so soon. What happened?"
Kabuto leaned forward respectfully and quickly explained the situation.
Orochimaru, through the snake, raised his head and looked around the meeting room. His voice was filled with cold amusement.
"Hiss... Danzo again, or is it all of you this time?"
The snake slithered along the table, circling the three elder advisors, clear disdain in its expression.
"Whatever. If you have questions, ask. I just arrived at Ryuchi Cave and have important matters to attend to."
"Wait—Orochimaru, what is this?" Koharu Utatane finally spoke up, staring at the white snake in shock.
"This? Is that your first question?"
The snake lifted its head proudly, contempt flashing in its eyes.
"It's simply an advanced use of shadow clone and sealing techniques. Want to learn it? I could teach you... but I don't offer in-person lessons."
The sarcasm was thick, and Koharu's face darkened instantly.
Mitokado Homura quickly cut in, "Orochimaru, enough games. We're here because of your human experiments with the First Hokage's cells."
"Oh, that? Kabuto has already conveyed my decision. I will not continue with such experiments."
Orochimaru narrowed his snake-like eyes and glanced at Homura.
"You have all the experimental data now. What's the issue? Planning to punish me anyway?"
Homura opened his mouth but found himself unable to respond.
Koharu, however, refused to back down. "Punishment aside, how can we trust your word? What guarantee do we have you won't continue?"
"My word is the guarantee," Orochimaru said, flicking his tongue mockingly. "Unless the Elders have some other brilliant idea?"
Koharu scowled, words catching in her throat. She was about to mention the suggestion floated within the council—to openly sanction Orochimaru's experiments under village supervision—but the words felt... wrong.
It sounded less like punishing a criminal and more like officially endorsing his behavior.
Frustrated, Koharu clenched her teeth, feeling a headache coming on.
At this point, they had only two choices:
Either deceive themselves and pretend to believe that Orochimaru would truly stop experimenting with the First Hokage's cells,
or openly endorse him—allow him to continue perfecting the experiments under their supervision until the risk was eliminated.
But the latter choice meant something grim: the Hokage clan, or anyone who agreed to such a resolution, would have to bear responsibility for the deaths of any future victims.
Naturally, this was something Koharu Utatane could not accept.
There was a third option too—pretend this meeting never happened and simply continue covertly monitoring Orochimaru from the shadows.
But even that left a bitter taste in Koharu's mouth.
After all, it was never her intention to push Orochimaru into becoming a traitor.
Frustration, helplessness...
Koharu felt like, in just these past two months, she had found herself in one impossible situation after another.
Especially with Orochimaru—because of him, she feared she had lost years of her life worrying.
Damn that Orochimaru—why couldn't he just be a normal Konoha ninja?
And Hiruzen too, damn him for raising such a troublesome disciple!
In the Hokage's conference room, the four senior officials wore equally complicated expressions.
Technically, the proposal they had prepared made sense.
But none of them had expected that Orochimaru would so easily abandon the First Hokage cell experiments.
If you wanted to carry out human experimentation, wouldn't it be better to do it with the village's backing?
Why turn your back on official support and insist on doing everything from the shadows?
Was it simply because he was Orochimaru—someone too used to slithering through the cold, damp darkness?
Facing everyone's confused stares, Orochimaru just let out a soft hiss, the snake tongue flickering like a strange grin.
In truth, after long contemplation, Orochimaru had identified two paths to survive transplantation of the First Hokage's cells:
One was the path he was pursuing now—to practice Sage Mode, elevate his chakra quality, and transform his body.
The other was to continue developing methods to suppress the First Hokage's cells—both physically and through chakra manipulation.
Between the two, the second path was far more troublesome.
It would be a tedious, drawn-out process, requiring years of effort and countless human lives.
Not that Orochimaru shied away from sacrificing lives.
But this time... it simply wasn't necessary.
The white snake narrowed its eyes, glancing at Danzo, who remained silent at the side.
In the scrolls he had left behind, Orochimaru had already outlined the research directions and technical keys needed for the second method.
Danzo's researchers weren't brilliant innovators, but for mindless, brutal tasks—experiments requiring little more than cruelty and patience—they would suffice.
If even they couldn't accomplish that, then they were nothing but worthless leeches draining Konoha's resources.
If that happened, Orochimaru would have no choice but to start thinking about replacing Danzo... and the entire Root organization.
That would be a far more troublesome affair.
The atmosphere in the conference room grew heavy.
The three choices before them each had serious flaws—but doing nothing, simply "waiting and watching," was by far the easiest.
Silence became an unspoken agreement.
After being burned once already, Koharu had no intention of sticking her neck out again.
Why should she carry the burden for Hiruzen's disciple?
She was an advisor, yes—but Hiruzen was still Hokage.
Mitokado Homura had the same idea.
Meanwhile, Danzo was already calculating how to get his hands on Orochimaru's experimental data.
Just when it seemed the meeting would dissolve without a decision—
A sudden commotion erupted outside the door.
An Anbu operative pushed in, walked straight to Hiruzen, and whispered something urgently.
Hiruzen frowned.
"Let him in."
Moments later, a figure stumbled into the room.
His robe was torn, stained dark with blood, and he looked battered and exhausted.
But no one paid attention to his injuries.
Their eyes were drawn to something else entirely.
A pair of gleaming, blood-red eyes.
"Those are... the Sharingan?!"
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