Chapter 989: Chapter Four: Outpost

A gentle breeze stirred, rustling the leaves.

Near a great canyon within the Land of Fire.

A turbulent river surged past; on both banks stretched vast stretches of red rock, where Su Xiao sat upon one, his expression thoughtful.

This entire expanse of red rock was once an outpost of the Akatsuki in Konoha—now abandoned, and destroyed from within.

From the current traces, this was not the result of an enemy attack; it was likely self-inflicted destruction by Akatsuki members.

Su Xiao pulled out the “Ring of Void” from his storage space—it had been confiscated after his previous departure from the Naruto world, but he had now regained its use.

The Illusionary Lantern Technique attached to the Ring of Void could no longer be used, possibly due to Nagato’s involvement—he was the one who activated the technique, a ninjutsu accessible only to those with the Rinnegan.

With the Illusionary Lantern Technique unusable, communication within the Akatsuki was severely hindered; previously, as long as Su Xiao was within the Naruto world and held the Ring of Void, he could contact other Akatsuki members—he could no longer do so.

Su Xiao rose to his feet, preparing to search other outposts; if he still found nothing, he would have to resort to fishing.

By “fishing,” he meant causing trouble—“Byakuya” carried considerable notoriety in the Naruto world, though it was infamy, as one of the Akatsuki’s villains.

Once Su Xiao made a major move, the Akatsuki would surely hear about it and reach out to him.

It was a crude method, but the Akatsuki operated in darkness, and its members possessed formidable stealth abilities.

Just as Su Xiao was about to leave, he halted.

“Hmm? This chakra signature.”

Su Xiao’s gaze fixed on the forest ahead; moments later, his foot struck the ground like a landmine detonating, sending shards of red rock flying.

Clang!

Blade flashes crisscrossed, slicing countless trees into splinters, green leaves scattering everywhere.

Su Xiao stood within the forest; within a ten-meter radius, not a single tree remained intact—not the result of his full power; had he unleashed his full blade slash, every tree within a hundred meters would have been reduced to fragments.

“Come out.”

Su Xiao’s eyes scanned the surroundings, then stomped the ground, flooding it with Qinggangying energy.

With a pop, the earth nearby exploded, spraying white sap.

The white sap resembled liquid yet possessed solid properties—it coalesced into irregular shapes, writhing across the ground like a giant crawling creature.

Seeing this white organism, Su Xiao’s eyes lit up—he knew what it was: a White Zetsu cell clone, also called the Spore Technique.

Finding a White Zetsu clone—how far could the Akatsuki be now?

White Zetsu’s stealth was exceptional—even sensory-type ninja couldn’t detect him—but Su Xiao’s intuition had sensed his presence; White Zetsu’s chakra hovered between life and energy, allowing it to evade most perception.

Su Xiao stepped forward and yanked the irregularly shaped White Zetsu clone directly from the soil.

This cell clone had no subjective consciousness—it was likely a coordinate marker and surveillance device left by White Zetsu to monitor whether anyone approached this abandoned outpost.

The cell clone clambered up Su Xiao’s arm, attempting to absorb Qinggangying energy; Su Xiao immediately flung it off—if the clone absorbed Qinggangying energy, it would be the clone that suffered.

The moment Su Xiao discarded the clone, Amu strode forward, seized one of its legs with a single hand, swung his thick arm violently, and slammed the clone into the ground.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Dust rose, soil erupted, and a series of craters formed.

Initially, the clone tried to cling to Amu, but after being slammed for a full minute, it grew much more docile, beginning to twitch involuntarily, its surface coated in thick ice crystals—the result of Amu’s Frost ability.

Amu stared with ox-like eyes, confirmed the clone was sufficiently subdued, then tossed it before Su Xiao.

The White Zetsu cell clone was now truly subdued—beyond occasional spasms, it barely moved.

Su Xiao did not stop Amu; he had been considering how to use this clone to contact White Zetsu, and Amu’s beating might well draw White Zetsu’s attention.

Half an hour passed quickly; the ice crystals on the clone vanished, and it gradually became more active, attempting to burrow into the soil.

“Amu, continue.”

No sooner had Su Xiao spoken than Amu strode forward, gripping the clone’s leg with practiced ease…

Soon, the clone lay motionless on the ground, its occasional spasms the only sign of lingering life.

External force seemed unable to attract White Zetsu’s notice—perhaps he had abandoned this clone, or perhaps he was fully occupied elsewhere.

Observing this, Su Xiao hesitated, then produced a metal syringe.

The syringe pierced the clone’s neck, injecting its pale green liquid into the clone’s body.

Su Xiao immediately stepped back; Bubu Wang did the same; Amu paused briefly, then stepped between Su Xiao and Bubu Wang, showing clear protective instinct, while Bubu Wang scanned the surroundings—he excelled at stealth and reconnaissance.

The clone on the ground convulsed; the White Zetsu face began to swell.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The clone rapidly proliferated, soon growing into a massive entity.

At that moment, in the forest near Konoha, White Zetsu, who had been monitoring Konoha’s movements, froze—first puzzled, then utterly incredulous.

“Original Senju cells?”

White Zetsu realized that one of his cell clones had been injected with Original Senju cells.

Original Senju cells were the cells from Senju Hashirama’s living body; the Senju cells studied by Orochimaru, Danzō, and others were harvested from Hashirama’s corpse after his death—no one needed to guess: the difference was immense, the former’s value far exceeding the latter by countless times.

Only a handful in the Naruto world possessed Original Senju cells—the Senju clan did, since Hashirama had once been their clan head; beyond the Senju, only Obito and Uchiha Madara possessed them.

Uchiha Madara was dead; Obito could not possibly have injected Original Senju cells into a White Zetsu clone—and White Zetsu faintly sensed that the cells injected into his clone had undergone multiple optimizations and modifications, drastically reducing the risk of tree-like transformation.

White Zetsu was baffled, but he could not ignore this matter; after a few seconds of hesitation, he abandoned monitoring Konoha and began contacting Obito.

Not long after, White Zetsu received Obito’s reply—the response was strange: he was to welcome an Akatsuki member who had been missing for nearly a month.

Obito guessed that Su Xiao was behind this—not because he was prescient, but because the Original Senju cells Su Xiao held had originally come from Obito.

Obito would never have given such a precious thing to Su Xiao lightly—but the bargaining chip Su Xiao offered made refusal impossible: Kakashi’s Sharingan—the very Sharingan Obito had “lost.” How could Obito possibly refuse?

White Zetsu sank into the earth and began moving at super-high speed—he and Su Xiao were both within the Land of Fire, and not far apart.

…

One hour later, in the forest where Su Xiao stood.

A pitcher plant emerged from a tree—not only White Zetsu had arrived; Black Zetsu had come too. White Zetsu and Black Zetsu were two distinct entities, but among Akatsuki members, they disguised themselves as one.

“Oh? It’s Byakuya? I thought he died when he and Nagato attacked Konoha.”

White Zetsu spoke.

“Be quiet. Byakuya’s temper isn’t good—he might just chop you up if he gets angry.”

Black Zetsu’s voice was hoarse and low; his personality was entirely different from White Zetsu’s—White Zetsu was like a naive boy, curious about everything and occasionally surprised, while Black Zetsu was calm and seasoned, like an ancient elder—indeed, he was one, a being from Kaguya’s era—no, he was more accurately a consciousness.