"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Black Zetsu's dark and gloomy face no longer showed the confidence of having everything under control. Instead, it was filled with panic and helplessness.
"Obito, you idiot! The Uchiha clan are just like Indra—complete idiots!"
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu used the Mayfly Technique to travel underground at high speed, seizing every opportunity to rush toward an underground base.
After casually fusing with a White Zetsu, Black Zetsu immediately gave nervous orders, "Quick, save that fool Obito's life first! We cannot let him die here!"
At this moment, Uchiha Obito's appearance had changed drastically. The mask that had covered his face had fallen off somewhere, revealing his half-scarred and half-intact face.
On his waist and abdomen was a horrific wound with a clean cut caused by a sharp blade. If not for the many White Zetsu who risked their lives to fill the gap, Uchiha Obito would have died long ago.
Shihouin Naraku's attack had been extremely brutal—equivalent to cutting Uchiha Obito in half!
"Ah~"
White Zetsu cried out in pain. "Obito's body is still burning with fire, and his internal organs are severely damaged. We can't continue like this."
"He can't die!" Black Zetsu's gloomy voice echoed. "Use the Spore Technique to fill Obito's damaged organs and extract the flames. If the injury is too severe, use White Zetsu's body as a replacement."
Following Black Zetsu's commands, White Zetsu gathered around Uchiha Obito. They transformed into soft tissue like clay and merged into Obito's body, maintaining his organ functions while extracting the flames.
Time passed slowly. Without considering the losses, Uchiha Obito, who had consumed many White Zetsu, finally had no more burning flames inside his body.
Black Zetsu watched with worry, knowing clearly that Uchiha Obito was not completely out of danger yet.
Looking at Uchiha Obito lying on the bed, his life hanging by a thread, Black Zetsu was almost ready to curse.
"What's wrong with the Uchiha clan? Whether it's Indra, Madara, or that loser Obito, none of them know how to be careful. Every time something goes wrong, I have to clean up their mess!"
It just wanted to rescue its mother. Was that so difficult? Its teammates never understood its difficulties and always created various problems.
Just like Uchiha Obito's thoughts, it could never be understood.
Shihouin Naraku was fighting against Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy. The logical action would be to join the fight. It would be best if Obito could kill one or two of them or even die together with them.
White Zetsu had summarized this information to Uchiha Obito simply to keep him informed, to see if there was anything useful—not to have Obito directly confront Shihouin Naraku.
But Uchiha Obito had done exactly that, and the consequences had made Black Zetsu responsible, driving it crazy.
Of course, Black Zetsu might understand something now.
Hatake Kakashi had arrived at the Imperial Court!
If Uchiha Obito could defeat Shihouin Naraku, it would mean he had surpassed Hatake Kakashi. This was a good opportunity for Uchiha Obito, who had always awkwardly called Kakashi trash.
After all, Hatake Kakashi was very important to Uchiha Obito.
Black Zetsu had witnessed Obito going to Konohagakure occasionally to secretly visit Nohara Rin's grave, even though her body had never been found.
Each time he saw Nohara Rin's grave, Uchiha Obito would look for Hatake Kakashi, calling him worthless, but he never stopped this behaviour.
Based on Black Zetsu's understanding of humans, it was somewhat confusing whether Uchiha Obito cared more for the dead Nohara Rin or the living Hatake Kakashi.
At the very least, Uchiha Obito's precious Mangekyō Sharingan had always remained with Hatake Kakashi. Despite Black Zetsu's many attempts to persuade him, Obito never took his eye back.
So perhaps to prove himself, or perhaps due to other complex emotions, Uchiha Obito had finally confronted Shihouin Naraku, leading to the current outcome.
"Alright, let's go!"
Seeing White Zetsu covering Uchiha Obito like a protective coat, Black Zetsu immediately took Obito to the base that Uchiha Madara had once built.
That base was fully equipped with medical facilities and had tools that could save Uchiha Obito's life.
If Black Zetsu hadn't been worried about Uchiha Obito dying on the way, it would have gone directly to that base.
Using their abilities, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu traveled through the underground network at incredible speed. It took them only half a day to reach another base.
"How is he doing?"
"Uchiha Obito's life force is rapidly fading. If we don't find another solution, he will die soon!"
After hearing White Zetsu's answer and looking at Uchiha Obito lying on the bed, Black Zetsu directly took out a well-preserved test tube.
Inside the test tube were cells from the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama—precious materials left over from Uchiha Madara's research.
"Puff!"
A needle pierced Uchiha Obito's body, injecting Senju Hashirama's cells into him.
"Uh~"
A weak moan escaped from Uchiha Obito's mouth.
"Puff—"
Suddenly, numerous branches grew from Uchiha Obito's body, as if he had been struck by the Wood Style jutsu.
This was the terrifying effect of Senju Hashirama's cells. If one couldn't withstand them, they would transform into a plant!
"No, he will definitely die if this continues!"
Black Zetsu noticed more and more branches appearing on Uchiha Obito's body, and some of his limbs had already turned the colour of the wood.
"We must take him to Amegakure as soon as possible. Only the Gedo Statue can keep him alive now!"
Next, Black Zetsu instructed White Zetsu to monitor intelligence from Amegakure, especially the whereabouts of Nagato and Konan from the Akatsuki organization.
After Nagato summoned the Gedo Statue using the Rinnegan, it was placed in a secret Akatsuki base. Unless a plan to collect the Tailed Beasts was initiated, few people would check on it.
Black Zetsu planned to use the Gedo Statue to maintain Uchiha Obito's life.
When Uchiha Madara was about to die of old age, he used the energy of the Gedo Statue to extend his life. It wasn't until Uchiha Obito's appearance that he severed the connection with the Gedo Statue and allowed his life to end.
Silently, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu brought the half-dead Uchiha Obito to the base where the Gedo Statue was stored.
"Tick!"
Drops of water fell from the cave ceiling, making soft sounds.
An enormous, ferocious statue stood in the centre of the dark base!
The statue somewhat resembled a giant human figure, sitting cross-legged on a huge lotus seat. It had nine tightly closed eyes on its forehead, its body appeared like a withered corpse, and there were ten column-like protrusions on its back!
This terrifying and hideous monster was the Gedo Statue!
Or rather, it was just the empty shell of the Ten-Tails with all its chakra completely extracted!
If one day, the dried-up body was refilled with the chakra of all the Tailed Beasts, the Ten-Tails would be resurrected!
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