Chapter 40: Black Zetsu's Scheme
[Notification: Successfully killed an enemy (Level 45 White Zetsu clone). Gained 80 experience points.]
Kyosuke, having successfully "kill-stolen," had unexpectedly gained 80 experience points. Normally, he should have been happy. But the notification about the "White Zetsu" clone made it impossible for him to feel any joy.
This incident was orchestrated by a White Zetsu? Isn't he dead? The face hidden behind Kyosuke's mask was now incredibly grim.
He carefully recalled the plot of the "original story." In the "ancient times," the main body of White Zetsu had indeed been killed by the Ōtsutsuki brothers. But then he remembered that the main body had been resurrected by Uchiha Madara using the Gedo Statue, only to be killed again by Sasuke.
However, even though the main body was dead, his clones were still alive.
This suggested that the White Zetsu clones had the ability to survive independently and did not rely on the "main body."
If that was the case, then the appearance of a White Zetsu this time was explainable.
Or to put it another way, the White Zetsu clone was also being "controlled." It wouldn't have done something like this on its own.
And the only person who could control it, besides the "Black Zetsu" who was stirring up trouble from the shadows, Kyosuke couldn't think of anyone else.
Phew... Kyosuke rubbed his aching head and sighed in his heart. I never thought I'd find traces of Black Zetsu in such an ordinary mission. It's really...
As Kyosuke was nursing his headache, the captain, Ansui, had already opened the sealed wooden box.
When he saw what was inside, his breath caught in his throat.
The "child" inside the box was already dead.
Damn it, were we too late? Ansui clenched his fist and slammed it against the wooden crate. But then he noticed something was wrong. Strange. Since they've already killed the hostage, why go to all the trouble of sealing the box?
Puzzled, he took a closer look at the poor child.
"Wait, this isn't the Daimyō's child... What's going on?" Ansui realized something was wrong. He took out the photo of the mission target and, after a careful comparison, couldn't help but mutter to himself in confusion.
Kyosuke, who was standing nearby, also noticed this, and a certain thought began to take shape in his mind.
It used White Zetsu to pose as Sand ninja and kidnap the Daimyō's children to lure Konoha into a trap.
Then, it 'died' at our hands in the guise of a 'Sand ninja'...
The Daimyō's children are missing, and the body of an unknown child has appeared...
The Sand ninja's reinforcements...
Not good!!!
Just as Kyosuke finally figured out Black Zetsu's true objective, a sudden roar interrupted his thoughts.
"You Konoha scum! How dare you... How dare you..."
Hearing the voice, the group turned to look at the entrance of the cave.
Several ninja dressed as Sand shinobi were standing there, glaring at them.
At the same time, one of the ninja was holding the body of a "Sand ninja."
Damn it, did it succeed after all? Kyosuke's heart sank as he watched the scene unfold.
If Black Zetsu could kidnap the children of the Land of Fire's Daimyō to lure them here, why couldn't it do the same to lure the Sand ninja?
When the two sides "unknowingly" met, a fierce battle would inevitably break out.
No matter who won, they would end up taking the "corpse" of a hostage back to report the mission's completion.
And then... the hatred between the two villages, or rather, the two countries, would deepen once again. And war... would naturally break out.
"Jounin Rasa, what... what should we do now?" a ninja from the Sand team asked, his expression pained as he looked at the "corpse" beside Ansui.
"What should we do?!" Rasa turned to look at him, then turned back to Ansui and the others, his expression ferocious. "Of course..."
"We'll tear these Konoha scumbags to pieces!!!"
With that, he clasped his hands together and instantly unleashed his signature ninjutsu.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Wave."
As he cast the jutsu, layers of extremely dense gold dust surged forward along the ground, rushing toward them at high speed.
"Watch out! It's the Sand's Rasa! Be careful of his Magnet Release!" Ansui shouted. At the same time, he quickly formed hand seals, hoping to counter the Magnet Release with his own ninjutsu.
But just then, Kyosuke, who was beside him, stepped forward and used the ninjutsu he had already prepared.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River."
The ground in front of Kyosuke suddenly flowed like waves. With a massive output of his chakra, it formed a wave of earth several meters high.
It turned out that Kyosuke had recognized the Sand ninja and had secretly been forming hand seals to counter a surprise attack. He knew that fighting Rasa in a cave was a very unwise choice.
So, while controlling his jutsu to clash with Rasa's, Kyosuke shouted to Ansui, "Break through the rock wall and get out! We can't fight him here!"
Ansui nodded and then used his own signature jutsu on a nearby rock wall.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu."
Boom!
With a loud crash, the rock wall was successfully broken by the water dragon.
Then, Yage stepped forward, picked up Kyosuke, who was still in the middle of his jutsu clash, and the group escaped through the opening.
"Hmph, let's see where you can run," Rasa snorted. With a flick of his wrist, his group also gave chase.
"Something's not right," Rei suddenly said as they were running.
The others also nodded in agreement.
"You're right. What just happened was really strange. Especially..." Ansui paused, then continued, "the expression on that Sand ninja's face."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, I think I felt it too," Yage said, recalling Rasa's behavior. He then said sarcastically, "It was as if... we had kidnapped their Daimyō's children."
The moment he finished speaking, he himself was stunned. He couldn't help but exchange a look with the others.
Because they had all simultaneously remembered the child who had died in the box for an unknown reason. The Sand ninja had completely lost control of their emotions only after seeing that child.
"Damn it, we've been set up," Yage cursed. He then noticed some movement beside him and asked Kyosuke, "Snake, what are you doing?"
"Nothing. Just checking to see if there are any other enemies," Kyosuke said, using a random excuse to cover up the fact that he was casting his Summoning Technique.
His purpose, of course, was not just to scout for enemies.
Because until now, the system had not indicated that the "mission" had failed. This meant that the two children might still be alive.
Even though the hope was slim, Kyosuke was still going to try. After all, his mission depended on it.
But what happened next was completely unexpected.
In less than two minutes, one of his summoned creatures informed him that it had found a strange wooden box not far ahead.
From the limited description of his small snake, Kyosuke could confirm that the appearance of this wooden box was identical to the one described in the intelligence report.
"What's going on?" Kyosuke frowned in confusion. He then told his teammates what he had found.
"Whether it's real or not, we have to go and see," Ansui decided after a brief moment of thought.
After all, from the direction they were heading, the location of the wooden box was just ahead.
But this also made the bad feeling in Kyosuke's heart grow even stronger.
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