Wood Clone Exposed

Mei Terumī opened her eyes and let out a weak groan, turning her head to look around.

Every one of her companions was bound tight. Gritting her teeth, she tried to refine the Chakra within her body, only to find it completely empty. It had clearly been sealed away.

With a dejected sigh, she had never imagined that Kirigakure’s finest young generation would fail to last even a single move against their opponent.

The scent of blood reached her nose. Mei Terumī raised her head, her eyes narrowing as she saw that one of Ao’s eye sockets was a dark hollow, his face covered in blood.

"Ao, are you all right?" Mei Terumī called out. A reply came from the doorway. "Don’t worry, he’s fine. I only took his Byakugan—I didn’t do anything else to him."

"You woke up quickly. Looks like you have the best constitution among them. No… not necessarily. I extracted quite a bit of flesh and blood from that Hozuki Clan ninja. He might have woken up even earlier than you."

As he spoke, Yota pushed open the door and walked in.

"You… what exactly are you trying to do?" Mei Terumī asked, staring at Yota with a guarded expression.

"Well, I originally just came to Kirigakure to make a little profit… I simply didn’t expect you to come chasing after me," Yota said with a smile. "Since you delivered yourselves right to my door, naturally I couldn’t turn you away."

Mei Terumī could not help feeling bitter. She had never expected that, in his eyes, their operation had amounted to delivering gifts right to his doorstep.

But considering this terrifying ninja’s strength, it was not wrong to say they had come bearing gifts. In the end, they had simply been far too careless.

"So, how are you planning to deal with us?" Mei Terumī asked Yota.

Yota lightly stroked his chin. Honestly, although he had captured this group, he had not yet figured out what to do with them.

Hand them directly to Sasori to be made into Human Puppets? That was unnecessary. These people were not bloodthirsty lunatics like the Kaguya Clan; on the contrary, they were considered moderates in Kirigakure.

Besides, he had seen most of them in the manga. Unless there was some conflict of interest, he could not bring himself to dispose of them outright.

Still, they were all Kirigakure ninja. They were not like Orochimaru or Sasori of the Red Sand, ready to defect at the drop of a hat.

Just as Yota was thinking, he suddenly felt the ring on his finger vibrate. He narrowed his eyes in mild surprise as a message came from his Wood Clone.

"Hmm? What happened?"

Activating the Projector Technique, Yota looked at the Wood Clone before him. It had already changed into his own appearance and was no longer disguised as Nagato Uzumaki.

"Mm…" The Wood Clone sighed. "Black Zetsu just ambushed me… It seemed to be trying to control me and use the Impure World Reincarnation and Rinne Rebirth Technique to revive Madara Uchiha. As for the result…"

The result went without saying. Unlike Yota, the Wood Clone could only use abilities from the Chakra system. In other words, it did not possess Observation Haki and could not sense Black Zetsu at all, making it easy to ambush.

However, the instant Black Zetsu attached itself to Yota, it realized something was wrong. This was merely an ordinary Wood Clone.

Black Zetsu had been decisive. The moment it sensed something was off, it immediately fled. Otherwise, Yota could have used the Reverse Summoning Technique to corner it on the spot.

"In other words, we’ve been completely exposed and have torn things apart with Obito Uchiha."

"Then let him turn on us." Yota showed no concern. "The Akatsuki has already more or less been built up by him. Every notable rogue ninja has joined by now. Even if he hadn’t discovered us, after this Kirigakure incident, we would have fallen out with him anyway."

"But for now, notify everyone and use the Projector Technique to hold a meeting. Let’s kick this guy out of the Akatsuki!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. As expected of the original body. After squeezing every bit of value out of Obito, you kick him out of the Akatsuki with one foot. Come to think of it, the framework of this rogue ninja organization was built by Obito in the first place."

The Wood Clone clicked its tongue twice. Without hesitating, it immediately activated the Projector Technique.

In an instant, Orochimaru, Sasori of the Red Sand, Yota, Sara, Kakuzu, Hidan, Deva Path Pain, and Konan all appeared atop the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

"The masked man Tobi and Zetsu have defected." Deva Path Pain looked at everyone and got straight to the point. "The next time you encounter either of them, you may kill them without mercy!"

"Ah!? That masked guy defected? I wonder how much bounty his head is worth."

"Haha, I’ve wanted to sacrifice him to Lord Jashin for a long time."

At that moment, Sasori of the Red Sand and Orochimaru, who were in the Land of Water and closest to Tobi, exchanged a glance. Neither spoke, but their eyes faintly gleamed: the Mangekyo Sharingan was an excellent test subject—an artwork!

Yota curled his lip. He wondered what Obito Uchiha would think if he learned that the people most eager to hunt him down were, essentially, the very people he had brought in himself.

Still, they would probably be disappointed. Obito Uchiha’s raw strength might not necessarily surpass theirs, but if he truly did not want to get entangled with them, even the entire Akatsuki might be unable to do anything to him. Even Yota, without a Kamui eye in hand, would not dare claim he could keep Obito behind.

Or rather, if Obito Uchiha in his complete state, with both Kamui, did not wish to fight, even Kaguya Ōtsutsuki might not be able to catch him. The abilities of those Mangekyo were simply far too overpowered.

The meeting was very brief. Deva Path Pain essentially just informed everyone about Obito Uchiha and Zetsu’s defection, and then the meeting ended.

Coming back to his senses, Yota glanced at the dungeon as it now was.

Because he had just learned that the Wood Clone had been exposed, his expression had been somewhat grim. Mei Terumī, who had received no answer for so long after asking her question, thought Yota was preparing to kill them, and her face had gone pale.

After all, they were only eighteen or nineteen. When life and death were at stake, no one could see through it so easily.

"As for dealing with you… do you think I could become Kirigakure’s Mizukage?"

"Ah!? You? What kind of joke is that? You aren’t even a Mist Ninja!" Mei Terumī could not help crying out indignantly.

"You’re right… Then why not have Kirigakure join under our Akatsuki? You can become an Akatsuki member too, and then we’ll help you become Mizukage!"

"And become your puppets?" Mei Terumī curled her lip and sneered.

"Do you have any other choice?" Yota asked unhurriedly.