Before long, Snowy used the Mayfly Technique to bring Kuromaru and infiltrate the Root base.
Snowy's infiltration method was highly sophisticated; White Zetsu's Mayfly Technique was the Ninjutsu with the strongest concealment capabilities.
In the process, Snowy relied on the power of spores to make his and Kuromaru's presence identical to that of trees.
They bypassed some of Root's barrier traps and entered the heart of Root without further incident.
This was also thanks to the fact that Root's elites had been wiped out during the previous conflict with the Akatsuki in the Land of Rain; those currently stationed at Root were all researchers.
Their security awareness was very weak.
Snowy activated the sensory abilities of the spores to perceive the internal situation of Root.
Kuromaru also activated his super-smell, sniffing out the components within.
The thick, inseparable smell of disinfectant and formalin, the old, dried, yet repeatedly soaked scent of blood, as well as the pungent acidic smell of medicines and chemical reagents...
Smelling it felt like arriving at a morgue or the residence of an ultimate serial killer.
"Bleh—"
Kuromaru vomited on the spot after one sniff; these smells were simply too disgusting for a dog.
"You damn dog!"
Seeing Kuromaru vomit all over the floor, Snowy wanted to give him a swipe with his claw.
Kuromaru said apologetically, "Snowy, sorry, these smells are too foul. They're even worse than the Konoha morgue."
"The underground has no ventilation. I really don't know how much these Root people can endure?"
Kuromaru's sense of smell was very sensitive; an ordinary person entering would at most think it was an underground hospital.
There would certainly be strange smells, but it wouldn't be as exaggerated as Kuromaru's reaction.
Root emphasized protecting the Village from the darkness; what did a few strange smells matter?
Snowy ignored Kuromaru. Within Snowy's perception, the Shinobi remaining at Root were not exceptionally powerful.
What was noteworthy were the two Jonin guarding the topmost area. They were a bit of a nuisance for Snowy, but they couldn't detect him.
Aside from that, there weren't many people in the massive Root base.
This was also normal. In Danzo's Root, the only ones worth noting now were Danzo himself and Aburame Ryoma.
Both of them had joined the Shinobi Allied Forces to fight in the Land of Rain; the current Root was somewhat insignificant.
Snowy could easily take down the Root Shinobi, but his mission was to find the members of Nono's orphanage.
Destroying Root was not his task. Of course, if the opportunity arose, Snowy wouldn't mind destroying this den of filth.
The fact that his master, Ryou, had lived such an unsuccessful life before was also due to Danzo's intentions; Danzo was the dark side of Tobirama.
He held an attitude of distrust toward any Uchiha, so he gave Ryou very few opportunities.
Kuromaru suddenly reminded Snowy: "Snowy, there is the scent of ten children above us. It seems to be the orphans from the Konoha Orphanage."
Snowy nodded and led Kuromaru upward, reaching the area beneath the orphanage children Kuromaru mentioned.
The orphanage children and the staff were separated.
Ever since Kabuto merged with Orochimaru's white snake cells, Root stopped selecting children to merge with Orochimaru's cells.
Of course, Root, with the mindset of making use of waste, wouldn't release them either.
Root Shinobi had screened the 50 or so orphans in the orphanage and selected three batches: upper, middle, and lower.
Ten top-tier orphans were selected from the upper batch to be trained as reserve Shinobi for Root.
There were about 30 in the middle batch, mainly performing manual labor at the Root base or learning the knowledge systems of research Shinobi to be used as researchers.
As for the lower batch, they were all orphans with physical disabilities or weak constitutions.
These people were arranged to stay in the Root infirmary to 'enjoy life,' with Root promising to heal their physical defects.
In reality, they were being kept as experimental subjects, to be seized for human experimentation when the time came.
The orphanage staff either saw through Root's true nature and integrated into Root to do menial work,
Or they simply couldn't accept Root using children for human experiments and threatened to report them.
The latter were all eventually used as sacrifices for human experimentation.
Nono's orphanage had already been consumed by Root.
In peaceful times, the disappearance of all orphanage personnel would surely be a major event, but during wartime, especially during the decisive battle between the Shinobi Allied Forces and Madara,
No one cared about the orphanage's affairs.
At this moment, the place where Snowy and Kuromaru were eavesdropping was a Root training base, where Root trained the orphanage orphans to become Shinobi.
These people were in pairs, five groups in total. They were all very happy to have been selected by the Root people to become Shinobi.
The Root personnel were currently teaching these orphans the techniques for molding chakra.
The Shinobi teaching the orphans at Root wore a mask even within his own base; his mask was a white, ghost-like Hannya mask.
Looking like a large Hannya, the girls among the orphans didn't dare look at the terrifying White Hannya.
White Hannya taught the orphans in a very mechanical voice: "Feel your breath... then feel the warmth in every part of your body. That is the power of your chakra."
"Like catching a butterfly, use your will to gently gather them together..."
Under White Hannya's guidance, everyone slowly began to mold chakra.
Several children had sweat on their foreheads and rapid breathing; molding chakra is a physically demanding act and is not that easy.
Chakra is an energy formed by mixing physical energy and spiritual energy.
Everyone has this energy.
In the latest setting of Boruto, chakra is a life energy that all living things are born with; it is not exclusive to Shinobi, nor was it bestowed by Kaguya.
The original setting was that Kaguya ate the chakra fruit of the God Tree and became the first person in the world to possess chakra.
With the blessings of the people, she gave birth to Hagoromo and Hamura, and the two shared Kaguya's chakra.
This laid the groundwork for the subsequent rift between mother and sons.
After Kaguya was sealed, the Sage of Six Paths distributed chakra to those who followed him, allowing everyone to be heart-to-heart.
So in the eyes of the world, chakra was bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths, and his chakra was in turn inherited from Kaguya.
But the essence of chakra is simply the mixture of a person's physical energy and spiritual energy.
As long as there is life, there is chakra; chakra is equivalent to the planet's life source.
Everyone has it; it's just that the techniques for utilizing chakra have been monopolized by Shinobi.
In shippuden, Kaguya could still be called the Ancestor of chakra, but in Boruto, Kaguya is a thief who stole the planet's life source.
Because chakra does not belong to her, but to this planet. A Shinobi's chakra is controlled by themselves and is equivalent to their life.
Before Kaguya arrived, the people of this planet already possessed their own power systems.
For example, Senjutsu. Senjutsu is the fusion of physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy.
This is a more advanced power system than chakra.
Since Senjutsu existed, there's no reason for chakra—which is inferior to Senjutsu—not to exist.
It's possible that the God Tree absorbed everyone who possessed chakra, and then Kaguya arrived and slaughtered the planet's original power systems to extinction.
This led to a break in the original power systems, until the Sage of Six Paths established Ninshu, which could use chakra.
As long as one is human, they have chakra. In the original work, Rock Lee also has chakra; it's not that he can't mold chakra, but he just can't use chakra to perform Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.
Opening the Eight Gates releases the chakra within his body to enhance his Taijutsu.