Obito stood in the shadow of the highest tower in Amegakure.
The orange spiral mask hid his expression.
Only that scarlet Sharingan was exposed.
In the dim light, it gleamed with a cold, eerie glow.
Rainwater rushed through the drainage channels beneath his feet.
It flowed into a distant pool.
Rain fell over Amegakure all year round.
He had long since grown used to this damp, chilly weather.
But today, that chill seemed to seep out from the depths of his heart.
White Zetsu had disappeared.
The White Zetsu stationed underground in Suna for surveillance had vanished without a sound.
It had sent back no message.
Issued no warning.
Like a drop of water evaporating into the air, it had left no trace behind.
White Zetsu was a strange existence.
It was almost impossible to detect.
In the past, using White Zetsu to gather intelligence had never been exposed.
Yet this time, it had failed?
Did that Kazekage know of White Zetsu's existence?
But how could he know?
White Zetsu was a creation of Madara. Even Obito himself could not easily detect it.
In the entire shinobi world, the only people who knew White Zetsu existed…
Aside from him and Zetsu, were Nagato and Konan.
Obito's fingers tapped lightly against the windowsill.
The rhythm was scattered.
It lacked his usual composure.
"Obito…"
Black Zetsu emerged halfway from the ground. That black-and-white face looked especially strange in the dim light.
"Nagato is running out of patience. He said that if there's still no movement from your side, he'll personally go to Suna."
"He'll eliminate the traitors Deidara and Sasori, make Suna feel pain, and bring back the One-Tail."
Obito's brows furrowed slightly.
Nagato was anxious. Obito could understand that.
Deidara and Sasori had betrayed the Akatsuki.
Four members had been lost.
Kakuzu and Hidan had been killed.
These were things Nagato could not tolerate.
But Suna was no ordinary village.
And that Kazekage was no ordinary opponent.
Obito did not know how much intelligence Teizawa had on the Akatsuki.
But it was definitely far more than they had expected.
Acting rashly would only make them fall into the other side's trap.
"Give me more time."
Obito's voice was low and hoarse. "That man is strange. He seems to know many things he shouldn't. I need more intelligence."
Black Zetsu fell silent for a moment.
"You plan to send White Zetsu again? One has already disappeared."
"Send them."
Obito turned and looked out at the endless curtain of rain beyond the window. "But not into the village."
He paused. "Send them to the border. To the outskirts. To every place he might appear."
"I don't need them to do anything. They only need to watch."
"Where he goes, who he meets, what he does—record all of it."
Black Zetsu nodded, then asked, "How should I reply to Nagato?"
"Tell him…"
Obito's voice turned cold. "If he doesn't trust my judgment, he can come himself."
"But I'll say this first… Even if he comes, the result will be the same."
Black Zetsu said nothing more and slowly sank into the ground.
The tower fell quiet, leaving only the sound of rain and wind.
Obito stood before the window.
That Sharingan reflected the rain-shrouded darkness in the distance as he sank into thought.
…
Deep within Amegakure.
Nagato sat atop his mechanical device, his gaze dark.
Konan stood behind him.
Her pale blue hair drifted gently in the wind.
"Madara says to give him more time."
Black Zetsu's head emerged from the ground. "He also said that if you don't trust him, you can go personally."
The corner of Nagato's mouth twitched slightly.
"Go personally? Does he think I wouldn't dare?"
Konan pressed a hand to his shoulder.
"Nagato, calm down. He may not be afraid. He may simply be cautious."
"That Kazekage is indeed strange, and the intelligence we currently have is too limited. If we act rashly, we'll only alert him."
Nagato was silent for a long time.
At last, he nodded.
"Then we wait a little longer."
He paused. "But not for long."
Konan said nothing more.
Outside the window, the rain fell heavily, as if it would never stop.
Late at night, in the desert outside Suna.
A White Zetsu poked its head out from beneath the sand.
It looked toward the village for a while.
Then slowly sank back underground.
Like a snake, silent and traceless.
In the distance, the lights of the Kazekage Building were still on.
Teizawa sat at his desk.
He held an intelligence scroll in his hand, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
White Zetsu had come again.
A moment ago, his sensory ability had captured that strange mass of life energy.
"This time, I can catch a few more," he said.
…
Under the moonlight, the border of the Land of Wind looked like a winding scar, split open between endless desert and stone.
Teizawa crouched inside a wind-eroded cave riddled with holes.
Three White Zetsu bodies lay in front of him.
Their skin was a sickly white.
Like paper pulp rotted by water.
Yet it carried a strange resilience.
These creatures were becoming more and more aggressive.
Only a few short days had passed, and he had already captured three of them.
Outside the cave, Suna's Anbu had set up a tight sensory barrier within a ten-li radius.
But against White Zetsu's chakra fluctuations, which were almost nonexistent, the barrier held little meaning.
What Teizawa relied on was something else entirely…
A transmigrator's memory of this world.
He knew what kinds of terrain White Zetsu liked to move through. He knew their movement patterns. He knew how often they reported intelligence to Black Zetsu.
In Black Zetsu's eyes, this information was top secret.
In Teizawa's eyes, it was an open card written plainly in the script.
"The third one."
He murmured to himself and pressed his fingers against the top of one White Zetsu's head.
His fingertips touched that slick, nearly translucent skin.
He could feel a faint flow beneath it, something similar to chakra.
This thing was not alive.
At least, it was not dead.
They were biological weapons created by Kaguya.
Byproducts of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
The lowest and least noticeable pieces on this world's chessboard.
But what if he took that piece…
And placed it on his own board?
Teizawa took a sealing scroll from his ninja tool pouch and spread it across the ground.
He bit his thumb, drew a line of blood across the scroll, formed hand seals, and gave a low shout.
The three White Zetsu bodies were wrapped in black symbols.
As if seized by an invisible hand, they were compressed, tightened, and sucked into the scroll.
The cave returned to emptiness.
Only moonlight and the sound of his own breathing remained.
This was already the third one he had captured in the past week.
The first had been caught at the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind.
At the time, that White Zetsu had been half-buried in the sand, disguised as a rock, eavesdropping on a conversation between two Suna chūnin.
Teizawa approached from behind.
One hand covered its mouth, while the other pierced straight through its chest.
He pulled out the core that resembled a heart, yet was not quite a heart.
White Zetsu did not even have time to make a sound before it collapsed.
The second had been three days ago, inside an abandoned mine in the Land of Wind.
That one had been smarter.
The moment it sensed something was wrong, it tried to burrow underground.
Teizawa used Earth Release to seal off every escape route.
He trapped it inside an airtight earth prison.
Then he roasted it bit by bit with Fire Release.
White Zetsu was not afraid of physical attacks.
But chakra nature counters were effective against it.
In the end, that White Zetsu was sealed into the scroll while its entire body was cracked and almost carbonized.
Together with today's one, that made four.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]