Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

The projection device in front of them flashed, and Orochimaru's face, pale and sickly yet filled with excitement, appeared on the screen.

His background is a variety of bubbling glasswares, and his golden eyes sparkle with the light of knowledge and exploration.

"Teacher, I've finished the preliminary analysis of the sample data you sent." Orochimaru licked his lips. "It's... truly wonderful!"

Onoki: "..."

He felt that the people of Konoha probably had some kind of mental problem.

"Get to the point," Hiruzen Sarutobi said succinctly.

"Okay, teacher."

Orochimaru seemed to realize his lapse in composure. He cleared his throat and his expression turned serious. "The essence of this thing is a life form that is half energy and half matter."

"Some of its gene fragments are similar to samples I extracted from the remains of the cult, but this... this is more advanced, more concealed, and more... perfect. The person who designed it is a genius, a genius who, like me, can understand the origin of life!"

After giving everyone a moment to process it, he continued in an almost chanting tone: "Its cellular structure is designed for engulfing, replicating, and evolving. Any organic matter, especially organic matter containing high-density life energy, such as the high-yield crops we cultivate, is the perfect nutrient for it. It can rewrite the genes of those crops, making them part of itself, and then produce more spores. It is a perfect, self-circulating system of destruction."

Speak like a human being!

Ohnoki finally couldn't hold back any longer and yelled at the screen.

Orochimaru glanced at him from the other side of the screen, his eyes showing a hint of displeasure at being interrupted by an amateur, but he still patiently explained, "What I mean is, this thing can't be killed with conventional disinfectants, and I suspect it has strong resistance, and can even absorb chakra as energy."

A deathly silence fell over the office.

Onoki's face was even uglier than the stone in Iwagakure.

Just then, Sakumo Hatake, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

He ignored Orochimaru's profound theories and instead walked to a huge map of the ninja world.

"Tracing the spores themselves is meaningless."

His voice was as calm as a winter lake: "These are symptoms, not the cause. Like tracking a wild beast, you can't just look at the drops of blood on the ground; you have to look at its tracks and its habits."

He picked up a red pen and drew several circles on the map.

"The germ first appeared on the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Grass, but according to information from the Akimichi and Inuzuka clans, the wind direction in that area was not strong enough to spread the spores to all the areas we discovered in such a short time."

"Water source. The mountain clan detected trace amounts of spores in water samples from several streams flowing through the experimental field from upstream. But the source... is not within the Land of Earth."

"And the animals. The Inuzuka clan's ninja dogs discovered that in the past week, animals in a certain area have been migrating abnormally. They are not fleeing predators, but rather as if they are fleeing some kind of unseen plague."

Sakumo's finger finally landed on a spot on the map.

It was a deep green area, located at the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, an ancient dense forest known as the Silent Forest.

"All the clues point to this place."

Sakumo's voice was resolute: "The nest is here."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently at the location marked by Sakumo on the map.

"it is good."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up and looked at Onoki. "Lord Tsuchikage, this is not just a matter for Konoha, nor is it just a matter for Iwagakure. This is a challenge to the order that we have all established."

"I need the best Earth Release ninja and Sensory Ninja from Iwagakure."

"My men will lead the way, and yours will assist. Go deep into that forest and drag out the rats hiding there."

Ōnoki looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and saw in the other man's eyes the same resolute determination that brooked no challenge, just like his own.

He did not hesitate at all.

"good!"

Onoki slammed his fist on the table. "Kiwatsuchi, one of the best Earth Release users in Iwagakure. I'll have him lead the team, working alongside your men. What do you need? How many men? Just name your name! If they dare cause trouble on my turf, I'll turn that entire forest upside down and bury them alive!"

At this moment, the two shadows who were enemies not long ago reached a true consensus for the first time.

That evening, the joint investigation team was quickly assembled.

Before setting off, Sakumo returned to his temporary lodgings.

He first carefully wiped clean each of the farm tools he had brought from Konoha, which were used to improve the soil and cultivate new crops, and then carefully put them away.

After doing all this, he took out a short knife.

The blade, like a still autumn lake, gleamed with a cold light under the lamp. The hilt was pure white, without any superfluous decoration.

"White teeth."

He stretched out his finger and gently ran it across the cold blade.

His face was reflected on the blade, a face tanned dark by the sun in the fields, yet now its lines appeared incredibly sharp.

The farm manager carrying a hoe is retreating, while the White Fang of Konoha, wielding a short sword, is returning.

"It seems that some weeds cannot be removed by hoe alone."

A voice sounded behind him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already arrived at the doorway at some point.

Sakumo did not turn around; his gaze remained fixed on the blade.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

His voice was calm: "The only way to deal with them is with a knife."

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Led by Sakumo Hatake and Kyoto, a joint investigation team composed of the most elite ninjas from Konoha and Iwagakure quietly left the camp and headed towards the mysterious Silent Forest.

The entrance to the forest, just like its name, was eerily quiet.

The towering ancient trees blocked out the sun, their canopies layered upon each other, cutting the sunlight into fragments.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves that had accumulated over countless years. Stepping on them was soft and silent, like stepping on a corpse.

The air was filled with a rotten, sweet smell that made one want to vomit.

Something's not right.

Huang Tu, who was walking at the front, stopped in his tracks, and the Iwagakure ninja behind him immediately assumed a guard position.

Huang Tu squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and the black soil seemed to wriggle in his hand like a living thing. "This soil is strange, it's too fertile."

A sensory ninja from Iwagakure closed his eyes, pressed his hands to the ground in a hand seal, and after a moment, he opened his eyes, his face pale.

"Lord Sakumo, Lord Koto... the entire forest's underground is filled with a faint but extremely vast network of chakra... it's... it's breathing!"

Before the words were even finished, the surrounding forest seemed to come alive!

"roar--!"

With a deafening roar, a giant wild boar, comparable in size to a small spirit beast, crashed through several large trees and charged out of the dense forest.

Its eyes are blood red, its body is covered with black, armor-like keratin, and mucus mixed with black spores drips from the corner of its mouth.

Immediately afterwards, the roars of wild beasts echoed from all directions.

"Charge!"

Sakumo's voice was as calm as ice, and the white dagger in his hand had been drawn at some point.

The battle erupted instantly.

These infected beasts are fearless and possess strength and speed far exceeding those of their kind.

The Iwagakure ninja used Earth Release to create walls of rock, but they were smashed to pieces by the brute force of the giant boar.

Shuo Mao's figure transformed into a white lightning bolt amidst the horde of beasts.

Every time the blade flashed, a raging beast fell.