High up in the sky—
Deidara carried the few of them and kept climbing, all the way up to an altitude of over ten thousand meters.
At this height, the oxygen and temperature were already not very friendly to the young Deidara.
But when Deidara saw that Kakuzu and Senku showed not the slightest sign of discomfort, the competitive him could only grit his teeth and endure.
Down below, the Kumogakure shinobi were basically all riding hawks. They were also gritting their teeth against the discomfort as they chased Deidara up to this kind of height.
"This is far enough, benefactor," Senku said unhurriedly.
Deidara stopped climbing and looked toward Senku.
Kakuzu was also extremely curious about how Senku was planning to make his move.
They only saw Senku flick his hand, and the prayer bead necklace circled his hand twice and coiled around it.
He held a nine-ringed shakujo in his left hand, while his right hand kept forming seals. Circles of light spread out from his palm again and again.
Everyone could see that Senku was setting up a barrier.
But the power he was using felt extremely unfamiliar to all of them.
Because what Senku was using was not a purely chakra-based system.
And his barrier techniques were completely different from those of the ninja world.
After those concentric ripples of barrier power spread out, they gradually concealed themselves and vanished in midair.
The Kumogakure scouts who had chased up here to gather intel all noticed that Senku's barrier arts were not the same system as the ninja world's at all.
They also could not figure out how these barriers disappeared.
Under Senku's command, Deidara played the role of a very competent pilot.
Every time they flew a certain distance, Senku would set down a barrier high in the sky.
Each time Senku set a barrier, the ripples spread out for several hundred meters.
And once they hid themselves, no one could find them at all. It could be said to be extremely brilliant.
After Deidara circled around Kumogakure in a huge loop, Senku finally said, with a slight trace of fatigue, "That's enough, we can rest for now. Once the prisoner who possesses the power of the demon beast comes, the barriers can immediately trap him."
Deidara and Kakuzu both blankly looked around at the sky on all sides.
In their view, the sky was clear for ten thousand miles, not a cloud in sight, and nothing there at all.
Kakuzu could not help but sigh inwardly that every profession has its own field of expertise. Although he had seen quite a few barrier techniques, ones like Senku's, where you could not see a single trace, were still extremely rare.
Deidara also shook his head. He had always thought very highly of his own cleverness, but this was the first time he had felt such a sense of defeat.
He had watched Senku casting the jutsu, yet he could not understand it.
Not only could he not understand it, he did not even know where the barrier was.
The group landed on the ground, and Cee already had been waiting for them below.
The Kumogakure shinobi had already reported back. After learning that their own people simply could not make sense of what they'd seen, the aura of mystery surrounding Senku clearly became even stronger.
———
"Our Kumogakure has already arranged rooms for you three. Please come with me."
Up to this point, it was still unclear what exactly Akatsuki had come here to do.
Naturally, they needed to keep them under surveillance, so their lodgings were of course arranged in the most convenient place for that.
Kakuzu naturally understood this logic, but they really did not have any bad intentions.
They truly were here to do business.
So he followed Cee off to rest with an easy conscience.
———
[Land of Fire, High In The Sky]
Rengoku was flapping his wings as he flew toward Konoha.
He had just cycled through switching his consciousness: from the clone following the Eight Tails jinchuriki Killer B, to Senku, then to Yagura's mirror clone, he checked them all in turn.
Only after confirming that there were no deviations in his plan did he comfortably continue flying toward Konoha.
Although Orochimaru's body was also one of Rengoku's, in order not to delay Orochimaru's experiments, he generally would not actively use that clone.
If something relatively important came up, Orochimaru would contact him.
The plan on Senku and Yagura's clone's side had already been fully coordinated. Now they just had to wait for the performance to begin.
Karin was still curled up on Rengoku's back.
Under Rengoku's practiced control, his Paper Release formed a pocket like a sleeping bag for Karin, so that she could not feel the wind at all.
This gave Karin a particularly safe feeling.
"Shishou, did I help you this time?"
Rengoku's flying speed was very fast, and the wind was so strong that Karin's voice was somewhat distorted.
Rengoku was in a good mood, "Of course. This time it was all thanks to you that we got the Kumogakure people to withdraw."
He really was not just humoring Karin. It was the truth. The reason Rengoku had not brought other people over, one was to conceal Konoha's strength, and the other reason was that he needed Karin to heal him more.
This was the first step in the conditions for synthesizing Orochimaru's cells.
"Then does that mean there won't be any fighting?", Karin asked happily.
Rengoku chuckled, "That just means there won't be fighting for now. Once there's a chance in the future, there'll definitely still be battles."
"Is there any way not to have a ninja war?", Karin liked peace.
She had no love for fighting. It was just that if Rengoku needed it, then she was happy. She did not connect that to what they were doing.
Rengoku turned his hand over and patted Karin's hair, "Once we unify the ninja world, there won't be any more ninja wars."
"After that, we'll rule the whole world, and then there won't be any wars at all."
"Shishou wants to rule the world?", This was the first time Karin had learned Rengoku's goal.
Rengoku let out a soft laugh, "It's only natural for the Uchiha to rule the world."
"After all, I'm already here."
Karin could not understand Rengoku's last sentence, but she still tilted her head and leaned it against his neck.
"I'll help you, Shishou."
"Mm, we're almost there."
———
[Mountains' Graveyard]
Obito, whom Rengoku had thought was already dead, was still very much alive.
Not only alive, but Obito's whole body was shrouded in black smoke.
You could tell at a glance he was not any kind of good person.
The emotional fluctuations in his eyes were also extremely faint, making the whole person look a bit dull.
Even Black Zetsu could not fully understand just what kind of state Obito was in.
But recently, the periods of time Obito was gone had clearly grown longer, and every time he appeared afterward, his expression would be extremely blank.
This time after he appeared, his mental state had clearly improved. Although his expression was very cold, he could at least communicate normally.
"Because Nagato killed all of Hiruzen's people, the three Hidden Villages don't dare move on the border lines, and now Sunagakure has already withdrawn ahead of time."
"The Kumogakure forces on the Land of Fire border were attacked by Rengoku, and the Two Tails jinchuriki Yugito was heavily injured."
"Kumogakure itself was attacked by the flying Yagura, and now Kumogakure has been blown to a complete mess."
"After Iwagakure received the intel, they already pulled their people back."
"The Kumogakure forces on the Land of Fire border will probably withdraw too."
Zetsu summarized all the recent intel for Obito, wanting to see how Obito would react.
"Nagato and the others threw in with the Uchiha long ago, we just didn't know it."
"Now Nagato no longer has the Rinnegan. The other villages just don't know that yet."
Obito's expression might be dull, but his thinking was very clear.
Black Zetsu carefully observed Obito. After confirming that his mind was functioning properly, he finally spoke, "I've already spread the intel that Pain is dead, but those villages don't believe it."
Obito thought for a moment, then said, "It's only a matter of time. Our strength is too weak right now. We can't afford to lose even a single person."
"Minato has been revived. If Moryo goes again, he'll just be going to his death. I'll go drag him back."
Zetsu, however, had a different opinion, "Moryo has been fixated on his body all along, and we can't control him at all."
"You might as well let him suffer a bit so that he'll use the body we've prepared for him."
Moryo was nominally part of their Moon Organization, but his relationship with Obito and the others was just that of a collaborator.
Black Zetsu's idea was to completely bring Moryo under their control.
A thoughtful look flashed in Obito's eyes, "That's fine too. Those stone golems of his can just test Konoha's strength."
"As for Hiruko's side, keep an eye on him. Don't let him die."
"We still need more allies."
Zetsu nodded slightly. It seemed Obito was just in a bad emotional state, but mentally he was still fairly normal.
"The Uchiha all think you're dead. You should keep on 'being dead'."
Obito's eyes slowly turned a little.
"That's a good thing. I'll keep my tracks well hidden."
"As for that plan of yours, get everything ready first. We'll see later if we get the chance to use it."
Black Zetsu gave Obito a long, deep look, "I know what I'm doing."
———
[Mount Sumeru]
Hiruko stood in front of the lab bench, constantly mixing medicines.
Ever since that last time, after Hiruko attacked the Sarutobi clan members, his body had started to exhibit abnormal reactions.
Now he needed to prepare some suitable drugs to suppress these abnormalities.
Once he entered research mode, Hiruko basically lost all sense of time.
All of his subordinates were dead. Now he was a completely solitary man.
His link to outside intel had been completely severed.
He still did not know that the outside world had already undergone earth-shaking changes.
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