Half an hour earlier.
In a "village" on the scale of Konoha, some places were bound to be bustling while others were bound to be deserted. Even during the busiest hours of the day, there were still certain areas where few people ever went.
For example, the former residences or shrines of clans that had already been wiped out.
The Uchiha?
This time, it really was not the Uchiha. Although the Uchiha had caused many problems, they had not caused all the problems.
In truth, there were no small number of Ninshū lineages that had moved into Konoha and later vanished. The reason the Uchiha left the deepest impression was simply because their reputation was too great, their "disappearance" had happened only in recent years, and the manner of that disappearance—an entire clan wiped out overnight—had been far too drastic.
"I'm saying, is it really okay to infiltrate Konoha at a time like this? Forget running into the White Yaksha. Even if we run into a shinobi on Jiraiya's level, or even several elite jōnin at once, we'll never make it back." The first voice to speak sounded rather nervous. He kept his voice extremely low, and there was a hint of weakness in his tone.
"You're worrying too much. For us, there is no necessary connection between the time we choose to infiltrate and the success rate of the mission. Besides, since we have already come this far, it is better to focus on the task at hand. Don't waste your thoughts on unnecessary matters."
Compared to the first voice, the second voice was clearly much more "authoritative" and decisive. However, the hoarseness in his voice carried a sinister air. The moment he opened his mouth, one could tell he was no righteous character.
In fact, even if he had not spoken, a single glance at his utterly bizarre appearance would have been enough to determine that he was no good person.
Although "they" had just been having a conversation, it would not be wrong to regard it as one person "talking to himself." After all, it was the left side of the same body speaking, then the right side responding; the left side worrying, then the right side firmly restoring his confidence.
This strange creature, half Black Zetsu and half White Zetsu stuck together, packaged and moisturized by aloe-like leaves, was collectively known as "Zetsu."
Looking across the entire shinobi world, it seemed that only he—or rather, they—possessed the ability to infiltrate a village on Konoha's level so easily and silently without being detected.
When it came to intelligence work, reconnaissance, and infiltration, Zetsu was simply unmatched. His only shortcoming was that his combat strength had always been trash-tier.
Fortunately, he had not infiltrated Konoha to fight or cause destruction.
They had come in to do a little petty theft… and assigning a mission like this to Zetsu could truly be called making the best use of his talents.
Humans were creatures with subjective initiative. When two sides were locked in a game against each other, it would always be a process of fluctuation, mutual interaction and influence, followed by counteraction. One side would make a move, the other side would respond, and then look for an opportunity to counterattack.
When one side came up with a countermeasure, the other side would do everything possible to break through it.
As far as Hagoromo and Akatsuki were concerned, with the former causing trouble the way he did, the latter could not possibly remain unmoved forever. If their brains were really so incapable of adapting, then that could no longer be called rigidity. A more accurate description would be…
Stupidity.
Akatsuki could be considered chūnibyō, but they should not be considered stupid. Although they had been used from beginning to end, that did not mean this group's brains were never online. It was just that the mastermind behind the scenes had hidden himself too deeply.
Therefore, by now, Akatsuki should at least have figured out the tragic situation that the Seven-Tails would not revive. Yet at this point, they were still stubbornly collecting the tailed beasts, which meant one had to consider whether the other side had found some new possibility…
"If we can obtain the other half of the Nine-Tails while avoiding a battle with the White Yaksha and Konoha, then naturally, that would be the best choice. But the question is, is there really no problem with our intelligence?" White Zetsu had only calmed down for a short while before growing worried again. The soothing effect of the Black Zetsu-brand placebo had not even lasted five minutes.
"Of course there is no problem. This information was obtained after we spent more than a month continuously searching the ruins of Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools. Its reliability is already sufficient."
Black Zetsu's tone now carried a trace of impatience.
With the White Yaksha constantly watching the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, if they wanted to obtain the Nine-Tails, they would have no choice but to face him head-on. Under those circumstances, Akatsuki might have to pay an unbearable price. Thus, they wanted to obtain the Nine-Tails through a method that avoided direct battle… and so, they set their sights on the Nine-Tails' other half.
Because of a certain person's existence, the intelligence that the Nine-Tails' yin half had been sealed away by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal was not difficult for Akatsuki to obtain. What remained was merely to find a way to undo this "absolute seal."
And unexpectedly, they really had found one.
"With the Seven-Tails unable to revive, our plan may have to take a long detour. Fortunately, I have already found the method for taking that detour, so we must continue collecting the tailed beasts…" Although he was growing somewhat impatient, Black Zetsu still explained one more sentence in order to prevent White Zetsu from chattering endlessly.
But by now, White Zetsu was no longer paying any attention to his explanation.
"Found it… the Uzumaki clan's last shrine."
This was at the outermost edge of Konoha. Originally, this place should have been a grand shrine, but after the Uzumaki clan members living in Konoha declined and faded away, the shrine had fallen into ruin. Because of its location, few people ever came here.
It was only natural that no one maintained the shrine. After all, the only Uzumaki descendants left in Konoha now were Naruto and Mirai. One could hardly expect those two children to take care of this shrine.
Zetsu traveled underground the whole way, then entered directly into the interior of the Uzumaki shrine.
"The Uzumaki clan has always been famous for its immense chakra and sealing techniques. There wouldn't be a barrier set up inside this shrine, would there? If there is, that would be troublesome," Black Zetsu said.
"There probably isn't. After all, this is Konoha. No matter how superb the Uzumaki sealing techniques were, they probably wouldn't have had the chance to use them freely here. Besides, the Uzumaki have been gone for so long…"
For some reason, White Zetsu and Black Zetsu's moods had suddenly reversed. The one who had been worried had now become the one comforting the other… Was this how single dogs comforted and supported each other?
"The Mask Storage Temple… found it. Fortunately, it hasn't suffered any serious damage."
Zetsu entered the Mask Storage Temple, and then his body surfaced from the ground. The two aloe-like leaves slowly opened, revealing his black-and-white face.
Before Zetsu's eyes now was an entire wall covered in various masks.
The Mask Storage Temple in the Uzumaki clan's last shrine stored and enshrined masks used for casting or undoing certain special sealing techniques collected and preserved by the clan. All of these were special ninja tools, and if one wanted to undo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, one first had to obtain one of them.
"Second row from the top, second column from right to left… Huh? Shouldn't there be a Shinigami mask here? Why is it a tengu?"
Although the Mask Storage Temple looked perfectly intact, the place that should originally have held the Shinigami mask instead contained a red-faced, long-nosed tengu mask.
What was going on?
The tengu seemed to be filled with a mocking expression.
At this moment, White Zetsu did not think too deeply. He reached out and took the tengu mask down, wanting to see whether the Shinigami mask had been hidden underneath it.
Unfortunately, there was ultimately no Shinigami mask. Instead, there was a message stuck to the wall.
"To anyone who wants the Shinigami mask: proceed to the Ueishi residence at No. 8, Konoha Third Avenue. Buy quickly while supplies last. No waiting after the deadline. Highest bidder wins."
Judging from the handwriting, this message had been written quite a long time ago.
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu were now completely stunned. In any case, they had no scheduled itinerary for going to some damned Ueishi residence!
And then, while those two idiots were stunned, that tengu mask took the initiative and blew itself up.
It blew up…
The most wicked thing about Hagoromo was not that he had taken the Shinigami mask away, nor that he had hung up a fake and left behind a line of mocking text. The most wicked thing was that he had stuffed an entire bundle of explosive tags into that tengu mask and set up a tiny detonation mechanism…
Fine, this was already quite restrained. If he had not been worried about swallowing up the entire shrine, what he had actually wanted to do was draw a Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique here.
After Kushina's death, although there was still more than one person in the world with the surname Uzumaki, the one who knew the most of the Uzumaki clan's secrets had already become this man surnamed Ueishi…
Setting bloodline aside, in terms of technique formulas and inherited information, Hagoromo was the Uzumaki clan's final heir. Therefore, the things in his house could not be taken casually.
If you take them, he blows you up. Perfectly reasonable.
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