NOVEL NEXT Chapter 416: 10,000,000 taels per tube
Danzo Shimura watched as his only Foundation base was dismantled, filling his heart with boundless resentment.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen!"
"Well done! You're doing just fine!"
"We are no longer friends!"
At that moment, a white-haired Anbu member approached Danzo and said courteously, "Lord Danzo, please go home and heal. Konoha will provide you with the fresh ingredients you need every day, so please rest assured."
Danzo laughed bitterly in frustration.
When had he ever needed others to prepare his meals?
Ridiculous!
Hateful!
Detestable!
Sarutobi Hiruzen, wait for me—I will make you regret this!
Danzo silently vowed.
Watching Danzo's lonely and defeated silhouette, Kakashi didn't know what he was thinking, only that the Third Hokage seemed to have regained the vigor of his youth.
"Perhaps the Third Hokage was just acting on a whim," Kakashi thought to himself. "However, now that Danzo, this rotten root, has truly been stripped of power, perhaps Konoha will indeed be rejuvenated."
After returning home, Danzo sharply sensed the Anbu surveilling him, even when he went to the bathroom, always vigilantly watching from the shadows.
"Even the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki doesn't get this kind of treatment, do they?"
Danzo scoffed coldly, thinking they could keep him under surveillance?
Impossible!
No matter how strict the Anbu's surveillance, they were still human and couldn't keep their eyes open indefinitely. Danzo always had an opportunity to create a shadow clone to take his place while his real body quietly entered the secret laboratory beneath his house.
The principle of the crafty rabbit having three burrows—how could he not understand it?
His Foundation laboratory wasn't the only one he had.
"Lord Danzo, why did you have us rush here?" a scientific ninja inquired, puzzled.
"The Third Hokage has denied us and even wants to completely abolish the Foundation," Danzo said indignantly.
"How could that be?"
"Why would the Third Hokage do this?"
"After all, we are all for Konoha!"
"Lord Danzo, what should we do now?"
Danzo was very pleased with the loyalty of these scientific ninjas. However, his face bore a somber expression: "The Third Hokage has grown old and confused. He is no longer fit to remain in his position. Only a person with great ambition can truly become the Hokage."
"That person is me!"
The scientific ninjas held their breath, and a fervor soon appeared in their eyes.
"Your identities are special and undetectable by the Third. From now on, live here. I will bring you the necessary supplies daily," Danzo said solemnly. "Can you endure hardship?"
"We will not let you down!"
The scientific ninjas had been completely brainwashed by Danzo. No matter how clever they became, the first thing on their minds was to serve Danzo, even willing to give their lives for him.
"Very good!"
A trace of relief emerged in Danzo's heart, but he quickly suppressed it, because no matter how loyal these scientific ninjas were, they were just tools to him.
"You must strive hard!"
Then, Danzo gave the cell tissues from Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Yamanaka, and others to the scientific ninja.
After a brief inspection, the scientific ninja asked, "Lord Danzo, do these cells seem to be from when they were just born?"
"Exactly," Danzo nodded. "The Foundation has been completely overtaken by the Third Hokage, and I am short of personnel; I can only provide these. Use these cells to secretly cultivate their clones and use their bodies for research. You should have learned the cloning technology I gave you, right?"
"No problem, Lord Danzo." The scientific ninja looked at him with respect. They hadn't expected Danzo to understand cloning technology as well.
"Then work hard; I will secretly try to acquire more samples." As for cloning technology, he naturally had no idea about it, but he was in contact with Orochimaru. Getting a copy of the cloning technology from that guy wasn't very hard, was it?
All it took was a bit of money.
Orochimaru was willing to share his more advanced cloning technology because he felt that with the intelligence of Danzo's men, even if he showed it to them, they wouldn't understand it.
Technology also requires a certain knowledge base to understand; otherwise, saying that they were merely imitating would be an overstatement.
The person who masters the technology is indeed the most valuable.
However, Orochimaru's informants within Konoha were not limited to Danzo Shimura. He also received news about Danzo being dismissed by the Third Hokage and couldn't help but sneer, "Since when did my teacher become so passionate?"
How Danzo Shimura fared didn't interest Orochimaru; he only knew that a part of his funding source would decrease.
"Well, I'll have to figure out a way to get funds from the Akatsuki Organization," he said.
Soon after defecting from Konoha, Orochimaru received a letter from the Akatsuki Organization and met Tendo Pain, becoming covetous of his Rinnegan.
Unfortunately, he was no match, and only after learning that the organization had a wealth of research materials did he agree to join.
However, to get those materials, he first had to capture the tailed beasts.
But Orochimaru did not want to bother with the tailed beasts, and since the organization's plans hadn't started yet, he decided to set up his laboratory somewhere and began collecting research materials in secret.
In actuality, Orochimaru saw the most potential for research in that person within the Akatsuki, the one who was half black and half white with structures similar to Venus flytraps on the sides of his head.
That guy was virtually a vegetable!
Perhaps it was some form of special body modification or some unknown Kekkei Genkai. Orochimaru was highly interested, but regrettably, that person was elusive, and he simply couldn't find him.
Otherwise, even if it was a fellow member, he dared to capture and use him as an experimental subject.
"Konan, long time no see." After spending some effort, Orochimaru arrived in the gloomy village of Amegakure, entered the base, found Konan, and managed to conjure a strained smile on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Konan was extremely wary, having had some unpleasant memories with Orochimaru, who was in the same generation as her teacher Jiraiya and also one of the legendary Sannin.
"Don't be so estranged; I am a member of the organization after all," said Orochimaru cheerfully. "And, come to think of it, didn't I meet you a long time ago?"
"You're overthinking it," Konan replied curtly.
"Is that so?" Orochimaru didn't care about these issues. Instead, he asked, "Could you give me a bit more funding?"
"Do you have any outcomes from your research?" Konan asked cautiously, not keen on wasting money on Orochimaru's pointless experiments.
"I've obtained some useful results," Orochimaru produced an orange potion, "This stuff can replenish chakra and restore stamina."
"Oh? Really?" Konan was somewhat surprised, as Nagato's body was indeed deteriorating day by day due to the effects of the Rinnegan and really needed replenishment.
"Ten million per tube."
"Are you robbing me?"
Konan's expression turned dangerous.
With that price, it was clear enough that the potion was truly effective.
However, she wanted to just snatch it!