"Meow~ It really is high."
Takeshi couldn't help but sigh.
Even for him, it took several minutes to climb to the top of the tower. That alone showed how ridiculous this height was. An ordinary ninja cat probably couldn't reach this place even using chakra. As for Nagato...
He'd better train some more.
Maybe someday, when his taijutsu improved, he'd have a chance to get up here and enjoy the view.
Of course, calling it "enjoying the view" was generous. At this height, there wasn't much to see. The Land of Snow was locked in endless snowfall, from above, everything was an unbroken sheet of white, with no real scenery to speak of.
Takeshi pressed down a Flying Thunder God seal.
With a seal here, he could come back whenever he wanted. But honestly, he'd have to be bored out of his mind to run all the way up this high. Until he developed a large heater, an air conditioner, or a ninjutsu barrier that could stabilize the temperature, he had zero desire to come up again.
'This is freezing me to death!' He teleported down with the Flying Thunder God, warmed himself by the hot spring, and only after a long while did he finally feel normal again.
It was too cold.
With the Kuraokami Tower now established, all that was left was to wait for Sosetsu Kazahana to arrive.
Putting on a show wasn't new to Takeshi.
But if he really wanted to live here long-term, food would become another issue.
In this frozen land, finding anything to eat was quite difficult. In the short term, though, it wasn't a problem. Military ration pills and all the food and snacks stockpiled from the Gacha in his inventory were more than enough to fill his belly.
'Tsk, there are still a lot of issues.'
He thought it over, then decided to use Ice Release to create an igloo.
This igloo was similar to the kind Eskimos built. The only difference was that constructs made by Ice Release were much tighter and seamless, a single solid whole that looked like a natural sculpture.
Outside the igloo's door, Takeshi deliberately made a relatively thin, translucent ice window.
Through the window, he could see Nagato plummeting outside, a shame Nagato was still unconscious, unable to appreciate the scene of his own bungee jump or provide the screams that would have given a cat such schadenfreude.
After resting a bit, Takeshi, under Konan's stunned gaze, pulled out food and began happily eating.
Takeshi wasn't about to hog it all, anyone present got a share. Konan and Kanna both received some. The unconscious Nagato did not.
He ate a bit, then drifted off into a drowsy sleep.
Running back and forth all day had eaten up a lot of chakra.
A day's rest would be just right for the next step: remodeling the area around Kuraokami Tower. If he still had chakra to spare, he needed to take a trip to see Orochimaru and wrap up the Ryuchi Cave matter. The earlier that was settled, the better.
But Ryuchi Cave could only come after establishing his territory.
He had to build his base up first.
Ice Release was very useful for that. In the bitter cold of the Land of Snow, even ordinary Water Release could freeze and be used like Ice Release, but Takeshi's Ice Release was fused with senjutsu chakra, making it even harder. In an environment like this, his creations weren't going to melt.
The next day, he began a large-scale transformation around Kuraokami Tower.
First came a labyrinthine forest of ice pillars and ice trees. These would not only confuse intruders but also block the fierce winds sweeping across the ice plains.
It was a big project, even Takeshi needed several days to complete it.
Nagato was still training. The difference now was that Konan and Kanna had joined in.
Konan was training her taijutsu, while Kanna was working on Sage Mode.
During the construction of the ice forest, Takeshi captured another White Zetsu. He sealed it away for preservation like before, planning to deliver it to Orochimaru once the forest was complete.
With White Zetsu as motivation, Nagato trained even harder.
His development of the Rinnegan was progressing quickly. By now, he could control repulsion and attraction at will. His other abilities still needed work, but compared to before, his improvement was tremendous.
After several more days, Takeshi decided it was time to visit Orochimaru.
By this point, Kanna had mastered sensing the chakra of White Zetsu. As long as one approached, she could detect it instantly. Nagato had also learned plenty of Earth Release ninjutsu, so once a White Zetsu was discovered, capturing it wouldn't be difficult.
If they ran into real danger, Kanna still had a sealed Shadow Clone of Takeshi.
So, there wasn't much to worry about.
...
In Orochimaru's lab, a White Zetsu was stored in a central container. A group of people surrounded it, studying it, some were members of Root, others were med-nin from the Medical Corps.
The youngest of them was Kabuto Yakushi.
"It really is a strange creature. Do you have any conclusions?"
In a small adjoining room, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and the Third Hokage sat together, staring seriously at the distant White Zetsu.
"First, I want to make it clear this has nothing to do with me or Danzo."
Orochimaru tapped the table lightly.
He knew he and Danzo didn't have the best reputations. Tsunade and the Third were aware of some of their... history. So before explaining his findings, he made a point of clarifying that.
"Relax, I'm well aware of that much," Tsunade said.
The Third nodded as well. Orochimaru had plenty of flaws, but he had no reason to lie about this, especially when research on Hashirama Cells was already public knowledge.
"Its internal structure is very strange, but it's certain this thing was artificially cultivated. It also contains a lot of Hashirama's cells. That alone proves that someone obtained Hashirama Cells and has been researching them for many years."
At this, Orochimaru's lips curled into an amused smile.
In Konoha, very few had access to Hashirama Cells, and in the whole ninja world, there was almost no one who could have gotten hold of them. So who was it? That was why he'd opened with such a disclaimer.
Tsunade turned her head to look at him.
The meaning was obvious: had Danzo really never sold any cells? The Third opened his mouth, then shut it again, sitting off to the side questioning his life. He certainly trusted Danzo, but if it wasn't him, then who had taken Hashirama Cells for secret experiments?
It couldn't have been the other villages. None of them had been able to injure the First Hokage back then.
After more than ten seconds of silence, space rippled, and the black cat appeared beside Orochimaru.
The mood felt off. Was this some kind of closed-door meeting? Takeshi glanced at Tsunade and the Third.
The two of them stared at him, and at the White Zetsu tied to his tail. The atmosphere grew even more awkward in an instant.
He'd caught another one.
"Another one?"
"Meow!"
Takeshi nodded.
Orochimaru ground his teeth, even he was starting to get a headache.
What was this, a cabbage sale? Just a few days later, there was another one, and they still hadn't figured anything out from the first.
"Takeshi, what on earth is going on here?"
The Third was baffled.
"Meow?"
"This thing. What exactly is it, and where are you getting them?" Tsunade pressed as well.
She really was curious. The more they studied White Zetsu, the more questions they had. And chief among them: how had the Hashirama Cells leaked?
This was directly tied to whether there was a mole inside the village.
"It was spying on me, so I caught it. That's all, meow."
Takeshi gave a simple explanation.
He made it sound light and easy, but Tsunade knew that couldn't be the whole story. White Zetsu was peculiar, you could barely detect it even with sensory abilities. Even sealed in a culture tank, you had to search very carefully to notice its presence.
Another issue: why was the person behind it sending one to tail Takeshi? She fell into thought.
Could it be that their target was the clan Takeshi belonged to?
That was a possibility.
"Meow~ Do you still want this one?"
Takeshi set down the sealed, unconscious White Zetsu.
"Yes, of course we do!"
Orochimaru answered in a rush. He'd paid a price for these, if he lost one because of the Third or Tsunade, that would be a painful loss.
Takeshi handed the White Zetsu over.
Orochimaru dragged it outside, leaving Tsunade, the Third, and Takeshi in the small room.
The black cat felt like he'd been set up.
Then, thinking it through... he was the one who had told Orochimaru to report to Tsunade in the first place. So in the end, he had set himself up?
That stung.
"Takeshi, all of this, "
"Ahem. Have you been doing well lately? How's the territory construction going? Need any help?"
Tsunade coughed, cutting off the Third's questioning, her tone reminding him,
Takeshi wasn't just a jonin of Konoha, but also the "clan head" of a quasi-sacred land. Even if the ninja cats were few in number, with Sage Mode, they were entitled to a transcendent status.
The Third shut his mouth.
He had to admit Tsunade was seeing the bigger picture more clearly than he was.
"It's finished as of today. I'll take you to see it when you have time, it's really spectacular, meow."
The current Kuraokami Tower had the ice forest, the hot spring, and the towering spire. Next, he needed to decorate it with ice sculptures. In the end, he planned to build a ninja-world-style Ice and Snow World.
"Okay. Definitely."
Tsunade smiled sweetly.
Then she kept chatting with Takeshi about everyday things, never asking where the White Zetsu came from or probing into any deeper details. Instead, she worried he might run into danger outside.
Takeshi lingered there for a while.
He couldn't just leave, but staying wasn't comfortable either. At least he wasn't the only one suffering, Hiruzen Sarutobi was too.
The Third sat off to the side like a statue.
His mind was stuck on the White Zetsu. Takeshi truly didn't seem to know anything more. As for Orochimaru...
Given his personality, this likely had nothing to do with him either. But if that was so, where had the Hashirama Cells come from? *Sigh*, what a shame Danzo was dead, otherwise, they could at least ask him.
No one thought of Madara. After all, news of his death had been confirmed by both the First and Second Hokage. If it were only the former, perhaps Hashirama had gone soft, but Tobirama never would have.
'Forget it. I'll eat something to recover chakra, just in case I end up short when I head to Ryuchi Cave later.'
Traveling from the Land of Snow to here had cost him more than ten percent of his chakra. Even with a Sage Body's incredible recovery, with nothing pressing to do, he might as well eat some cat food to top up.
A glance at the system made Takeshi pause in surprise: his Points had gone up by more than four thousand.
'Because of the White Zetsu?' He looked outside and saw people crowding around the two specimens, and had a rough guess.
It had to be thanks to them, and the Third and Tsunade, especially the Third. One look at Hiruzen's expression and it was obvious he was not in a great mood.
Delightful.
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