Uchiha Akaishi Tour

Chapter 329 The Smiling Tree

October 3, Konoha 38.

It has been three months since Konoha officially launched its war against Kusagakure.

The Land of Grass has abandoned Kusagakure and is preparing to surrender to the Land of Fire, accepting its conditions.

Not only was Kusagakure brought to Konoha's doorstep, but it also lost all secular cooperation, leaving it with only one path: "waiting to die."

Just as Orochimaru had predicted, Iwagakure, while putting pressure on the "Kusagakure Countermeasures Headquarters" at Kannabi Bridge for the past three months, had only exerted pressure and showed no intention of launching a full-scale war. They watched helplessly as the Kusanagi faction, allied with Iwagakure, was thoroughly defeated by Konoha.

The actions of the Kusagakure countermeasures unit once again reminded other small ninja villages not to assume that just because Konoha was having a hard time in the Land of Rain, they could also put up a fight!

With just six Jonin, Konoha was able to cut off Iwagakure's reinforcements while simultaneously crushing Kusagakure.

While good news was coming from the Land of Grass, Danzo Shimura was also waiting for his own "good news".

Although the Wood Release experiment has been fraught with difficulties, progress has been made steadily!

In two experimental subjects, the intercolumnar cell content was pushed to 0.9% —

According to the estimates of the root technicians, as long as the experimental subjects have a content of 1%, the next step can be taken and cell activation can be attempted.

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And today—

The day to inject intercolumnar cells into these two experimental subjects again!

"Does it have to be a meeting at this time? It's just Kusagakure, what's there to care about!" Danzo said impatiently.

He originally intended to go to Laboratory 001 located outside the village in person, but he had to give up because Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly had to attend a meeting.

However, Danzo still glanced at the top-secret files, noting the information on the two test subjects: a man and a woman. The man was an orphan from the Land of Rain, and the woman was an orphan from the Land of Grass.

Yes, it's reasonable to let them make a contribution for Konoha.

The woman's rejection reaction had already begun; her feet had become numb, but it inexplicably stopped.

The man had previously suffered serious injuries and was mute.

Both test subjects had flaws, but Danzo still held out hope, after all, they were selected from hundreds of test subjects.

"If this fails again, I'll have to try transplanting from an infant—" Danzo thought to himself.

Meanwhile, in Laboratory 001 —

"Number 114 also failed, alas." The researcher watched the girl in front of him gradually turn into a tree and sighed regretfully.

The girl seemed to have foreseen her fate, and at this moment she smiled little by little, the tears in the corners of her eyes hanging there like dewdrops after they had turned to wood.

He quickly composed himself and said, "Alright, bring number 514 along too."

"Chief, that number 514—ever since number 114 was taken away, he's been acting very agitated. Should we—" the Root ninja asked for instructions.

After a brief hesitation, the researchers said, "No need to add more drugs. We're about to proceed with the next step of the experiment, so let's not affect the experimental data."

Soon, a figure struggling and screaming, but dressed in straitjackets, was brought over.

That's right, it's naturally the Rope Tree.

However, here, no one knows his identity. All they know is that he is Experiment Subject 514, an orphan from an enemy nation destined to pay Konoha's blood tax, and Konoha's hidden nourishment.

Nawaki hadn't expected this situation at all. Seeing the "Anbu" ninja, he assumed he was safe—after all, in his mind, even if they didn't recognize him, they would lead him to a safe place. But—

Unable to speak, they missed the only other opportunity to reveal their identity!

By the time he realized his situation and what these people were doing, Rope Tree understood that if they found out his identity, he would be silenced immediately!

Therefore, even though he was full of resentment, Nawaki gritted his teeth and persevered, looking for an opportunity to escape.

During this time, he also witnessed the inhumanity of these people.

Although he didn't want to admit that these were Konoha ninjas, and initially he had been hoping that they were from an enemy country sent to smear Konoha, from the snippets of conversation he overheard, he became more and more convinced that this was "Root," a department directly under the Hokage!

Nawaki had even heard before that Orochimaru was one of the Root's supervisors. During the past few months here, Nawaki was so shocked by the dark side of Konoha that his Will of Fire collapsed. He couldn't help but keep thinking back to what the old man who called himself "Uchiha Madara" had said.

Even setting aside the collapse of his faith, just as a person, as a "child," Nawaki was already on the verge of collapse in this situation.

The reason it hasn't collapsed yet is also because—

Lily had been comforting and encouraging him—she was the same girl who had given him advice on his first day there.

The test subjects here will soon become numb, like walking corpses, under repeated torture and the hopeless anticipation of the future.

However, Lily is different. Even in this environment, Lily still encourages and helps other children with the idea of ​​"at least not giving up smiling while you are alive".

He even made a bet with the researchers, using his own experience of surviving countless experiments, to slightly improve the living standards of the experimental subjects here.

The lab staff initially tried to stop her, but later discovered that it seemed to improve the stability of the test subjects, so they let her do it.

Encouraged by Yuri, Rope Tree didn't give up hope—initially, Yuri forced him to smile time and time again, but later—

One night, Rope Tree discovered that Lily was always crying alone late at night, and only then did he understand her good intentions in always encouraging everyone to smile.

but----

The number of children dwindled until only Rope Tree and Lily remained.

The day of the final experiment arrived. Before Yuri was taken away, she gave Nawaki her last encouragement, telling him to smile no matter what and to leave him with a smile.

Lily was taken away first, and even though Rope Tree struggled and went crazy, it was all in vain—he could only hope that the two of them could succeed in the experiment, and that they might have a chance to escape during the transfer.

When he was brought back to the lab, eager to make sure Yuri was alright—

I only saw one tree —

The lily's face grew on the tree trunk, still that last smile she left for herself—

Rope Tree was stunned. Of course he understood what this meant. This wasn't the first time he had seen an experimental subject become a tree.

Moreover, he used the cells of his most revered grandfather to turn each child into this—

Seeing that he didn't struggle, the Root ninjas were happy to save themselves the trouble.

And at that very moment—

The ninjas who were cleaning up the test site with a snap cut down the tree. Countless failed attempts had already proven that what remained of these failed experiments were just ordinary trees, of little value except for firewood.

In the Hokage Building, in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the good news that the Land of Grass had officially surrendered.

"Now that the Land of Grass has surrendered, and the true line of the Grass Village, the Grass Flower, has also asked Konoha for help, hoping that we can assist in eliminating the Grass Fruit. It seems that peace in the Land of Grass will soon be achieved." Hiruzen Sarutobi's feelings were somewhat complicated.

Of course, I was mostly happy.

After all, Konoha had won a battle and was about to achieve a small strategic goal!

However, this goal was only achieved after Orochimaru argued with him and stubbornly insisted on his own opinion, which inevitably made Hiruzen Sarutobi feel somewhat embarrassed.

Danzo was getting impatient. Thinking about today's experiment, he was so anxious that he didn't say anything and just waited patiently for the meeting to end.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was puzzled by his silence.

To verify whether he was distracted, Hiruzen Sarutobi specifically praised Akaishi a few more times.

No response?

They also acknowledged the bravery of Yang Yong and the other Uchiha clan members in battle.

Still no response?

Seeing that Danzo hadn't said anything to provoke him, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that Danzo wasn't listening to him at all!

Somewhat annoyed, Hiruzen Sarutobi adjourned the meeting.

Danzo Shimura immediately returned to the Root headquarters.

"What? Can't get in touch?" Shimura Danzo asked about the experiment's progress, but what he received was even worse news than the experiment's failure.

Danzo didn't know why, but the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger!

"Let's go, I want to inspect it myself!" Shimura Danzo said with a dark face.

After traveling for several hours.

"What on earth happened!" Shimura Danzo looked at the ruins before him and slammed his cane down in frustration.

Several Root ninjas who had arrived earlier to investigate were so frightened by Danzo's rage that they knelt down.

However, he could only bite the bullet and explain, "Lord Danzo, after Lab 001 lost contact, we rushed over, and when we arrived—it was already like this."

"You—didn't you see the enemy ninjas coming—?" Danzo said, his voice somewhat hoarse.

The ruins of the underground research institute before them were being torn apart layer by layer by tree roots thicker than a person. The solid walls and sealing techniques were being torn apart as if they were made of paper by these tree roots and vines, leaving a large pit in the ground.

More importantly, the bodies of those valuable researchers and Root ninjas were mostly riddled with sharp wooden spears, and some even bore signs of execution-style brutality!

Although we don't know what happened or who the attacker is, it's clear that the attacker used Wood Release!

Therefore, Danzo immediately emphasized that it was an attack by ninjas from an enemy country.

Of course, the first thing Danzo thought of at this moment was the message that Uchiha Akashi had sent back—that a Wood Release ninja and a Rinnegan ninja had teamed up to attack Konoha's Chunin.

However, Danzo did not believe it at the time, and indeed, for a long time, the strange combination reported by Akaishi did not reappear.

Until this time —

"Any survivors? Never mind, let's count the corpses." Danzo looked at the scene before him, not even believing that there could be any survivors.

The results came out quickly, and thankfully, everyone had died!

This relieved Danzo; if someone had been captured alive, he would have had even less sleep.

Of course, this statistic does not include experimental subjects.

After all, if the experimental subject fails, it will turn into a tree—it's normal that there's no corpse!

Although the absence of the two trees with faces prevented Danzo from being completely at ease, it didn't necessarily prove that any survivors had left.