Chapter 179: Sunagakure Gets Targeted
Endless yellow sand—once the dust winds blew, they created scenes obscuring sky and sun. In the gray, hazy sky, not even a single bird could be seen. Yet in this desolate, barren desert, a lone figure traveled step by step, steadily advancing through the sandstorm.
This person wore a black coat, face covered by a tiger-head mask. This was precisely the missing-nin declared wanted by Konoha Village—Uchiha Tatsuhata.
He'd killed numerous Cloud ninja directly participating in Sharingan research within Hidden Cloud Village, recovered four pairs of Sharingan, then left Hidden Cloud Village. He hadn't chosen to fight to the death with the Fourth Raikage or that Eight-Tails jinchuriki!
The reason was simple—
Cloud ninja possessed deep strength and numerous elites. Assassinating some individuals posed no problem, but warring with the entire Hidden Cloud Village still lacked sufficient odds of victory. Hidden Cloud Village was reputed as the second strongest village among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, second only to Konoha.
So he'd withdrawn at the first opportunity, traveling steadily southwest. En route, he'd circled around the Konoha and Cloud ninja armies confronting each other at the Land of Frost and Land of Hot Water border junction. Then avoiding the Land of Fire, he'd borrowed passage through numerous small countries like the Land of Rice Fields and Land of Taki, ultimately passing through the Land of Rain to intrude upon the Land of Wind, this country filled with yellow sand.
Suddenly—
The sandstorm blowing from the side lessened considerably. Zetsu, resembling a pitcher plant, emerged from a sand dune. His large body helped Uchiha Tatsuhata shield against some sandstorm while simultaneously bringing the latest intelligence.
"Tatsuhata, something major happened in Konoha."
White Zetsu's half-face shouted loudly. But upon opening his mouth, sand blew in, immediately causing White Zetsu to spit continuously.
Uchiha Tatsuhata stopped walking, raised his hands to form seals, and used Wood Release: Four Pillar House Technique. In this desert, he stubbornly used wood to instantly grow a sturdy, solid wooden house.
He entered. Zetsu also quickly burrowed inside.
As the door closed tightly, sandstorm was blocked outside. The interior quieted considerably. Uchiha Tatsuhata looked toward Zetsu. "What happened in Konoha?"
"Orochimaru defected!"
White Zetsu's voice was full of excitement.
"What?"
"I knew you wouldn't believe it, Tatsuhata!"
Watching the flash of shock in Uchiha Tatsuhata's eyes, White Zetsu issued a triumphant strange laugh. "The news is real. One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, truly defected. He's now fled into the Land of Taki. Jiraiya, also one of the Sannin, has pursued into the Land of Taki, relentlessly entangling. The two have already fought nearly ten times."
Uchiha Tatsuhata's heart was full of shock.
As a former Konoha ninja, he clearly understood exactly what status Orochimaru held in the village. Though he'd failed competing with Namikaze Minato for Fourth Hokage, how could this possibly decline to the point of defecting from the village?
His gaze blazed intensely, filled with curiosity. He stared at Zetsu's half-black, half-white yin-yang face. "What exactly happened in Konoha? Why would Orochimaru become a missing-nin?"
Black Zetsu spoke at this point. "According to White Zetsu's investigation, the truth should be that Orochimaru colluded with Shimura Danzo, secretly using Konoha Village residents as expendable materials for forbidden technique research. Now the matter's been exposed. The Fourth Hokage led forces attempting to capture Orochimaru, but Orochimaru transplanted both Sharingan and Wood Release, these two great Kekkei Genkai, stubbornly killing his way out from the dragnet the Fourth Hokage laid."
Sharingan and Wood Release?
Uchiha Tatsuhata immediately narrowed his eyes.
He didn't care that Orochimaru was also researching Sharingan. Actually, people doing such things were numerous. The Cloud ninja he'd killed in Hidden Cloud Village weren't executed for researching Sharingan. He'd long stopped caring about clan and inheritance matters. He killed those Cloud ninja purely to avenge his younger brother Uchiha Torajiro—nothing more.
After pondering a moment, he couldn't help sighing. "I keep feeling... people mastering Wood Release Kekkei Genkai are becoming more and more numerous!"
This was the truth.
Originally, since the First Hokage's death, Wood Release Kekkei Genkai's inheritance had been severed. Now it emerged like bamboo shoots after rain, one after another.
But White Zetsu smiled. "Tatsuhata, regardless of how many people master Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, in any case, this is a rare good opportunity. Orochimaru and Jiraiya, these two are far from the Land of Fire, endlessly entangled fighting in the Land of Taki. If you seize this opportunity, Tatsuhata, using your eye technique, you might directly copy these two people's chakra."
These words truly made Uchiha Tatsuhata somewhat tempted.
If he could copy the chakra of two of the Legendary Sannin, the replicas he could control would have truly formidable figures. Currently, his most powerful replicas were only Uchiha Madara, Shimura Danzo, and Magnetic Release ninja Troy. The rest were all just ordinary jonin.
The first person he'd copied, "Lightning Beast" Sawai, had been hit by the Fourth Hokage's technique, causing the replica to completely dissolve without recovering a single strand of life thread, making it impossible to ever weave Sawai's replica again.
If he could copy Orochimaru and Jiraiya's chakra, his technique that could rapidly grow stronger like a rolling snowball would quickly expand and become more powerful.
However—
After pondering a moment, he still shook his head, refusing this tempting suggestion. "Forget it. No need to change course for this. By the time I return from here to the Land of Taki, who knows where Orochimaru and Jiraiya will have moved? Moreover, if the two happen to perish together leaving only corpses, I'd gain nothing. Better to continue according to the original plan toward Sunagakure!"
He'd traveled all the way from the Land of Lightning, not even going to the Land of Rain to contact that Nagato who'd been transplanted with Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan, precisely to go to Sunagakure—currently the weakest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages!
As the still-not-completely-concluded but already-characterized spark that ignited the Third Shinobi World War, Sunagakure's losses in this great war were exceptionally severe. First, their so-called strongest Kazekage, the Third Kazekage, mysteriously disappeared. For this, out-of-control Sand ninja declared war on Konoha, who most capable of harming the Third Kazekage. Unsurprisingly, the Sand ninja were utterly defeated.
Afterward, Sunagakure's genius puppet master Sasori of the Red Sand became a missing-nin. Next, their aged and frail jinchuriki completely couldn't hold on, peacefully dying. But the Sand ninja couldn't find a suitable jinchuriki vessel. In less than a year, they'd already sacrificed three jinchuriki. If their Fourth Kazekage Rasa hadn't held the situation together, Sunagakure could have collapsed on its own.
Of course, all this also related to the Land of Wind's rather harsh survival environment. Sunagakure claimed to implement elite soldier policies, not supporting useless trash. But from another angle, this actually meant limited resources—difficulty supporting sufficient ninja. So they could only be forced to adopt elite soldier policies.
To supplement village finances, the current Fourth Kazekage Rasa frequently went to the desert to pan for gold. His Sand technique was rather special—able to extract fine gold dust from the vast desert.
In summary—
Sunagakure's current situation was very poor—the most weakened among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, simultaneously the easiest to handle. Uchiha Tatsuhata had precisely targeted the Sand ninja for this reason. He could try whether he could use Toyoakitsushihime to copy a batch of Sunagakure elites while simultaneously taking this opportunity to seize the One-Tail.
After Sunagakure continuously sacrificed three jinchuriki in a short period, they'd currently gone quiet, not rushing to create a new jinchuriki but instead sealing the Tailed Beast into the ninja tool Shukaku.
One could say—
Now was the optimal time to seize the One-Tail.
Hearing Uchiha Tatsuhata's answer, Black Zetsu's mouth corners slightly curved upward. He very much approved of Tatsuhata's judgment. If Tatsuhata had listened to White Zetsu, this useless thing's suggestion, and casually changed his mind, that would truly be disappointing.
Uchiha Tatsuhata quickly cast this matter aside, instead asking, "What's the current situation between Konoha and the Cloud ninja? Didn't you say before that White Yaksha attacked the Cloud ninja frontline camp and fought the Fourth Raikage who rushed to support? What's the situation now?"
Currently not far from Sunagakure—
He wasn't anxious to hurry, taking this opportunity to understand the shinobi world's situation.
"They can't fight anymore!"
This time, White Zetsu answered, not Black Zetsu.
Uchiha Tatsuhata raised an eyebrow, asking puzzled, "How so? The Cloud ninja didn't plan to seize the opportunity of Orochimaru's defection and Jiraiya leaving Konoha to launch a counterattack?"
"No. That White Yaksha is somewhat too formidable. That night, he reportedly faced two opponents alone, blocking the Fourth Raikage and Eight-Tails jinchuriki's combined forces. Though at the time, probably hindered by scattered Cloud ninja on the battlefield, the Eight-Tails jinchuriki couldn't go all out, didn't use attack methods like Tailed Beast Bombs. But the final result was White Yaksha withstood their combined assault..."
At this point—
Black Zetsu suddenly interrupted. "Also, Konoha claims that the one who infiltrated the Cloud ninja camp that night and assassinated Cloud ninja frontline Supreme Commander C was Missing-nin Anonymous. The Cloud ninja, unwilling to war with Konoha, have now tangled together with Konoha, preparing to jointly apprehend Missing-nin Anonymous."
Hearing this, Uchiha Tatsuhata was stunned.
He clearly understood Konoha's so-called Missing-nin Anonymous referred to himself. But the problem was when he'd infiltrated the Cloud ninja frontline camp, he'd only killed numerous Cloud ninja led by Troy. He hadn't attacked C. Moreover, if he remembered correctly, the night C was attacked, he'd been in Hidden Cloud Village killing people!
Uchiha Tatsuhata ground his teeth furiously. "This is a frame-up!"
Black Zetsu nodded. "Correct. I also know this is Konoha's frame-up. But we have no way to prove this is Konoha's frame-up. In any case, Tatsuhata, you've thoroughly borne this blame—the kind you can't shake off even if you tried!"
Uchiha Tatsuhata was speechless, unable to refute.
Because Black Zetsu spoke the truth.
He shook his head, asking somewhat depressed, "Then who's the real culprit? Black Zetsu, did you investigate clearly whose blame I'm bearing?" Bearing blame for others wasn't critical. As long as he discovered who did it, he could find ways to retaliate.
"Hyuga Ritsu, Hiruko, or Orochimaru—should be one of these three. The assassin used Wood Release Kekkei Genkai in combat."
"Wood Release... In that case, the master-student pair Hiruko and Hyuga Ritsu have the greatest possibility. They were right there at the Land of Hot Water frontline."
"Can't exclude Orochimaru either. Rather, I actually feel Orochimaru has the greatest possibility. Because C was defeated and captured alive by the attacker in very short time. Orochimaru, besides Wood Release, also transplanted Sharingan—can use genjutsu to forcibly control the unprepared C."
"Setting aside how Orochimaru concealed his movements from so many Konoha eyes to secretly rush to the Land of Hot Water and Land of Frost border, why would Orochimaru go through such great trouble dealing with C?"
"That's unclear. Moreover, I said I feel Orochimaru has the greatest possibility, but what the truth actually is—I also don't know. If you want to investigate the truth clearly, Tatsuhata, you must work hard yourself. White Zetsu's intelligence-gathering ability also has limits."
Hearing this—
Uchiha Tatsuhata curled his lips but didn't argue. Admittedly, White Zetsu's infiltration and reconnaissance abilities ranked number one in the shinobi world. But White Zetsu's numbers weren't so numerous as to monitor every corner of the shinobi world. Moreover, White Zetsu didn't dare approach places where major battles might erupt at any moment. Mayfly Technique could evade sensory ninja detection but couldn't block damage.
"Let's discuss this matter later!"
He chose to shelve this minor matter, instead asking, "Konoha and the Cloud ninja plan to jointly pursue me—is this already confirmed?"
"When I came looking for you, Konoha and the Cloud ninja were still negotiating. But barring surprises, ultimately these negotiations should proceed without incident. Both Konoha and Cloud ninja have intentions to cooperate. They're just still wrangling over benefits."
"Konoha and Cloud ninja joining forces—interesting. I'd like to see what extent they can achieve."
Beneath the tiger mask, Uchiha Tatsuhata's mouth corners slightly curved upward. But this contemptuous smile passed instantly. He continued asking, "Besides this, is there anything else I need to understand?"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu pondered several seconds, then suddenly said, "Right! The Nine-Tails jinchuriki is pregnant!"
"Hmm?"
Uchiha Tatsuhata's eyes brightened. "Truly?"
"Absolutely certain. White Zetsu personally witnessed the Nine-Tails jinchuriki going to Konoha Hospital for examination, overheard the fact of the Nine-Tails jinchuriki's pregnancy. Moreover, barring surprises, she should give birth in September or October."
Uchiha Tatsuhata's crimson eyes' pitch-black tomoe rotated. He murmured, "When female jinchuriki give birth, they're most vulnerable. If we can seize this opportunity... perhaps we can severely damage Konoha."
His heart couldn't help calculating plans.
Current Konoha was simply too strong. Even with Orochimaru's defection, there remained the Fourth Hokage, White Yaksha Hyuga Ritsu, one of the Sannin Jiraiya, Nine-Tails jinchuriki Uzumaki Kushina, their Uchiha clan's number one expert Body Flicker Uchiha Shisui, and numerous other top experts.
"Now it's mid-March. There's still five or six months... Black Zetsu, arrange several White Zetsu to closely watch the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Afterward, once I've dealt with the One-Tail, we'll discuss how to use this matter against Konoha."
Killing intent surged in Uchiha Tatsuhata's crimson eyes. Clearly, he didn't plan to let pass this excellent opportunity that might not come again.
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