Konoha.

  Habara had returo being homeless, or rather, he had always been homeless... After Izayo's ued death, he naturally couldn't tinue living in her house.

  Daigo was currently there, helping to sort through Izayo's belongings.

  The process of burying Izayo wasn't plicated, or rather, after the war had gone on for so many years, this kind of burial process ractically simple... Death was death, and everything else was just the living ging to something.

  Habara was now staying in a small inn in Konoha. He didn't have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, but no one could treat an inn as their home.

  Because of how Izayo died, Habara had developed maive perceptions of Konoha. He probably wouldn't have much sense of belonging to this vilge, but that didn't mean he wao bee a "terrorist." A normal adult's views certainly couldn't be bd white, and thoughts couldn't be too extreme.

  Join the "Akatsuki"? That was a joke. Fet everything else, would they even sider someoh Habara's strength? He was on fodder in Konoha, wouldn't he be on fodder in the "Akatsuki"? If he was going to be on fodder either way, why would he travel all the way to the Land of Rain?

  And the key question was, who was responsible for Izayo's death?

  Moreover, the "Akatsuki's" ideals weren't even as good as Konoha's. Konoha's ideals were beautiful; its problem was that it was internally corrupt, and the beautiful vision couldn't be realized. The "Akatsuki's" ideals were fantastical, but their methods were terrifying, and their as were extremely radical.

  Konoha was a disabled normal person, while the "Akatsuki" was a raving lunatic... This wasn't hard to uand.

  As for what to do , to be ho, Habara hadn't figured it out. Overall, he was still in a state of drifting along.

  The third day after returning to Konoha.

  In the m, Habara routinely went to a certain anizatioment in Konoha to che... Since he had pletely lost his squad structure, and he couldn't sever his e with Konoha, as long as he was in Konoha, he had to che every day... In the m, he wandered around Konoha for a few ps, seemingly familiarizing himself with the vilge. At nooe something casually and theuro the inn for a nap.

  Iernooayed in the inn and began to refine chakra.

  It wasn't until dusk, the time when Konoha personnel were most active, that Habara left the inn again. He seemed to be wandering around the vilge's small night market, but if you observed him carefully, you could see that his as were not aimless.

  The further Habara walked, the fewer people there were around him. Finally, he arrived at an unnoticed er of Konoha. Habara was very familiar with this situation, because he had walked out from here ahe light of day again.

  Soon, Habara found the entrao the underground. After firming several times that no one was around, he pulled open the heavy cover and stepped inside.

  Habara wasn't familiar with the underground enviro. To be ho, he had only observed a limited amount of information when he was hastily taken away from here. But fortunately, he had a rough map.

  The underground space beh Konoha was interected, with various pipes eg various facilities. This se was a sewer, but if you kept walking, you might end up in the "Root" underground base.

  Fortunately, the path Habara took wasn't that plicated. After about twenty minutes, he found Orochimaru's underground facility again.

  Naturally, it had been abandoned. Orochimaru's various experimental facilities, research materials, and research results had probably beeied by Konoha... except for the most core parts that Orochimaru himself had destroyed or taken away.

  There were no more prisoners in the dungeoher.

  Habara held an oil mp and walked in this ghost-like enviro. Perhaps because he had seen too many corpses, he didn't find this pce scary at all. Things like ghosts and vengeful spirits definitely couldn't scare a materialist like him.

  versely, he would rather enter a ghost here than have a person suddenly jump out from some er. The tter was truly frightening.

  Fortunately, the only sound Habara heard from beginning to end was his own footsteps.

  Acc to the instrus on the map, Habara theered a certain cell. He walked to a wall and tried tapping on the wall surfae by one.

  After tapping around, Habara was a little fused, because he found that the entire wall was solid.

  Was the map marking wrong? That was unlikely. Thinking about it versely, if there was just an ordinary secret room here, it would definitely have been discovered, and the things inside should have been taken away long ago.

  So...

  Habara started scraping the wall.

  It was a bit unfortuhat although Habara had Earth Release chakra, no one had ever taught him Earth Release teiques. Fortunately, as a Mag Release ninja, he had a certain effi stru.

  Using bdes vibrating at high frequencies like electric saws, Habara slowly chipped away at the wall. Then he discovered a wooden box, about oer square, sealed within the wall... This was what the female ninja, Hotaru, had left behind.

  This box should have been pletely sealed into the wall usih Release. It was hidden quite well.

  However, Habara didn't immediately move the box. To prevent any traps Hotaru might have set, he retreated more than teers and used a bck iron rod extending from his palm tently shake the box. After firming that nothing exploded, he then forcefully pried open the lid of the box.

  As it turned out, he was a bit overly cautious; there were no traps.

  Habara walked to the box and found that it was filled with various scrolls and books.

  "Unbelievable... Your efficy as a spy was a bit too high, wasn't it?"

  Looking at this pile of things, Habara couldn't help but excim.

  In aremely dangerous enviro, a spy who could leave behind a single sheet of paper could be sidered a good spy. But Hotaru had left behind a whole box?

  However, the reality wasn't that exaggerated. After a brief iion, Habara found that most of the scrolls and books were bnk. Only a small portion tained writing.

  Habara had inally po quickly browse through them and pick out the valuable ones. However, when he opehe first scroll, his attention was instantly captivated.

  This scroll didn't record any exaggerated forbidden teiques, but rather generally described what kind of experiments Orochimaru was dug, and what he was trying to do.

  "A Wood Release body fused with Hashirama's cells..."

  "Creating cursed seals to absorb natural energy..."

  "Iigation of the three great dojutsu..."

  "And... Living Corpse Reination..."

  "I only say, as expected of Orochimaru..."

  Based solely on the instrus in his hand, Habara didn't know to what extent Orochimaru had iigated certais of the ninja world. But it was certain that he had already gathered the mais... Sage Body + Sage Power + Sage Eyes + Living Corpse Reination. Perhaps the current Orochimaru didn't yet know what he wao do, but in Habara's view, what Orochimaru wao do was crystal clear.

  If Living Corpse Reination was just a teique to trahe caster's spirit to a new body to increase lifespan, it would easily give people the impression that Orochimaru was "nothing special." This obviously didn't fit Orochimaru's personality of pursuing knowledge, seeking the root of things, and being willing to pay any price. But what if it was just a "half-finished product"?

  But that wasn't right.

  If Orochimaru had a plete pn, then why in the inal story did he just frequently transfer between various bodies?

  Where was the difference? Was there something different?

  After thinking about it, Habara seemed to uand where the problem y...

  It was iime of success of the "Wood Release experimental subject."