Now that their cooperation was genuine, Gisei Shiraishi saw no reason to hide anything.
"Orochimaru, before you officially join that unit, I need you to help me draw Danzo out."
"Asking me to lure Danzo out? Aren't you afraid of exposing our relationship?"
"Don't worry. I just need you to pass him a single piece of intelligence."
Gisei pulled a folded note from his shirt pocket and handed it to Orochimaru. "The address on this is my old secret research laboratory. You just need to make sure Danzo gets it."
Orochimaru revealed a meaningful smile. "It seems I get to watch a good show before I leave."
Gisei shrugged, his tone indifferent. "Whatever entertains you."
Orochimaru tucked the note away and turned to leave, his expression becoming difficult to fathom.
Gisei watched the snake's retreating figure in silence.
The personnel he was lending to Orochimaru needed to be prepared now—secretly planted into the unit to await deployment. He knew Orochimaru wouldn't trust the people Gisei gave him; in fact, he fully expected Orochimaru to use them as fodder to cultivate his own trusted aides.
It didn't matter. Gisei never expected to use Orochimaru to control Konoha's forces anyway.
What he wanted was to feed Orochimaru's ambition. That hunger would drive the snake to eat endlessly until he was discovered—either beaten to death or forced to rise up in rebellion.
If he won, he would be Hokage. If he lost, he would have nothing.
Gisei looked forward to the day that drama unfolded.
But for now, he had to deal with Danzo.
Orochimaru's poison wasn't fatal yet, but Danzo's venom had already seeped deep into the bone.
...
One week later, inside the Hokage's office.
The Third looked at Orochimaru, rubbing his temples with a bitter smile. "What exactly is going on here?"
In the past few days, strange rumors about Orochimaru had been popping up all over the village. "Ambitionist," "war maniac"—all kinds of shit buckets were being dumped onto Orochimaru's head.
Although Orochimaru knew this was Gisei's doing, the taste of being treated like a rat crossing the street was... hard to describe.
Orochimaru's reputation was thoroughly ruined. He was beginning to tire of this place and couldn't wait to leave Konoha behind.
"Sensei, I probably can't stay in the village anymore. I want to go to the official unit to gain experience."
The Third sighed. "That was my plan originally. It was just delayed because of Gisei Shiraishi."
Orochimaru nodded. "The rumors were likely all planted by him. Perhaps he just wanted to vent his dissatisfaction about bowing to the village. In short, I think we still need to be wary of him."
Being dragged through the mud like this by Gisei made Orochimaru genuinely angry—it would be a lie to say otherwise. Before leaving, he made sure to get in one last jab at Gisei's character.
The Third walked up to Orochimaru and patted his shoulder. "You've suffered an injustice. But rest assured, when you return, the village will be just as it was before."
Orochimaru's expression didn't change, but inside, he was sneering.
The village never changed; it was the human heart that changed.
He knew he was being used as a political sacrifice by the teacher standing in front of him. If Gisei hadn't proposed cooperation, Orochimaru never would have had the chance to turn things around.
This feeling of having one's fate manipulated by others was truly annoying.
The old Gisei must have felt exactly the same way.
With that thought, Orochimaru turned and walked out of the Hokage's office.
Outside the door stood Danzo, his head wrapped in bandages, revealing only a single eye that narrowed slightly as he saw Orochimaru.
As Orochimaru brushed past him, a small piece of paper slipped from his hand into the sleeve of Danzo's robe.
After a brief moment of silence, Danzo turned and walked away.
Root Headquarters.
Danzo sat with his eyes closed, waiting for his scout to return.
A faint swish of displaced air broke the silence. Danzo opened his eye.
A masked Root member knelt on one knee before him. "Danzo-sama, the location is indeed a secret laboratory, and it is being used quite frequently."
A cold light flashed in Danzo's single eye.
He recalled the humiliation of his right eye being gouged out and crushed underfoot.
"Monitor it secretly. Surround and capture the target immediately upon discovery. If he resists, kill him on the spot."
Scores of Root members swarmed out like shadows. Danzo's face remained expressionless.
He didn't think Orochimaru would lie to him, especially since Orochimaru had effectively been forced out of Konoha by Gisei.
As for why he dispatched so many people? Naturally, it was to prevent anyone from coming to rescue Gisei. If those ninja clans rallied to storm Root, even Danzo would be forced to retreat.
This operation allowed for no possibility of failure.
...
Forest of Death.
Surrounding the laboratory abandoned by Gisei, Root members shuttled silently through the dense forest, setting traps.
Deep underground, inside the research institute beneath the clan grounds, Gisei opened his eyes.
The laboratory he had abandoned long ago was finally being put to good use. He had cleaned it out ages ago and planted secret surveillance devices inside.
"Quite a lot of people..."
Gisei muttered to himself. "Just the auras I can sense exceed one hundred. Danzo really invested heavily."
He pulled out a map and carefully studied the terrain.
The Forest of Death wasn't too far from Konoha. If Danzo realized something was wrong and tried to run back to the safety of the village, it would be annoying.
Better to lure the Root members outside the Forest of Death. Once the Instant Thunder Formation was set up, he would kill as many as dared to come.
Gisei bit his fingertip and slapped his hand onto the ground.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Technique!" (Ninpo: Kuchiyose no Jutsu!)
With a bang, five realistic human puppets appeared in a puff of smoke.
These puppets, which he had meticulously crafted from living human bodies, were incredibly useful, so he had made a few extras.
Controlled via the butterfly seeds implanted inside them, they didn't just mimic his chakra—they could use most of his abilities. Even the Sharingan and Byakugan couldn't distinguish them from real living bodies.
It was just a bit cruel, considering their origin.
Gisei looked at the five puppets standing before him, a complex expression crossing his face.
Unknowingly, he had stopped treating human life as something significant.
The price of growth?
Heh, who cares.
Some people are broken from the moment they are born. Anyway, he was just that kind of person.
He sent the puppets marching out of the laboratory. Seeing that it was still early, he turned back to his research lab.
After thinking about it, he decided to make a trip to the Takemoto and Kawai families.
Regardless of the result of this struggle with Danzo, he didn't want to be disturbed by the Third. If the Third insisted on intervening...
Gisei smiled bitterly. If the Third really wanted to intervene, he didn't actually have any way to stop it.
The ninja clans behind him didn't have a single expert worth showing off. The lack of successors wasn't just a problem for the Takemoto family; almost every other family was in the same sinking boat.
They looked like a massive army, but in reality, they were just a disorderly mob.
Is it really necessary for me to act as a nanny for these clans?
Gisei asked himself the question in his heart.
In the end, people still have to rely on themselves.