Chapter 434 The Conspiracy Reappears
Chapter 434 The Conspiracy Reappears
"Prepare for the most perfect tragedy..."
Black Zetsu's half-black face was twisted in the shadows, and his voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed.
"Lord Madara means to destroy what that brat cherishes most. That's easy, just find an opportunity to..."
"Simple my ass!"
White Zetsu interrupted Black Zetsu's dangerous remarks without any politeness, his half-white face filled with apprehension and fear.
"Have you been underground for too long? Has your brain gone moldy? Do you think it's still the old days when you could just ambush and kill lone ninjas on the border?"
At this point, White Zetsu began to complain:
"Since the Ninja World Shared Destiny Plan began, Konoha's defense level has been ridiculously high! All of Team 7's recent missions have been within the Land of Fire, and most of them are routine tasks such as clearing out wandering ninjas or escorting caravans."
"Within the Land of Fire!" White Zetsu lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard. "There are Konoha's sentries everywhere, and those sensory barriers covering the main roads. If we dare to attack Obito within the Land of Fire's borders, Konoha's reinforcements will blast us to smithereens!"
Black Zetsu fell silent. Although he looked down on White Zetsu's cowardice, he knew that what White Zetsu said was true.
Making a move at Konoha's headquarters is practically tantamount to courting death.
"Since it won't work within the Land of Fire, let's find a way to lure them out." Black Zetsu's single yellow eye gleamed with a chilling light. "To a place where Konoha's reinforcements can't arrive quickly, and where things are chaotic enough."
"Where would you find such a place?" White Zetsu rolled his eyes. "Everywhere's building railways and embassies these days, there's no such thing..."
Suddenly, Bai Jue paused, as if he had remembered something.
"Wait! One of my spore clones that I left deep in the desert of the Land of Wind has sent back some strange information."
Bai Jue stroked his chin, trying hard to remember.
"On the border of the Land of Wind, near the Land of Rivers, in a desolate desert, there is a small country called Loulan. Recently, there seem to be some unusual chakra fluctuations there, as if... the energy of some underground dragon vein has become extremely unstable."
"Loulan? A dragon vein?"
Upon hearing this, Black Zetsu's eyes gleamed brightly.
"That's it!" Black Zetsu's voice betrayed barely suppressed excitement. "The energy of the Dragon Vein is extremely vast and volatile. Once it erupts, it will interfere with chakra perception and space-time ninjutsu coordinates over a large area. It's a natural shielding field!"
"Go, immediately forge a letter of commission from the Loulan Kingdom." Black Zetsu quickly formulated a plan, "Using the pretext of investigating abnormal dragon vein movements, issue an A-rank commission to Konoha, and..."
Black Zetsu's lips curled into a cruel sneer: "The order specifically requests that Konoha's Team 7 be dispatched to carry it out."
"Are you crazy?!"
White Zetsu looked at Black Zetsu as if he were an idiot.
"Designate Team 7? Do you even know who the Jonin instructor for Team 7 is? It's Minato Namikaze! That yellow flash who flies around everywhere! If you send him, are we going fishing or just delivering food to them?!"
He had a deep impression of Minato Namikaze, and he would feel lingering fear whenever he thought of him. He never expected that the kid from back then would become so powerful.
"Idiot," Black Zetsu mocked mercilessly. "Do you think Minato Namikaze has time to lead a mission right now?"
"Konoha is currently focusing most of its energy on advancing the shared destiny of the ninja world. As the person in charge of this project, Minato Namikaze is so busy every day that he doesn't even have time to sleep. He simply can't leave!"
Black Zetsu analyzed logically: "Moreover, this is just an A-rank mission of reconnaissance. Currently, all missions below A-rank for Team 7 are led by Kakashi Hatake, who has been promoted to Jonin, along with Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, and that little girl named Kurenai Yuhi."
"Without Minato Namikaze, the biggest variable, and just a few brats in the chaotic environment of the Dragon Vein..." Black Zetsu chuckled sinisterly, "It'll be a piece of cake for us to create an accident."
"Moreover, we can also retrieve the Three-Tails while we're at it."
White Zetsu thought about it carefully and realized that Black Zetsu's words did make some sense.
"Alright, let's do it this way. I'll go and forge the power of attorney right now."
……
Konoha New District, Hokage Building Branch, Mission Handover Hall.
"What?! They specifically assigned Class 7 to carry out an A-level mission?!"
Obito Uchiha stared wide-eyed at the Chunin behind the reception desk who was in charge of distributing missions, and was so excited he almost jumped up.
"Hahahaha! Kakashi, did you hear that?!"
Obito turned to Kakashi beside him, pointing smugly at himself: "This is the celebrity effect I got after winning the Chunin Exams! Even countries far away in the desert know my name and came specifically to ask us to save them!"
"idiot."
Kakashi put one hand in his pocket, rolled his dead fish eyes, and mercilessly poured cold water on him.
"They specifically requested Team 7, not Obito Uchiha. Besides, in a remote place like Loulan, it's hard to tell if the information about the dragon vein's unusual activity is true or false. This mission sounds very troublesome."
Kakashi has an excellent memory; he remembers almost all the countries, big and small, in the ninja world. So when he heard that it was the Loulan Kingdom, he immediately knew its approximate location and cultural characteristics.
"You arrogant Kakashi, you're just jealous that I'm more famous than you!" Obito snorted, then turned to Rin Nohara and Kurenai Yuhi, who were holding the mission scroll. "Rin, Kurenai, let's quickly accept this mission. This is a great opportunity to prove our strength!"
Nohara Rin looked at the contents of the scroll, her delicate brows furrowing slightly: "Investigating the dragon vein's unusual movements... This certainly doesn't sound like an ordinary mission; there might be unknown dangers."
"What are you afraid of! I'm here!" Obito patted his chest and assured him.
Kurenai Yuhi didn't seem to care much. Since her teammates were all very strong, she just needed to rely on them. So she said nonchalantly, "It's okay from now on. We haven't done a cross-border mission like this in a long time."
"Yes, yes, Loulan Kingdom. I've never heard of this country before. It'll be a good opportunity to go and broaden my horizons," Obito chimed in, seeing that Kurenai agreed with him.
While Class 7 was still discussing whether to take on the mission.
"Bang!"
The glass door to the mission hall was kicked open violently.
"I'm so angry! Did that old man Sarutobi do this on purpose?!"
With a sharp shout, Kushina Uzumaki, her red hair flying like flames, stormed in. Behind her followed Shizune, looking utterly helpless, and Kana, holding an ice pop and curiously looking around.
"Kushina-neechan? What brings you here?" Obito asked, somewhat surprised.
Kushina rushed to the reception desk and slammed her hand on the table, making the Chunin in charge of issuing missions tremble.
"I want to accept a quest! A high-level quest!"
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