Soon, the entire morning passed.
In the afternoon, a new clone of Shinju came over to take over the work. Shikamaru watched from the side, his brow knitting tighter and tighter.
Even though the clones were also part of Shinju, watching them suffer in Shinju's place always gave him the uncomfortable feeling that Shinju was exploiting labor!
In the blink of an eye, three days went by.
"Bang!"
Shikamaru hurriedly pushed open the door, entered the Hokage's office, and found Shinju.
Shinju knew Shikamaru wasn't the impatient type, so he asked curiously,
"What happened? Why are you in such a rush? ⊙▽⊙"
Shikamaru said, "Do you remember the mining mountain disappearance commission from a few days ago? The village sent an elite jonin squad over there, but there's still been no word at all…"
Shinju frowned. "The entire jonin squad was wiped out? (º Д º*)"
"Tell me the mission location. I'll go take a look myself!"
As he spoke, Shinju stood up.
Just then, another person appeared behind the open door of the Hokage's office.
Sasuke had come to report on the progress of the chakra armor project.
But the moment he stepped inside, he realized something was off about today's atmosphere.
"What's going on here? ╭(°A°`)╮"
Shinju pointed at Sasuke. "Perfect timing. You're it!"
"Go to the border of the Land of Fire and investigate why the ninja went missing… Shikamaru, give Sasuke the detailed rundown."
Dragged in out of nowhere, Sasuke looked utterly resistant.
"I already made plans to have lunch with Sakura at noon… (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)"
Shinju said, "Then go after you eat. You've got Susanoo anyway—you fly fast. (o´Д`o)ノ"
Sasuke: "..."
And just like that, Sasuke was taken away by Shikamaru.
Shinju picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.
Sasuke was right. Now that he was Hokage, he couldn't personally handle everything anymore. When it was time to use people, he should use them. ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )
...
On the other side.
After getting a general understanding of the situation from Shikamaru, Sasuke set off.
As for the lunch he'd promised Sakura, he planned to eat it after he got back.
At the village's central plaza, Sasuke parted ways with Sakura and activated the complete form of Susanoo!
"Whoosh!"
The gigantic purple Susanoo warrior spread its wings and slowly rose into the air!
There were plenty of people in the plaza, and every single one of them saw the scene, excitement written all over their faces.
"Holy crap! That's the Uchiha clan's Susanoo! That's way too cool!（ --0027▿ --0027 ）"
"That thing's gotta be at least two hundred meters tall, right?!"
"A purple Susanoo—feels insanely powerful!"
"Hey, which do you think looks cooler, Sasuke's purple Susanoo or our Hokage's green Susanoo? (´∇ﾉ｀*)ノ"
"Don't start a fan war!"
"But subjectively speaking, I think purple is cooler! ୧⍢⃝୨"
"Nonsense, green looks great too, okay?!"
"What's there to argue about? As long as it's strong, that's all that matters."
"True—and a powerful Sixth Hokage can do anything. Changing a Susanoo's color is nothing! (σ≧︎▽︎≦︎)σ"
High in the air, Sasuke heard the praise and chatter below, and a smug feeling rose in his chest.
He'd deliberately chosen a crowded place to activate Susanoo and take off, all just to show off a little.
As for those comparing him to Shinju, he didn't care at all.
If he were a few years younger, he probably wouldn't have accepted Shinju.
But now, all he could say was—what virtue or ability did Uchiha Sasuke have to even be compared with Shinju?
After taking off from Konoha, the massive purple warrior flew above the clouds, racing toward the border of the Land of Fire!
Two hours later, Sasuke arrived above the mission area!
Outside the mine entrance stood quite a few people, each one peering inside nervously, yet none daring to actually go in.
Very soon—
"Boom!"
Sasuke guided the massive purple warrior down to the ground, instantly intimidating everyone present!
After that, he introduced his identity and purpose, then asked,
"Who can explain the situation inside in detail?"
A thin man wearing a miner's helmet stepped forward.
"Ninja-sama, it started a week ago. We dug into an underground karst cave, and after that, miners began disappearing frequently. From time to time, strange roars came from inside the mine—like some kind of large ferocious beast…"
"Then three days ago, a small squad of your Konoha ninja went in to investigate. Not long after they entered, there were sounds of violent impacts from inside… Those ninja still haven't come out…"
After getting the general picture, Sasuke frowned, nodded, and immediately headed inside.
He wanted to see for himself what kind of creature could instantly defeat an entire jonin squad!
Seeing how confident and bold Sasuke was, the miners didn't try to stop him and made way…
Sasuke then walked slowly into the mine tunnel.
In the dark passage, the sound of his footsteps echoed.
The deeper he went, the thicker the darkness became, and the more eerie the atmosphere felt!
Sasuke's nerves instinctively tightened.
Just then, from deep within the tunnel, a long-suppressed roar erupted!!
"ROAR—!!"
Hearing it and fearing he might lose his target, Sasuke snapped his hand back—
"Shing!"
He drew the sword at his lower back and quickened his pace!!
Very soon, deep within the tunnel, a pure white monster appeared before him!!
The moment Sasuke saw the creature, he froze, then shouted its name:
"White Zetsu?! ┌(.Д.)┐"
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Obito had created an army of a hundred thousand White Zetsu.
In the final battle, they were all wiped out.
Still, it was only natural for one or two to slip through the net…
With that thought settled, Sasuke raised his blade and charged forward!!
Opposite him, the White Zetsu in the mine was formed from the fusion of multiple White Zetsu. It stood three to four meters tall and had five heads.
However, those five heads didn't seem very functional. Each had a vacant, dull gaze, as if lacking intelligence altogether, capable only of emitting garbled roars…
Before long, Sasuke chopped the White Zetsu into pieces!
"Shing!"
Flicking the blood and flesh from his blade, a puzzled look appeared on Sasuke's face.
"This White Zetsu had five heads and could use four elemental techniques. It really was troublesome—but even if that jonin squad couldn't win, they should've been able to escape…"
"And there's no sign of human flesh here, nor any in its stomach… Looks like I'll have to keep going."
With that, Sasuke carried his sword and continued forward.
After advancing several dozen more meters through the dark, cramped tunnel, Sasuke finally saw the karst cave the miners had mentioned…
What shocked him was that inside this cave stood an enormous tree…
This tree was absurdly massive. Sasuke was currently only at the level of its canopy, while its roots extended even deeper into the cave below!!
Upon seeing this outrageously large tree, Sasuke was almost certain it had been created using Wood Release!
"This is strange. Who used Wood Release down here?" Sasuke muttered as he leaned forward to look down.
After a glance, he realized that thick branches completely blocked the area beneath the trunk, making it impossible to see anything…
"I'll have to go down and check it out myself! ╰_╯"
With that, Sasuke swung his long blade!
"Clang clang clang!!"
Cold flashes of light streaked through the darkness!
Messy, thick branches were severed, and Sasuke leapt straight down!!
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