Uchiha's personal opinion

He walked slowly back to the village with a gloomy face, feeling extremely unhappy.

Orochimaru is out of money.

After Danzo's death, the many secret laboratories that Root had secretly set up were not discovered and sealed off by the Anbu in time, and eventually fell into Orochimaru's control.

At first, Orochimaru thought it was a windfall that landed right in his mouth, and even believed that it was the will of the Sage of Six Paths, that the heavens were helping him to explore the mysteries of ninjutsu.

However, Orochimaru underestimated the cost of maintaining multiple laboratories in operation.

Especially after Root was completely disbanded, all of Root's original businesses changed hands, and the village no longer received special funding. Therefore, after losing all sources of income, the secret laboratory that Orochimaru had taken over soon fell into dire straits.

In the past, Orochimaru had taken on some research projects from Danzo, and incidentally, he would sneak in some personal gains during the research process. He could even conduct some experiments that interested him on some of the more difficult research projects. His scientific research path was relatively smooth.

Now that Danzo is dead and Root is gone, the secret laboratory has no food left.

Thinking about this, Orochimaru felt even more agitated!

Orochimaru left the village overnight to deliver supplies to the secret laboratory outside the village; however, his followers were not strong enough to sneak out of the village without being detected by the barrier team, the sensory team, and the police department's patrols, so they could only help with some tasks such as collecting and purchasing supplies in secret. The transportation captain still had to be personally handled by him, the boss.

What still frustrates me the most is that the secret laboratory has run out of live test subjects.

Originally, the task of collecting live test subjects was carried out by Root ninjas. However, Root ninjas, who were already elusive, were avoided by ordinary Konoha ninjas, and no one ever tried to find out what Root was doing. Orochimaru basically did not manage this part of the work, so he did not have a stable source of materials.

You can't just openly arrest people in the village these days!

Thinking about this, Orochimaru became even more agitated!

Then, Orochimaru kicked the stone in front of him away.

"Thump~~"

The sound of the stone hitting the ground was particularly crisp in the darkness.

"who!"

Orochimaru's expression suddenly changed, and he looked towards the grove of trees to his left.

"it's me……"

Sakumo Hatake slowly emerged from the woods.

"So it's Mr. Sakumo..."

Orochimaru's tense expression relaxed slightly, but he still remained vigilant and wary.

"It's so late, Mr. Sakumo still has the leisure to come out and enjoy the night view!"

Sakumo Hatake looked tired, his ninja uniform was covered in dust, and he was wearing leg wraps, looking like he had just returned from a long journey.

The reason for asking this question is that Orochimaru encountered Sakumo Hatake in the village during the day and was deliberately trying to change the subject by making sarcastic remarks.

"I went to the east to discuss some things with Tokumitsu-kun, and I'm just back now." Hatake Sakumo was surprisingly calm and sincere. "But, where's Orochimaru-kun? Why are you back so late? Did you go on a special mission?"

Orochimaru was speechless, choked by Sakumo Hatake's sincere honesty.

After a long pause, he whispered, "It's nothing... just taking a stroll..."

In the face of sincerity, pretense is almost impossible to break.

"Oh."

Sakumo Hatake's expression remained unchanged as he nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the distance behind Orochimaru, a hint of exploration in his eyes.

Orochimaru was startled.

"Shall we take a walk together?"

Sakumo Hatake tilted his head slightly and asked the question.

"it is good……"

Orochimaru pursed his lips slightly and agreed.

It was a deep night, and the moonlight was beautiful.

However, Orochimaru had no interest in appreciating the night view at all.

Sakumo Hatake and Orochimaru walked slowly side by side on the path back to Konoha, neither of them speaking.

Orochimaru, who appeared calm, kept an eye on Sakumo Hatake's expression out of the corner of his eye.

At this moment, Sakumo Hatake narrowed his eyes slightly, his lips slightly upturned, a half-smile on his face.

Orochimaru's heart jumped again.

Just as the atmosphere was beginning to freeze, a police patrol team appeared ahead.

"Good evening, Lord Sakumo!"

After observing for a moment, the Uchiha ninja from the police patrol team lowered his guard and took the initiative to greet them.

"Oh, Orochimaru, the Jonin, is here too."

The Uchiha ninjas treated the two men with vastly different tones and attitudes when they greeted them.

Orochimaru also felt some chest tightness and shortness of breath.

"Shiina-kun, you're actually leading the patrol yourself!"

The patrol leader was none other than Uchiha Shiina, Uchiha Tokumitsu's cousin.

"Recently, there have been many wealthy businessmen coming to buy bonds, so to ensure security, the patrol deployment has been adjusted."

Uchiha Shiina also showed considerable respect for Hatake Sakumo.

"Oh...you've worked hard."

Hatake Sakumo nodded, then chatted briefly before saying goodbye to the patrol team.

"Mr. Sakumo and the Uchiha clan have a really good relationship," Orochimaru said with a smile. "It's clear that Tokumitsu-kun's clan members respect you a lot."

"The Uchiha clan is quite straightforward."

Sakumo Hatake answered casually.

"We were just talking about bonds... Tokumitsu-kun's idea really stirred up the ninja world..."

Orochimaru then changed the subject, bringing up the hottest topic in Konoha and even the ninja world recently.

"Yes, Deguang-kun's talent in financial planning is indeed extraordinary."

Upon hearing this, Hatake Sakumo agreed to give Uchiha Tokumitsu high praise.

Orochimaru stopped talking.

He felt that Sakumo Hatake had already killed off everything he wanted to say.

"Did Orochimaru, the Jonin, come back from the lab?"

Sakumo Hatake suddenly said something.

Orochimaru's expression suddenly turned cold.

The fingers of the hands behind his back twitched slightly, as if he was about to do something.

Hatake Sakumo seemed oblivious and continued to stroll slowly forward.

"Sakumo Jonin has quite a few spies..."

Orochimaru suddenly smiled inexplicably, his lips trembling slightly.

"It's nothing, it's perfectly normal for the Jonin team to pay attention to the follow-up actions of Root."

Sakumo Hatake stopped in his tracks, turned around and looked at Orochimaru, who was standing still in place. "Moreover, the smell of blood and disinfectant on you is too strong for me to ignore, and I cannot ignore it."

Orochimaru's nostrils twitched slightly, but he did not refute.

He simply let his hands, which had been behind his back, hang down.

"Konoha doesn't need darkness, much less another Danzo."

Sakumo Hatake looked calmly at Orochimaru, his tone very amiable, but his words were sharp: "Some things are indeed taboo, but let bygones be bygones. Don't repeat them... Otherwise, even the Hokage can't protect you."

Orochimaru remained silent.

"Human experimentation is a shortcut, isn't it?"

Hatake Sakumo didn't seem to care much about Orochimaru's silence, and just smiled nonchalantly: "After all, you did contribute to the advancement of medical ninjutsu, right?"

Orochimaru's face remained grim, his vertical pupils fixed on Sakumo Hatake.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Sakumo Hatake tilted his head and asked.

"Sakumo-san seems to have changed a lot since he became the Jonin team leader..."

Orochimaru chuckled and stuck out his long tongue to wash his face.

His previously gloomy expression instantly softened, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"As Deguang once said, 'Your position determines your perspective.'"

Sakumo Hatake's lips twitched slightly. "I'm still me, just not the same as before. There's nothing special about that."

"He always speaks of Deguang... It seems that the alliance between Mr. Sakumo and the Uchiha clan is stronger than others can imagine."

Orochimaru's fingers began to twitch slightly again.

Sakumo Hatake seemed oblivious to Orochimaru's subtle movements, simply staring calmly into Orochimaru's snake-like eyes.

After a while, Orochimaru spoke again, "Alright... can you tell me how you found out?"

Orochimaru's expression finally relaxed completely.

"Perhaps you don't feel it, but Orochimaru, the Jonin..."

Sakumo Hatake sighed, "Has no one told you that your aura is becoming less and less like that of a normal living person?"

"Furthermore, the smell of blood and disinfectant on you... Even setting aside the Inuzuka clan, any normal Konoha ninja would sense something is amiss..."

Sakumo Hatake shook his head and sighed, while Orochimaru remained silent.

"is it?"

Orochimaru still had a strange smile on his lips. He casually raised his right hand, smelled his sleeve, and then pulled on his collar, sniffing it as well.

"I'm sorry, Jonin Sakumo, I really didn't smell anything."