Chapter 56: The Day of Awakening Chosen for Uchiha Obito
Damp, sticky, and smelly.
The experience of staying inside a snake's mouth that had never been brushed bore absolutely no relation to the word "comfortable."
But Hyuga Ritsu endured it. He sat cross-legged inside the snake's mouth, activating his Byakugan. His vision pierced through the great snake's bones and flesh, through the thick earth above, monitoring the rapidly changing landscape on the surface.
Yes, he was currently deep underground, riding a great snake he'd summoned from Dragon Cave—one skilled at burrowing and subterranean movement—rapidly traveling along Route Seven between the main camp and the Mount Kinko defensive position.
If you asked when he'd gotten involved with Orochimaru?
The answer was half a month ago.
When Ritsu returned to the forward camp for rest and reorganization, after consulting with Hiruko-sensei and with his teacher's help, he secretly found Orochimaru and proposed a transaction—paying a considerable price in exchange for the opportunity to sign a summoning contract with Dragon Cave.
Aburame Torune's appointment as deputy commander of the eastern battlefield and the battle at Stone Drum Mountain had made Ritsu clearly realize that nine times out of ten, he'd already become a thorn in certain people's sides that they desperately wanted removed.
Therefore, to rapidly strengthen his own power and expand his trump cards to deal with deadly situations that might come at any unknown time—
Ritsu set his sights on summoning techniques.
You must know that summoning techniques were among the best methods to dramatically increase one's combat power in a short time. Especially signing contracts with powerful summons—calling them forth in battle could play a tremendous role.
The reason Konoha's "Legendary Sannin" were so famous wasn't just because of their personal strength, but also because they'd respectively signed summoning contracts with the Three Great Sage Regions. Often they only needed to summon their creatures to utterly defeat enemies.
Moreover, the Three Great Sage Regions also possessed "Sage Mode" inheritances.
In short, after considerable persuasion and paying a substantial price, Ritsu finally left his signature and bloody handprint on Dragon Cave's contract scroll.
Today, this mission to meet Kakashi's squad escorting supplies made him detect the scent of a trap. But if he chose to disobey orders and Kakashi's squad suffered an attack, Aburame Torune would have a legitimate excuse to punish him afterward.
So he could only execute the order.
But he also understood that going with the flow and executing the mission step-by-step was absolutely the worst choice. At this time, he had to find a way to try changing from passive to active.
Fortunately, he now possessed Dragon Cave as a trump card known only to himself, Hiruko-sensei, and Orochimaru—just the three of them.
After brief consideration, before leaving Mount Kinko's barrier, he'd quietly performed the Shadow Clone Technique. His shadow clone was sprinting on the surface at tremendous speed, while his true body used the summoning technique to call forth the great snake and traveled underground at even greater speed.
One overt, one covert—two routes.
The shadow clone on the surface would attract the attention of ambushers potentially targeting him specifically, while his true body rode the snake underground at greater speed to rendezvous with Kakashi's squad.
Of course, he wasn't certain how effective this move would be, because he wasn't sure if Black Zetsu had gotten involved in this mission. Otherwise, with White Zetsu's infiltration abilities that even the Byakugan couldn't penetrate, perhaps his every move was already under White Zetsu's surveillance.
'I hope my luck isn't too bad.' Ritsu thought silently.
He really didn't dare open his mouth to speak inside this snake's maw. Just breathing already tortured his nose. If he opened his mouth and took a deep breath, he might really not be able to hold back from vomiting.
Fortunately, this ordeal wasn't wasted.
The time should be around eleven at night. Using his Byakugan, Ritsu saw Team Kakashi gathered beneath a large tree on a hill eleven kilometers away, resting for the night. Hyuga Akiba and Nohara Rin sat under the tree, leaning against the massive scrolls as if asleep. An Uchiha girl sat on a tree branch above, occasionally sweeping the surroundings with vigilant eyes. Hatake Kakashi sat cross-legged alone on a large rock, with a small dog lying at his feet.
He'd arrived quickly enough.
Team Kakashi's area was calm and peaceful, without any attacks... Hmm?
Ritsu's eyebrow raised.
As the great snake continued forward, he saw silhouettes in the dense forest approximately seven kilometers from Team Kakashi's position. Without exception, all were Mist shinobi, and these Mist shinobi's chakra levels were universally high.
Ritsu even recognized one of the Mist shinobi.
Kirishima Shinya—an expert from the Kirishima clan of the Hidden Mist Village who inherited the Boil Style bloodline limit. One of the Mist's great generals, he'd repeatedly charged through front-line battlefields, killing quite a few Konoha people. His basic information had long been distributed to all Konoha shinobi on the front lines.
Even though Ritsu and Kirishima Shinya had never crossed paths before, he recognized this famous Mist expert at a glance.
The appearance of these Mist shinobi made his heart race. Perhaps tonight was the day Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu had chosen for Uchiha Obito's awakening.
In the next second, he saw a figure suddenly emerge from the ground about one kilometer from where the Mist shinobi were located.
This almost made Ritsu unable to stop himself from standing up.
This figure's appearance had no warning whatsoever. Despite being under the Byakugan's watch, there had been no detection of its existence before it manifested. This couldn't be explained by space-time techniques, because space-time technique appearances involved instantly inserting into one's field of vision.
But this figure's appearance method was gradually emerging from the ground.
Therefore, if this figure hadn't used space-time techniques to transfer from outside Ritsu's visual range, there was only one possibility—this figure's true identity was White Zetsu. Only White Zetsu's strongest infiltration technique in the shinobi world could deceive the Byakugan's perception.
'Calm down! Calm down!'
White Zetsu's appearance allowed Ritsu to confirm with near 100% certainty that tonight was the day Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu had chosen for Uchiha Obito's awakening. Not just Team Kakashi, but also the Mist shinobi, and Uchiha Obito who should currently be staying in Uchiha Madara's secret base—everyone was a chess piece on the board, puppets in a puppet show!
Being manipulated by these two chess players and puppet masters, Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu!
Therefore, Ritsu began to think—what should he do in this situation? What position should he take? Should he not care and simply watch all this happen, letting the shinobi world continue turning along the established wheel of fate?
Or should he not care about the butterfly effect he might trigger and seize this rare opportunity to seek even more benefits for himself?
He fell into deep contemplation.
But he didn't hesitate for too long before making his decision.
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