---Third POV---
"Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei!"
Black Zetsu's hands swiftly formed seals, then he slammed his palm hard onto the ground.
Intricate patterns instantly spread out from beneath his hand, like countless serpentine shadows writhing forward across the earth, until they fully enveloped a White Zetsu ahead.
That otherwise ordinary White Zetsu let out a pained scream as dust and debris swirled up around it, wrapping its body tightly.
A flash of twisted light flickered, and its form began to rapidly change.
At last, an elderly man with white hair and a stern face appeared in its place.
Ashina slowly opened his eyes. His sharp gaze swept across the black-and-white pair before him, his brows furrowing, his eyes filled with doubt and wariness.
Lucky for him he recognized this as the Land of Whirlpools, otherwise, he would have suspected he had wandered straight into the underworld.
"You're Ashina, aren't you?" Black Zetsu asked. Although he was already mostly confident the summoning had succeeded, he still wanted to confirm it.
Ashina didn't answer the question of this suspicious half-black figure immediately. Instead, he retorted coldly, "Who are you people? If I recall correctly, I should already be dead. Why am I here?"
Spiked White Zetsu standing to the side, seeing that Ashina hadn't denied Black Zetsu's words, pumped his fist excitedly and screeched, "Awesome! This was the right one!"
They had dug up more than a few graves in the Uzumaki clan's cemetery, and this was already Black Zetsu's fourth attempt at Edo Tensei. At last, he had succeeded.
Facing Ashina's question, he gave a brief explanation.
"This is a forbidden technique invented by the Second Hokage. It allows the souls of the deceased to be summoned back into the shinobi world from the Pure Land."
"You're Konoha ninja?" Ashina asked in a deep voice.
He scrutinized the two strange figures before him, full of doubt. Were Konoha ninjas now so… unconventional? They didn't even wear the forehead protectors that symbolized their village. What kind of attitude was this?
"Unfortunately, you guessed wrong." Black Zetsu let out a low chuckle. "Enough chit-chat."
Before Ashina could respond, Black Zetsu pulled out a kunai from his waist. Tied to its ring was a talisman glowing with eerie light.
He drove the kunai into Ashina's head. As the talisman activated, Ashina's sharp eyes instantly dulled, becoming hollow and lifeless.
This version of Edo Tensei was the primitive form created by Tobirama. Still, thanks to using White Zetsu as sacrifice, Ashina's power could reach nearly half of what it had been in life.
Well, truthfully, half strength was already considered a failed version of the technique.
But that was fine, he didn't need Ashina to fight Ryouma one-on-one like a real man. He only needed Ashina's sealing techniques to undo the wards that bound the demons on the island.
"Should we keep trying to recruit Hiruko? Or stay here and take on Ryouma?"
Black Zetsu really didn't want to bother answering this idiot. He'd have to be insane to go head-to-head with Ryouma.
Considering Shiori's eye techniques, if he wanted to play it safe, the best option was to take advantage of the chaos once Ashina released the sealed demons, then quickly link up with Hiruko and make an escape.
Ashina could remain here as a chess piece to be manipulated remotely, perhaps even used to attempt an assassination of Ryouma.
If they could kill him, all the better. But even if they couldn't, it didn't really matter.
A human life lasted no more than a few decades. He had already been plotting for a thousand years. Was he really going to be outlasted by one Ryouma?
Having made up his mind, he said coldly, "Let's go. We'll find Hiruko. I hope his research won't disappoint me."
White Zetsu immediately perked up, replying with excitement:
"Don't you worry about that! My instincts for people are never wrong!"
---
Inside the hall, Ryouma gave a quick briefing to the others about the intel he had extracted from the mind of that giant bat.
"From this bat's memories, it seems a Konoha missing-nin named Hiruko is currently in the Land of Whirlpools. He also appears to have been hiding here for quite some time."
"Hiruko?" Kakashi repeated the name, frowning as though trying to recall something.
"You've heard of him?" Rin asked curiously.
"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "I've seen the name on the bingo book list of missing-nin. He was a ninja from around the same era as the Sannin. He left the village abruptly without filing any notice. The Third Hokage even kept his ninja status active for a full month, but since he never returned, he was officially classified as a missing-nin."
After hearing Kakashi's explanation, everyone turned their eyes toward Ryouma, waiting for his next instruction.
"Didn't expect that by randomly picking a location, we'd run into a Konoha missing-nin who's been on the run for years." Ryouma sighed softly. "Well, no helping it. Looks like I'll be working overtime. Hopefully Captain Minato will count this toward my mission quota for the month."
Obito cracked his knuckles dismissively and said "Hiruko, huh? What bad luck for him to run into me!"
Ryouma patted Obito on the shoulder and said, "I'll handle this one alone. You take Kushina-nesan and the others back to the village first."
From the giant bat's memories, Hiruko's laboratory still held a number of bizarre experimental beasts.
Nobody knew what strange abilities those creatures might have. To be safe, he thought it best to send Kushina back first.
Kushina seemed to sense what he was thinking and quickly spoke up, "I'm coming too—"
"No, absolutely not," Ryouma interrupted her. "You're pregnant now. Konoha forbids pregnant kunoichi from taking missions. Besides, this one is indeed dangerous. You should return to the village."
"Says the same Leaf's Gale who single-handedly stormed Kiri and killed the Mizukage. And now you're telling me this is dangerous?"
"But fine," Kushina shrugged, feigning nonchalance. Yet her eyes stayed locked firmly on him.
"Listen to me carefully. Don't let your guard down just because the opponent looks weak. Come back safe, and then tell me every last detail about this mission. Got it?"
Ryouma smiled and nodded.
"Alright. I promise."
"Um… I'm not pregnant."
Rin gently tugged at Ryouma's sleeve.
"?"
Ryouma didn't react at first, looking at Rin with confusion.
"Even if you're not pregnant, you still can't stay. Obito, please."
"OK~" Obito replied, his eyes flashing red as he skillfully activated Kamui's space, sweeping everyone into the vortex.
---
In Minato's home, ripples of space slowly spread out as the figures of Obito and the others emerged from within.
Kushina sat on the sofa looking rather upset, both hands massaging her temples.
"Sigh, finally managed to go back to Uzushio, only to have a missing-nin ruin everything."
Seeing this, Rin quietly circled behind Kushina and gently massaged her shoulders, softly comforting her.
"It's okay. You're no longer the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. There'll be plenty of chances to return in the future."
Kakashi stood to the side, looking thoughtful.
He actually admired Ryouma's way of handling things. In his view, when it came to a missing-nin of Hiruko's level, Ryouma taking action himself was as easy as catching something with bare hands. They weren't needed to get in the way.
Their job was to return and continue the guard duty, so Ryouma wouldn't have to worry. That arrangement made sense.
"Uh, I just remembered something. I need to head out for a bit." Obito's sudden voice pulled everyone's attention to him.
Stare...
"Obito." Kushina eyed him suspiciously. "You're not thinking of sneaking back, are you?"
"Of course not. I really just have something to do." Obito's gaze flickered, his guilty look giving him away.
Kakashi stared at him speechlessly. This idiot couldn't be more obvious.
---
Back in Uzushio, Ryouma strolled out of the shrine with a lazy, unhurried gait.
"By the way, Kurama, why didn't you go back to Konoha with Obito and the others?"
The Nine-Tails looked at him with disdain. "My chakra is still with you. Naturally, I have to follow you."
"Haha, fair enough."
Hearing their conversation, Shukaku suddenly felt as if its position was being threatened like never before.
"Hey! Don't think that just because you gave up a little chakra, you can join our squad. You're just a prisoner, got it?"
Kurama, having been through too much today, couldn't be bothered to waste words on the idiotic, loud-mouthed tanuki.
After getting his bearings, Ryouma bent his knees slightly. Blue sparks of lightning leaped across his body.
Glancing down at the Nine-Tails, he smirked wickedly and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, lifting it up.
"Hey, I can keep up on my own."
"Don't bluff. You think I don't know how little chakra you've got left in you?"
The next second, Ryouma transformed into a dazzling streak of lightning, darting swiftly through the dense forest.
So fast that only a blurred afterimage could be seen.
In no time at all, he arrived at the secret base of Hiruko, the one from the giant bat's memories.
But strangely, the interior of the base was already completely deserted.
Not only was there no sign of Hiruko, even the cages that once held the synthetic beasts had all been opened. Scattered traces of battle remained, along with the corpses of several synthetic beasts.
"Was Hiruko attacked by another group?"
He couldn't help but think that this shinobi world was truly strange at times. He had only come to Uzushio on a whim today, yet had already run into so many interesting events.
Following the traces left behind by the movement of some synthetic beasts, he tracked them patiently, like a seasoned hunter.
---
On the other side, across from a great canyon, Black Zetsu and Spiked White Zetsu were frantically searching for Hiruko, who had escaped from the underground base.
Originally, they were confident about recruiting him, especially with Ryouma being such a looming threat on this island. Under normal circumstances, anyone would have made the "wise" choice.
But then again, how many "normal people" were there in the shinobi world? And least of all, among missing-nin.
"Damn it, how did he even realize we were there?"
Black Zetsu muttered curses under his breath as he scouted carefully.
The moment they broke into the underground base, Hiruko had released several beasts to attack them.
Helpless, Black Zetsu had to rely on the power of the Rinnegan to swiftly wipe them all out.
But that only seemed to make Hiruko more desperate.
He had one lizard-type synthetic beast swallow him whole, and under the cover of other beasts, slipped away along a hidden path.
And that wasn't all, this lizard could even use ninjutsu. Its front claws formed hand seals with surprising dexterity, unleashing the Shadow Clone Technique, scattering multiple copies of itself in every direction.
To make matters worse, the creature was also a chameleon.
The lizards that scurried away all camouflaged themselves, vanishing without a trace.
Faced with this, Black Zetsu and Spiked White Zetsu had no choice but to use the dumbest method, chasing each one down to check them individually.
As seconds ticked by, Black Zetsu's patience was worn down to nothing.
"What is he even trying to do? Does he want to die that badly?" Black Zetsu finally snapped.
Spiked White Zetsu sighed helplessly.
"Exactly! We came to save him! He won't even give us a chance to talk, just bolts off without a word. What kind of attitude is that?"
They had finally tried doing a good deed for once, and this was what they got. Was being a "good guy" really this hard?
He glanced at the vast canyon ahead.
"So what now? Do we keep looking?"
Black Zetsu was silent for a moment, then finally shook his head.
"No. We're out of time. At Ryouma's speed, he'll find that underground base any moment now. We need to retreat immediately."
Failing to recruit Hiruko was one thing, but if Ryouma caught them, that would be true disaster.
---
Deep within a dense forest, Hiruko was hiding inside a hollowed-out tree trunk, one of his pre-prepared safe houses.
As a missing-nin from Konoha, he never allowed himself a moment's carelessness. Even after hiding in Uzushio for many years without being discovered, he remained extremely vigilant.
Around his secret base, he had carefully set up all sorts of mechanisms to detect intruders.
This time, his ability to react so quickly was thanks to the worm-like beasts he had bred underground.
No matter which direction enemies approached from, as long as they walked across the ground, the faintest tremor in the earth would inevitably be picked up by those highly sensitive worm-beasts.
"They think such cheap tricks are enough to capture me?"
The corners of Hiruko's mouth curved into a smile.
---
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