My older sister is Kushina

The island that came into view of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and Inuzuka Kasa was severely damaged. What made them look solemn was the sight of nearly a hundred corpses lying haphazardly, many of which were badly damaged.

A shocking scene.

Whirlpool Flower Path was sitting cross-legged on a reef protruding from the water. Not far from him lay several small figures, the survivors he had escaped from the base that had suffered a devastating blow.

Inuzuka Hei rushed to Uzumaki Hanamichi's side, asking with a puzzled look, "Captain, what exactly happened here?"

Uzumaki Hanamichi said calmly, "The situation is somewhat complicated."

Minato Namikaze looked around and then went to Hanamichi Uzumaki's side: "Upon hearing He's report, I immediately gathered people and rushed over, but it seems I'm still a step too late."

Uzumaki Hanamichi said with some helplessness, "I alerted him. I didn't expect him to choose to destroy the base directly. If we had waited for you to arrive, there might have been a different outcome."

Immediately afterwards, Uzumaki Hanamichi reported the general situation to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

However, he did not mention Orochimaru.

There were quite a few people around at the moment. He planned to discuss Orochimaru's matter with the Fourth Hokage alone later. After all, Orochimaru was still one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha and one of Konoha's heroic ninjas. Orochimaru had self-destructed his secret base, and he had not been able to capture Orochimaru. He did not have any concrete evidence to implicate Orochimaru. If he directly mentioned Orochimaru now, it might get out and be detrimental to the development of the matter.

Minato Namikaze understood immediately and didn't ask for too many details. He soon joined the investigation of the destroyed base.

Through everyone's efforts, more corpses were found, and even more of those were experimental subjects.

Around noon, Uzumaki Hanato and Namikaze Minato and the others finally left.

Before leaving, Minato Namikaze left several Konoha ninja to seal off the area, and the Fourth Hokage planned to return and arrange for more professional personnel to conduct an inspection.

At 1 p.m., Uzumaki Hanamichi and the Fourth Hokage returned to Konoha.

Minato Namikaze arrived at the Hokage's office and immediately gave some instructions.

Soon, only Minato Namikaze and Hanamichi Uzumaki remained in the Hokage's office.

Minato Namikaze said, "Ado, there's no one else who can tell us the specifics now."

Uzumaki Hanamichi nodded, then described in detail what had happened on the island, including Orochimaru's story, though he didn't go into detail about their battle.

Orochimaru!

Upon hearing Uzumaki Hanamichi mention Orochimaru, Namikaze Minato was shocked and somewhat incredulous. He knew quite a bit about Orochimaru; he was a close friend of his teacher Jiraiya, a disciple of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, and a highly respected ninja of Konoha. During the Second Shinobi World War, his teacher Jiraiya, along with Tsunade and Orochimaru, were known as the "Legendary Sannin," and were among Konoha's heroes. He never imagined that Orochimaru was the mastermind behind such a horrific secret base, which caught him completely off guard.

After a moment of surprise, Minato Namikaze asked, "Ado, are you sure it's Orochimaru?"

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "I've fought him before, and based on what people at the base called him, it should be Orochimaru without a doubt."

Minato Namikaze clenched his fists tightly: "I never imagined Orochimaru would do something like this!"

Uzumaki Hanamichi said thoughtfully, "I think Orochimaru alone probably couldn't have built a secret base of that scale. There must be someone else behind him."

"Others?" Minato Namikaze's expression shifted. "Ado, are you talking about Root?"

Uzumaki Hanamichi didn't hide anything and nodded: "Very likely. Orochimaru is now a member of Root, and the Third Hokage also revealed that the disappearance case is very likely related to Root."

Minato Namikaze said solemnly, "Orochimaru was assigned to Root by the Third Hokage. If I'm not mistaken, the Third Hokage was already aware of Root's problems. Orochimaru was his disciple, and he probably intended for Orochimaru to monitor Root."

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "That's probably what the Third Hokage was planning, but he's very likely to have miscalculated."

Minato Namikaze: "A miscalculation?"

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "Based on the situation at the secret base, I suspect Orochimaru may very well have colluded with Shimura Danzo."

According to the Naruto storyline, Orochimaru did indeed betray his teacher, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Danzo Shimura by reaching an agreement to conduct secret human experiments. However, Uzumaki Hanamichi is not in a position to share this information with the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze. Furthermore, the Naruto world has changed, and he is unsure of the impact of his changes. Therefore, he relies on the Naruto storyline to speculate.

Minato Namikaze said, "If what you say is true, then things are probably in trouble now."

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "Indeed, this involves not only the Root organization and Shimura Danzo, but also the Third Hokage. However, I think the Third Hokage may have already noticed Orochimaru's situation, which is why he conducted a secret investigation."

Minato Namikaze: "Yes, Orochimaru is, after all, a disciple highly valued by the Third Hokage. If he betrays us, it will probably be a significant blow to the Third Hokage."

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "So, what should we do next?"

Uzumaki Hanamichi is also having a headache about this matter. Although Orochimaru has already surrendered to Minato, the secret base on the island has been destroyed, which means the evidence has been destroyed. Although he fought a fierce battle with Orochimaru and can confirm Orochimaru's identity, some things cannot be proven by words alone. If he directly accuses Orochimaru, things will become difficult if the other party denies it. Moreover, that would not only expose himself, but also very likely put himself in the spotlight.

Minato Namikaze pondered for a moment: "This matter is not easy to handle right now. That secret base has been severely damaged, making it difficult to testify against Orochimaru. Moreover, you are the only one who has seen Orochimaru. The best solution at present is probably to put it aside for the time being. In addition, there is another very important situation."

Uzumaki Hanamichi looked at Namikaze Minato with some curiosity: "A very important situation?"

Minato Namikaze said, "Yes, just yesterday we received a request from the two great ninja villages, Kumogakure and Kirigakure."

Uzumaki Hanamichi showed a hint of surprise: "An envoy from one of the two great ninja villages?"

Minato Namikaze said with some concern, "Yes, the Nine-Tails incident has caused quite a stir. Although the village has classified it as a major secret, it's difficult to completely block the news. The two great ninja villages must have obtained some information. The two great ninja villages sent delegations ostensibly for mutual exchange, but secretly they probably want to use the delegations to test our Konoha."

……

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