"It looks like there's no one else here besides White Zetsu."
Wary that other mbers of the Akatsuki might appear, Uchiha Fugaku didn't act imdiately.
He waited, concealed in the trees, watching carefully. When no one else showed up and he confird that only White Zetsu had arrived, he decided to make his move.
"Not good soone's here!"
Just as Fugaku's killing intent surged, White Zetsu suddenly beca alert. His body began sinking swiftly into the ground.
Though Zetsu possessed sensory abilities, Fugaku, being of Kage-level strength, had near-perfect control over his chakra and presence, making him nearly impossible to detect at first.
But once Fugaku's murderous intent surfaced, Zetsu finally sensed him.
As a standard White Zetsu clone, he had little to no combat ability.
So, upon detecting a threat and feeling killing intent directed at him, his first instinct was to flee.
"He noticed !"
Seeing Zetsu begin to sink into the earth, Fugaku imdiately realized that his presence had been discovered.
Every ti he used his Mangekyō Sharingan, it took a toll on his vision. Eventually, overuse would lead to blindness.
To avoid that fate, he needed White Zetsu's body it was essential. He absolutely couldn't let him escape.
Whoosh!
Fugaku leapt from the tree, hurtling straight toward Zetsu.
Because the two weren't far apart to begin with, he closed the distance in an instant.
Squelch—
As he closed in, Fugaku plunged a kunai into Zetsu's chest, the blade sinking deep.
"Gah!"
White Zetsu cried out in agony. His lower half had already sunken into the earth, but the upper half slumped limply aboveground.
His pale body, buried halfway into the soil, resembled a white radish torn from the dirt. His eyes were filled with shock at the mont of death.
He had sensed a threat, but never imagined the enemy would strike so quickly so fast that he hadn't even fully subrged into the ground.
"White Zetsu's body is mine!"
Fugaku's face lit up with unconcealed joy his mission was complete.
Though the process had been complicated by Kakuzu's ambush, he had finally secured White Zetsu's body.
Quickly, he used his kunai to dig out the rest of Zetsu's corpse. At first, he intended to begin refining the body imdiately, but reconsidered.
Instead, he took out a sealing scroll and sealed White Zetsu's body inside.
"Now's not the ti I'll deal with this after I'm clear."
Technically speaking, the one he had killed was a White Zetsu clone—not the original body.
But unlike regular clones, White Zetsu's replicas had physical form, and their bodies didn't vanish after death.
Still, there was likely a connection between these clones and the original.
Killing this clone probably alerted the real Zetsu.
The Akatsuki would surely send soone to investigate soon. It was too dangerous to perform the refinent here escaping took priority.
Whoosh!
Tucking the scroll away, Fugaku launched himself onto a nearby tree and disappeared into the forest.
In a shadowy cavern, where a massive creature lood...
"What just happened?"
Nagato turned his gaze toward Zetsu after hearing his sudden cry.
"The White Zetsu clone I sent to investigate Kakuzu's disappearance was taken out."
Zetsu's voice was grave.
"Did he manage to transmit any intel?"
Nagato asked.
He knew Zetsu had a thod of quickly sharing information between clones. That was how he had earlier received the latest intel on Kakuzu.
"No. He didn't have ti. Whoever did this was strong."
Zetsu shook his head.
His clones were weak barely genin-level in combat ability.
The fact that his clone couldn't even relay a ssage before being killed ant the attacker was no ordinary opponent.
"It was likely the sa person who killed Kakuzu."
Konan offered her analysis.
"How arrogant after killing Kakuzu-senpai, they dared to linger at the scene?"
Jūzō Biwa growled angrily.
"I'll go myself."
Nagato's voice was cold and emotionless, though there was a hint of restrained fury beneath the surface.
He didn't consider Kakuzu's killer a true threat. As a super-Kage-level fighter, only peak Kage-level opponents posed any real danger to him.
But the audacity to kill Kakuzu and then remain in the area, even taking out a scouting Zetsu was a direct provocation to the Akatsuki.
As the organization's strongest mber, he couldn't simply let that go.
"Nagato..."
Konan started to object.
Others might not know, but she did—though the Rinnegan granted Nagato imnse power, it also ca with a terrible cost.
Every battle put imnse strain on his body, shortening his life.
But before she could say more, Nagato cut her off.
"Say no more. To kill Kakuzu, the enemy must be powerful. I'm the only one who can guarantee his defeat."
The mont he finished speaking, his body vanished from atop the giant statue's finger.
Seeing Nagato had already left, the other Akatsuki mbers also disappeared.
There was no doubt in their minds: between the unknown attacker and Nagato, the victor would be Nagato.
Whoosh—
Dark clouds blanketed the sky as rain began to fall. A figure soared through the air at incredible speed, faster than any bird, a re black speck from the ground.
Even though it was dayti, no one noticed the man flying overhead.
This was Nagato more precisely, the Deva Path, one of his six Rinnegan-powered bodies.
As the Rinnegan's wielder, Nagato controlled the Six Paths: Deva, Asura, Animal, Human, Preta, and Naraka.
He had split these six powers across six individual bodies, each wielding one path.
Of them, the Deva Path this body was the most powerful.
Clearly, in the face of provocation, Nagato was taking things seriously.
Not long after, the Deva Path descended from the sky, landing at the site where Kakuzu and Fugaku had fought.
He had orange hair, nurous black rods embedded in his body, and cold, emotionless eyes.
He examined the area carefully, searching for the person who had killed Kakuzu but found nothing.
After all, Fugaku had no intention of provoking the Akatsuki. His only target had been White Zetsu's body.
"Shinra Tensei."
Failing to find his enemy, and unsure if they were hiding nearby, Nagato opted for brute force.
A powerful repulsive force exploded from him in all directions.
Trees shattered and flew, rocks shot off like cannonballs.
In monts, the forest was flattened, a clearing hundreds of ters wide left in its place.
The sheer scale of destruction was staggering. Even Fugaku's Susanoo couldn't compare to the raw force of this jutsu.
"It seems he's already gone."
Nagato snorted coldly. If his attack couldn't flush the enemy out, there was only one explanation the enemy had already left.
"You dare provoke the Akatsuki... you'll regret it."
Whoosh!
With that, he flew toward the Land of Fire
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