These ten tree trunks moved at extreme speed, with several of them even curving in an arc, intending to completely trap Yuto.
If the withered wood's previous two attacks had been straightforward, then this time it had gained a trace of variation.
And this slight change was naturally something Yuto discovered with ease.
"This speed seems to have increased a little too."
Yuto raised an eyebrow lightly, his voice carrying a hint of amusement.
It seemed that the withered wood, having absorbed eight portions of Tailed Beast chakra, wasn't as pathetic as he had imagined.
Through this brief observation, Yuto had more or less figured out the withered wood's current state.
It was time to end this!
Facing the ten tree roots closing in from all sides, Yuto extended his arm and moved his five fingers slightly.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out from Yuto's five fingers, producing intense sounds of tearing through the air.
The moment these five Adamantine Sealing Chains appeared, they moved at roughly twice the speed of the tree roots, instantly shredding all ten of the incoming roots!
The withered wood seemed to sense that the current situation was extremely unfavorable for it, and its already chaotic chakra aura became even more violent.
Unfortunately, before the withered wood could make its next move, the five Adamantine Sealing Chains struck from five angles, instantly binding the withered wood once more.
Each Adamantine Sealing Chain pierced directly into the withered wood's body, absorbing the chaotic Tailed Beast chakra within, making the chains even tougher.
A moment later.
The chaotic aura on the withered wood began to rapidly fade, and its formerly violent movements came to a halt, sealed in place once more by the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
"Simply injecting Tailed Beast chakra only makes the withered wood more chaotic and violent. It really is somewhat different from what I expected."
"A mere piece of withered wood cut from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path can absorb different Tailed Beast chakra without any hindrance. How terrifying."
"I have to say, as expected of the Ten-Tails!"
Yuto muttered to himself while watching the withered wood, immobilized and bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
From what Yuto could sense so far, although the nine Tailed Beasts were all separated from the Ten-Tails, each portion of their chakra was remarkably independent.
Even though Yuto possessed the ability to convert Tailed Beast chakra, he still only allowed one type of Tailed Beast chakra to appear in his body at a time during each conversion.
It wasn't that he couldn't simultaneously convert two different types of Tailed Beast chakra, but rather, when two different Tailed Beast chakras appeared in his body at the same time—
The two chakras would inevitably clash, as if they were extremely hostile toward each other.
This would be catastrophic for the ordinary Shinobi World, but for Yuto, it wasn't much of a problem. He only needed to spend a portion of his energy to suppress the two chakras.
But that was the extent of it. Yuto might be able to suppress two or three different Tailed Beast chakras.
But once nine different Tailed Beast chakras appeared in his body, even Yuto, as confident as he was, probably wouldn't have complete certainty he could control them.
By that point, let alone fighting, even moving would be difficult!
If that weren't the case, Yuto would have simply fused all nine Tailed Beast chakras within his body long ago.
He also wouldn't have needed to make this deal with Uchiha Madara to take a piece of withered wood from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Thinking of this, Yuto couldn't help but let out a sigh in his heart.
Sure enough, even with his cheat-like advantages, he couldn't compare to the protagonist.
After all, Naruto in the later period gained the recognition of all the Tailed Beasts, making him probably the only one besides the Ten-Tails who could freely use all their chakra.
As for earning recognition, Yuto would rather not bother.
Although Yuto was confident he could defeat any single Tailed Beast, getting these creatures to acknowledge him would be harder than reaching the heavens.
These Tailed Beasts had lived for over a thousand years. How could they be so easily won over like Naruto?
Besides, Yuto would rather believe in himself than trust others.
Discarding these impractical thoughts from his mind, Yuto recentered his focus. With a single thought—
A black phantom appeared beside Yuto in an instant.
"Perhaps it's time to study you as well."
Yuto gazed at the phantom at his side, murmuring softly to himself.
While Yuto remained within the barrier, conducting various research, on the other side:
Amegakure
A drizzle of rain fell from the sky.
As a village that spent most of the year in the rainy season, this kind of rainy day was all too common.
Although the streets weren't crowded due to the rain, there were still quite a few pedestrians.
Of course, it couldn't compare to the prosperity of the five great Shinobi Villages.
But from the unhurried footsteps of the pedestrians on the streets, one could tell that Amegakure had its own kind of vitality.
While there weren't many pedestrians on the streets, the taverns on both sides had plenty of customers.
On a dreary rainy day like this, a warm cup of sake was a fine pastime for both civilians and shinobi of Amegakure.
Whoosh!
At the edge of the street, the curtain of an unassuming little tavern was casually pulled aside.
Two figures wearing bamboo hats then slowly stepped out of the small tavern.
Due to the rain, pedestrians on the street generally wore bamboo hats, so the two of them blended right in, making it difficult to distinguish them from the crowd at first glance.
"You really are being cautious, Sasori."
"You can't even drink, yet you insisted on staying in that tavern for so long."
From beneath his bamboo hat, White Zetsu let out a bored-sounding voice.
White Zetsu's current appearance was that of an ordinary civilian, clearly having used a disguise technique to change his look.
Beside him, Sasori didn't say a word, clearly having no interest in responding.
Seeing Sasori refuse to react at all, White Zetsu patted his own face with both hands, putting on an expression of agony.
For a chatterbox, having no one talk back to him was indeed an extremely painful experience.
"Hehe, you know, Nagato no longer has the Rinnegan, so I doubt he can still use the Rain Tiger at Will Technique."
"The two of us showing up in Amegakure—Nagato probably hasn't even noticed yet."
After a moment of silence, White Zetsu let out a manic-sounding chuckle and spoke again.
However, this time White Zetsu's voice was quite soft, as if he were speaking to Sasori, or perhaps just talking to himself.
Just as White Zetsu assumed his words would go unanswered, Sasori, who had been walking ahead, suddenly paused.
"You underestimate Nagato too much. Becoming the leader of Akatsuki wasn't solely because he possessed the Rinnegan."
A detached voice came from Sasori ahead, reaching White Zetsu's ears.
White Zetsu's face first showed surprise, then quickly shifted to manic delight.
Clearly, White Zetsu hadn't listened to a word Sasori said—he was simply thrilled that Sasori had responded at all!
"If it weren't for the fact that you couldn't find Nagato and Konan's location, I wouldn't have needed to go to that tavern."
Sasori spoke again, but this time his flat voice carried a cold edge.
Hearing Sasori's icy words, White Zetsu couldn't help but shudder and muttered softly, "What a quick change of attitude!"
After a brief pause.
White Zetsu looked at Sasori, who had resumed walking ahead, and hurried to catch up while asking curiously:
"How could a mere ordinary spy possibly find Nagato and Konan?"
The reason Sasori had stayed in that small tavern for a while was precisely because there was a spy in that tavern—one that Sasori had planted in Amegakure long ago.
However, this spy was merely an ordinary Chunin.
In White Zetsu's view, if even he couldn't easily pinpoint Nagato and Konan's locations, how could this ordinary Chunin spy possibly do so?
Although Nagato was the leader of Amegakure, his actual appearances before the village's shinobi were exceedingly rare.
Nagato generally delegated most of Amegakure's affairs to Konan, and even Konan rarely showed herself, usually assigning tasks to trusted shinobi.
So the only people who truly knew Nagato and Konan's whereabouts were probably Amegakure's higher-ups, and those could be counted on one hand.
Perhaps one could interrogate these higher-ups to find out where the two were.
However.
In Sasori's view, such a thing was completely unnecessary. His mission this time wasn't to go to war with Amegakure.
[
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