Walking on the dark and damp wooden corridor, the intersections at both ends were swallowed up by thick darkness.

This corridor is suspended above the bottomless abyss, and below is the bottomless darkness.

And this corridor is just one of countless criss-crossing corridors.

Orochimaru walked steadily towards the darkness of the corridor. At the end, he pushed open a door and walked inside.

In the room, there were already people waiting for his arrival.

"Danzo, why do you come to me at this time?"

Orochimaru asked the people sitting in the room.

Nominally, he is a new member of "Root" and exists as Danzo's deputy, but in fact, he is the nail that drives the teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi into "Root".

Used to monitor and restrict some of Danzo's extreme actions.

Therefore, when he joins the "root", he has no freedom restrictions, nor is he planted with a curse seal. His name is also retained, and he will not live like a machine like those "root" members.

"You take a look at this first."

Danzo didn't care about Orochimaru's way of referring to himself as his equal. In fact, he didn't have the ability to force Orochimaru to do something he didn't like.

Danzo, who was sitting there, threw a document on the table in front of Orochimaru.

Orochimaru sat down and gave Danzo a confused look. He couldn't tell what the other party wanted to do, so he looked away, picked up the document on the desktop, opened it and read it.

Just seeing the name of the plan on the paper, Orochimaru's expression changed slightly.

——Mudun cultivation plan.

"This is a newly established research project in the village. The purpose is to cultivate ninjas who can use wood escape like the first generation. I hope to get your help."

Danzo's voice was low, while he carefully observed Orochimaru's changing expression.

"Is it to deal with the tailed beast?"

Orochimaru regained his composure and quickly understood the intention.

Wood Release, like the Sharingan, both have the ability to restrain tailed beasts.

However, since the death of the first Hokage, Wooden has disappeared from the ninja world, and there has not been another Wooden ninja.

The Sharingan has been passed down very well, but it is the exclusive ability of the Uchiha clan.

Danzo, the leader of the 'root', is the top executive who most rejects the entire Uchiha clan.

If you can't control the Sharingan, cultivating Wooden Ninja is also a way out, and it's easier to control.

"It's not all for the tailed beasts, it's also to scare some ninjas with bad intentions in the village."

Danzo also secretly stated that he has not yet relaxed his vigilance against the Uchiha clan, and will take some extreme measures to limit the growth of this ninja clan when necessary.

"Really? What an interesting plan."

Orochimaru had a smile on his face and his voice was magnetic and hoarse.

"The village sacrificed many excellent ninjas in the last ninja war. I don't know when the next ninja war will come. This is also for the future of the village. The power of wood escape to calm the troubled times will become sharper than White Teeth.

Blade."

"I see."

The death of Sakumo has really shaken up Konoha. Konoha White Fang, who was responsible for the destruction behind enemy lines during the war, is a huge threat to all countries that cannot be underestimated.

Now we need a sharp weapon that can replace Konoha's White Fang to scare the nations and stabilize Konoha's defense.

"Does Tsunade know about this?"

If you want to cultivate a Wooden ninja, you must use the remains of the first Hokage and extract the necessary cellular energy from the remains.

With Tsunade's character, it is absolutely impossible for her to agree to this kind of desecration of the remains of the sages, and she would even cause a scene in a high-level meeting.

Especially this is my grandfather's body.

"Of course it's impossible to let her know. If she knew, things would become very troublesome."

Danzo's expression remained unchanged, he didn't know what he was thinking.

"In other words, Sarutobi-sensei has already acquiesced to this plan, right?"

Orochimaru pondered for a moment.

Without Hiruzen's acquiescence, he would not believe that Danzo would have the courage to touch Mu Dun.

What's more, the strength of the roots alone is not enough to study the power of wood escape.

"You are able to understand so quickly. You are truly the most talented ninja among the three ninjas. Your mind and knowledge, as well as your understanding of ninjutsu, have a very powerful role in promoting this plan."

Danzo expressed his appreciation for Orochimaru's talents without hesitation.

"It seems that Sarutobi-sensei arranged for me to be in the root, not just for me to monitor you. I understand, since it is beneficial to the village, I will continue to do it."

The second-generation Hokage Senju Tobirama whom he most admired developed so many forbidden techniques based on human experiments and opened up many ninjutsu schools, which have benefited many Konoha ninjas to this day.

In this village, there are indeed many things that cannot be seen.

And most of these secrets that cannot be seen in the light have roots behind the scenes.

The Executor of Konoha's Darkness.

“Where can I find ‘material’?”

"Don't worry about this. Volunteers have been screened from the village in advance and will cooperate with the experiment."

"That way I don't have any worries."

Orochimaru nodded to express his understanding.

"The experiment will start next week. I need to check the information first and make full preparations."

After Orochimaru said this, he took the plan and left the root conference room.

Walking out of the conference room, Orochimaru looked at the road ahead that was eroded by darkness, then lowered his head and glanced at the wooden escape plan he brought out of the conference room, and murmured to himself:

"Mudun... I wonder how many people will be sacrificed this time..."

Life is really too fragile and too cheap.

After sighing, he looked up and looked ahead. Orochimaru stepped forward into the darkness without hesitation.

◎

October.

The weather is gradually getting colder.

In the forest, a group of four people were running.

"Hey, Kakashi, slow down!"

A Konoha ninja wearing a Chuunin uniform shouted to Kakashi who was running at the front.

I hope he can listen to what he said.

Kakashi just looked back and saw that the chuunin teammate who shouted at him was carrying a wounded ninja on his back, panting, obviously being dragged down by the wounded behind him.

Kakashi stopped and said coldly: "Just throw him away, and the three of us will continue to complete the task."

"Wha, what? What did you say?"

The chuunin looked at the childish-faced Kakashi in disbelief.

I didn't expect to hear such words from Kakashi's mouth.

Although he had spoken too much before, this time he really reached the bottom of this chunin.

"It is the rule of the ninja to complete the mission, and the ninja is just a tool to complete the mission. Since it is a burden and cannot form a combat effectiveness, it will only drag down the three of us, so don't worry about it, just leave him here. Or kill him.

"

Kakashi took out a kunai and threw it at the chunin's feet, asking him to make a decision.

His father Sakumo chose a companion during the mission, so he was slandered by rumors. His suicide also proved his father's guilty conscience and vulnerability.

Therefore, what he has to take now is to choose the path of mission.

A comrade who has been seriously injured during the mission, cannot provide combat, and may even drag down his teammates, abandon him in advance and choose the mission. This is what Kakashi now believes is the right path.

"You guy, do you know what you are talking about? You are also a Konoha ninja, how can you say such things?"

The chuunin reacted and roared angrily.

"Are you really a ninja? For such naive thoughts, it's better to go back to ninja school and re-study. Don't forget that completing the mission is the path that a ninja should really choose."

Kakashi stared at the chuunin with cold eyes.

"You little brat!"

The chuunin was already gnashing his teeth.

Kakashi just gave him a cold look and didn't answer. He turned around, carrying the White Fang dagger on his back, and walked forward alone.

"Captain, look at that guy, he actually said such a thing! It's so irritating! What a genius!"
To be continued...