Kitsuchi pondered and immediately moved closer, his face full of curiosity.
"Hmph!"
Deidara, of course, wouldn't tell Kitsuchi that he nearly died because of carelessness against a woman.
He snorted coldly, clutching his severed arm, and walked away alone.
"What about you?" Kitsuchi saw that Deidara refused to answer, so he turned his attention to Akatsuchi, staring at the wound piercing his chest with some surprise.
"With your strength, you shouldn't have been hurt like this, Akatsuchi!"
"It was a female member of the Akatsuki."
Akatsuchi gritted his teeth, a trace of resentment showing in his eyes. "I was careless. I didn't expect that young lady to be so strong."
"Oh~ Now that you say that, I'm even more curious!" Kitsuchi's eyes lit up as she pressed, "Just how powerful was it to leave you and Deidara injured like this?"
"She didn't use ninjutsu."
At that moment, Black Zetsu suddenly interrupted, speaking up, "It should be something like the 'Beyonder' ability you all have, right?"
"No, it's not a Beyonder ability!"
Akatsuchi shook his head with a heavy tone. "I can feel it. She doesn't seem to possess any Beyonder ability. The abilities she used—large-scale flames, explosions, slashes, even metal manipulation—I can't imagine how she does all that!"
"Now that you mention it, it does seem like the methods the teacher talked about don't cover all these abilities."
Kitsuchi furrowed her brows, biting her finger, a worried look appearing on her face. "The Akatsuki, didn't expect such a person to exist. Looks like we have to speed things up."
"We'll discuss this matter later."
Akatsuchi clutched his pierced chest, frowning deeply. "I need to heal. You take the guest to see the teacher."
"Got it. Leave it to me, senior."
Kitsuchi nodded, then turned to Black Zetsu. His expression instantly became indifferent. "You, come with me."
Seeing Kitsuchi's obvious disdain, Black Zetsu gritted his teeth silently and followed his footsteps directly down to the lower level of the Tsuchikage building.
Soon, the two arrived at a secret room on the lower floor.
"Up ahead is the teacher. Go by yourself."
Kitsuchi stepped aside, making way with a calm voice.
"Hmph."
Black Zetsu snorted coldly and strode forward.
Pushing open the door, the space inside was vast, resembling a mausoleum. Ōnoki sat cross-legged on a throne carved from rock.
He was just sitting there, yet he exerted immense pressure on Black Zetsu.
Onoki slowly opened his eyes, and the terrifying oppression suddenly intensified several times over.
In a daze, Black Zetsu felt as if he was facing an emperor who held the ultimate power over life and death!
Every word and action of his would become the iron rules of order and law, to be followed by the people and the nation!
"Black Zetsu, you're here?"
Onoki's voice was like an imperial decree, filled with overwhelming authority that could not be disobeyed.
For a moment, Black Zetsu even genuinely wanted to kneel before Onoki and submit at his feet!
But fortunately, Black Zetsu was not truly a living being, but a product of Yin-Yang Release, so he quickly shook off the strange thought, gasping heavily and staring at him fearfully. "W-What did you do to me?!"
"I didn't do anything to you." Onoki's expression was calm, like a hard stone, and he said indifferently, "Don't misunderstand. I have no interest in you, except for the Divine Tree fruit you mentioned!"
Although this sounded harsh, Black Zetsu had to admit that it was the truth.
"This time, your disciple almost killed me!"
Black Zetsu complained with a scowl.
"But you came back alive, didn't you?"
Onoki tapped the armrest lightly with his index finger and said calmly, "You should thank me, Black Zetsu. If it weren't for cleaning up your mess, we wouldn't have revealed the plan so early!"
"This was an accident!" Black Zetsu could only defend himself stubbornly.
"Whether it was really an accident or not no longer matters."
At that moment, Onoki slowly rose from his seat. Without any visible movement, he suddenly appeared beside Black Zetsu.
His hand rested lightly on Black Zetsu's shoulder as he said in a flat tone, "Since our plan has already begun, when do you plan to summon the Divine Tree?"
"To summon the Divine Tree, all the Tailed Beasts must be gathered."
Black Zetsu's heart pounded wildly. He didn't even realize how Onoki had approached, but he kept calm and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. I'm ready. This Ninja World War will definitely give them a big surprise!"
"No, you didn't understand me, Black Zetsu."
Onoki's eyes turned cold, and that strange terrifying pressure hit Black Zetsu again.
"What I mean is, you need to prove your worth. Other than being able to summon the Divine Tree, otherwise, I could just cooperate directly with the Aurora Order. There's no need to bring along a useless person like you. What do you think?"
The threat implied in these words was unmistakable!
If Black Zetsu was unable to show some value, then whether it was the Aurora Order or Ōnoki, they would not hesitate to abandon him.
"No, I do. I have value!"
Black Zetsu's pupils contracted slightly as he forced a smile.
He had been painstakingly plotting for over ten thousand years for this day!
Finally, with hope to resurrect his mother, Black Zetsu naturally would not keep anything to himself.
To appease Ōnoki, he added, "I will prepare one hundred thousand replicas of the White Zetsu. This way, we won't have to worry about manpower. Besides, there are also the reanimated ninjas with Reanimation Jutsu."
"Very well."
In the blink of an eye, Ōnoki returned to his seat, lowering his eyelids.
"Then we'll proceed as you said. I will have Deidara, Akatsuchi, Kurotsuchi, and Kitsuchi capture a few tailed beasts."
"I will extract the chakra from the One-Tail."
Black Zetsu was really unwilling to stay any longer, so he found an excuse and left directly.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, he seemed to sense a trace of terrifying madness lurking beneath Ōnoki's seemingly calm eyes.
Thinking back to Ōnoki's blood-red gaze, he shivered inexplicably.
*******
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