"Screeee!"
A sharp eagle cry echoed across the sky.
Even without using the Mind Body Transmission Technique, Kei Yamanaka could easily sense the unfiltered joy and excitement in his summoned eagle's cry.
Was it... actually *too* happy?
Had his eagle *really* been treated badly at the coop?
Kei couldn't help but think that way.
Despite Gailiu-zi's incident, according to the original boarding agreement, the coop *was* responsible.
Still, they paid both sides compensation and even had their manager hauled into Root for questioning—they got pretty humiliated.
What if they took their frustration out on his other summoned beasts later?
"Did the coop treat you badly?"
Kei connected with the eagle's mind using the Mind Body Transmission Technique.
"Screee! Screee! Screeee!"
The eagle shrieked excitedly, painting a glowing picture of its life at the coop.
Every meal felt like a feast—better than anything it'd ever eaten before.
In the mornings, after just cooperating with the caretakers during some basic summon training exercises, it received extremely relaxing massages.
After a short rest at noon, it was free to soar through the skies and burn off any excess energy.
When it came back in the afternoon, caretakers would polish its feathers and scrub away all dirt and parasites.
And once evening arrived, there were all sorts of charming female birds—some pure and shy, others exuding seductive charm—ready for some *fun time*.
Life was even more perfect than it had imagined!
The only problem was... too many females were drawn by its overwhelming charisma!
Besides the mates who came over from Summoning Island to Konoha, the female birds at the coop were one prettier than the next.
It was genuinely hard to choose!
"I— damn it!"
Kei smacked the eagle's head without hesitation.
Did you seriously build your own harem at the coop?!
Where's your pride?
Seriously, do you even *have* shame anymore?!
I, your master, as a World Traveler who's been here almost twenty years, am still a total virgin.
And you're out there partying every night with a thousand gorgeous birds?!
Haven't those girls worn you out already?!
"Scree?"
The eagle-falcon tilted its head in confusion, unable to understand why it suddenly got slapped.
It was just too dumb to understand why its master suddenly flipped out.
"Just focus on flying already! If we don't reach the Land of Iron within a day and a half, I'll personally give you a vasectomy myself!"
Without a trace of patience, Kei twisted the eagle's head forward again.
Damn it!
Using my money to enjoy VIP treatment at the coop, living it up with girl birds—
To the point of hurting your kidneys?!
Where could he possibly complain about such injustice?!
"Screeee?!"
The eagle-falcon's pupils shrank in fear, nearly plummeting straight down from the air.
It frantically beat its wings, pushing itself faster than it ever had before.
Kei felt the strong wind rushing past his ears. He glanced at the eagle's tailfeathers, watching the poor thing shiver in fear, then smirked and looked away satisfied.
Cute, huh? Living better than your master is bad enough—but actually bragging about it?!
Even if I can't truly rob you of sight, can't I at least show you a splash of color?
Nagare clearly had no clue about its master's malicious intent.
Determined to preserve his happiness for the rest of his life, it flew nonstop, never easing its pace.
Seated on Nagare's back, Kei Yamanaka reached into his ninja tool pouch and retrieved several kunai. Carefully, he inscribed Flying Thunder God markings onto each one, preparing himself for the upcoming battle.
The Land of Iron was defined by its uniquely harsh terrain.
Compared to the Land of Fire—renowned for its distinct seasons and mild climate—it was significantly colder here.
While mid-November weather in Konoha only brought a slight chill, snowstorms already raged throughout the Land of Iron.
Traveling steadily northward,
Nagare had only made two brief stops to eat and rest—totaling less than two days—yet still managed to help Kei Yamanaka pinpoint the approximate location of the mountainous grave site.
The swirling snow concealed what had once been lush, dense forests marked on maps.
The towering bones of long-dead beasts stood amidst the trees, made even more grotesque and terrifying by the slicing winds and blade-sharp snow.
Riding the wind currents, Nagare hovered motionless at an altitude of one thousand meters.
Kei squinted, painstakingly scanning the terrain while mentally cross-referencing the map's landmarks.
Only then did he confirm that the old lair of Madara Uchiha lay roughly six or seven kilometers ahead!
"Land, Nagare."
Kei patted the eagle's back gently.
Nagare gradually descended, and when about ten meters above ground, dissolved into a cloud of chakra smoke, returning to Konoha's coop.
Kei clapped both palms together, releasing the basic Wind Release: Gust Blast technique to counteract his falling momentum, allowing him to land lightly on the ground.
He raised his hand and etched another nail-sized Flying Thunder God formula into the massive rib of an unknown beast.
After closing his eyes to attune himself to directional spatial coordinates and confirming that escape routes toward the south and east were problem-free, he finally stepped forward toward the central depression hole of the mountainous burial grounds.
Unlike natural valleys, ravines, or sinkholes formed through natural processes,
this abruptly sunken stretch of terrain—the mountainous graveyard—resembled as if someone had unleashed a colossal Earth Release: Altering Terrain Technique, forcefully pressing a chunk of land deep underground, leaving unmistakably artificial traces.
Madara Uchiha had clearly been supremely confident back then, convinced no one would ever discover this place. Those who accidentally stumbled upon it would inevitably end up completely toyed with by him.
[Ninjutsu: Suppression Art!]
[Ninjutsu: Camouflage Concealment!]
When Kei approached within five kilometers of the mountainous graveyard, he quickly suppressed his presence, reducing his chakra signature to a minimum.
Then, employing the camouflaged concealment ninjutsu inherited from Iwagakure, he vanished completely within the snowy landscape.
Combined with the deodorizing spray he'd been applying all along,
apart from faint footprints left in the snow, there were absolutely no other traces remaining.
Yet barely half a kilometer in,
while cloaked in invisibility and suppressing his aura, Kei suddenly felt slightly startled inside.
To avoid alerting his enemy prematurely and ruining his plans,
his Sensor Ninjutsu range had now contracted to a mere one-hundred-meter radius.
His sensory perception was incredibly sharp—practically razor-sharp!
Yet even the White Zetsu that had blended into the tree trunk, nearly indistinguishable from the tree itself, would have gone unnoticed—if not for the faintest chakra signature still lingering.
"Is it because it's in a dormant state?"
Kei Yamanaka steadied himself and carefully bypassed this surveillance network made of White Zetsu.
The one before him was merely an ordinary mass-produced White Zetsu.
In theory, during the Great Ninja World War, if a White Zetsu's chakra presence were this weak, it wouldn't have been able to move without being detected, let alone set up battle lines.
So "dormancy" was really the only plausible explanation.
...
Name: White Zetsu
Occupation: Soldier
Skills: Weakened Wood (Green), Assimilation (Green)
...
[Weakened Wood] clearly indicated that these were mass-produced weapons created by Kaguya through the God Tree.
They could exist in a spore state as parasites, fuse with others in a pitcher plant-like state, or travel underground in their Kagero-state form.
[Assimilation], on the other hand, allowed them to absorb others' chakra for their own use, and even mimic someone else's appearance.
Such soldiers could easily overwhelm average Genin—and even Chunin could find themselves at a disadvantage if they weren't careful.
A hundred thousand White Zetsu—it sent chills down Kei Yamanaka's spine just thinking about it.
And this was just the standard model of the White Zetsu.
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