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GSiN: Ch. 77
🕑 Added 2025-04-26 17:44:40 +0000 UTC---Third POV---
After Shisui and the others cleaned up the battlefield, they prepared to bring the enemy corpses back to the frontline camp to report. However, at their three o'clock direction, a disturbance arose.
Shisui and Shiori exchanged glances and hand signals briefly. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Shisui reversed the grip on a kunai, readying it in his hand.
But soon, his expression relaxed. Because the newcomers were wearing Konoha forehead protectors, and he had seen them before in the camp, they were part of a support unit that had arrived a few months ago with Ryouma.
Still, to be cautious, he called out loudly, "You three, don't come any closer. Stop right there."
The three Konoha ninjas stopped upon hearing this. Shisui nodded at them in a friendly manner and then recited a series of coded phrases.
They responded fluently and correctly. Only then did Shisui lower his guard and politely ask, "Is there something our squad can help you with?"
Among the three, the one who appeared to be the leader said, "We're Root ninjas. We've come to deliver a direct order from Danzō-sama to you and Shiori."
He then tossed a scroll to Shisui, who caught it and inspected it carefully. It was indeed a classified intel scroll unique to Root.
After performing a one-handed seal to release the seal on the scroll, he opened it on the spot. The main content of the scroll read: Ryouma's plan had been leaked. He was currently severely injured and being pursued by the Third Mizukage and his squad. Shisui and Shiori, both jonin of Konoha, were hereby ordered to immediately lead their team to the Land of Water to rescue him.
The scroll also included the direction in which Ryouma was believed to be fleeing.
After reading the intel, his pupils shrank sharply in shock. He found it hard to believe. By all logic, since Ryouma possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, he should have escaped immediately in a dangerous situation.
But the intel in front of him was a direct order from the Hokage's advisor. The messengers were confirmed to be Konoha ninjas, he had already verified this with his Sharingan.
Noticing his unsettled expression as he held the scroll, Shiori asked curiously, "What's the mission?"
Shisui handed the scroll directly to her, since the mission was assigned to both of them and she had the right to see its contents.
She scanned the scroll with a single glance. Suddenly, a surge of intense chakra burst from her, and even the surrounding temperature seemed to drop.
With her crimson, three-tomoe Sharingan fixed dangerously on the three Root ninjas not far away, Shiori said slowly and coldly, "Where did this intel come from? Why was his mission plan leaked?"
The leader of the Root ninjas replied stiffly, "The source of the intel is classified information, we cannot disclose it. However, the leak occurred because a spy embedded in Kiri was discovered. He was the inside contact responsible for coordinating with Ryouma during the mission."
Another of the Root ninja, who seemed to greatly admire Ryouma, said indignantly, "He must have been ambushed in a trap set by those damned Kiri ninjas. With his strength, there's no way he'd be wounded so severely otherwise."
Though everything seemed to check out, the Root ninjas were real. The encryption method on the scroll was authentic. The intel was detailed and reasonable.
Still, Shisui had a gut feeling that something was off. Even if all signs pointed to Ryouma being in grave danger, something just didn't feel right.
"Enough. I'll go alone." On the other side, Shiori no longer wanted to waste time here. In her mind, whether the intel was real or not, she had to go to the Land of Water to confirm it herself.
If it turned out to be false and Ryouma was safe, then she'd just complete the mission with him, and afterward, settle the score with this damn Root. But if it was real, then she absolutely had to save him. She had never beaten him even once, how could she let him die before she had the chance?
She touched her eyes. As long as she had these eyes, even if that guy really died, she could still... Suddenly, everything around her grew silent.
Fake... She frowned. That voice appeared again.
What? Who are you? What's your goal? She shouted the question in her mind.
Root... fake... I am... your eyes...
Then her mind returned to silence. But her confusion only grew deeper.
Root fake... that part was easy enough to understand. But what did it mean that the voice claimed to be her eyes?
She clearly remembered that her current eyes originally belonged to her father. Could this be some kind of warning from him?
But the voice was clearly female.
At that moment, she decided to test things for herself, to verify whether these Root ninjas, whose identities seemed legitimate, were truly who they claimed to be.
If the voice had spoken in Shisui's mind instead, he probably wouldn't have acted as directly as Shiori. He'd have tried to probe subtly, gather evidence first, and only then consider attacking.
Shisui thought she was being a bit reckless.
To be honest, he didn't believe Ryouma would be so easily seriously wounded. Besides the Flying Thunder God technique, he also had top-tier sensory abilities. Shisui couldn't imagine anyone in the ninja world capable of ambushing him.
Still, even after all his careful observation and analysis, he hadn't been able to find a single flaw in the Root ninjas before them. They also showed no signs of being under genjutsu.
More importantly, he couldn't figure out what the motive would be if these three Root ninjas were imposters. Was it really just to send him and Shiori to meet up with Ryouma?
Or was it to lure them away and leave the camp vulnerable, reducing its high-level fighting force?
With that in mind, he prepared to summon his ninja beast and report the situation to Fugaku, asking him to strengthen the camp's defenses. But before he could even bite his finger and form the seal, a sudden screeching of birds rang out.
"Aa~!" Shiori had already charged forward, her hand crackling with dazzling lightning, aiming directly at the leader of the three Root ninja.
Shisui quickly tried to stop her: "Wait—"
This was Root. Danzō was a well-known advocate of the Uchiha threat theory. If a conflict broke out with Root here and now, he could easily use it against them, worsening the Uchiha clan's already precarious standing in the village.
The three Root ninjas were clearly caught off guard, Shiori had attacked without a word. That wasn't like a Konoha ninja at all. It was something the Kiri ninja would do!
Before Shisui could finish speaking, Shiori's Chidori had sliced off the lead Root ninja's entire left arm and half of his chest. He collapsed lifelessly on the ground. But what was shocking was that instead of blood, a stream of white liquid was flowing from the wound.
As the body transformed, the original Root ninja revealed his true form, a humanoid creature with entirely white skin.
Shisui immediately reacted, forming hand seals and using his signature technique, the Body Flicker Technique. In an instant, he split into several shadow clones and surrounded the remaining two Root ninjas, though it would be more accurate to call them enemies.
"What the hell are these things?" one of the Uchiha ninjas in Shisui's team asked.
"It must be some trick from Kiri," the last teammate said as he drew a kunai.
Realizing their cover was blown, the remaining two imposters tried to make a last-ditch effort. "What is this white stuff? Where did our captain go?"
Unfortunately for them, nobody was buying their lies in this situation. Shisui turned to Shiori. "That was incredible. How did you realize they were fakes?"
Even the remaining two White Zetsu clones were curious as to how she had seen through their transformation.
But she remained silent and didn't answer Shisui's question because she hadn't actually noticed anything suspicious. She had simply wanted to slash them to see how they would react.
Shisui didn't mind not getting an answer. In fact, he was excited. If this was the enemy feeding them false information, that meant the situation with Ryouma wasn't as dire as the scroll had claimed.
Thinking of this, he prepared to use a genjutsu on the white creatures to extract more intel. "Don't attack just yet, let me see if I can control them with a genjutsu."
However, even after releasing several high-level genjutsu techniques, none seemed to have any effect on the enemies. So, he decided to activate his Mangekyō Sharingan and use the right eye's technique, "Kotoamatsukami," to control them.
Realizing they could no longer keep up the act and wanting to prevent any intel from leaking, the remaining two White Zetsu released their transformation and attempted to sink into the ground using the Mayfly to escape.
But with no other choice, Shisui and Shiori quickly moved to kill the remaining two white creatures.
Looking at the strange corpses, Shisui decided to seal them up for further analysis.
Now that Shiori had confirmed that the report about Ryouma's severe injuries was false, she calmed down, and her strategic thinking returned.
She remembered his analysis from the previous day. His theory was that the voice in her head wasn't trying to stop her from going to the Land of Water, it was warning her personally. And now, with these strange creatures appearing, it seemed someone was trying to lure her into going there.
Based on the brief confrontation, she could now at least be sure that the voice in her mind and these white creatures were enemies.
Since that was the case, she would continue with the plan she had discussed with Ryouma yesterday, wait for his return.
Still, deep down, she couldn't help but mutter to herself, Seriously? What do you take me for? Just because I go to the Land of Water, it automatically means I'll drag everyone down and mess things up?
Far away, hidden inside a tree, the spiky White Zetsu watched his clones fail and could only sigh helplessly. He genuinely couldn't figure out how Shiori had seen through the disguise. Maybe… she just got angry, and started cutting anyone who looked off?
No wonder Madara had immediately excluded her when choosing a proxy, she really was just a brute.
While grumbling internally about her mysterious logic, he merged into the ground and sped up his return to Madara's base.
"Gotta hurry back and report to him."
---Ryouma's POV---
I stood at the foot of an unremarkable mountain. I knew that Madara was hiding beneath that very mountain, but I didn't plan on approaching any closer just yet. Carefully folding the Cloak of Invisibility, I tucked it away.
"Shukaku, we might be facing a real battle next. I need more of your chakra."
"No problem at all!"
With preparations complete, I raised my right hand and began forming a massive Rasenshuriken.
Whirrrrr—
Powerful winds surged outward, blasting the surrounding trees to and fro. The fierce buzzing of wind chakra roared loud enough to feel like it might rupture eardrums.
"Wind Release: Super Giant Rasenshuriken!"
The enormous Rasenshuriken, like a comet, hurled down from my hand toward the base of the mountain. Its overwhelming wind pressure tore through the air, leaving trailing shockwaves.
The moment the Rasenshuriken left my hand, I quickly pulled the Cloak of Invisibility back out and wrapped it around myself.
I know the Rasenshuriken was not stealthy, but before Madara could sense its enormous chakra, it should be too late, well, I hoped so. If nothing unexpected happened, this attack would level the entire mountainside and everything hidden beneath it.
But suddenly, a towering, blue humanoid giant appeared in front of my attack.
Twin faces, four arms, dual blades... it was Madara's Susanoo.
With two chakra-infused swords, Susanoo slashed down upon my Rasenshuriken.
The attack was intercepted midair, triggering a massive explosion. A blue storm of wind chakra engulfed Susanoo, countless tiny wind blades furiously slicing at its armored body.
As the cracks across Susanoo deepened and the giant construct looked moments away from collapse, Madara amplified the release of his eye power and layered another coat of chakra armor over the half-body Susanoo.
When the storm finally dissipated, he still stood safely within the Susanoo, completely unharmed.
His eyes scanned the surroundings, focusing unerringly on my position.
"I can sense your chakra. Why not show yourself?" Madara called out. "Is this how Hashirama taught you to visit an elderly person?"
I realized that Shukaku's unique chakra signature was leaking through despite the concealment. With a sigh, I lowered the hood of the cloak, revealing myself.
"You are not just any old man, Madara."
I carefully studied his appearance. There were no visible signs of Edo Tensei's decay, and his eyes were normal in color.
That left only two possibilities, Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique or a special clone?
Madara dispersed his Susanoo and landed on the ground, arms crossed.
"Seems you've learned quite a bit about me. You possess a remarkable chakra of your own. Why not join me and witness the arrival of true peace?"
