Chapter 341: Black Zetsu Is Like a Big Cockroach
"Why are you back already?" Obito asked in surprise when he saw Black Zetsu return.
He had specifically sent Black Zetsu to follow Amamiya Kenichi and see what that man was planning, but he had not expected him to come back so quickly.
He had only just assigned that idiot Uchiha Shin a mission and was planning to wait here for Black Zetsu's report. Instead, the man returned almost immediately.
Worse, he looked visibly irritated, his expression dark and ugly, clearly in a terrible mood.
"Hmph. There was no need to keep following that idiot at all," Black Zetsu snapped, unable to hold back his frustration. He truly thought Amamiya Kenichi was insane. Not only did he spout endless nonsense, he even managed to blow up an airship with his own weapon. Black Zetsu genuinely had no idea how someone like that had earned the title of Heavenly Demon.
"Oh?" Obito's interest rose at once. Although the last incident had already landed that bastard Kenichi squarely on his kill list, he was still very curious about what exactly the man had done to anger Black Zetsu this badly.
After all, Black Zetsu usually presented himself as calm and composed. Obito had been annoyed by that more than once. Seeing him in such a foul mood now actually made Obito feel a little better.
Still, when it came to Kenichi, Obito's expression became more serious. Kenichi gave him a very strange feeling, as if the man were deliberately targeting him. If Obito had not been certain his identity remained hidden, he would have suspected Kenichi already knew he was alive.
"What else could it be?" Black Zetsu said coldly. "When that idiot was reporting his mission to Nagato, he spent over twenty minutes rambling things like, 'I bombed the Hidden Sand Village with a new weapon, then the Hidden Sand Village was bombed once by my new weapon, and the Hidden Sand Village's barrier was bombed once by my new weapon.' Just endless garbage like that."
Obito's mouth twitched.
Even from Black Zetsu's rough summary alone, he already felt like hitting someone. He could only imagine how painful it must have been for Black Zetsu, who had actually endured listening to that nonsense for more than twenty minutes.
Even so, Obito quickly sensed that something was off. He knew Amamiya Kenichi well enough to know that the man did not seem like the type who would chatter endlessly for no reason.
"Could he have done it on purpose?" Obito narrowed his eyes.
"Possibly," Black Zetsu said with a nod. "But even if it was intentional, it was probably just to disgust Nagato."
He never considered the possibility that he himself had been the target.
After all, the number of people in the Ninja World who even knew he existed could be counted on one hand.
And the number of people who knew about his concealment abilities was even smaller. Only Obito knew, and even Obito only knew that he was highly skilled at covert information gathering. He was nowhere near aware of Black Zetsu's true capabilities.
Black Zetsu had deliberately hidden that much, even from that idiot Uchiha Madara.
He had never revealed his true hiding techniques to either of them. Instead, he had always concealed himself only to a level where, if they concentrated hard enough, they might notice something. That way, he could subtly lower the Uchiha's guard against him.
Since even Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito had never suspected him, there was no way Amamiya Kenichi could know.
Because of that, Black Zetsu never once suspected that Kenichi had been testing him. At the time, aside from Kenichi himself, only Konan had been nearby in the entire cave. It was impossible that the whole performance had been a precaution against Konan, right?
Once every impossible option was ruled out, the one remaining possibility, no matter how absurd, had to be the truth.
Amamiya Kenichi was simply messing with Nagato.
And, annoyingly enough, that did fit Kenichi's personality.
"Hmm..." Obito stroked his chin.
He did not know why, but he still had a strange feeling about the whole matter. Kenichi's actions were odd and did not quite fit the personality traits Obito had observed before.
Still, Obito quickly calmed down again.
Amamiya Kenichi was a lunatic.
It was impossible to measure a lunatic using the thought process of a normal person.
Once he looked at it that way, Obito relaxed. Black Zetsu's intelligence gathering had never failed before, so this time should not be any different.
"Forget it. Let's not waste time on that madman," Obito said. "Come on. Our plan may need to be adjusted..."
Obito and Black Zetsu left together.
Neither of them had any intention of lingering. The current state of the Ninja World was already chaotic enough, and they needed to plan carefully.
"Leader, see you next time."
Completely unaware that he had already been labeled a lunatic, Amamiya Kenichi cheerfully walked away.
He had sent off the sealing scroll containing the thermobaric bomb and in return received another sealing scroll full of money, which Konan had handed over.
It was not a bad deal at all.
More importantly, he had successfully made contact with Nagato. Next, he only needed to return to the Land of Snow, blow up the airship, make sure Black Zetsu was nowhere nearby, and then he could have a proper conversation with Nagato about the state of the Ninja World and the problem Black Zetsu posed.
Of course, that brought up another issue. He still needed concrete proof, proof of Black Zetsu's existence, and proof of how he had learned about it. Otherwise, once someone like Nagato became suspicious, it could affect future cooperation.
"Mm." Nagato only nodded calmly.
Even so, the slight tremble in his fingers betrayed the fact that his heart was nowhere near as calm as he looked. During the short time he had fallen from the sky, he had been hit with too much information, so much that he was still digesting it now.
"Nagato, are you alright?" Konan asked with concern. She could obviously tell that her friend was carrying a great deal on his mind.
"I..." Nagato's eyes were slightly unfocused.
He looked toward the entrance of the cave.
He had always believed his own ideas and Yahiko's will were correct, and he had been walking firmly along that path this whole time. But now, what Amamiya Kenichi said also seemed to make sense.
If today had been the first time Kenichi ever brought this up, Nagato would have immediately sent him flying with Shinra Tensei.
But Kenichi had mentioned it before.
Nagato had already thought about it once, and that first seed of doubt had already been planted in his heart.
So when Kenichi raised it again this time, the balance in Nagato's heart began to sway once more.
Still, Nagato took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
There had not been enough time to talk earlier. And if what Kenichi said was true, that someone who could not even be detected by the Sage's Eye had been secretly listening in and gathering information the whole time...
At that thought, Nagato's eyes narrowed.
Now more than ever, he found himself looking forward to the next meeting with Amamiya Kenichi.
"Brother Amamiya!"
By then, Kenichi had already found Uchiha Hikari, Sasori, and Deidara.
The three of them were sitting in a barbecue restaurant, and Hikari was the first to spot him. She waved at him excitedly the moment she saw him.
Kenichi walked over with a cheerful smile.
At the moment, he had already removed his mask, but in its place wore another face created through the Transformation Jutsu. This was his usual method. Otherwise, there were always fools trying to claim his bounty.
Granted, it was not the Heavenly Demon's bounty. It was only Amamiya Kenichi's bounty from Konoha, but killing him would still earn a respectable sum.
Sometimes Kenichi genuinely considered turning himself in and collecting it personally.
"How's the barbecue here?" he asked as he walked over.
The meat was already sizzling on the grill, giving off such a rich aroma that even Kenichi's mouth started to water.
"It's excellent," Sasori said. He picked up a slice with his chopsticks, ate it with obvious satisfaction, and then continued speaking. "I heard the owner of this barbecue restaurant is a barbecue master from Konoha."
Kenichi thought of the sign outside, Ichiraku Barbecue, and his expression turned a little strange.
Could Ichiraku actually be a family name? Konoha had Ichiraku Ramen, and now here was Ichiraku Barbecue too?
Of course, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen was not named Ichiraku, but Teuchi. Even so, Kenichi suddenly became curious about what the owner here was called.
"Bring us a few more plates," Kenichi called out cheerfully as he sat down beside Hikari. "I made a big score today."
As he sat, he also noticed that Deidara kept sneaking glances at Hikari, which made Kenichi's expression grow complicated.
Could it be that Deidara had taken a liking to Hikari?
Still, it had to be said that Hikari really was charming. She was cute, quiet, and had a very unique presence, almost like a female version of Sasuke.
If that really was the case, things might get troublesome.
"Hikari, have you been talking with Deidara, the one obsessed with explosions?" Kenichi asked casually as they walked later on.
He was not especially good with emotional matters, but he did care about Hikari's own thoughts.
"Huh? Brother Deidara?" Hikari smiled shyly. "He's pretty nice. Just a little strange. He's always talking about explosions and things like that."
Kenichi nodded. From her reaction, it was obvious Hikari did not have any special feelings for Deidara.
Good.
Once the matters in the Land of Rice Fields were settled, he would take Hikari away again. With some distance, Deidara's internal drama would probably cool off a little.
"Deidara really does love explosions," Kenichi said simply, then stopped outside Amado's laboratory.
As usual, he had Deidara take Hikari out to play while he himself sat down across from Amado to discuss serious matters.
"Mr. Amado, this is the forbidden technique I brought back from the Hidden Sand Village," Kenichi said as he handed over the scroll. "One's Own Life Reincarnation."
Amado snatched it up excitedly and immediately began reading through it with full concentration.
Kenichi was in no hurry.
He picked up his teacup, took a leisurely sip, and waited for Amado to finish reading. He also wanted to hear what Amado thought of it.
Kenichi himself had already examined the technique.
It was a very unique ninjutsu and indeed had the power to bring back the dead. However, it was far from perfect. In fact, it could be said that its practicality was rather low.
The key issue with One's Own Life Reincarnation was that the caster needed to possess enough strength and enough chakra.
For example, if an ordinary genin learned the technique and then tried to revive some powerful village ninja, it would fail. The power gap would be too great. Even if that genin exhausted every bit of chakra they had, they still would not be able to pull it off.
A powerful person reviving another powerful person was possible, but difficult.
A powerful person reviving a weak person was easy, but the value of doing so was often very low.
Kenichi could not picture Senju Hashirama using a technique like this to revive some random genin from Konoha. There was simply no need.
From that point alone, One's Own Life Reincarnation was inferior to Rinne Rebirth.
Rinne Rebirth was an equal life for a life exchange.
"This technique... is interesting," Amado said at last, lowering the scroll. "But its restrictions are severe. It must be used by a ninja whose strength is equal to or greater than the target's in order to pull back that person's soul."
Kenichi nodded.
That was exactly right.
Then Amado suddenly asked, "Young friend Amamiya, what do you think of my own strength?"
Kenichi froze for a moment, then looked carefully at Amado's face. The man looked completely serious.
"...If we exclude your scientific ninja tools," Kenichi said after a moment of thought, "then your own strength should be around jonin level, right?"
Even as he answered, he added a quiet note in his own mind.
Amado's actual strength was fairly respectable, but only when backed by his scientific ninja tools. Without them, he was probably no more than Special Jonin level.
"Then..." Amado looked directly at him. "Can you find someone capable of reviving me?"
At those words, Kenichi's hand paused in midair, the teacup still in his grasp.
Then he slowly looked up at Amado.
With the way the man had phrased that, was he saying... he intended to do it himself?
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]