radicalducati Chapter 209 Black Zetsu Watching Movies: Hmph, foolish humans!
Chapter 209 Black Zetsu Watching Movies: Hmph, foolish humans!
Chapter 209 Black Zetsu Watching Movies: Hmph, foolish humans!
Itachi Uchiha woke up very early.
The morning breeze seeped into the room, while the light rain outside pattered against the windowsill.
Itachi stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the outline of the village through the rain, and took a deep breath.
The cold, damp air filled his lungs, but it only made him feel refreshed, without any discomfort.
Just a few days ago, he was extremely weak.
Now, his body has not only recovered to its peak condition, but it even shows a faint trend of becoming even stronger!
Suddenly, a noisy voice came from his body: "Hey, Itachi, let's go find a lively place to play! Staying here all day is too boring!"
Itachi remained unmoved, as if he hadn't heard, and continued to silently gaze out the window.
The creature called "Afei" had been with him for some time, and although its noise was initially unbearable, Itachi didn't even blink.
After spending this time together, he had already figured out the nature of the parasite.
He possesses bizarre abilities but lacks intelligence, and is exceptionally loyal to Obito's orders.
Therefore, as long as he doesn't betray Obito, the words won't leave his body on their own.
As for the other party's incessant chatter, just ignore it.
Seeing that Itachi was completely ignoring him, Tobi became anxious and shouted, "Hey! Itachi! Are you mute? Why aren't you answering? Ignoring your comrades is bad behavior!"
At the same time, the white substance wrapped around the weasel's body began to wriggle restlessly.
The white spikes that were originally coiled on both sides of the weasel's neck have now transformed into several slender tentacles, which waved incessantly in mid-air as Afei complained.
However, Itachi remained indifferent.
"Ugh, seriously, you bastard!" Tobi started yelling, "Why aren't you talking to me? Itachi! Say something!"
Suddenly, a long, drawn-out cry of a crow rang out.
Itachi's brow twitched slightly.
His jet-black pupils instantly turned crimson, and his three-tomoe Sharingan eyes formed intricate patterns in a flash.
Afei's waving white tentacles suddenly froze, as if a pause button had been pressed, leaving them suspended in mid-air, no longer moving.
The incessant noise also disappeared without a trace.
Itachi stretched out his right hand, and a jet-black raven swooped down from the gloomy sky and landed steadily on his wrist.
The crow cawed and spat out a roll.
Seeing this, Itachi solemnly took off the copper tube and pulled out a roll of paper from it, unfolding it.
As Itachi's gaze quickly swept over the contents, his brows furrowed slightly, and a clear look of confusion and hesitation appeared in his previously calm eyes.
He read the few lines of text with unusual slowness, as if every word was unbelievable to him.
A moment later, he had read all the contents of the note.
The eagle's fingers trembled slightly. Before he could even ponder the meaning behind it, the crow in his hand turned into a puff of green smoke with a "poof" and disappeared into the air.
"Protect Orochimaru? Why—"
What does this mean?
Everyone else is one thing, but Orochimaru—
That man was a Konoha rogue ninja who had always harbored ulterior motives towards Sasuke.
Rainwater dripped continuously from the eaves, making a monotonous pattering sound.
For a moment, his mind was in turmoil.
Time flies, and night falls.
Konoha Village, Hatake Residence.
Kakashira turned off the bedside lamp, slowly closed his eyes in the darkness, and soon began to breathe evenly.
When his consciousness returned, Kakashi suddenly opened his eyes and found himself back in the audience.
Suddenly, a tall figure appeared diagonally in front of them.
When Nagato arrived at the audience seats and saw Kakashi, his Rinnegan twitched slightly, and he nodded to Kakashi in a friendly manner.
Kakashi gave a slight nod in response.
Nagato smiled faintly, said nothing more, casually walked to a row of seats and sat down, turning his eyes back to the huge screen in front of him, and waited quietly.
"Oh? Kakashi, you're here too!"
As soon as Jiraiya appeared, he saw Kakashi in the arena and Nagato not far away.
Before he could finish speaking, Jiraiya's expression suddenly changed.
"Hmm?" Jiraiya suddenly realized something was wrong. He keenly sensed a strange aura coming from behind him.
Almost instinctively, he turned around quickly to look.
On the row of seats he had just passed, a dark, viscous substance was slowly wriggling.
The thing was the size of a watermelon, and it looked like a puddle of constantly twisting and deforming mud, with a strange dark sheen on its surface.
Even more bizarrely, on that pool of black mud-like substance, there were two black eyes and a gaping mouth!
"W-What the hell?!" Jiraiya gasped in shock.
Hearing his exclamation, Kakashi immediately looked over warily.
When he finally saw the eerie, swollen mass of "mud" in the darkness, his pupils constricted, and his heart skipped a beat: When did this monster appear here?!
Jiraiya stared intently at the dark, monstrous shape on the chair, and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you? Or—what are you?"
The black mud continued to wriggle slightly in place, as if it hadn't heard Jiraiya's question, slowly twisting its shape. Its mouth was half-open, but it didn't make a sound.
Kakashi and Jiraiya exchanged a glance, both seeing doubt and seriousness in each other's eyes.
The two dared not be careless and slowly separated, one on the left and one on the right, partially surrounding the strange, black, mud-like creature in the middle.
"Can you hear me?" Kakashi asked in a deep voice. "Judging from your expression, you should understand why you're here, right?"
Still, there was no response.
Jiraiya frowned, staring intently at the writhing mass of black mud, a thoughtful glint in his eyes: "Strange. It doesn't seem like a summoning beast; it lacks any biological aura. It's more like some kind of chakra aggregate—"
"Can you understand us?"
The black mud didn't respond at all, it just kept wriggling quietly, as if it really was just a lump of mud without any intelligence.
Kakashi and Jiraiya exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion and seriousness in each other's eyes.
The audience seating area has never seen any strange creatures since the beginning of time, so the sudden appearance of this clump of black mud is really strange.
"Could it be a creation of this dream space?" Kakashi murmured, guessing.
"Who knows—" Jiraiya shook his head, his expression grave.
He slowly extended a finger and carefully poked the surface of the black mud.
The cool, sticky sensation as his fingertips sank into it made Jiraiya frown slightly.
The black mud remained unresponsive, not even blinking, as if it truly had no consciousness.
Just then, the huge black screen lit up without anyone noticing.
Jiraiya and Kakashi also turned their attention back to the screen.
However, even after Jiraiya sat down, he still kept a wary eye on the clump of black mud not far away.
He always felt there was something eerie about the place and couldn't completely relax for a while.
On the other side, the black mud that had just been pretending to be dead was actually already harboring hidden turmoil.
Black Zetsu snapped out of his daze, a tidal wave of emotions surging within him.
He had only closed his eyes for a short while in the outside world to meditate, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in this strange place as if by some strange twist of fate!
Even more outrageous is that the White Zetsu he originally possessed has now disappeared, and he himself has become this weakest and most helpless original form.
Let alone fighting, even normal movement is difficult!
Black Zetsu's gaze slowly swept across the surrounding audience seats.
In the dim and hazy environment, he immediately recognized the three figures not far away who were looking him over: Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Nagato!
What happened?
How come these three people are all here at the same time?
Jiraiya and Kakashi are one thing.
Since they both belong to Konoha, it's not impossible for them to appear together under any circumstances.
But wasn't Nagato hiding in Amegakure and manipulating the Six Paths of Pain all along?
How did he end up with those two white-haired guys from Konoha?
Black Zetsu was filled with questions, finding it utterly unbelievable.
However, what shocked and alarmed him even more was the existence of this strange space itself.
Black Zetsu has lived for over a thousand years, his experience spanning the entire ninja world, transcending time, and he is confident that he knows every inch of shadow.
But now that he was here, he was completely bewildered and realized that he had no idea where he was!
There was no familiar chakra fluctuation around, nor could one sense any life force in reality.
It was as if he was isolated in a different dimension, separate from the ninja world.
Black Zetsu thought he knew everything about the ninja world, but in this instant, he realized that the situation before him was far beyond his comprehension.
[Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Black Zetsu have been detected! Emotional value +500!]
"It's a ghost!"
Black Zetsu inwardly groaned.
He knew that his current situation was extremely dangerous. He was weak at the moment, but there were three powerful people around him.
Thinking of this, Black Zetsu quietly concealed his aura, continuing to maintain the illusion of a puddle of black mud, lying motionless in the corner of the seat.
Regardless, Black Zetsu decided to play dumb for now and observe the situation before making a decision.
Just as Black Zetsu was pondering his next move, the screen in front of the audience suddenly lit up, attracting everyone's attention.
Black Zetsu couldn't help but look up.
As the images gradually appeared on the screen, a familiar figure suddenly appeared—Uchiha Obito in his youth!
on the screen.
Inside a simple military tent, Obito suddenly opened his eyes and sat up abruptly from the cot covered with a thin blanket.
He rubbed his slightly sleepy eyes, looked around, and saw that the tent was set up exactly the same as last time.
Under the dim light, two sets of bedding were neatly laid out on the other side, presumably his and Kakashi's beds.
Several military backpacks and some basic supplies were scattered in the corner of the tent.
The curtain was slightly parted, revealing the vast sky outside.
Obito blinked, fully waking up, and a knowing smile curved his lips: "Here we go again—"
He grumbled as he put on his armor jacket, fastened his headband, and then lifted the curtain to emerge from the tent.
Outside the tent was a somewhat empty campsite, with a dozen or so similar simple military tents scattered around.
In the distance, sentry posts could be vaguely seen, with several Konoha ninja patrolling back and forth.
"Hey Kakashi! Teach me how you did that last time!"
A young boy's voice came from not far away.
Upon hearing the sound, Obito turned his head and saw several figures gathered together in an open space in the center of the camp.
"You took down more than a dozen enemies with one move that day, that was amazing! Tell me, what kind of ninjutsu was that? What's the principle behind it?"
Yahiko stared wide-eyed at Kakashi, his expression a mixture of admiration and curiosity.
Kakashi scratched his head helplessly and said, "Alright, alright, Yahiko, I'll demonstrate it for you one more time."
Upon hearing this, the boy named Yahiko beamed and nodded repeatedly, "Great! I knew Kakashi, you're the most reasonable one!"
Seeing this, Obito curled his lip, a disdainful expression flashing across his face: "Hmph, here we go again, showing off with smugness."
Despite saying that, he couldn't help but cast a curious glance toward the open space.
Kakashi led Yahiko to a wooden dummy and said seriously, "That move last time was actually inspired by lightning in nature."
"Lightning?!" Yahiko was taken aback upon hearing this.
Kakashi nodded and casually drew the short sword from his back.
He quickly formed hand seals, and a surge of lightning-attribute chakra wrapped around the short blade in his hand, emitting a faint sizzling sound.
After doing all that, Kakashi asked casually, "Yahiko, have you ever been struck by lightning?"
Yahiko immediately exclaimed, "N-no, there isn't one—"
Kakashi's lips curled slightly beneath his mask, a mischievous glint in his eyes: "Oh? That's a real shame. Remember this—speed is power!"
Before he finished speaking, he shot forward with the force of a thunderbolt, like an arrow released from a bow!
Obito only saw a flash of blue light before his eyes, and the next second, a muffled thud was heard, and the heavy wooden dummy in front of him was cut in half at the waist!
The cross-section of the broken wooden stake was charred black and still emitting wisps of smoke, clearly a sign of being instantly carbonized by high temperatures.
"Well done!!" A cheer rang out from the side.
It turned out that Kakashi's attack had caused quite a stir, attracting many Konoha ninjas to stop and watch.
Yahiko's eyes lit up, and he couldn't close his mouth for a long time: "W-amazing—it's like being struck by lightning!"
"That's so cool, Kakashi!" came an excited cheer from the other side.
Obito looked over and saw two girls standing next to him.
One of the girls, with tea-colored hair, purple eyes, and a beautiful face, clenched her fists in front of her chest, staring at Kakashi in the arena with an expression of adoration, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
Another blue-haired girl stood beside her, her expression much calmer and more elegant, but her eyes held a clear sense of admiration as she looked at Kakashi.
The two girls were none other than Nohara Rin and Konan, who were on the same team.
"Hmph! What's so great about it?"
Obito glanced at Kakashi in the distance, who was being surrounded and praised by the crowd, and muttered something under his breath, feeling a little jealous.
The resentment and frustration in his heart rose again, but at the same time, his eyes became even more determined.
This scene did not discourage him; instead, it strengthened his resolve.
He was determined to prove that he would never lose to Kakashi!
Obito clenched his fists secretly, quietly circled around to Rin, who was still cheering, and asked in a low voice, "Rin, did Minato-sensei assign us any tasks today?"
"A mission?" Lin looked at him strangely, then shook her head and said, "No. Teacher Minato said this morning that everyone should rest well today, and there are no new operations planned."
"I see."
Upon hearing this, Obito nodded silently, a weight lifted from his heart.
Great! With no tasks to distract me, I can now focus on implementing my plans!
Obito began to secretly plot.
They are currently located at the Tenchi Bridge, which marks the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass. Not far to the north is the Kannabi Bridge.
Thinking of this, Obito felt a surge of excitement. Indeed, he had already made up his mind to take advantage of this opportunity to enter the dream world and personally search for Madara Uchiha!
Don't miss out.
Thinking of this, he whispered to Rin, "Um—Rin, I'd like to go for a walk by myself. If Kakashi or Minato asks, please ask for leave for me."
Lin hesitated for a moment, a look of worry flashing across her pretty face: "Going out now? But this is a war zone—there are many Iwagakure and Kirigakure ninja lying in ambush near the Land of Grass. It would be very dangerous for you to run out alone!"
Hearing the concern in Rin's voice, Obito felt a warmth in his heart, and the gloom he had felt earlier because of Kakashi's stealing the spotlight vanished.
[Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Uchiha Obito have been detected! Emotional value +500!]
He was almost overjoyed: Sure enough, Lin cares about me the most!
I have always been a part of her heart!
However, despite his inner joy, Obito maintained a calm demeanor on the surface.
He coughed lightly and tried to sound reliable as he said, "Hehe, don't worry, Lin! I won't go too far. I'll just wander around the neighborhood and stretch my muscles."
Lin was still a little worried and hesitated, saying, "How about we call Kakashi and go together? It'll be safer if the three of us go together."
"No need!" Obito quickly waved his hand in refusal. "I just want to be alone and think about things. Will you be back soon?"
He forced what he thought was a very sunny smile at Lin, trying to dispel the girl's concerns.
Lin pursed her lips, stared at him for two seconds, and finally nodded helplessly:
"...Okay. Then you must be careful."
"Hehe, don't worry!" Obito was overjoyed upon hearing this, and his smile widened.
He gave Lin a thumbs-up, "I promise!"
After receiving Rin's permission, Obito immediately turned around and walked briskly out of the camp.
He walked quickly and soon reached the edge of the camp.
As he walked through the fenced exit, Obito inexplicably glanced back.
In the distance, on an open space, Lin was still standing in the same spot, looking in his direction.
When their eyes met from afar, Lin pursed her lips and waved, signaling him to be careful and come back soon.
Obito felt a warmth in his heart, nodded, and raised his hand to wave at her.
Immediately, he withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and his eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit.
Although he longed to stay with Lin, he had to leave.
In order to be able to openly and legitimately stay by her side one day, he must become stronger than Kakashi!
"Wait for me, Rin," Obito thought to himself, then stepped out of the camp gate without hesitation and leaped into the northern forest.
in the audience.
Nagato frowned slightly upon seeing this, feeling somewhat disappointed.
On the screen, Obito left without warning, and the scene instantly shifted away from the camp.
He had originally hoped to see more of Yahiko through the dream, but before long, Obito ran away.
Kakashi stared at the screen, full of doubt.
He hadn't expected that Obito would leave the team's camp alone after entering the dream world.
What is this guy trying to do?
Keep in mind, this is still wartime, it's too risky for him to run away alone!
Jiraiya's attention was not on Obito.
He turned his head slightly, his peripheral vision fixed on the lump of black mud not far away.
He had tried to communicate with it several more times, but received no response, which made him secretly more vigilant.
This behavior is suspicious.
Jiraiya's intuition told him that this black mud was probably not simple.
At this moment, Kuroko seemed to be staying obediently in the corner of the seat, without making any further moves, but Jiraiya still dared not let his guard down.
He pretended to be focused on watching the screen, but in reality, he kept a sliver of his attention on the movements of the black mud.
And that pool of black mud, also known as Black Zetsu, naturally did not ignore the probing glances that Jiraiya occasionally cast at it.
However, he was perfectly calm at the moment and did not reveal the slightest flaw.
Although Black Zetsu was inexplicably and forcibly pulled into this strange space, he was not stupid.
Thanks to the White Zetsu network that spans the entire ninja world, he has a considerable understanding of these well-known ninjas.
He knew that both Kakashi and Jiraiya were among the most cunning and shrewd people.
These two aren't like Obito; they're not so easily fooled.
It would be unwise to strike up a conversation with them rashly.
Therefore, from the moment Black Zetsu appeared, he decided to simply pretend to be a person without intelligence.
Since his appearance is already advantageous, looking like a brainless monster, he can continue to pretend to be a "harmless" unconscious creature.
He refused to believe that these two guys, no matter how clever, could possibly get entangled with a lump of mud to the end.
As expected, after Kakashi and Jiraiya realized they couldn't do anything to him in a short time, they temporarily shifted their attention away from him.
Seeing this, Black Zetsu couldn't help but sneer inwardly: Foolish humans. However, the strangeness and uncertainty of the environment made Black Zetsu dare not be careless in the slightest.
He slowly turned his eyes, scanning the entire dark hall.
When his gaze swept across the huge screen, the scene displayed on it gave him a jolt.
On the screen, Obito was seen walking alone through a dense forest, his steps quick as he sped off in a certain direction.
"The Forest of the Grass Country—"
Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes, a flood of information flashing through his mind in an instant.
Recently, Obito has been behaving quite strangely in real life, which made his "old friend" vaguely sense that something was wrong.
He seemed normal during the day, but at night, he became unusually sensitive, especially to the word "sleep".
Black Zetsu had been lurking in the ninja world for a thousand years and had seen all sorts of storms, but he still couldn't figure out the strange things that had happened to Obito recently.
Now, as he sees Obito's figure on the screen and realizes he has been pulled into this "movie-watching" venue by strange means, a series of clues finally connect in his mind.
Black Zetsu's eyes flickered slightly, and a bold conjecture popped into his mind.
Obito's recent strange changes are probably due to this place, right?
[Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Black Zetsu have been detected! Emotional value +500!]