"The village will give you some support."
"There's no need for that."
Hearing the Third Hokage's words, Orochimaru shook his head and chuckled softly,
"Other than contacting the samurai of the Land of Iron, and buying the right medical supplies, don't even think about interfering with anything else."
As he spoke, Orochimaru turned to face Danzo, and said mockingly,
"Of course, if Lord Danzo can 'give up' the surgery method you have, then it might be a little useful."
Danzo's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard this, brushed off Orochimaru's mocking tone, and said slowly,
"Everything I do is for the village, If you want these things, you are welcome to have them."
Anyway, they were originally from you.
Danzo knew very well that the success of his own transplant surgery wasn't because of any technological breakthrough, but simply because he had spent a lot of money.
Orochimaru would only fail if he tried to copy this process.
Orochimaru twitched the corner of his mouth and smiled, "Lord Danzo is so generous, then I won't be polite."
Of course, he knew that there was definitely some kind of problem with the things Danzo gave, but what did it matter? He didn't plan on using them anyway.
The most important thing right now was to steadily push forward with the human experiments on gene fusion.
"..."
The Third Hokage glanced at Orochimaru, vaguely aware of the trickery involved, but he didn't dwell on it and turned to instruct his two advisors,
"Even though we're taking a relatively careful approach right now, we still need to prevent possible encirclements..."
"You two have now taken over the intelligence organizations, so pay attention to the movements of the Land of Hot Water, the Land of Sound, and the Land of Rivers."
After giving those instructions, the meeting came to a complete end.
After everyone else had left the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, remained alone, puffing on his pipe, his face etched with worry.
In the Third Hokage's view, supporting the Land of Iron and Kusagakure in maneuvering against each other was just a clumsy way to step back and settle on a cautious plan.
What should really be done was to attack decisively, as Orochimaru had said, and completely destroy Kusagakure's ambitions.
But even though he understood that, he had lost the ability to strongly push all of this forward.
"Sigh..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed softly in his heart, "The Fourth Hokage died too early..."
A leader was extremely important. Ever since the village had returned to his hands, it had begun to feel old and lifeless, and even after more than year, it still hadn't recovered from the shadow of the Nine Tails attack.
But, even though he knew that continuing to be Hokage wasn't a good thing, he still had to stay in this position.
The essence of power lay in the support of those below.
For example, Orochimaru. When he was in this position, he could still order him around, but if it were Jiraiya, he would probably have to use the word 'request.'
Danzo had always wanted to be Hokage, but between him and Orochimaru, there would only be a pure exchange of interests, and other than that, he could only resort to 'forcing' things, and if that happened, Konoha would undoubtedly fall apart.
"We can't continue like this."
The Third Hokage gripped his pipe, closed his eyes, and began to think about the most suitable candidate for the 'Fifth Hokage.'
...
In the dense forest, three figures were flying through the trees at high speed, their faces clearly exhausted, but they didn't dare to stop for even a moment.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Mifune, the leader of the Land of Iron, was lying on the back of a samurai, his chest heaving violently, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.
When Kusagakure suddenly attacked, Mifune, as the leader of the samurai, had naturally led his men to resist.
But even though his strength surpassed that of ordinary elite Jonin, and was close to that of a Kage-level fighter, he was still unable to withstand the monsters from the Box of Paradise.
The compatibility was too bad!
A samurai's sword could not cut these monsters, and even when combined with Ninjutsu, it was dodged every time, so there was no way to deal with them.
If the samurai hadn't risked their lives and desperately covered their retreat, he might have been killed there.
"Lord?!"
The blood soaked the collar of his ninja clothes, and the strong man carrying Mifune was shocked. He quickly stopped on a tree trunk and took out a blood-stopping pill from his pouch to stabilize Mifune's injuries.
The other two samurai also stopped and glanced at Mifune with worry, then immediately turned their attention to their surroundings, on alert for enemies that might be chasing after them at any moment.
"Cough, cough... Okisuke, leave me, you still have a chance to save your lives."
Mifune's face was blue and white, so weak that even a child could kill him, but his tone left no room for doubt.
The samurai named Okisuke simply didn't listen and continued to treat the injuries. This man's face was dark and tired, but his eyes flashed with a fierce light.
"Lord, don't say such things. At worst, we'll fight them."
"Foolish!" Mifune sighed in his heart and said in a deep voice, "For the Land of Iron, you must live. You are the hope of the village."
"No, without you, the Land of Iron will truly have no hope."
After saying this, the samurai Okisuke carried Mifune on his back again and ran towards the Hot Springs Village, without saying a word.
He wasn't afraid of death, but to have him bear the hope of reviving the samurai village of the Land of Iron was even more terrifying than death.
Not everyone could shoulder this burden.
Some people were leaders who could steer the ship, while others could only be sailors. The samurai Okisuke was well aware of his own abilities; he could only be the first mate at most.
"We'll reach the Hot Springs Village in just over a dozen more miles."
The samurai Okisuke roared in a rough voice, "Put in a little more effort. Once we get there, we'll be safe. The Kusagakure ninja wouldn't dare..."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
A series of sounds of objects cutting through the air suddenly came, and wooden spears shot straight from all directions.
"A trap?"
The samurai Okisuke's heart jumped in surprise, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes. He pulled out the long sword at his waist and swung it around, layer upon layer, impenetrable.
The wooden spears shattered in response, and even the wooden wall woven from the vines that followed was torn to pieces.
The samurai Okisuke stood with his sword in front of his chest, surveyed the surrounding dense forest, and a suspicious look flashed in his eyes.
If this was a trap, it was really too childish. Even a slightly skillful Genin wouldn't be hit.
"Who's there?"
Another samurai seemed to have discovered something. A gust of wind rose around the blade, cutting down and blowing away the vines on the tree trunk on the side.
"Ah, ah, ah... That was dangerous, you jerk!"
A silver-haired boy jumped out from the canopy, his purple-red eyes flashing with anger.
"You jerks destroyed my bear trap, and you still want to kill me?"
"Bear trap?"
The samurai Okisuke then realized that there was a beehive around him that had been broken by someone. Honey was dripping down, and he immediately understood that he had suffered an unwarranted disaster, and anger rose in his heart.
But when he saw that this was just a boy, the samurai Okisuke forcibly suppressed his anger and was about to run towards the direction of the Hot Springs Village.
The Kusagakure ninja would be chasing after them soon, and they couldn't delay any longer.
But the silver-haired boy was persistent, "You destroyed my trap and still want to kill me. I can't let you leave like this."
---
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