Konoha Notes.

Chapter 553 Whereabouts

Chapter 553 Whereabouts

This time when he returned to the village, Xiuji was relieved to find that his village had not turned into a ball hanging in the sky.

Some surprises are enough to happen once.

The restoration work at Konoha headquarters is still ongoing, with wooden frames and scaffolding visible everywhere.

Pedestrians passing under the construction site have become accustomed to the occasional knocking sounds from above.

Shuji and the Three-Tails successfully arrived at the temporary camp of the Jinchūriki team stationed in the village.

Procedurally speaking, this can be considered as officially entrusting the tailed beast to the Joint Affairs Bureau.

Isobu lay in the hastily dug shallow pool, tucking its limbs into its shell, with only half of its head sticking out, looking like it couldn't be bothered with anything.

Chirabi circled around it, fidgeting and improvising with his fingers.

"Three-tailed turtle, tiny! Such a tiny little thing!"

Isobu retracted his head another half inch into the shell.

"This can hardly be considered small," the two Yugitos first refuted Killer Bee, then couldn't help but add, "And you say—they've never been this small before."

The will of bullying in the ninja world inadvertently invaded the minds of the Jinchuriki of Kumogakure.

Isobu remained silent.

The Six-Tails' jinchūriki said, "That's going too far, Killer Bee."

The Five-Tails' Jinchūriki said, "It's already a lucky thing to have survived."

Then Han glanced at the Sixth Hokage beside him.

Old Purple is gone, but the Four-Tails still retains a sliver of life and participates in the meeting inside Naruto's body.

As Naruto himself said, he secretly told his bandmates about this.

However, the Jinchuriki had already witnessed Madara Uchiha's strength and chose to remain silent.

Shuji didn't linger at the camp. After explaining things to Isobu, he turned and headed towards the Hokage Building.

When the office door opened, Kakashi was slumped over the desk, with three stacks of documents waiting to be signed in front of him.

Upon seeing the visitor, he barely managed to lift his head from the pile of documents, two deep shadows hanging below the one eye that was exposed.

The person looked as if they had survived from excessive exhaustion of their pupil power, yet also as if they were about to die again at any moment.

"You're back." The voice was weak and listless.

"Well, I'm just here to give some instructions for what's to come." Shuuji said, casually picking up the straw hat hanging to the side and placing it in front of Kakashi. "From now on, I'll only be in the western suburbs."

"I'm leaving this to you."

"Six and a half generation, or the seventh generation, you can choose one."

Kakashi lowered his head resignedly: "In the end, it's still the same."

"Let's start with 6.5."

That way, he might be able to take office a little later.

"Oh, right." Kakashi pulled a notice from under the pile of documents. "The Ninja Academy is planning to hold the graduation ceremony tomorrow."

"After all, the village has stabilized now."

Shuji had already reached the door when he heard this and said, "—I will step in."

Even if you're in a hurry, a little longer won't make a difference.

The ninja world is going to be destroyed, but that seems unlikely.

For Orochimaru, his understanding of the ninja world over the past few years has been in this cyclical state.

The world is always exceptionally generous to its seekers; just when you think you've touched the truth, new textures are revealed beneath the surface.

After his suggestions were accepted by the current core of the organization, Orochimaru began to consider his own identity.

After working diligently as Akatsuki's Sora Chen for some time, Orochimaru realized that he still had a lot of abandoned experimental progress that could be restarted.

He stood before the demonic statue of the Outer Path, gazing at the enormous humanoid figure in its silent and distorted form.

Black Zetsu appeared in the darkness, revealing his complete yellow eyes.

"The possibility of Madara becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki is getting lower and lower, Orochimaru."

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More accurately, the possibility of becoming Kaguya's jinchūriki is decreasing.

That person's self-doubt also deepened.

Originally, Madara didn't have many options, but now, he has the choice to either seize Konoha's Divine Tree or profit from the battle between Konoha and Jigen.

His choices are increasing.

"That's not necessarily true, Zetsu." Orochimaru reached out and touched the golem's body. Perhaps because Zetsu was there, or perhaps because he recognized Orochimaru's identity as one of his own, the golem quietly accepted.

"After Madara is resurrected, there is still a long time to wait."

"Moreover, the golem itself is the body of the Ten-Tails, naturally carrying its own properties, and now it also possesses all the chakra properties except for the One-Tails, Two-Tails, and Six-Tails."

"As long as enough chakra is provided, it can still be restored to its full state."

Hei Jue absolutely did not believe this was possible: "To make up for the missing properties, it cannot be solved with just a little chakra."

"If we make a move at this time, Konoha will immediately detect our location."

The gold in Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he turned his head.

"The most important golem is already here, so why be so fixated on this ninja world?"

"The Otsutsuki all descended from outer space, absolutely."

Blackbeard was stunned: "From beyond the heavens?"

"You should have noticed it by now, Zetsu," Orochimaru said with a smile. "In just a few years, the ninja world has changed drastically. Apart from Konoha, even the Kage who were once considered strong no longer have a place in the world."

"Jue, how long can you keep hiding? This time, are you still confident they won't leave enough information for those who come after them?"

Even hundreds of years later, when everyone has grown old, new seekers of knowledge will open the old books and still follow the clues back to where they came from.

Black Zetsu couldn't help but ask, "What do you plan to do? Once Konoha wins the war against Jigen, there will be no place for Akatsuki in this world."

Orochimaru laughed and said, "Wrong, Zetsu. The future world will not be Konoha, but the Joint Affairs Bureau."

"What the First Hokage did will be repeated."

"The Joint Affairs Bureau is composed of ninjas from one region after another."

It was unusual for this defector of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha to say so much.

Jue, who was originally just a figurehead, now seems like a very useful tool if he could be completely used for one's own purposes.

Black Zetsu understood: "You intend to rejoin the Joint Affairs Bureau as a ninja."

It's not that Orochimaru is planning to, but he probably already has the legal status to enter the Joint Affairs Bureau.

The snake's lips parted into a perfect arc.

"The windmill keeps turning, and the means to leave the ninja world will only increase."

"Perhaps it will only take less than a hundred years, no doubt."

"Compared to the next cycle you've anticipated, which would last thousands of years, isn't a hundred years a more promising timeframe?"

"—What should we do about Madara?"

"Just look at the outcome of that battle." Orochimaru turned around and looked at the silent demon statue again. "Defeat is just another process for Madara to accumulate power and return to the ninja world."

"He's already waited once, so what's one more time?"

"And every oversight in this competition made him realize one thing: only by staying alive can he avoid falling behind in the next round of the game."

"At that time, he will absorb the golem into his body and use its life force to survive the long incubation period."

"No one needs to persuade him."

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