At the same time, within the distant territory of the ancient nation of Roran, yellow sand filled the sky, blotting out the sun.
In this desolate desert, there were actually ten full squads of Uchiha clan members stationed there.
They spared no effort, turning the surrounding area upside down, all just to look for that long-missing figure.
But no matter how hard they searched, they still could not find even the slightest trace of Rengoku.
Although Orochimaru had already said that Rengoku had gone to another space-time and that no amount of searching would ever find him.
These things could not be told to the Uchiha clan members, so they could only be made to keep searching.
As the days passed and the search showed no progress at all, Fugaku also issued an order: If after another six months there was still no sign of Rengoku, then everyone was to immediately withdraw back to the village.
And not far from these Uchiha clan members, within a stretch of ruins, a sneaky head cautiously poked out from underground.
Looking closely, it turned out to be Black Zetsu, who had devoured Hiruzen's body.
"He's actually gone."
A thoughtful light flickered in Black Zetsu's eyes.
Earlier, news had come from Rasa saying that he had already slain Rengoku, but Black Zetsu did not believe it and decided to come and see for himself.
After all, based on his understanding of Rasa and Rengoku, this was simply impossible.
The last time White Zetsu had investigated this place, all clues had abruptly stopped here.
All that was known was that Uchiha Rengoku and Rasa's troops had gone through a thrilling and fierce battle here, and in the end Rasa had fled in defeat.
However, how exactly that battle unfolded and what kind of hidden process it contained remained unknown.
Just now, Black Zetsu had quietly slipped underground and conducted a careful search.
What shocked him was that the Dragon Vein, which had originally been surging and flowing underground, had completely vanished without a trace.
This Dragon Vein was not merely an ordinary flow of chakra. It was something that could enable travel through space and time.
In the past, Black Zetsu had also tried to use the power of the Dragon Vein to achieve his own goals.
But due to the immensely powerful corrective force of history, every attempt not only failed to succeed, but instead brought him even worse consequences.
From that point on, Black Zetsu no longer dared to casually make use of the Dragon Vein.
Now, putting together all the information he had gathered before:
Rasa claimed that Rengoku had already died; a fierce clash had taken place here; and coupled with that strange space-time lockdown that had recently swept across the entire ninja world, a doubt could not help but arise in Black Zetsu's heart, 'Could it be that Rengoku has been taken to another space-time by the Dragon Vein?'
'If things really developed like this, then it would truly be great news.'
After all, if Rengoku was not present, then for Black Zetsu and Obito, that would undoubtedly mean one extremely powerful and troublesome enemy had been removed.
Thinking of this, Black Zetsu could not help but ponder inwardly, 'I need to go check how things are on Obito's side.'
After giving it some thought, his figure flashed, and he dove straight into the depths underground.
Activating the Mayfly Technique, he swiftly headed toward the Mountains' Graveyard.
———
[The Mountains' Graveyard]
At this moment, Obito stood there all alone, raising his head blankly as he stared at the high platform where the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had once been placed.
Now, however, that place had already become completely empty, with nothing left behind.
Just then, faint sounds suddenly reached his ears.
Immediately after, a figure emerged from underground. Taking a closer look, it was Hiruzen.
"It looks like you had things planned out in advance."
Obito slowly turned his head, his gaze coldly sweeping toward Hiruzen. With just that casual glance, he easily saw through the truth that the person before him was actually Black Zetsu.
After all, earlier on, Black Zetsu had once tried to possess Obito's body when Obito was on the brink of death, attempting to take control of him.
Although he ultimately failed, Black Zetsu's special ability had long since been exposed.
"Hehehe!"
Facing Obito's questioning gaze, Black Zetsu let out a low and sinister laugh.
It was clear that he was quite satisfied with the body he currently occupied.
Otherwise, he would not have spent such a long time and so much effort carefully integrating it.
"This is nothing more than a tool for me to use. As long as it can be of use, that's enough."
Although Black Zetsu spoke lightly, as if treating this body as something disposable.
In reality, this was his backup plan, prepared just in case.
His first backup had been placed on the moon.
At this moment, Black Zetsu looked Obito up and down, finally fixing his gaze on Obito's eyes as he spoke, "It seems your current condition isn't very good."
Right now, Obito's right eye was a Mangekyo Sharingan, but his left eye had only a pitiful single tomoe.
Such a sharp contrast looked especially ridiculous and laughable.
Obito subconsciously reached out with his right hand and gently rubbed his left eye.
Back then, he had been full of joy, believing that once his eye was reborn, he would be able to easily awaken the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan again.
But cruel reality mercilessly shattered his illusion.
Every time he tried to use his own pupil power and mental strength to stimulate this newly born eye, an inexplicable and massive resistance would always stand in his way, causing his efforts to fail again and again.
Although Obito racked his brain and still could not figure out where this mysterious resistance came from, no matter what, after a full three months of relentless and arduous attempts.
He ultimately forced this eye to awaken the Sharingan.
However, after successfully opening the eye, not only did he fail to feel the joy he had imagined, but his entire spirit became extremely listless and weak due to excessive consumption.
Even so, Obito would not reveal his weakness in front of Black Zetsu.
He first fell silent for a brief moment, as if rapidly organizing his words in his mind.
Only then did he reply calmly, his expression as still as water and his tone flat, "Anyway, for us, what we lack the least is time."
Then, he slightly raised his head and looked into the distance, continuing, "Besides, the One-Tail Shukaku, the Two-Tails Matatabi, and the Four-Tails Son Goku are all dead."
"Before they revive again, we have more than enough time to plan and arrange every next step."
"Right now, we need to accumulate more strength, and there's also a lot of information we need to find out."
"And about the arrangements you made on the moon, how are things going?"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu fell silent for a moment.
After all, there were simply too many things that needed to be prepared right now. Leaving aside the fact that three tailed beasts had already died, just the matter of the Nine-Tails alone was already giving him quite a headache.
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