Uchiha Yoru calmed his mind and wove twelve thick braid-like grass ropes, each longer than Miwa Masayo's body, to serve as the warp threads.
Then came the finer grass ropes, which would serve as the weft.
One man and one cat divided the work. Miwa Masayo twisted the ropes hard on one end, while Uchiha Yoru rapidly wove on the other. In just over an hour, a cat nest of perfect softness and firmness was finished.
Miwa Masayo cheered and immediately burrowed inside. Finding it perfectly to her liking, she let out a satisfied purring sound.
When she finally crawled out in satisfaction, she found her litter-scooper staring at the ground again. His expression was strange—both surprised and delighted, yet mixed with hesitation and regret.
Miwa Masayo could not understand why such complicated emotions would appear on his face, so she asked again, "What happened, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru let out a long sigh and said, "The White Zetsu carrying my Flying Thunder God mark is right beneath our feet."
Miwa Masayo instantly stood up and asked in shock, "Right beneath our feet? That close, nya? Wait, beneath our feet… doesn't that mean…"
Uchiha Yoru smiled bitterly. "Other than that giant hole, I can't think of anything else."
Miwa Masayo's expression also became a mix of surprise, delight, lingering fear, and hesitation. With some fear, she said, "Meow… were we that close to Uchiha Madara back then, nya?"
But curiosity quickly gained the upper hand.
The tabby cat's eyes curved into smiling crescents. She patted Uchiha Yoru with her paw and asked, "When are we going to take a look, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru licked his lips and said excitedly, "We'll sleep well during the day and recover our energy. Tonight, we'll go probe around."
The tabby cat nodded repeatedly, then asked, "Are we going straight there with the Flying Thunder God Technique, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru hesitated for several seconds, then shook his head. "No. That's too risky. We'll go down through the sinkhole."
As he spoke, he took out a kunai engraved with Dao Follows Nature and stabbed it directly into the ground.
"But when we return, using the Flying Thunder God Technique will be best."
Miwa Masayo lowered her head to look at the kunai and commented, "Nya. This kunai originally looked fine, but after adding those four characters, the more I look at it, the more… crowded it feels, nya."
Uchiha Yoru deeply agreed. He curled his lips and said, "It's the cheapest mass-produced model to begin with. I shouldn't expect too much."
"After returning to Konoha, I need to custom-order a batch of dedicated throwing weapons."
Miwa Masayo looked at it enviously and said, "The most amazing thing about humans is having hands, nya. You can use any weapon, and even ninjutsu can lower its usage threshold through hand seals. It makes cats jealous, nya."
Uchiha Yoru laughed loudly. "Rika-chan, if you can transform one day, you'll have a pair of hands too."
"Hmph!"
Miwa Masayo jumped off Uchiha Yoru's shoulder in annoyance and burrowed into her cat nest.
"Why are you angry?"
"Hmph. Sleeping, nya. Once I fall asleep, I'll have everything."
Uchiha Yoru had already slept for two hours last night. Ever since succeeding in Foundation Establishment, two hours were enough for him to work energetically for an entire day.
But for some reason, after Miwa Masayo angrily said she was going to sleep, Uchiha Yoru discovered a wave of sleepiness surging from deep inside his heart.
For Uchiha Yoru, whose sleep had been decreasing more and more, this was a pleasant surprise. He said happily, "Good. I'll sleep too."
At this time, fine rain began falling from the sky. Uchiha Yoru looked up and found that the cloud layer above was extremely thick. He judged that the rainfall afterward would not be light.
So Uchiha Yoru found quite a few bricks and raised Miwa Masayo's cat nest high. He also tied his hammock to the highest position before crawling inside and lying down.
By now, the fine rain had turned into a torrential downpour. Along with rumbling thunder, heaven and earth became a hazy blur.
Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo both yawned widely at the same time. Listening to the pouring rain, they entered dreamland.
Unfortunately, this time, no lucid dream was triggered. Uchiha Yoru woke up two hours later.
Feeling his full energy, he knew he could no longer fall asleep. With some regret, he took out the Impure World Reincarnation scroll he had traded from Orochimaru and began studying it seriously.
By now, the heavy rain had become light rain. The pattering sound mixed with Miwa Masayo's purring, making Uchiha Yoru's heart feel incomparably relaxed. He easily immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge and rapidly absorbed its nourishment.
Time passed quickly while he focused on studying.
Soon, the sky darkened.
But as an Uchiha with awakened eyes, he did not need any lighting tools. He could still clearly see the words on the scroll.
Moreover, after night fell, the clouds dispersed. Above the night sky, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Starlight and moonlight reflected each other, making the words even clearer.
Just then, Miwa Masayo woke up.
She walked out of the cat nest, arched her back, raised her tail, stretched each of her four paws one by one, then scratched hard against the cat nest a few times before comfortably narrowing her eyes and meowing.
"Meow, Yoru, are we eating first, or going adventuring and eating after we come back, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru had stopped studying the moment she woke up. He put away the scrolls, notes, and other items, then answered, "What food? We're going adventuring!"
"Yay! Let's go, nya!"
They found the sinkhole with practiced ease.
Although the rain had stopped, the accumulated water on the ground was still flowing into the sinkhole. The circular sinkhole was like a round waterfall. The roaring water and ribbon-like cascade formed an extremely spectacular scene.
But Uchiha Yoru's feeling was not good.
Because he heard echoes coming from the deep bottom.
That was the roaring sound of splashing water.
This meant water had accumulated at the bottom of the sinkhole, and it was very deep.
In other words, the sinkhole had been blocked.
Uchiha Yoru thought about it and felt somewhat relieved.
Since White Zetsu or Black Zetsu had blocked the bottom of the sinkhole, they would not leave sentries here to monitor it.
Instead, this route had become the safest passage.
The waterfall was far too noisy. Uchiha Yoru could not communicate with Miwa Masayo at all, so he patted the tabby cat's head, signaling that he was going down.
After receiving the tabby cat's response, Uchiha Yoru jumped.
Several dozen seconds later, he fell into the water.
He did not stop or hesitate. Controlling water-aspected natural energy, he pushed himself rapidly downward until he reached the bottom of the sinkhole.
Then he switched to earth-aspected natural energy, bringing himself and the tabby cat into the solid rock together and continuing to swim downward.
Moving through the rock layer was extremely difficult and slow. It took several minutes before he finally emerged from the range of the stone and entered a vast underground cavern.
Miwa Masayo took a deep breath, relieving the tightness in her chest, then said, "Such a huge stone. How did they do this, nya?"
Blocking the bottom of the sinkhole was a complete spherical stone, standing round and smooth at the bottom of the cavern. Its top happened to block the sinkhole.
Because the fit was not perfectly seamless, a small amount of water still seeped in through the gaps under the tremendous water pressure, forming winding streams beneath the stone.
Uchiha Yoru shook his head and said, "I don't know either. Black Zetsu is a monster from a thousand years ago. No matter what strange technique he has mastered, I wouldn't find it unbelievable."
In truth, Uchiha Yoru knew of one forbidden jutsu specifically capable of creating such a massive spherical rock, and the finished product had a shelf life of more than a thousand years.
Outer Path: Planetary Devastation.
But Uchiha Yoru also knew that today's Uchiha Madara had completely declined, and he had long since transplanted the Rinnegan to Nagato. He no longer had the ability to use this powerful forbidden jutsu.
Therefore, Uchiha Yoru could not imagine what method Black Zetsu had used to employ this epic-level forbidden jutsu.
Black Zetsu, a high-level lifeform directly created by Otsutsuki Kaguya through mitotic division, was full of secrets from head to toe.
Uchiha Yoru wisely stopped thinking about Black Zetsu and focused his attention on observing the environment while fully sensing the coordinates of his Flying Thunder God mark.
Comparing the two, he quickly determined the direction forward and brought Miwa Masayo swiftly through one of the many tunnels.
The tunnel was extremely long and seemed to descend at a certain angle the entire way. When Uchiha Yoru reached a depth of two thousand meters underground, he discovered a White Zetsu hiding in the soil, acting as a hidden sentry.
The reason Uchiha Yoru dared to enter an area filled with White Zetsu was because he had already mastered the ability to detect White Zetsu. He could effortlessly dig them out from deep soil.
So he switched to earth-aspected natural energy and silently merged into the earth, quietly approaching the White Zetsu.
The Mayfly Technique mastered by White Zetsu fundamentally belonged to Wood Release. It allowed them to split themselves into countless tiny plant-like parts and freely move underground.
But Uchiha Yoru's Earth Release technique connected him to the earth through earth-aspected natural energy, making him one with the land.
He was part of the earth.
Naturally, he could move freely.
Uchiha Yoru's Earth Release could be said to return to the origin. In terms of concept, it far surpassed White Zetsu's Mayfly Technique. As long as there was no obvious flaw, White Zetsu would not detect anything unusual.
So when two large hands clamped around White Zetsu's neck and even twisted it apart, this White Zetsu still failed to discover the enemy's existence.
It merely let out a muffled "Eh?" underground before directly turning into a failed sprouting sapling.
After dealing with the White Zetsu sentry, Uchiha Yoru returned to the tunnel. After reuniting with Miwa Masayo, he continued forward.
However, there were very few active White Zetsu in this underground cavern.
Along the way, Uchiha Yoru only discovered and eliminated two before finding his target.
This was an incomparably enormous underground cavern.
Within the domed cave, there was not a single stone pillar supporting it, greatly amplifying the sense of emptiness.
Miwa Masayo could not help exclaiming, "How can there be such a huge space this deep underground, nya?"
"Even the air pressure is normal. That makes no sense, nya."
Uchiha Yoru pointed upward and reminded her, "Look above, and you'll know what's supporting it."
The tabby cat raised her head.
At a glance, she saw enormous curved supports arranged in radial lines, extending from the center of the dome all the way to the cavern's surroundings, forming a framework like a bamboo steamer.
"Meow! What is that? That can't be rock!"
Uchiha Yoru took a deep breath and said slowly, with absolute certainty, "These are the roots of the God Tree. They should be one of the underground roots torn off when the God Tree forcibly transformed into the Ten-Tails."
"God Tree, nya? God Tree, nya… God Tree, nya!"
A key object from a myth a thousand years ago had suddenly appeared before her.
Not everyone could calmly accept such a thing.
Miwa Masayo's eyes gradually grew blank. She murmured the name of the God Tree, her mind completely empty.
Uchiha Yoru was much better off than Miwa Masayo.
After all, he had experienced the even greater miracle of transmigration.
So after sighing at the magnificent scale of the God Tree, he quickly gathered his mind and began investigating this vast cavern.
The first thing he inspected was the White Zetsu responsible for guarding.
After carefully checking twice, he actually did not discover a single active White Zetsu.
There were clearly thousands of White Zetsu hanging from the enormous God Tree roots, but only the two he had encountered on the way had been activated.
Uchiha Yoru could not believe it.
So he spent more than two hours checking again and again before finally being forced to accept it.
He sighed to Miwa Masayo. "Unbelievable. Thousands of White Zetsu, and even living God Tree roots, yet only two White Zetsu were responsible for guarding them. Incredible."
After several hours of buffering, Miwa Masayo had also returned to normal. She smiled and said, "According to your intelligence, Black Zetsu is acting alone. How much energy and time can he have to maintain so many treasures, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru laughed loudly. "You're right. Fighting alone really does easily expose irreparable flaws."
"Information. As expected, the number one element in the shinobi world is information. The reason Black Zetsu could stir up storms for a thousand years is ultimately because no one knew his information. That advantage can be called absolute."
"Although I know quite a bit of his intelligence, I couldn't catch his tail. That information didn't match his actual situation, so it never played a role."
"Now that I've finally caught a bit of his tail and combined it with the information I possess, I've discovered that this Black Zetsu seems to be full of flaws."
"As expected, even in a supernatural world, no matter how powerful one person is, there are limits. After all, not everyone can remove their limiter and give the world a new hairstyle whenever they want."
Miwa Masayo rolled her eyes and complained, "You're saying strange things this cat can't understand again, nya."
"Idiot Yoru, what do we do now, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru examined everything around him with the eyes of a farmer looking at his own crops. Hearing Miwa Masayo's question, he answered without hesitation, "First, loot the place. Then completely destroy it."
The tabby cat was startled. "That ruthless, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru explained with great regret, "There's no choice. My current strength is still far from enough. I'm not suited to touch such deep secrets."
"Although it's a pity, only by destroying this place can we avoid Black Zetsu's attention and buy ourselves enough time to develop."
Miwa Masayo nodded.
With a swish, white flames emerged from all four of her paws. In the next instant, they transformed into sharp, stable flaming claws.
She asked happily, "Where do we start, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru pointed at the highest point of the dome, which was also the core position of the roots, and said, "Start there. I always feel that if there's anything good, the probability of it being there should be the highest."
Then he pointed around and said, "I'll start with the surrounding roots. First, I'll take down the White Zetsu, then search the detailed parts of the roots."
"After all, for some plants, the root hairs are where the essence is."
"Okay, nya. Let's begin. Such a huge cavern is a big project, nya!"
Miwa Masayo charged ahead, racing along the roots around the dome toward the highest point. Very quickly, she began working in full swing, and shattered wood chips scattered down like rain.
Uchiha Yoru first formed hand seals and created twelve shadow clones. Only then did he begin harvesting bit by bit from the bottom upward, performing destructive inspections on every root to avoid missing any important gains.
Neither the man nor the cat mentioned contacting Cat Castle or summoning a large number of ninja cats to provide manpower.
This space was one of the greatest secrets of the shinobi world and required absolute secrecy.
According to Uchiha Yoru's view, any secret known by any living being other than the two of them could no longer be considered a true secret.
Therefore, despite the astonishing workload, Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo preferred to work personally rather than allow the secret to spread.
The White Zetsu hanging from the roots were good things. By using sealing methods to make them into mummies, they could be conveniently stored and relatively conveniently awakened.
The thick bark of the roots was good stuff. Peel it off, steam it dry, roll it into bundles, and store it.
The core of the roots was even better. Chop it down, divide it into wooden blocks, and use it in the future to build ships or houses.
The fungi on the roots—hm, they could actually extend their mycelium deep into the roots. Also good stuff. Store it.
Oh?
There were even insects capable of gnawing on God Tree roots.
Treasures!
Insects raised by eating God Tree roots—this flesh definitely had substance. He wondered how they tasted.
Uchiha Yoru's collection was absolutely destructive.
Even digging three feet into the ground was not enough to describe his ferocity.
The enormous harvest came together with exhausting labor. Even Uchiha Yoru was so tired his waist ached and his back hurt, but he could only grit his teeth and persevere.
Unexpectedly, what ultimately limited Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo's looting was not the terrifying workload, but the fact that they could not store such a massive harvest.
Uchiha Yoru was so depressed his heart bled, but he could only helplessly accept reality.
One had to know that it was not that his body was fully loaded.
It was that all his secret warehouses were full.
Through cooperation with Miwa Masayo, Uchiha Yoru established a Flying Thunder God transportation channel, sending mountain-like piles of treasure into secret warehouses in Konoha and the dammed lake through spacetime transport.
Moreover, he even built a temporary secret warehouse on an uninhabited island in the Eastern Sea and stuffed in many, many White Zetsu and whole sections of roots.
Now he had used up all the sealing materials necessary to build secret warehouses. Even Cat Castle's stored materials had been purchased and completely consumed by him. He no longer had the ability to expand his harvest.
Why hadn't he prepared a hundredfold expansion in advance?
In the end, it was because he had misunderstood his own luck.
He had not believed he would be this fortunate.
What misfortune.
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