"Fine!" Tsunade nodded. She would support whatever decision Shizune made. As long as her disciple was satisfied, everything else was trivial.
Even though the intelligence report stated that the organization Saitama had joined was plotting against the Tailed Beasts, causing widespread disruption across the Shinobi World, Tsunade barely cared.
These days, there were few people—or things—she truly cared about. Shizune was one of them.
"Tsunade-sama, let's return to the village first. I want to find out the village's current stance toward Saitama as soon as possible!"
Without investigation rights, there was no right to argue. Shizune knew well enough that relying solely on her own words would be powerless and ineffective, so she decided to learn more before making any moves.
After seeing Saitama again, she had also witnessed his determination—there was no turning back now.
Now, it was also time for her to display her own resolution.
Standing up straight, Shizune roughly brushed away her tears with both hands before flashing Tsunade a determined smile—one that revealed her inner strength.
"Let's go, Tsunade-sama!" She grabbed Tsunade's hand and took the lead forward, walking into the gentle sunlight.
...
After meeting with Shizune and exchanging many words, Saitama departed once again.
Leaving was just for a better reunion!
This was a saying Saitama remembered from his past—a memorable quote he'd never forgotten.
The Six-Tails situation could wait for now. Ephemeral, who had mastered flight ability, was still quite troublesome.
Even with Sage Art perfected, and using [Snake Sage Art], which allowed brief aerial hovering, dealing with him still gave Saitama headaches.
Moreover, Saitama didn't want to reveal too much of his strength, considering Black Zetsu—who had schemed in the shadows for a thousand years—was ultimately the final threat, or at least the guardian standing before the end.
Ephemeral floated along with the wind, drifting towards unknown places, and Saitama had already lost track of his presence.
Since Ephemeral had that kind of power, maybe letting him run free for a little longer wasn't so bad.
Saitama headed westward toward the Land of Rain. Soon, he arrived at a mushroom-shaped tree forest. Because the trees here resembled mushrooms in appearance, people called them "mushroom trees."
Within the Land of Fire, the vegetation was extremely lush.
There were naturally many tree species; this special climate created unique growth conditions—an innate advantage of the Land of Fire and also the foundation of its dominance over the ninja world.
Landing on a tree trunk, Saitama stopped advancing, turning his gaze to a spot on the ground where White Zetsu's aura had followed him for quite some time.
As Saitama halted, ripples like water waves appeared on the ground, followed by Zetsu slowly emerging from within through the plant-covered surface.
"Kheh… kheh…"
White Zetsu opened his eyes wide, showing a strange expression while his mouth emitted an eerie sound that made one's skin crawl.
He stared at Saitama, his body gradually rising from underground through the plant-covered surface, his gaze fixed upon Saitama.
"Never thought I'd see such a tender side of you, Saitama-kun. Very unusual! But in the end, you really did have a heart after all—you just left like that!"
White Zetsu grinned, his algae-green hair fluttering slightly in the breeze, clinging close to his head.
"Tsk, say one more word and I'll tear your mouth open!"
Saitama leaned forward, the brim of his straw hat casting a shadow, sharp glares slicing through the dim light straight at White Zetsu.
"Alright, alright!"
White Zetsu waved his hand dismissively, knowing it was pointless to dwell further on this topic.
Yet Saitama merely glared coldly, unbothered that White Zetsu had discovered his connection with Shizune. It was unavoidable anyway. To prevent Shizune from getting hurt, he'd done his best to remain indifferent.
He had sensed White Zetsu's chakra lurking nearby during his secret meeting with Shizune before. Obviously, White Zetsu had been hiding there during his confrontation with the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.
But Saitama didn't expose him directly. Despite White Zetsu following him all this way before finally showing himself here, Saitama still maintained his usual attitude.
"Near the River Country, forces from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha seem to be searching for traces of your and Sasori's earlier retreat. They're trying to track you down using what you left behind!"
White Zetsu got serious, relaying information he'd just recently learned. Black Zetsu, however, remained silent, not uttering a single word. If not for Saitama's memories from his past life, that nearly undetectable figure might have easily pulled off his schemes right under Saitama's nose.
Saitama sought to establish true peace, and at present, his greatest threats were Black Zetsu and Madara Uchiha.
As for Madara Uchiha, he was already dead. Unless resurrected, he was nothing more than a relic—posing no real threat anymore. Therefore, if Saitama truly wanted to take decisive action, the best approach would be eliminating Black Zetsu first to completely remove future threats.
At the moment, however, Saitama wasn't capable of accomplishing that. Black Zetsu was Kaguya's will, not something he could kill easily since it lacked physical form. The best solution would be sealing it instead. Yet Saitama was uncertain whether it had any hidden countermeasures, so he couldn't act rashly.
While cultivating Sage Art, bathed in the purifying power of natural energy, Saitama came to truly understand his physical state.
In his previous life, Madara Uchiha had implanted a cursed seal near Obito (known as Tobi)'s heart to control him, which enabled his control over Obito.
With this trick, aided by Black Zetsu, Madara forced Obito (known as Tobi) to use the [Rinnegan Life-Reincarnation Jutsu], thus achieving full resurrection.
This cursed seal prevented those afflicted from developing rebellious thoughts, making it impossible to remove this jutsu.
While cultivating Sage Art, Saitama also discovered the hidden jutsu deep within his own heart.
The fact that Saitama could even think this way resulted from natural energy washing over him enough to generate such thoughts while under the jutsu's control.
But so far, Saitama still hadn't found a suitable way to remove that deeply embedded cursed seal hidden deep within his heart.
However, regarding who should handle this, Saitama already had someone specific in mind.
Speaking of current experts in the Shinobi World researching these matters most thoroughly, Saitama believed Orochimaru was without peer in this field—no one would dare claim to surpass him.
Orochimaru's research may not be the deepest in every area, but its variety and breadth are impressive, and the depth is still substantial. That should be more than enough to handle Saitama's cursed seal. After all, he is the man who dared retrieve a soul from the belly of the Shinigami… right?
So, Saitama planned to pay Orochimaru a visit when he had time and start making his preparations.
Of course, at this stage, dealing with the cursed seal wasn't urgent yet.
Black Zetsu wouldn't attack until all the Tailed Beasts were gathered and the Rinnegan reclaimed, so Saitama still had time to spare.
Still, when it came to his own life, Saitama couldn't afford to ignore it.
"Oh, let them do whatever they want. Just keep a close eye on the Six-Tails—his abilities are tricky and could cause real trouble!"
Saitama thought for a moment before quickly responding to White Zetsu.
"Yes, my clone is already tailing him. We should move on the capture soon—don't drag it out, or Mist will catch on and take him back. That'd be a real problem!"
White Zetsu stared at the hat covering Saitama's face, unable to see his expression, but spoke seriously regardless.
"Also, the Raikage from Kumogakure seems very concerned about the Two-Tails' disappearance. He has contacted Konoha and Iwagakure and sent the Kumogakure ninja Dodai to Konoha to discuss possible actions against us."
White Zetsu continued after some thought.
"Oh, that's acceptable. Honestly, they're underestimating us way too much! Have you gathered any information about Eight-Tails?"
Saitama nodded, unsurprised by Kumogakure's reaction.
"Ah, the situation with Eight-Tails is complicated, and we currently lack sufficient intelligence. I'll keep trying to obtain more."
White Zetsu hesitated briefly before replying.
Among the jinchuriki, the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails were the strongest and hardest to gather intel on.
After all, those two jinchuriki were heavily protected within their villages, making them nearly impossible to reach—even for someone like White Zetsu.
In contrast, information on Yagura Karatachi—the Three-Tails' jinchuriki and Mizukage of the Land of Water—was relatively easy to obtain.
"Fine then. I'll head back to the secret base now. Be careful yourself."
Saitama nodded without wasting any more time and stepped off.
Inside the Akatsuki organization's secret base, he had left behind a [Flying Thunder God Jutsu Seal]. Once he reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, he could instantly return using the [Flying Thunder God] technique.
The range of the [Flying Thunder God] technique closely correlates with a ninja's chakra strength and spatial awareness.
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