Chapter 989

A gentle breeze blows, and the leaves rustle.

Within the Land of Fire, near a large canyon.

A turbulent river rushes past, and both sides of the riverbank are large areas of red rock. Su Xiao sits on a red rock, his face showing a look of contemplation.

This large area of red rock is one of the Akatsuki organization's original bases in the Land of Fire. This base has been abandoned, and it was destroyed from the inside.

Judging from the current traces, this was not an enemy attack; it is very likely that the Akatsuki members destroyed it themselves.

Su Xiao takes out the "Ring of Sky" from his storage space. This item was confiscated after he left the Naruto world previously; now he has regained the right to use it.

The "Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals" technique attached to the Ring of Sky can no longer be used. This may be related to Nagato. Nagato was the host of the Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals; this is a ninjutsu that can only be used by possessing the Rinnegan.

The inability to use the Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals causes no small obstacle to the Akatsuki organization's communication. In the past, as long as he was in the Naruto world, Su Xiao, holding the Ring of Sky, could contact other Akatsuki members; now he can no longer do so.

Su Xiao stands up. He plans to go to other bases to search. If he still cannot find them, then he can only go fishing.

So-called fishing means going to cause trouble. The name "Bai Ye" has quite a reputation in the Naruto world—an infamous one, of course: one of the villains of the Akatsuki organization.

Once Su Xiao makes a big move, the Akatsuki organization will definitely receive the news, thereby taking the initiative to contact him.

This is a clumsy method, but unfortunately, the Akatsuki organization is a force in the darkness, and the organization members all have strong stealth abilities.

Just as Su Xiao was about to leave, his footsteps paused.

"Hmm? This aura."

Su Xiao's gaze stares at the forest not far away. A moment later, it is as if a landmine exploded under his feet; red rock fragments splash.

Clang!

Blade light crisscrosses; a large area of trees is slashed into chunks of wood, and green leaves fly everywhere.

Su Xiao stands in the forest; within ten meters around him, there are no longer any intact trees. This is not the result of him using his full strength. If he slashed out with full strength, the trees within a hundred meters around him would all be slashed into fragments by him.

"Come out."

Su Xiao's eyes scan the surroundings, and he stomps on the ground beneath his feet; a large amount of Blue Qing Qing Gang Ying energy sinks into the ground.

With a crack, the soil not far away explodes, and white sap splashes.

These white saps are like liquid, but also have solid properties. They condense together, forming an irregular shape, wriggling on the ground like a large crawler.

Seeing this white creature, Su Xiao's eyes light up. He knows what this is; this is Zetsu's cell clone, also known as the Spore Technique.

Having discovered Zetsu's clone, is it still far from finding the Akatsuki organization?

Zetsu's stealth ability is very strong; even sensory ninjas cannot discover him. But Su Xiao's intuition sensed Zetsu's existence. Zetsu's aura is between life and energy, which is why it can mask most sensory perceptions.

Su Xiao walks up and directly pulls the irregularly shaped Zetsu clone out from the soil.

This Zetsu cell clone has no subjective consciousness; it should be a coordinate and monitoring device left by Zetsu to monitor whether anyone comes to this abandoned base.

The cell clone climbs along Su Xiao's arm toward his body, intending to absorb the Blue Qing Qing Gang Ying energy. Su Xiao immediately shakes off Zetsu's cell clone. If the cell clone absorbed the Blue Qing Qing Gang Ying energy, the one who would be unlucky would definitely be this cell clone.

Just as Su Xiao shook off the cell clone, Amu stepped forward, grabbed one of the cell clone's legs with one hand, swung its thick arm wildly, and grabbed the cell clone to slam it fiercely against the ground.

Bang, bang, bang...

Dust rises, soil surges, and pit after pit appears.

At first, the cell clone intended to climb onto Amu, but after being slammed by Amu for a full minute, the cell clone became much more obedient, starting to twitch unconsciously, with large areas of ice crystals clinging to its surface—this is Amu's frost ability.

Amu stares with its bull eyes, and after confirming that the cell clone is obedient enough, it throws the cell clone in front of Su Xiao.

Zetsu's cell clone is indeed obedient now; except for occasional twitching, it basically doesn't move much.

Su Xiao did not stop Amu. He was previously considering how to use this cell clone to contact Zetsu; Amu slamming the cell clone is very likely to attract Zetsu's attention.

Half an hour passed quickly. The ice crystals on the cell clone had disappeared, and it gradually became active, intending to burrow into the soil.

"Amu, continue."

Just as Su Xiao finished speaking, Amu stepped forward with large strides, and it familiarly grabbed one of the cell clone's legs...

Soon, the cell clone was lying on the ground playing dead; occasional twitching indicated it still had life signs.

External physical strikes seem unable to attract Zetsu's attention, and it is unknown whether Zetsu has already abandoned this cell clone or is focusing his energy on other things.

Discovering this situation, Su Xiao hesitated for a moment, and a metal syringe appeared in his hand.

The syringe pierced into the neck area of the cell clone, and the pale green liquid in the needle tube was injected into the cell clone's body.

Su Xiao immediately retreated, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, seeing this, also immediately retreated. Amu only hesitated for a moment before blocking in front of Su Xiao and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, having the awareness of a tank. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, meanwhile, is observing the surroundings; it is very good at stealth and equally good at reconnaissance.

The cell clone on the ground twitched, and that Zetsu face began to swell.

Crack, crack, crack...

The cell clone proliferated rapidly, soon proliferating into a behemoth.

At this moment, in the forest near the Hidden Leaf Village, Zetsu, who was monitoring the movements of the Hidden Leaf, had his body stiffen. He was first a bit puzzled, then turned to full disbelief.

"Primitive Hashirama cells?"

Zetsu sensed that primitive Hashirama cells had been injected into one of his cell clones.

The so-called primitive Hashirama cells are the cells in Hashirama's body while he was alive. The Hashirama cells studied by Orochimaru, Danzo, and others were all Hashirama cells obtained from Hashirama's corpse after he died. Needless to say, there is a huge difference between the two; the value of the former is countless times higher than the latter.

People who possess primitive Hashirama cells in the Naruto world can be counted on one hand. The Senju clan possesses them—after all, Hashirama was once the clan leader of the Senju. Besides the Senju clan, only Obito and Madara Uchiha possess primitive Hashirama cells.

Madara Uchiha is already dead, and it is impossible for Obito to inject primitive Hashirama cells into Zetsu's clone. Moreover, Zetsu vaguely discovered that the primitive Hashirama cells injected into his cell clone had been optimized and modified many times, and the risk of turning into wood had been significantly reduced.

Zetsu was very puzzled, but this matter must not be left alone. After hesitating for a few seconds, he gave up monitoring the movements of the Hidden Leaf and began to contact Obito.

Not long after, Zetsu received Obito's reply. The result of the reply was very strange: he was told to go and welcome an Akatsuki member who had been missing for nearly a month.

Obito guessed that it was Su Xiao who did this. It wasn't that Obito was miraculously wise, but because the primitive Hashirama cells in Su Xiao's hands were obtained from Obito.

Obito would naturally not easily give such a precious item to Su Xiao, but the bargaining chip Su Xiao produced made Obito unable to refuse: that Sharingan of Kakashi's, which is the Sharingan that Obito "lost"—how could Obito refuse?

Zetsu sank into the ground and began to move at ultra-high speed. Both he and Su Xiao are within the Land of Fire, and they are not too far apart.

One hour later, in the forest where Su Xiao is located.

A pitcher plant grew from a tree. It wasn't just Zetsu who came; Black Zetsu also arrived together. Black Zetsu and Bai Jue are two individuals, but within the Akatsuki members, they disguised themselves as one individual.

"Arieh, so it's Bai Ye. I even thought he had already died when he and Nagato attacked the Hidden Leaf."

Zetsu spoke.

"Silence. Bai Ye's temper is not very good; it's not impossible that he might cut you down in a fit of rage."

Black Zetsu's voice is hoarse and low. His personality is completely different from Zetsu's. Zetsu is more like an ignorant youth, curious about everything and occasionally surprised, while Black Zetsu is calm and experienced, like an old man who has lived for a long time. In fact, that is exactly the case; he is a "person" from the Kaguya era—no, it should be said that he is a kind of consciousness.