"Is that so?" Sasori's eyes flashed with disappointment.
"It must be that hateful snake who learned that Konoha's Ninja were coming, so he moved his lair's data in advance!"
Sasori immediately understood the key to it.
Moreover, he suspected that Orochimaru wasn't actually dead, but had escaped!
After all, he and Orochimaru had been partners for a long time.
He knew very well that the stinky snake's best trick was to escape!
Seeing Sasori's disappointed and unwilling expression, Feng Xu suddenly remembered something and said with a light chuckle.
"Although there isn't one in this base, I have an incomplete version of Edo Tensei here that hasn't been perfected by Orochimaru."
Konoha's forbidden jutsu scrolls had long been taken back to Four Stars Village by Minato, Kushina, and others during the previous raid.
They recorded the incomplete Edo Tensei created by Tobirama.
Tobirama's version of Edo Tensei didn't use living people as sacrifices, but rather the dead.
Therefore, the resurrected Ninja had extremely low combat power and could only be used as suicide bombers with explosive tags.
Moreover, Tobirama also used dead bodies for his research when developing this jutsu.
After all, with Senju Hashirama, the previous Ashura Great Saint Mother, he wouldn't allow Tobirama to conduct human experiments on living people like Orochimaru.
"The original version of Edo Tensei!"
The twists and turns of finding a new path where one seemed blocked made Sasori's puppet face show excitement.
If he could get Edo Tensei, he was confident that his improved version wouldn't be worse than Orochimaru's!
By then, all the collections that accompanied him would also have thoughts, his art would be sublimated, and he... would no longer be alone!
Without hesitation, he, like Deidara, immediately bowed his head and swore allegiance to Feng Xu.
"Mr. Feng, Sasori of the Red Sand also offers his loyalty to you, willing to obey your commands."
Hearing Sasori's words, Feng Xu chuckled and nodded slightly.
"The scroll is in Four Stars Village; I will give it to you later."
With that, Feng Xu took out the white ring with the character 'empty' engraved on it, which he had just obtained after dissecting Hashirama.
He put it on his thumb.
"The ring and Orochimaru's matter have been resolved. Now Pain shouldn't be able to refuse my participation in the operation."
...Konoha Village.
Clang!
The door to the Hokage Office was pushed open.
Jiraiya, who was frowning and handling documents, and Tsunade, who was sitting on a sofa with her legs crossed and drinking sake, all looked over at the sound.
"Nidaime(2nd)-sama / Grand Uncle?!"
Seeing only Tobirama, both of them showed surprise.
"Why are you back so soon? Did you not catch Orochimaru?"
Jiraiya, who was familiar with Orochimaru's escape abilities, quickly changed his surprised expression back to one that said, 'I knew this would happen.'
Tsunade, on the other hand, looked at Tobirama's grim face, her heart sinking to the bottom.
However, she still forced herself to steady her trembling hand, placed the sake bottle on the coffee table, and asked with difficulty.
"Grand Uncle, where is my grandfather?"
Facing their questions, Tobirama suppressed the image of the black-armored, golden-red giant he had seen when he looked back while escaping.
He closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, and after confirming that there were no Anbu or others on standby around, he said in a deep voice: "What I am about to tell you, you must keep it to yourselves and not spread it."
"Whirlpool Fengxu, we were all deceived by his disguise..."
Chapter 177: Konoha F4 Evolves — Wheelchair F4!
Just as Tobirama was recounting to the two about encountering Feng Xu after going to Hidden Sound Village.
And the urgent sealing plan that needed to be implemented next.
In the main residence of the Sarutobi Clan.
Familiar sounds of cracking and shattering objects continuously came from within.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, sitting in a wheelchair, was frantically shaking his head like he was at a rave.
He used his face or forehead to knock all the decorative objects placed on the tables in the room onto the floor, smashing them to pieces.
"Hiruzen, you look terrible right now."
Danzo's voice, tinged with a hint of schadenfreude, rang out.
Although none of the remaining Ninja from his Root also returned.
Compared to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had once again lost a large number of elites, and Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, who would also be in wheelchairs in the future.
He felt that he could accept this outcome, and was even a little happy.
"Your performance is not like the 'Ninja Hero' Third Hokage I once knew."
Danzo, sitting in a wheelchair, injected Chakra into the special wheelchair beneath him as he spoke.
He slowly moved the wheelchair forward.
Towards Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, who were also lying on stretchers, unable to move due to their broken limbs.
These two had just had the cuts on their limbs treated.
The prolonged blood loss and Pain left them pale and weak, without even the strength to speak.
"Danzo Shimura, this is my Sarutobi residence, you have no place to speak here, shut up!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi roared at Danzo without ceremony, his face contorted in a ferocious expression.
At this moment, he had none of the amiability and humility he had as the Third Hokage.
He was like an unemployed husband who had been out of work for a long time, unable to vent his anger anywhere but at his wife and children!
"More than four hundred Chunin, over ten Special Jonin, just like my previous fourteen hundred elite clan members, were conscripted and all gone!"
"And in the end, you stuffed these two crippled good-for-nothings here with me, just like you, a good-for-nothing!"
"What, your whole family died, their whole family died too?"
"Do you want my Sarutobi Clan to take care of them until their dying day?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, furious, sprayed saliva like a sprinkler, even splashing onto his own collar.
Before their departure, he had shamelessly begged Hashirama and Tobirama, hoping they would bring everyone back safely.
They had promised so well when they left.
But in the end, they brought back less than ten people!
His great Sarutobi Clan, at its peak, had over three thousand Ninja.
Now, after barely more than a week, only less than a thousand remained!
Decades of accumulation had shrunk by two-thirds in one morning.
And these two-thirds included a large number of elites!
"You..."
Listening to Hiruzen Sarutobi call him a good-for-nothing and wishing his whole family dead.
Danzo's old face instantly darkened, and he stared at Hiruzen Sarutobi with a gloomy expression.
"Hmph, Hiruzen Sarutobi, don't take your anger out on me. I joined you after paying enough value!"
"And none of my Root members came back; you were the one who handed them over!"
"Now, it's you who owes me an explanation!"
"Hahaha... you want an explanation from me?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, with nowhere to vent his anger, also injected Chakra into the wheelchair beneath him.
Then, with a whoosh, he shot out and slammed into Danzo's wheelchair.
Danzo hadn't expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to do that to him, so he couldn't dodge.
After spinning a few times, he and his wheelchair crashed heavily into the wall.
Fortunately, Danzo was strapped in with a safety belt.
Otherwise, after that impact, he would have been plastered to the wall.
"Are you satisfied with this explanation?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Danzo with a sneer, as if to say, 'If you're not satisfied, I'll hit you again.'
Regarding Hiruzen Sarutobi's explanation, Danzo, with a sinister look in his eyes, steadied his wheelchair and said nothing more.
However, Homura Mitokado, who had been silent, suddenly spoke at this moment.
"Hi... Hiruzen, stop arguing. Koharu and I have already severed ties with our families."
"If you won't take us in, then just throw us out to fend for ourselves, cough cough..."
This one sentence seemed to have exhausted all of Homura Mitokado's long-accumulated strength, and he ended with a violent cough.
Actually, coming to Hiruzen Sarutobi was their own request.
After all, their families were not as large and prosperous as the Sarutobi Clan.
Even after losing so many Ninja, it was still Konoha's largest clan.
Their families, after the previous conscription of Ninja which resulted in their complete annihilation by Feng Xu,
Only a few ordinary Chunin and Genin remained!
To preserve these last Ninja and prevent their families from reverting to commoner status,
They had already severed ties with their families before setting out and chose to be conscripted to participate in the subjugation of Hidden Sound Village.
Tobirama also saw that their families indeed had no usable Ninja left, so he agreed.
Of course, if it had been Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tobirama definitely wouldn't have agreed.
After all, the Sarutobi Clan's Ninja had increased so much.
At the very least, they should have been used to the scale of two to three hundred people when they first joined Konoha!
"Cough cough cough... Hiruzen, we've been old friends for so many years. Don't worry, Homura and I won't make things difficult for you; you don't need to feel burdened."
Utatane Koharu also followed Homura Mitokado's words, squeezing out her own.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi really dared to kick them out, they would really dare to beg and play pitiful outside the Sarutobi residence!
Between family and face, they chose family!
"You... good, good, you are very good!"
Seeing the two shamelessly trying to blackmail him, Hiruzen Sarutobi wished he could pounce on them and strangle them!
At this moment, he truly wanted to just throw them out and not care at all.
But thinking of their friendship from their youth, he eventually just glared at the two with reddened eyes.
Then, in a hoarse voice, he shouted at the branch family servants guarding the door outside, who looked terrified and silent.
"You few, come in and clean up, then take these two downstairs and arrange rooms and special wheelchairs for them."
Hearing the command, the branch family servants guarding the door outside quickly scurried in, fearing they might anger Hiruzen Sarutobi again.
Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions changing to gratitude.
"Hiruzen, I knew you wouldn't abandon us."