Naruto: Help Madara rejuvenate and launch a counterattack on Konoha

The snow leopard closed the door, transformed back into a tabby cat, and stood on its four limbs on the bed in the room.

It looked at Dou and said, "So you already know I'm pretending?"

Dou was still preoccupied with what the snow leopard had said earlier, that the dean had been controlled by Liao Wu.

Kabuto wasn't about to be so easily fooled by a cat. He looked into the snow leopard's eyes and asked, "What evidence do you have that the Dean is still alive?"

The snow leopard took a photo directly from the scroll and tossed it to Dou.

Kabuto took the picture and his pupils contracted slightly after looking at it, because the person in the picture was Nono, who was currently tied up with rope.

This kind of binding bag only shows the restriction of the whole body, but in the eyes of some people it is full of charm.

Where is Deng Chao?

Dou gripped the photo tightly, somewhat excited. In this day and age, photoshopping and AI generation weren't possible, so the picture Snow Leopard provided was genuine.

But there's another possibility: the enemy might be a photo of someone disguised as Nono.

Kabuto didn't believe that Uchiha Ryo would care about him so much that he would deliberately try to deceive him like this.

Kabuto looked at the snow leopard and asked, "Are you Uchiha Ryou's summoning beast?"

The snow leopard nodded: "I am one of the Five Valiant Warriors of the Clouds under my master's command—the snow leopard."

Kabuto asked again, puzzled, "What brings Lord Snow Leopard to the Root?"

The snow leopard replied, "Nonou is now under my master's command, and she cares a lot about her orphanage."

"My master heard that Konoha had cut off supplies to the orphanage, so he sent me with silver to supply the orphanage in Nonou."

Upon hearing this, Kabuto's hostility lessened somewhat, but he was also puzzled as to why Uchiha Ryogoku would be so kind.

Didn't people in the underworld say he was the worst of the worst?

The snow leopard added, "My owner also said that he heard the children in the orphanage don't have mothers, so he asked me to play you a song praising mothers."

The snow leopard conjured its own speaker from the reel and played "Only Mother is Good in the World" in front of Dou.

"There's no one better than a mother in this world~ A child with a mother is a treasure♩"

"Snuggling into mom's arms~ I can't get enough of happiness♪"

When Dou heard this, it felt like a hand was squeezing his chest, making him feel suffocated and painful.

Kabuto has an adoptive mother, Nono.

As soon as Snow Leopard played this song, Dou thought of Nono, who was so gentle and kind.

However, such a kind person was exploited by Danzo and Uchiha Ryogoku, two evil individuals.

There is also his own birth mother. Dou has forgotten the past, but some memories have long been engraved in his bones and blood, becoming unforgettable fragments in his genes.

That was the shadow of my mother.

Even when I reach an age where I am no longer able to think clearly, just thinking of that figure will bring me peace of mind.

My nose tingled, and tears streamed down my face.

Seeing that it was so effective, the snow leopard turned the volume up even louder, and the black ball outside could hear the child singing to his mother with a sincere voice.

Blackie's eyes reddened; she missed her dog mother.

Dou stepped forward and pleaded with the snow leopard, "Lord Snow Leopard, please stop releasing them! If you release any more, the people at the Root will notice!"

The snow leopard turned off the stereo and said to Dou, "How about it? Do you believe me now?"

Nodding in agreement, he said that it was something a beast would never do to an orphan who would think that only his mother cared for him.

Only that legendary beast among beasts—Uchiha Ryogoku—would do such a beastly thing.

After Kabuto believed him, the snow leopard began questioning him: "Kabuto, have you been implanted with the Root of the Tongue Calamity Seal?"

The snow leopard wanted to interrogate Kabuto, but before doing so, it had to find out if Kabuto had been implanted with the Root's curse mark. If so, the snow leopard would help him remove it.

Dou shook his head: "Lord Snow Leopard, I have not been implanted with any curse mark."

The snow leopard didn't believe it and approached Dou to examine his body, and sure enough, it found no curse mark.

Because Kabuto was being trained as a high-ranking member of the Root organization, Danzo did not implant a cursed seal into him.

"Okay, then let me ask you, why are you and the children from the orphanage at Root?"

Dou told Xuebao about how the group from the orphanage had gone to beg for food on the street a while ago and were then tricked into joining a pyramid scheme by Gen's people.

When Kabuto arrived, he discovered that the people of Root had no good intentions at all; they would use the children they took away as sacrifices for human experimentation.

Several children have already died at the orphanage.

Kabuto also discovered a final test at the root: the children being trained would be divided into pairs, living and eating together, and building a deep friendship.

On graduation day, the test was to have the two children kill each other, and only the one who survived could become a Root ninja.

Gen has now selected all the children from the orphanage, choosing ten outstanding children to train in pairs.

Kabuto's best friend, Urushi, was among them.

The thought that Urushi would one day kill his best friend and degenerate into a killing tool made Kabuto very anxious.

He knelt directly before the snow leopard, pleading, "Lord Snow Leopard, please save us! This is hell!"

The snow leopard has no sympathy for the orphanage's plight; what it cares about is the human experimentation at the root.

The snow leopard rested its paws on Dou's head, staring into the other's snake-like golden vertical pupils.

"Was Root's human experimentation intended to grant you Orochimaru's power?"

Kabuto nodded: "Yes, the Root experiment involved fusing people with Lord Orochimaru's cells. My companions were all corrupted by Lord Orochimaru's white snake cells and turned into monsters, and were disposed of."

The snow leopard asked in confusion, "Why would the Root people want you to be integrated into Orochimaru's cells?"

Snow Leopard was puzzled. Orochimaru was one of the Legendary Sannin, at the pinnacle of ninjas, but only in comparison to regular ninjas.

Orochimaru's power is insufficient against ninjas of Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama's caliber.

The people in Konoha should have been implanted with Hashirama's cells, or White Zetsu cells, a derivative of Hashirama's cells.

How do I implant Orochimaru's cells?

"..."

Kabuto paused for a moment; the matter of the Impure World Reincarnation was Root's top secret.

Danzo had instructed Kabuto not to tell anyone.

Seeing that Dou didn't want to answer, the snow leopard reached for the speaker switch with its paw and played "Only Mother is Good in the World".

The song continued its previous melody, and Kabuto immediately pleaded desperately, "Lord Snow Leopard, I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything, please don't let it go, okay?"

Snow Leopard turned off the stereo and looked coldly at Dou: "If you're not going to say anything, I'll go play this song for the other kids."

Kabuto finally told the snow leopard, "Because the Root members want to learn Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation!"

"What?! Impure World Reincarnation!"

The snow leopard froze, its pupils contracted sharply, and its voice carried a hint of excitement.

It had a feeling that it was about to make a great contribution, a very, very great contribution.

It excitedly approached Kabuto: "You can use the Impure World Reincarnation technique?"

Dou shook his head: "I've only learned about 70-80% of it; I haven't fully mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique yet."

"Where is the Impure World Reincarnation located?"

The snow leopard grabbed Dou's collar and asked.

Kabuto pointed to his head: "In my mind, Lord Danzo made me memorize all the techniques of the Impure World Reincarnation, and then he took the scroll away."