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Akira's hands were slick with blood.
He paused, feeling the warmth lingering on his fingers. It hadn't cooled yet.
His nose twitched as he drew in a slow breath. The air reeked of iron—thick, fresh, suffocating.
Yeah. Something was off.
These bodies didn't look like long-dead experimental specimens.
They looked like animals that had just been slaughtered and shoved straight into the tanks.
Sure, maybe they'd been captured recently. Maybe they'd only just died, so the blood was still warm and the smell still strong.
But Akira wasn't buying it.
To be sure, he smashed every single container in the room.
Glass shattered. Green solution spilled across the floor. Animal corpses hit the ground one after another.
The result?
All of them had died recently.
Recently.
Was that possible?
Obviously not.
Which meant the answer was simple.
Someone had rushed ahead of him and stuffed fresh animal corpses into the tanks before he arrived—staging this place as nothing more than an ordinary animal testing facility.
All to clear that bastard Danzo's name.
Akira vanished in a blur and returned to the surface.
"You've seen it for yourself now," Hiruzen said the moment he appeared. "Satisfied?"
"It's fake," Akira replied flatly, walking toward Danzo, who had already been placed on a stretcher. "The blood in those bodies is too fresh. They were put in there recently. Those tanks didn't originally contain animals."
Danzo burst into laughter.
"Just put in there? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day!"
He looked at Akira with naked contempt, like a scholar sneering at an idiot who'd wandered into the wrong classroom.
"That's a specially formulated preservation solution. It maintains cellular activity perfectly. You could soak something in it for over a decade and the blood would still look fresh."
"A shallow guess from someone who doesn't understand a thing. Pathetic. Hah—"
His laugh never made it out.
Akira's hand clamped around his throat, lifting him like a chicken.
He turned to A.
"Take me to the next base. Now."
A nodded and shot off without hesitation.
Boom!
The disguised rock barrier was blasted apart just like the previous two.
Inside—
The same setup.
The same tanks.
The same animal corpses floating in green solution.
Damn it. Still too late.
Akira's face darkened.
Danzo, realizing Akira wouldn't kill him yet, grew even bolder.
"You piece of trash! You've got no proof and you're still smearing me like this!"
"My three hard-built bases—destroyed by you! You're just looking for excuses to wreck my facilities!"
He spat toward Akira.
"If you've got the guts, kill me! Stop running your mouth and do it! Come on! Kill me!"
"Shut up," Akira said coldly.
Danzo laughed harder.
"That all you can say? 'Shut up'? Muscle-brained idiot! Probably nothing but sludge in that skull of yours!"
"If it weren't for your strength, someone could sell you off and you'd help count the money for them—ha—"
Crack.
The sound was crisp and ugly.
Danzo's jaw shattered instantly. His remaining teeth crumbled to powder.
"Annoying."
Akira released his grip, then reached into Danzo's mouth and grabbed his tongue.
Danzo's eyes widened in pure terror.
Squelch.
His tongue burst into pulp.
"Much better."
Akira withdrew his hand with visible disgust, flicked off the blood, and wiped it carelessly across Danzo's bandages.
"You bastard! What are you doing?!" Hiruzen roared, eyes nearly splitting open.
Again.
Again, right in front of him.
First Danzo's arms.
Now his jaw, his teeth, his tongue.
Brutal.
Outrageous.
"You owe me an explanation!" Hiruzen's body flickered forward, blocking Akira's path. His eyes were bloodshot. His entire frame trembled with fury.
Akira lifted his gaze slightly.
"Get lost."
Smack.
Hand rose.
Hiruzen flew.
"Don't waste my damn time."
This time Akira didn't hold back.
Hiruzen's aged face twisted grotesquely as he spun through the air like a drill bit before crashing straight into the Root base.
Boom!
Bang bang bang!
Rows of glass containers exploded on impact. Animal remains and green solution splashed everywhere.
The scene looked like a slaughterhouse.
…
With the obstruction dealt with, Akira grabbed A by the collar.
"Just tell me the location. You're too slow."
"It's beneath the public restroom behind the village," A answered immediately.
Akira nodded.
His left eye activated.
The Rinnegan's power flared—
Amenotejikara.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished, dragging both men with him.
Let's see who's been cleaning up Danzo's mess.
…
"Third Hokage-sama! Are you alright?!"
"What do we do? That man's headed to another Root base! Should we follow?"
Voices overlapped as Konoha's shinobi helped Hiruzen to his feet. His face was grotesquely asymmetrical.
He took two heavy breaths, forcing himself to calm down.
"Follow."
"If this base also lacks the so-called evidence he claims exists…"
He exhaled again, eyes turning ice-cold.
"Then I will no longer concern myself with civilian casualties."
"Even if it costs Konoha everything—we will take that barbarian down with us."
"I will not allow him to run wild in Konoha any longer."
At that moment, every ninja present felt it.
The killing intent radiating from the old man was suffocating.
Humiliated again and again, Hiruzen was truly enraged.
And when a veteran Kage-level shinobi truly loses his temper—
It's terrifying.
"Move!"
With a thunderous shout, Hiruzen surged forward.
Behind him, nearly twenty thousand Konoha shinobi followed.
Killing intent soared into the sky.
Every single one of them was ready to fight to the death.
…
The fourth base.
By the time Hiruzen arrived with his forces, Akira had already reduced the restroom above it to rubble, exposing the hidden Root facility below.
The interior looked exactly like the previous three.
Identical tanks.
Identical animal corpses.
Hiruzen glared at Akira, fury barely contained.
"The same result again."
"I want a reasonable explanation."
"Or else—"
Bang!
Two windmill shuriken were summoned into existence and landed neatly in the Third Hokage's hands, one in each.
The message was crystal clear. If Akira didn't start explaining himself right now, the old man was ready to fight to the death.
All around them, the shinobi of Konohagakure drew their weapons. Killing intent hung thick in the air.
Akira didn't even spare them a glance. His eyes were fixed on the crater below, on the hidden base of Root.
Then he bared his teeth in a savage grin.
"Finally caught you, you sneaky bastard!"
Crack. Crack. Crack—
A massive skeletal arm condensed in midair. Five bony fingers curled into a fist and slammed straight down into the depths of the pit.
Boom!
"Ugh—pfft!"
The earth-shattering impact was followed by the unmistakable sound of someone coughing up blood.
When Akira lifted the Susanoo's fist, a gaping hole had been punched straight through the underground base.
"I'll give you three seconds. Crawl out. Don't make me hit you again."
His voice was ice.
"Cough—cough—!"
Amid violent coughing, a figure slowly dragged himself up from the wreckage.
Long black hair flowed down his back, sleek and smooth. Purple markings framed both sides of his nose. Gold snake-shaped earrings dangled from his ears.
The moment he saw that face, Hiruzen Sarutobi gasped.
"Orochimaru? It's you?! What are you doing in Danzō's Root base?!"
A low chuckle slipped from the man's lips.
"Long time no see, Teacher. What happened to your face? Why's half of it swollen like a pig's?"
He clicked his tongue, amused.
"And you look… pretty miserable yourself."
Mocked so casually by his own former student, Hiruzen felt his dignity shred in real time. His aged face burned.
"Orochimaru! You traitor! Why are you in the village? This is no place for you!"
Akira snorted from the side. "Isn't it obvious? That old mutt Danzō colluded with your favorite disciple here. Working together in the shadows."
He glanced toward the ruined base.
"Those animal corpses inside? I'd bet money this guy planted them."
Orochimaru smiled faintly. "Animal corpses? I have no idea what you're talking about. Careful with your accusations."
His golden, slit pupils locked onto Akira's body, gleaming with unsettling fascination.
He let out a soft hiss and dragged his tongue across his lips, practically savoring the sight.
"But your body… now that's something I'm very interested in."
His voice turned silky.
"How about visiting my laboratory? I promise I'll take very good care of you."
Hiruzen turned on Akira, anger flaring. "So this is your excuse? Don't be ridiculous. Orochimaru being here only proves he's connected to Danzō. It doesn't prove there were human experiments!"
"Is that so?"
Akira shot him a sidelong look, then shifted his gaze back to Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru. Hand over the human test subjects you moved. Now."
A harmless smile curved Orochimaru's lips. "I truly don't know what you mean."
Inside, though, he was laughing.
What an idiot. Does he really think I'll obey him? Muscle-brained fool—
The thought never finished.
In the next instant, a terrifying wave of mental force flooded his mind. It crushed down so completely he couldn't even resist.
This is… Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu? But how is it this overwhelming?!
That was his final coherent thought before his consciousness sank into darkness.
From the outside, the onlookers saw Orochimaru bite his thumb, smear blood across his palm, and slam it to the ground.
Summoning Jutsu: Giant Serpents!
Bang! Bang!
Two massive clouds of white smoke exploded outward.
When the smoke cleared, two enormous brown serpents loomed before them.
Hiruzen frowned. Was Orochimaru about to fight?
Then the snakes opened their mouths.
And vomited.
Black shapes poured out in droves.
When the shapes hit the ground, everyone finally saw what they were.
Human bodies.
Skin gray and lifeless. No breath. No pulse.
There were so many that they nearly filled the entire Root base. A carpet of pale corpses.
The sight was nauseating.
No one spoke.
Then Orochimaru staggered back into himself, breaking free from the illusion. He gasped for air, sweat pouring down his face, his skin ghostly pale. When he looked at Akira now, there was real fear in his eyes.
No one had ever subdued him so easily. Not even his teacher at full strength.
That genjutsu… it swallowed me instantly. If I hadn't sacrificed part of my lifespan to break free, I'd be nothing more than meat on the chopping block.
Akira arched a brow.
"Not bad. Breaking my casual genjutsu like that. Guess that's why you're one of the Legendary Sannin."
Still, his expression darkened.
"But breaking free doesn't change anything. You almost made me look like a fool."
His voice turned glacial.
"If you hadn't been stirring things in the shadows, I would've exposed Danzō's crimes long ago."
He raised his hand.
"Your only outcome… is death."
The Susanoo's colossal arm came crashing down again.
Orochimaru's face drained of color. "Protect me! Now!"
The two giant snakes coiled tightly around him, layering themselves as a shield.
It didn't matter.
The skeletal fist pulverized them instantly. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere. They never stood a chance.
But at that very moment, beneath the descending fist, countless small black snakes burst outward in every direction.
Orochimaru's escape technique. The Formation of a Thousand Serpents.
One of those snakes was him.
Akira let out a cold laugh. "Running away really is your specialty. Fine. Next time I see you, I'll kill you."
He made no move to chase.
Everyone knew that in the shinobi world, Orochimaru and Obito Uchiha were the hardest men to kill. Their raw combat strength wasn't unbeatable, but their survival tricks were an absolute nightmare.
Even Akira would need real effort to finish him for good.
And right now, he had more important business.
From the moment Orochimaru's summons were crushed to the second he slipped away, no one reacted.
Because no one could look away from the ground.
The bodies.
Proof laid out in cold, silent rows.
Facts spoke louder than any argument. The sheer number of experimental victims left no room for denial.
Danzō had been conducting inhuman experiments in secret.
The shinobi stared at him in disbelief. Then disgust.
Root's leader. A senior elder. A man just beneath the Hokage in authority.
And he had done this.
They had trusted him. Believed he had devoted his life to the village.
They had even mocked Akira earlier. Thought he was nothing but a loud, violent brute.
Looking back now, they felt like idiots.
Absolute clowns.
Akira's voice cut through the silence.
"So? Any of you trash still got something to say?"
The shinobi of Konohagakure lowered their heads, shame burning in their faces.
None of them dared meet his eyes.
"..."
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