Starting with the usurpation of Akatsuki, the ninja world was overthrown.

Chapter 198 The Awakening of the Puppet

Chapter 198 The Awakening of the Puppet

When Black Zetsu discovered that Nohara Rin was missing, he finally confirmed that Tobi's judgment was correct.

They've been tricked!

"This is unacceptable!!"

They clearly possess the Mayfly Technique, an unsolvable ability to infiltrate! This place is clearly their home turf, with a large number of low-level White Zetsu helping to monitor them!

Black Zetsu, who considered himself the mastermind behind everything, schemed against Madara his whole life, but he never expected that his first job after Madara's death would be thwarted!

The enemy's scheme was actually quite simple—it was just a show of force.

They deliberately made Uchiha Shisui say suggestive things like "Nohara Rin is in danger" while under surveillance, thus diverting Black Zetsu's attention.

These past few days, Black Zetsu has been dreaming about Shisui's "friend from afar" every night.

Until today, after the once flawless surveillance network was torn open by Shisui and Kakashi's actions, the real mastermind finally made his move, delivering a punch to Black Zetsu's vitals!

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Where are the White Zetsu around? Did anyone see who took Rin away? Why wasn't there any warning?"

Black Zetsu relentlessly questioned him in a fit of rage.

At this moment, the unreliable White Zetsu Afei calmed down, as if he had a sense of ease and composure, as if he had suddenly found a way to give up.

"Stop howling, it's useless. The White Zetsu monitoring this area are all the lowest-level individuals without any intelligence."

These past few days, you yourself have been monitoring Kakashi with all the intelligent White Zetsu; blaming them now won't change anything.

Black Jue glared fiercely at A Fei.

"Do you want to go back to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and reset?"

Only then did the unreliable Ah Fei behave himself.

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything more."

Black Zetsu took a deep breath, the pitcher plant opening and closing for a moment, then asked, "Can you track down Rin's whereabouts?"

"It should be possible, we have a backup plan," Afei replied.

"Alright! Then hurry up and give chase. Activate all the hidden agents on the Mist Hidden Front. Execute the plan ahead of schedule; we can't delay any longer!"

After venting his anger, Black Zetsu finally calmed down, but the fighting spirit in his eyes had not yet been extinguished.

He believed he still had a chance!

As Lin was the key to the entire plan, they had insurance.

Even now, Black Zetsu was secretly thinking: if that mysterious enemy hadn't discovered their backup plan, then no matter what the person who caused the trouble was after taking Lin away, they might be able to give that person a surprise in the end!

Unfortunately, this time, his hopes and dreams were destined to be dashed once again.

Same time, different places.

The mysterious troublemaker, naturally, was Shiba Kiyokawa, who was pulling down his hood and looking calmly at the awakened Nohara Rin.

"Do you know you're about to die?"

His calm words, however, provoked Nohara Rin to quickly jump back, creating distance while throwing out her shuriken. Her movements were fluid and her speed was acceptable, demonstrating her fairly solid ninja skills.

While retorting to Lin, she continued to question, "Who are you? Where do you want to take me? What is your purpose?"

However, Shiba Kiyokawa simply tilted his head and sideways to dodge most of the shuriken, and then reached out and grabbed the last shuriken with two fingers.

His decent ninja skills alone are no longer enough for him now.

Before he could make another move, Lin staggered and collapsed to her knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The blood foam contained specks of white spores.

After vomiting blood, Lin looked up in terror and demanded, "What did you do to me?"

Shiba Kiyokawa calmly stepped forward, the glow of medical ninjutsu illuminating his hands. His movements remained unhurried, and his tone was gentle.

"You are a medical ninja yourself, so you should be able to sense that my chakra just now did not harm you. I merely triggered these abnormalities within your body. As for their origin, that has nothing to do with me."

Ignoring Rin's struggles, he pressed the medical ninjutsu in his palm onto her chest once more.

This made Lin, who had just experienced a sharp pain in her chest, feel a little better.

She fell silent, staring blankly at the blood she had just coughed up on the ground.

It's obvious that the spores in the blood foam were a backup plan left by Black Zetsu and his team.

Since they were determined to sacrifice this girl to corrupt Obito, they would naturally take precautions in advance.

This is also the source of their confidence in catching up with Lin: because these spores will guide them to their location.

However, Shiba Kiyokawa discovered these hidden methods right away.

He bluntly told Lin, "You're going to die. The spores have already taken root in your body. Time is limited, and I can't save you."

Lin looked up and stared blankly at her.

"Why are you telling me all this? You...you could have killed me so easily."

Shiba Kiyokawa laughed. "I just hope you don't die without knowing why. If I hadn't intervened, you probably wouldn't have known who killed you until the very end."

Lin tilted her head, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "What do you mean?"

After Shiba Kiyokawa finished treating her, he stood up and reached out to help Rin, who was kneeling on the ground, to her feet. He then spoke in a mysterious and profound manner, like a charlatan.

"Without my intervention, you would never have noticed the abnormality in your body, and you would never have realized that you were already a puppet whose life was about to end."

Afterwards, Kirigakure's elite troops will launch a surprise attack and arrive here. They will capture you, take you back, and turn you into a temporary Jinchūriki for the Three-Tails, Isobu.

People around you will tell you that this is to use you as a vessel to transport the Three-Tails. Once they arrive in Konoha, they will release the Three-Tails and use the Tailed Beast to destroy the Konoha village you love.

You will naively believe it, without ever reflecting on why such an important plan would be so easily known to you, a mere 'container' serving as a tool.

"After that, you can think about what you would choose to do in order to protect Konoha Village."

Although Shiba Kiyokawa's tone was calm and leisurely, as if it possessed a divine quality, Nohara Rin still detected a hint of mockery in it.

She retorted somewhat defiantly.

"These are all baseless fantasies, aren't they? Who would go to such lengths to target a mere Chunin like me? What exactly do you want to do to me? Cough cough cough!"

As she spoke, Nohara Rin started coughing uncontrollably again.

The spores that Shiba Kiyokawa deliberately activated are ravaging her body, causing more and more white spots to appear in the blood she coughs up.

Seeing that Rin didn't believe him, Shiba Kiyokawa wasn't angry. He simply released another healing ninjutsu to stabilize her condition, while secretly catalyzing the spores in her body to grow stronger.

"You may not believe it, but you will soon see it with your own eyes."

My only sincere advice is: when you have the opportunity to make a choice, never blindly sacrifice yourself.

I hope you'll be able to see who your real enemy is by then.

He then retreated on his own and quickly disappeared from sight, under the puzzled gaze of Nohara Rin.

Before leaving, no one noticed that he had quietly drawn a vial of blood from Lin.

Nohara Rin was still a little stunned, not understanding why this mysterious person with terrifying skills kidnapped her, took her away from the hospital, and then just helped with the treatment and left without doing anything else.

Who is this person? What does he want to do?

Just as Lin was racking her brains trying to figure it out, a sound of something cutting through the air came from afar and then quickly came closer!

next moment--

The elite troops of the Hidden Mist Village have actually arrived!

(End of this chapter)