Time rewinds to the end of the Third Great Ninja War.
Although Konoha had stood alone against the combined might of the other four great villages and ultimately emerged victorious on every front, the cost was devastating.
Meanwhile, the other four villages, though defeated on the battlefield, had each retained enough strength to recover quickly. Because of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi found himself in a position of weakness — unable to demand much in the way of reparations.
In other words, after so many years of war and so many lives lost, Konoha came away with almost nothing to show for it. They called it "victory," but in truth, it wasn't much better than a loss.
Faced with mounting criticism for such a costly outcome, Hiruzen had no choice but to resign in disgrace.
When it came to selecting the Fourth Hokage, he passed over his own brilliant student, Orochimaru — who was already strong enough to stand on his own — and instead chose Minato Namikaze, the "Yellow Flash," a rising star on the battlefield and Hiruzen's grandstudent.
On the surface, the decision made perfect sense. Minato was radiant and beloved, the village's golden boy. As that famous saying went: "Only one who is acknowledged by everyone can become Hokage."
But if we look at how Danzō Shimura later managed to replace Tsunade and briefly become the Sixth Hokage, that so-called saying was nothing more than sentimental nonsense.
Danzō — acknowledged by everyone? Ridiculous. He became Hokage because he secured enough votes among the Konoha council. So in truth, the opinion of ordinary shinobi never mattered — only the approval of those in power did.
The real reason Minato was chosen was twofold:
First, his strength was unquestionable. The "Yellow Flash" title was built on a mountain of enemy corpses — not a shred of exaggeration there.
But more importantly, Minato was young and had no personal faction. Once he became Hokage, the people he relied on would still be the same old powerholders from the Sarutobi era.
That way, even though Hiruzen had stepped down, his influence would remain intact. He could continue acting as the "Supreme Hokage" behind the scenes.
Of course, being a seasoned politician, Hiruzen made sure to cover his tracks perfectly.
On the very same day Minato was appointed Fourth Hokage, Hiruzen went to see Orochimaru. After a few words of consolation, he presented an idea — the "Wood Release Ninja Replication Project."
That's right — the first person to propose recreating Wood Release users wasn't Danzō. It was Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Danzō was merely his accomplice.
Looking at his most gifted pupil, Hiruzen skillfully spun his words:
"Orochimaru, this last war has cost Konoha dearly and exposed many weaknesses. Our strength as the First Village of the Ninja World has waned — something that would never have happened under the Second, let alone the First Hokage. Only with true power can we achieve lasting peace. So rather than becoming Hokage yourself, why not use that brilliant mind of yours to restore the First's glory? That, above all else, is what Konoha truly needs!"
At that time, Orochimaru was still young, nowhere near the manipulative serpent he would later become. Thus, he fell right into Hiruzen and Danzō's psychological trap.
Instead of feeling bitter over losing the Hokage position, he became more motivated than ever and began the Wood Release human experimentation project with zeal.
That's why, in the original timeline, Ibiki Morino's claim that Orochimaru defected because he wasn't chosen as Hokage is total nonsense.
If that were true, Orochimaru should have fled immediately after the war in Konoha Year 50 — not two years later, in Year 52.
After being completely talked around by Hiruzen and Danzō, Orochimaru began his experiments, though he soon raised an important concern.
"Sensei, to recreate Wood Release, I'll need to perform live experiments on human subjects — preferably shinobi. Where will I find them?"
Hiruzen simply smiled.
"You needn't worry about that. Many shinobi have volunteered once they learned the purpose of this project. Just proceed as planned."
Orochimaru, taking his teacher's words at face value, asked no further questions and immersed himself in research.
But things didn't go well. Most test subjects couldn't withstand the invasive power of Hashirama's cells and eventually turned into wooden husks — dying in the process.
As the death toll climbed, Hiruzen began to feel the pressure and went to Danzō.
"Danzō, this project has gone too far. Too many lives have been lost — we have to shut it down."
"Are you out of your mind, Hiruzen? If we stop now, then all those deaths will have been for nothing!"
"I am the Hokage! I say it stops, it stops! Tell Orochimaru to seal away all related materials — the Wood Release project is over!"
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"
After a heated exchange, Danzō stormed off. But Hiruzen never sent ANBU to verify whether the project was truly shut down — he didn't even personally inform Orochimaru of the decision.
Whether it was negligence, blind trust, or something else, no one could say.
In any case, after Hiruzen's "order," Danzō and Orochimaru continued the experiments in secret. Eventually, even after Orochimaru lost interest and gave up, one subject finally survived — the boy who would later become Yamato.
Of course, there were no more "volunteers" by then. With the war over and no prisoners of war left to use, their only option was to experiment on Konoha's own shinobi and Fire Country civilians.
At first, Orochimaru was unaware of this, but he wasn't stupid — he figured it out soon enough.
From his perspective, the large-scale abductions Danzō was conducting couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed by his teacher. The fact that Hiruzen did nothing meant tacit approval.
Having long since lost any sense of moral restraint, Orochimaru continued his work without hesitation.
Now, after dissecting countless living subjects with his own scalpel, Orochimaru no longer saw humans as humans. His current experiments still involved Konoha's own ninja — and he even had subordinates kidnapping civilians from the Fire Country as fresh test material.
Many of those "kidnappers," in fact, were Danzō's undercover operatives, feeding information back to him. Every move Orochimaru made was under Danzō's watchful eye.
When Rokuro heard his mother and Uchiha Kei recount the situation, he instantly pieced it together.
This was Danzō deliberately pushing Orochimaru to defect. And given that it was already Year 52, the timeline aligned perfectly with Orochimaru's eventual betrayal of Konoha.
"To think a man could be so vile for the sake of his own ambition… truly an eye-opener."
Rokuro had already guessed Danzō's true motive — he wanted to drive Orochimaru away, then recruit him in secret for further human experimentation. The "arm of Sharingan eyes" Danzō later possessed came directly from Orochimaru's hand.
Remember — by that point, Orochimaru was already a rogue ninja. And yet, the two continued their cooperation — even deeper than before.
It's entirely possible that the funds used to establish the Sound Village came from Danzō himself. After all, how else could Orochimaru afford to build a hidden base, conduct experiments, and abduct children — all while not earning a single ryo?
"Rokuro, if Orochimaru really is behind this, won't you be implicated? You're his disciple, after all!"
His mother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Don't worry, Mom. I don't know medical ninjutsu — I've never been involved in any of the experiments."
After calming her down, Rokuro knew it was time to make preparations.
Whether Orochimaru defected or not didn't concern him — but the experimental data he possessed was far too valuable to let fall into the hands of Hiruzen or Danzō.