"Hiss hiss hiss..."
The white snake was coiled on the long table, hissing and flicking its tongue. Its pair of vertical pupils turned slightly, fixing on Kabuto.
"You contacted me so quickly. What happened?"
Yakushi didn't dare to delay, bowing slightly and explaining the recent events in a few words.
Orochimaru raised his head, looking around the meeting room. "Hiss hiss hiss... Danzo, are you behind this? Or is it you guys?"
The snake's body moved on the long table, coming to the three advisor elders. A clear look of disdain was on the snake's face.
"Forget it. Just ask what you want to ask. I just arrived at Ryuuchi Cave, and I have important matters to attend to."
"Orochimaru, what is this thing?"
At this point, Utatane Koharu came back to her senses, staring blankly at the white snake on the table.
"Is that your question?"
The white snake raised its chin, its snake eyes filled with contempt.
"It's just an advanced application of Shadow Clone and sealing techniques. Do you want to learn it? I can teach you."
"However, I only guarantee teaching, not that you'll actually learn it."
Utatane Koharu heard the hidden sarcasm, and her old face turned sour again.
Mitokado Homura spoke quickly, "Orochimaru, don't change the subject. Today we're discussing your human experiments using First Hokage cells."
"Oh, that matter. Didn't Kabuto already convey my intentions on my behalf, that I won't be conducting such experiments anymore."
Orochimaru narrowed his snake eyes, glancing at Mitokado Homura. "The experimental data has already been obtained by you all… What, are you planning to punish me further?"
Mitokado Homura opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but closed it again.
Utatane Koharu, however, was not willing to let it go. "Punishment is another matter. You said you won't conduct First Hokage cell experiments anymore. How do you guarantee that?"
"I said I won't do it anymore. That's the guarantee."
Orochimaru hissed, his snake face filled with mockery. "Or do the elders have other brilliant ideas?"
Utatane Koharu frowned, opening her mouth to say the decision made in the Hokage's office earlier, but the words caught in her throat, and a strange expression appeared on her face.
How could she say it?
Say that you, Orochimaru, are impossible to change and will definitely conduct human experiments in secret, so it's better to do it openly, and we'll even have the village's medical ninja help you?
The reasoning was correct, and the words were not wrong, but why did it sound so strange?
It was almost like forcing an actor who swore to turn over a new leaf to return to adult films and even dragging out the government to endorse her.
Utatane Koharu bit her lip, her mind racing with a slight headache.
Now, they only had two choices: either deceive themselves and choose to believe that Orochimaru would no longer conduct First Hokage cell experiments, or stand up and endorse Orochimaru, allowing him to perfect the experiments to the point where they were risk-free.
But the latter would undoubtedly make the Hokage faction, or rather everyone present who agreed to this decision, responsible for the lives of those who died in the human experiments.
Utatane Koharu naturally couldn't accept this.
Of course, they had a third option, which was to close their eyes, pretend today's events didn't exist, continue to keep an eye on Orochimaru, and wait until he caused deaths so they could seize this opportunity to attack him relentlessly.
But Utatane Koharu didn't want to do this either.
Forcing Orochimaru to become a fugitive was also not her intention.
Difficult, difficult…
Utatane Koharu felt that she had been struggling more and more in the past month or two.
Especially because of Orochimaru, she was losing years of her life.
Couldn't Orochimaru, that bastard, just be a traditional Konoha ninja?
And Hiruzen was also a bastard, why did he teach such a troublesome disciple!
Inside the Hokage meeting room, the village's four top leaders all had strange expressions.
In fact, the previous decision was reasonable in theory, but they never expected that Orochimaru's desire to conduct First Hokage cell experiments wasn't that strong, and he gave it up so easily.
Honestly, if you wanted to conduct human experiments, wouldn't having the village support you be something that benefited you in every way?
Why give it up openly and insist on conducting experiments secretly? Just because you're Orochimaru and used to the cold and wet feeling of underground sewers?
Faced with everyone's puzzled gazes, Orochimaru was simply flicking his tongue, the hissing sound like a strange laugh.
In order to be able to withstand First Hokage cell transplants, Orochimaru, after these days of consideration, deduced two methods.
One was what he was about to do now, which was to learn Senjutsu and increase his own chakra quality.
The other was to continue exploring methods to suppress First Hokage cells, not only from a physical property perspective but also from a chakra perspective.
Of the two methods, the latter was undoubtedly quite troublesome and tedious, would waste a lot of time, and would not help improve his own strength.
More importantly, unlike the previous small-scale activities in the Uchiha clan, this time, it would require the accumulation of human lives to achieve experimental success.
Orochimaru naturally didn't hesitate to use any method that could use lives.
But this time, there was no need for it.
The white snake's snake eyes narrowed, a pair of pupils moving in the narrow slits, his peripheral vision glancing at Danzo, who was silent on the side.
Regarding how to achieve the second method, in the scroll, he had detailed the direction and key difficulties.
Danzo's researchers couldn't do the innovative work. If they couldn't do these tasks that only required hard work, cruelty, and cold blood, then there was no need for them to exist.
Orochimaru didn't want this to happen.
Because it meant that Root, which swallowed the dark side resources of Konoha, was just a waste that wouldn't sacrifice a single life.
At that time, he would have to consider replacing Danzo and replacing the entire resource-wasting Root.
That would be troublesome.
The atmosphere in the Hokage meeting room was slightly silent. Each of the three methods had its advantages and disadvantages, but none were easy to choose.
Compared with the first two methods, 'sitting on the sidelines' undoubtedly didn't require paying anything and could at least see the immediate benefits.
Silence was tacit approval of this method.
Having had the experience of 'standing up' last time, Utatane Koharu didn't want to be the one to speak out again this time.
Why should she worry so much about Hiruzen's disciple? Yes, she was an advisor elder, but Hiruzen was still the Hokage.
Mitokado Homura had the same idea, while Danzo on the other side had already begun to think about how to get his hands on the experimental data.
Just as this high-level meeting was about to end without a conclusion, a commotion suddenly came from outside the meeting room.
An Anbu member pushed open the door, darted in front of the Third Hokage, and whispered in his ear.
The Third Hokage frowned. "Let him in."
Soon, a figure rushed into the meeting room.
Immediately visible was his high-collared robe, which was tattered and stained with dark red bloodstains, and his figure was in terrible shape.
But everyone present turned a blind eye to this, their attention completely drawn to another thing.
It was a pair of scarlet eyes.
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