Facing the questioning gazes of everyone in the room, Shimura Danzō showed no trace of panic. Instead, he calmly said,
"What exactly do I need to explain?"
"Yes, I admit that I did participate in the human experimentation. But the one who gave the order was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The one who oversaw the experiments and managed all related matters was Orochimaru, Sarutobi's own direct disciple."
"I merely served in a supervisory role—monitoring the progress of the experiments and handling logistics."
"I was simply carrying out orders. What is there for me to account for?"
As soon as Danzō finished speaking, the meeting room erupted again.
Many people turned in disbelief toward Orochimaru, who was currently observing Tenzo with obvious interest.
They had never expected him to be involved in the matter as well.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Orochimaru shrugged indifferently and said with feigned helplessness,
"Why is everyone staring at me like that?"
"I'm a shinobi. Completing the tasks assigned from above is my duty."
"Did I even have a choice?"
The room fell silent for a moment.
Then many people quietly withdrew their gazes.
Indeed, although Orochimaru had been known as the Hokage's disciple back then, he was originally a civilian-born shinobi. He had neither power nor influence, and his strength was still developing at the time.
How could he possibly refuse a task personally assigned by both his teacher and the Hokage?
If they wanted to blame someone, it clearly couldn't be Orochimaru.
So naturally, their gazes shifted again—
Toward the man who had issued the order in the first place.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen felt a headache coming on.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru to so decisively push all responsibility onto him.
He shot Orochimaru a fierce glare.
Orochimaru merely smiled faintly and said calmly,
"I'm sorry, Teacher Sarutobi."
"Back then, I had no choice."
"But now… I want to be a good person."
"You—!"
Hiruzen's blood surged with anger, and his face turned bright red.
So now he wanted to be a good person?
Was he implying that Hiruzen had forced him to become the villain?!
Then what did that make Hiruzen?
The mastermind behind everything?
At that moment, Danzō also took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire.
"In truth, I also once wanted to stand in the sunlight and be a good person."
"But at someone's earnest request, for the sake of Konoha, I had no choice but to become the Root buried beneath the earth."
"And now that someone has stepped down from power, he wants to burn the bridge after crossing it and settle accounts afterward."
"How chilling."
Although Danzō never mentioned a name, everyone present knew exactly who he meant.
It was practically no different from pointing at Hiruzen and cursing him directly.
"You… you…!"
Hiruzen's eyes widened in fury.
Before he could even finish his sentence, the surge of anger caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Lord Hiruzen!"
"Lord Hokage!"
"Hiruzen!!"
The scene shocked everyone in the meeting room. Many instinctively stood up and moved toward him.
"I'm fine!"
After coughing up the blood, Hiruzen actually felt a little better. He raised his hand to stop the people approaching him.
He didn't want the focus of the meeting to shift because of his condition.
Slamming his palm on the table, Hiruzen glared at Danzō and demanded,
"Elder Shimura, stop dodging the issue!"
"What I'm asking is why you continued the human experimentation after I explicitly ordered it to stop!"
Danzō spread his hands calmly.
"I don't understand what you mean, Sarutobi-jōnin."
"After you ordered the experiments stopped, I stopped them. I took no private actions afterward."
"Then how do you explain Tenzo?"
Hiruzen pointed toward the young shinobi beside him.
"In the report you submitted to me back then, it clearly stated that the human experimentation had produced no progress."
"Yet Tenzo successfully adapted to the power of the First Hokage. Isn't this the result of experiments conducted afterward?"
"Furthermore, according to his identity records, Tenzo only appeared after I had already prohibited the experiments!"
"That alone proves you continued them after my order!"
"And those identity records were personally delivered to me by you."
"Elder Homura Mitokado and Elder Koharu Utatane can both testify to that."
"You're not going to deny it, are you?"
Hiruzen had clearly come prepared.
Danzō remained unruffled.
"I won't deny that I personally delivered those documents."
"But what does that prove?"
"Do you really think a project can be halted instantly just because you issue a single order?"
"When you ordered the experiments stopped, there were still sixty test subjects undergoing experimentation in Orochimaru's laboratory."
"You might have found it easy—just one stroke of the pen and the order was given."
"But I needed time to clean up the aftermath."
"What were we supposed to do? Kill all sixty test subjects immediately and destroy the evidence?"
After a brief pause, Danzō looked at Tenzo and spoke solemnly.
"Tenzo was the only survivor among those sixty test subjects."
"He's simply a lucky child who lived through the experiments."
"And because he survived, he was given an identity record."
"So what problem is there with his records appearing after your order?"
Hiruzen frowned slightly.
He hadn't expected Danzō to come up with such a defense even in this situation.
The truth of the human experimentation was something both of them understood perfectly well.
After Hiruzen had explicitly forbidden the experiments, Danzō and Orochimaru had simply moved the research underground and continued it behind his back.
Tenzo had appeared during that period.
Later, Hiruzen had discovered some clues and realized that Danzō and Orochimaru were still conducting the experiments.
He immediately stripped Danzō of his position and placed him under house arrest within the Root headquarters, while also severely reprimanding Orochimaru.
Only then did the Wood Release human experimentation appear to stop.
Of course, that was only on the surface.
Hiruzen knew that Danzō and Orochimaru were still researching Hashirama's cells.
They had simply hidden it better and acted more cautiously, leaving him without concrete evidence.
And without evidence, Hiruzen couldn't accuse them outright.
If he exposed everything directly, Danzō could easily argue that he had already been punished once, and the village could not convict someone again for a matter that had already been dealt with.
So Hiruzen could only focus on Tenzo.
After all, Danzō had indeed concealed Tenzo's existence from him at the time—so it wasn't technically double punishment.
But Danzō's explanation perfectly accounted for the timing of Tenzo's appearance.
As long as Danzō insisted on that story, it would be almost impossible to bring him down through this angle.
Which meant—
Only a more direct method remained.
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