While everyone waited for Orochimaru to state his position, he suddenly turned his gaze toward Uchiha Ren, who was seated diagonally across the room.
His reaction stunned everyone.
All eyes followed his gaze and landed on Ren.
No one could help but be shocked—because Orochimaru's behavior looked unmistakably like he was asking for Ren's opinion.
Since when had Orochimaru and the Uchiha Clan become connected?
Even Shimura Danzō, who had been calm until now, felt a vague sense of unease.
Originally, Danzō had not been worried about Orochimaru betraying him.
The two of them were deeply tied together, and Danzō held plenty of hard evidence related to Orochimaru's activities.
If Danzō fell, Orochimaru wouldn't escape either.
So unless Orochimaru had lost his mind, he would never stand on Hiruzen Sarutobi's side.
But why was Orochimaru looking at Uchiha Ren?
This was supposed to be a struggle between himself and Hiruzen. What did Ren—a mere observer—have to do with it?
Even without knowing whether this sudden change was good or bad, the uncertainty alone was enough to make Danzō uneasy.
Seeing everyone staring at him, Ren helplessly spread his hands.
"Why are you all looking at me?"
"Does this matter have anything to do with me?"
He adopted a completely indifferent attitude, as if the matter had nothing to do with him at all.
Across the room, Orochimaru had already understood Ren's meaning.
He coughed lightly to draw everyone's attention.
Calmly, he said,
"As for the Wood Release human experimentation, I was merely following orders."
"After receiving the order from the Third Hokage, I withdrew from the laboratory."
"As for Tenzo… he was indeed one of the sixty test subjects from the final batch."
"But the information I received at the time was that all sixty subjects had died."
"I had no knowledge of Tenzo's survival."
"That is everything I know."
After speaking, Orochimaru closed his mouth and showed no intention of saying anything further.
This was exactly the signal he had received from Ren:
Remain neutral and remove himself from the situation.
However, although he claimed neutrality, by refusing to testify against Danzō, Orochimaru was effectively helping him.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly.
"Orochimaru… are you certain that after the Wood Release experiments you had no further cooperation with Danzō?"
"As far as I know, you've continued conducting various… experiments in secret over the years."
"Are you sure none of those experiments involved him?"
This was a blatant threat.
As the saying goes, a father knows his son best.
As his once-favored disciple, Orochimaru was someone Hiruzen understood very well.
Apart from missions, Orochimaru spent nearly all his personal time inside laboratories.
There was no way Hiruzen hadn't noticed.
In fact, he had already identified several of Orochimaru's hidden laboratories.
Compared to the ever-cautious Danzō, Orochimaru seemed far less guarded against his former teacher.
In many aspects, it was almost as if he was just short of openly revealing everything.
Hiruzen had long speculated about the reason.
Orochimaru was not the type of person who believed human experimentation was wrong.
By acting so openly, Orochimaru seemed to be sending a message:
If his teacher could tolerate him, he would remain in Konoha.
If not—
Then he would simply leave the village and go his own way.
Of course, this was only Hiruzen's guess.
Whether Orochimaru truly thought this way was impossible to confirm.
But regardless of Orochimaru's intentions, the flaws he had exposed had now become a weapon in Hiruzen's hands.
The implication behind Hiruzen's words was clear.
Either Orochimaru shoulder the blame himself, or push it onto Shimura Danzō.
After all, Danzō was already used to taking the blame.
One more charge wouldn't make much difference.
Orochimaru frowned slightly.
His disappointment toward his former teacher deepened even further.
But he had no intention of following the script Hiruzen had written for him.
To Orochimaru, the identity of a Konoha shinobi was both protection and restraint.
In the past, he still hesitated because of lingering ties to the village.
But Hiruzen's actions at this moment only strengthened those restraints.
And in that instant, Orochimaru's thoughts leaned decisively toward leaving Konoha altogether.
Suddenly—
His eyes sharpened.
A trace of the oppressive aura of a Kage-level shinobi leaked out, as if he might attack at any moment.
The atmosphere inside the meeting room instantly became heavy.
Everyone showed expressions of shock.
Was Orochimaru really this bold?!
"Orochimaru!"
Seeing the situation turning dangerous, Jiraiya quickly threw an arm around Orochimaru's shoulders and tried to ease the tension.
"Calm down. That's not what Sensei meant."
"Am I excited?"
Orochimaru snapped back to himself.
After casting Hiruzen a cold glance, he withdrew his aura.
Then he closed his eyes, adopting a posture that seemed to say he would accept whatever punishment came.
Hiruzen's face turned dark as iron.
At the same time, hesitation crept into his mind.
The look in Orochimaru's eyes just now—
He had truly wanted to kill him.
If he continued pressing the matter, Orochimaru might actually attack.
Hiruzen did not fear fighting Orochimaru.
But if he openly turned against his disciple in front of everyone, whether he won or lost—
He would become a laughingstock of Konoha and even the entire shinobi world.
Just then—
Uchiha Ren suddenly spoke, breaking the suffocating silence.
"I think Sarutobi-jōnin may have misunderstood something."
"Orochimaru has indeed been conducting experiments over the years."
"But his collaborator wasn't Shimura Danzō."
"It was the Uchiha Clan."
"And I'll be honest with everyone—some of those experiments did involve human experimentation."
The room exploded into uproar.
Both Hiruzen and Danzō frowned, unable to understand why Ren would step into such dangerous waters.
After all, they both knew very well that Orochimaru's secret activities had nothing to do with the Uchiha Clan.
Ren was essentially creating trouble for himself.
Ignoring their confusion, Ren continued,
"However, I should clarify something."
"The experimental subjects used by Orochimaru were corpses of enemy shinobi with kekkei genkai, collected by the Uchiha Clan on the battlefield."
"Additionally, some were bandits and criminals."
"As for the reason behind these experiments—"
"It's because a prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Itachi, has been suffering from a Bloodline Disease."
"With no other choice, we sought Orochimaru's help."
Ren's explanation noticeably softened the expressions of many people in the room.
If the experiments were conducted only on enemy shinobi corpses, then it was not entirely unacceptable.
Moreover, during the Battle of Kikyō Mountain, several people had indeed seen Uchiha Itachi being kept close to the Uchiha clan members.
That detail indirectly supported Ren's claim.
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