"Hey, hey, hey!"
Jūzō edged half a step back, his expression calm though his body tense. He kept one wary eye on the masked man who might be Uchiha Madara, and the other on the bizarre plant-like man he had never seen among Akatsuki's ranks before.
He drew in a deep breath, trying to stall for time. "We're all members of Akatsuki. There's no need to wipe me out, is there? Besides, aren't you curious what I heard from Uchiha Keizumi? It might be intel you'd be very interested in."
"Not interested."
With that single sentence, Obito's killing intent erupted. In the blink of an eye, he surged forward like an arrow loosed from the string. From his right hand, a gleaming blade appeared, drawn out of thin air.
In a flash, he was upon Jūzō, his blade already slicing toward the man's throat.
[Clang!!!]
The screech of metal rang out as Jūzō, face grim, barely managed to raise the Kubikiribōchō in time to block the strike.
The next instant, Jūzō felt movement beneath his feet.
Before he could glance down, a dozen thick vines, each as large as a man's thigh, burst from the ground. Like a swarm of serpents, they coiled up his legs at terrifying speed, wrapping around his body until he was bound tight. In the blink of an eye, they constricted violently, trying to crush the life out of him.
[Bang!!!]
Jūzō's body shattered apart—but what splattered outward wasn't blood, but scattered beads of water!
The Kubikiribōchō clattered to the ground with a metallic clang.
"A Water Clone?" Zetsu narrowed his eyes, staring off in one direction. "He even abandoned his weapon, just to throw us off?"
"After him!" Obito commanded sharply. "He's fleeing toward Konoha—don't let him reach the village!"
Without another word, Obito was the first to give chase.
…
"What's this little brat doing, sneaking to the outskirts of Konoha so late at night instead of going home?" Jiraiya muttered suspiciously, trailing silently behind Hyūga Neji.
Yes, Jiraiya had been shadowing Neji for over three hours.
His purpose was to let Sages Fukasaku and Shima observe whether this child might be the Child of Prophecy.
Fukasaku remarked, "Along the way, he seems to have been asking passersby questions. He didn't wander out here for no reason—he looks more like he's searching for something."
Sage Shima suddenly spoke. "Husband, little Jiraiya—this boy seems to be trying to sneak out of Konoha. That means whatever he's so desperate to find must be outside the village."
Jiraiya frowned. "There's no way he can slip past the shinobi on patrol nearby. Even if he does manage to sneak out, he won't get more than a few hundred meters before they drag him back."
Sage Fukasaku chuckled. "We can give him a little help."
With that, he leapt down from Jiraiya's shoulder.
In a single bound, he vanished from sight.
…
"He's left Konoha… and if the last person I asked wasn't lying or mistaken, then the direction he went was this one. If I keep walking this way, I should catch up to that man."
Under the night sky, Hyūga Neji drew in a deep breath.
He pulled out a white silk ribbon and silently tied back his long hair, so that it wouldn't get in the way.
"Hyūga Neji…"
"What exactly are you doing?"
The words weren't spoken by anyone else—they were muttered by Neji himself, as though questioning his own actions.
"There's really no need for this."
"But…"
Neji clenched his teeth. "If I don't make some kind of bold move, how can I leave a strong impression on that man? How can I make him see how determined I am? How can I make him understand just how much I long for justice?"
The words Sasuke had spoken to him earlier that day hadn't discouraged him—instead, they had spurred him on.
"If two first-year students can believe in Absolute Justice, then why can't I? It isn't only for the sake of power that I've chosen to believe in it. I also want to win back justice for my father—that's why I've chosen Absolute Justice."
Muttering to himself, Neji quietly slipped out of Konoha.
By the time he had run more than two kilometers beyond the village, panting for breath, even he was a little shocked. Glancing back under the moonlight, he realized there wasn't a single shadow following him.
He had assumed he would need to play a game of cat-and-mouse with Konoha's patrol shinobi. With bad luck, he might even be caught and dragged back, scolded harshly in the process.
But everything had gone so smoothly.
It was as if the patrol shinobi had simply vanished.
…
At the same time—
Not far behind Neji—
"This child… it looks like he's going to seek out Keizumi," Jiraiya murmured.
"Keizumi…"
"He's left the village?"
...
"Wood Release! That's definitely the legendary Wood Release!"
Abandoning the Kubikiribōchō and tricking both Obito and Zetsu with a Water Clone, Jūzō had no intention of dragging this fight out. He turned and bolted without hesitation.
A flicker of terror flashed in his eyes. The power to control plants—if that wasn't Wood Release, then what else could it be?
That was said to be the power of the God of Shinobi himself. And someone within Akatsuki had actually mastered it?
Jūzō quickly connected the dots. Uchiha Obito was impersonating Uchiha Madara.
So then, could that pitcher-plant creature be impersonating Senju Hashirama?
One wielding the Sharingan, the other Wood Release—together they were far too similar to those two legendary figures of the shinobi world from long ago.
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, Jūzō's pupils shrank. He dropped low, rolling across the ground in a frantic scramble, utterly graceless but fast.
A white figure streaked past above him, its sharp, pale limbs almost grazing his skin.
"Ah, what quick reflexes! If you're this fast to react, does that mean you're quick when you poop too? Speaking of which, why can't I ever poop? It's really such a troubling thing!"
At the sound of those bizarre words, Jūzō finally caught a clear glimpse of the white figure.
"That is…"
"What kind of creature?!"
Staring in shock, Jūzō saw what looked vaguely human, yet its body was unnaturally pale, like a humanoid statue molded from plaster.
Its faceless head was even more chilling. And faintly, he could make out strange vortex-like patterns etched across its face, the hollowed center of the spiral converging upon its right eye.
Jūzō saw at once—this thing was no human!
"Madara-sama ordered me to kill you, you know! Before you die, will you be so scared that you soil yourself?"
With that, the grotesque creature with the vortex-marked face clapped its hands together.
[Clap—!]
Before Jūzō's stunned eyes, a massive wooden figure suddenly rose up behind it!
Towering over 20 meters tall, the giant wood construct wore the furious visage of a guardian deity, one massive arm cocked back into a fist before it smashed forward with brutal force!
"Wood Release, again?!"
Jūzō was completely dumbfounded. The legendary Wood Release kekkei genkai—had it become something they were handing out wholesale in today's shinobi world?
Did everyone know it now?!
"Damn it!" He hastily leapt to the side. The wooden giant's fist swept past him, slamming hard into the ground.
[Boom!!!]
From the corner of his eye, Jūzō glimpsed the massive crater left where he had just been standing. His eyelids twitched violently. Gritting his teeth, his hands began to fly through seals.
He exhaled a thick cloud of vapor. The already dark and murky surroundings instantly became shrouded in dense fog, his figure blending into the layered haze.
Again his hands blurred through seals. In an instant, two jets of water formed into sharp, fang-like drills and hurtled toward the vortex-faced White Zetsu.
"Oh? Not bad at all…"
The enormous wooden giant stepped in, raising its hands to guard its master. The twin water drills slammed heavily against the wooden palms, gouging two deep dents and leaving a web of cracks across the surface.
But in less than a second—
Those countless cracks were patched back together by chakra, and even the two deep dents left by the water strikes were fully restored.
Just as the vortex-faced White Zetsu was about to attack again—
He suddenly froze.
"He ran?"
Jūzō had no intention of entangling himself with this creature. He knew full well that two pursuers were still behind him. Linger even a second too long, and he'd be facing a three-on-one situation.
Neither the Hidden Mist Technique nor the Water Fang Bullet had been meant to kill—their only purpose was to delay the vortex-faced being. Even that desperate, "fight-to-the-death" posture he'd shown was nothing but an act.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, less than two seconds after he fled—
Obito and Zetsu arrived.
"Where is he?" Obito immediately demanded of the vortex-faced White Zetsu.
"Ah, he's a bit slippery." White Zetsu scratched his head awkwardly. "I thought he was going to fight me to the death, so I was even getting ready to see if he'd be so scared he pooped himself before dying. But who would've thought, after just two jutsu to stall me, he bolted."
"Then! What! Are! You! Waiting! For?! Chase him!!"
Obito nearly passed out from sheer rage.
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