Whether the Nine-Tails resided within Namikaze Minato or had fallen into Isshiki's hands, for Black Zetsu it was something extremely difficult to obtain either way.
Back then, Hiruzen had ordered Senku to extract the Nine-Tails from Naruto's body and hand it over to Sarutobi Ishishu.
But if that were the case, it became impossible to explain where the Nine-Tails' power within Namikaze Minato had come from.
Clearly, this was also one of the key pieces of information that urgently needed deeper investigation.
Fortunately, Black Zetsu's arrangements on the moon had gone very smoothly.
He stated frankly, "There's no problem with the setup on the moon, but if we want to see any obvious results, it'll take a very long time."
Then, changing the subject, he proposed a feasible plan for the present, "We can work on two fronts. On one hand, we keep gathering all kinds of intelligence related to Konoha. On the other, we put all our effort into developing our own forces and steadily strengthening them."
Obito nodded slightly. After thinking it over a bit, he asked, "Then how do you plan to collect information related to Konoha?"
Black Zetsu's lips curled into a cold smile as he replied in a sinister tone:
"I wonder whether the current Cloud Village and Stone Village still have the guts."
The implication was obvious. He seemed to be planning to make use of external forces to probe Konoha's secret intelligence.
However, at this moment, those two ninja villages were still under the deterrence brought about by Rengoku's Susanoo.
Whether they actually had the courage to challenge Konoha's authority and pull the tiger's whiskers was something no one could say for sure.
"What exactly happened to Rengoku?"
A trace of confusion appeared on Obito's face.
"That Rasa actually said he killed Rengoku. It's just ridiculous."
Black Zetsu shook his head, "It was nothing more than empty talk so he could stay alive."
"I personally went to the place where they last fought. There were extremely intense residual fluctuations of space-time energy left there."
"Rengoku may have been exiled to another space-time."
"Exiled?"
"Space-time?"
At first, the concepts of "exile" and "space-time" felt rather unfamiliar and confusing to Obito.
After thinking it through for a while, he finally understood what they meant. With a surprised expression, he followed up:
"Rasa actually has that kind of ability?"
After all, within the entire ninja world system, space-time techniques were among the rarest and most difficult skills to master.
If Rasa truly had mastery over space-time ninjutsu, then the current situation of the Sand Village would definitely not look like this.
Although Obito himself could freely enter and exit the Kamui dimension thanks to the unique ocular power of his Mangekyo Sharingan, that was entirely due to the special ability of his eyes.
When it came purely to theoretical knowledge of space-time ninjutsu, Obito knew very little, to the point that it could be said he understood almost nothing.
Back when he was still at the ninja academy, his academic performance had always been at the very bottom. He was a genuine dead last.
Over all these years, his heart had been completely occupied by hatred. All he ever thought about was the Eye of the Moon Plan.
How could he possibly have taken the time and energy to deliberately study space-time knowledge that, to him, was like a heavenly script he could never understand?
Hearing this, Black Zetsu could not help but snort in contempt.
"With Rasa's level of ability, how could he possibly have that kind of power?"
Then he shifted the topic again and continued explaining:
"Actually, it's because there exists a mysterious energy source called the Dragon Vein within the Land of Wind. It has the power to allow people to travel through space and time."
"As for whether Rasa accidentally triggered the Dragon Vein's power by sheer coincidence, or whether the Dragon Vein itself went berserk and caused the current situation, that's something no one knows."
After a brief pause, Black Zetsu added in a decisive tone, "But in my view, Rengoku was very likely transported somewhere else by the power of the Dragon Vein."
At this moment, Obito showed a strange expression, questioning with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Since the Dragon Vein has such powerful space-time traversal ability, why didn't you tell me about it earlier?"
Facing Obito's questioning, Black Zetsu answered helplessly, "Although the Dragon Vein does indeed have the ability to traverse space and time, the activation of that power is completely random."
"No one can predict where you'll end up being sent."
"If you're not careful, you might be thrown straight into some completely unfamiliar world."
"So if you want to rely on the Dragon Vein to travel back to the past and try to change the course of history, that's nothing but a fool's dream."
After hearing Black Zetsu say this, the little schemes Obito had been quietly calculating in his heart were finally completely dispelled.
After a moment of silence, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he spoke again and asked Black Zetsu, "With Rengoku's level of strength, does he really have no way to come back from wherever he was sent?"
Black Zetsu's lips lifted slightly as he let out a cold laugh and replied without mercy, "No matter how strong Rengoku is, that has nothing to do with controlling the power of space and time."
"In front of space-time power, personal strength means absolutely nothing."
"Based on my calculations and analysis, if he really was exiled, then with the Dragon Vein already exhausted, it would be almost impossible for him to come back again."
Black Zetsu paused slightly, leaving some words unsaid.
This space-time had long since been sealed off by Otsutsuki Isshiki using space-time lockdown.
Even if Rengoku could find massive energy similar to the Dragon Vein in another space-time, he would absolutely be unable to rely on that power to successfully cross back to the original world.
After all, the space-time sealing techniques mastered by the Otsutsuki clan could only be broken by technology that also originated from the Otsutsuki.
And looking across the entire ninja world, on this planet, the only one with that ability was Isshiki alone.
At this moment, the planet where the ninja world resided had already become an isolated island cut off from the rest of the vast universe. Any conventional means of space-time travel had lost all effect here.
Upon hearing this, Obito's once-dull eyes instantly flashed with a bright light.
You had to know that over the past several years, Rengoku had been nothing short of a nightmare to Obito.
No matter what scheme Obito carefully planned, as long as Rengoku was involved, it almost always ended in failure.
Even the Rinnegan, which he regarded as the core and most precious tool of the Eye of the Moon, had been destroyed by Rengoku's hand.
When facing such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, Obito had felt nothing but resentment and helplessness, with no other options.
Because he could not win.
And now, learning that Rengoku had actually been exiled to another space-time and would have great difficulty ever coming back.
The gloom that had long been pressing down on Obito's heart was instantly swept away, and he could not help but break into a broad smile.
He would even wake up laughing in his sleep.
Thinking of this, Obito nodded in agreement without realizing it, "If that's the case, then we don't need to worry about being targeted by Rengoku anymore."
"I really hope he never comes back."
Black Zetsu also narrowed his eyes slightly and added slowly, "If that guy were still around, our plan wouldn't be so easy to carry out."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "You should know that Rengoku has already obtained the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Hearing this, Obito froze on the spot, his face filled with shock, "The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"
During this period of time, he had been completely focused on making his own eye successfully awaken. He knew almost nothing about what had happened on the battlefield.
A hard-to-read smile appeared on Black Zetsu's face as he continued in a half-smiling tone, "Not only that, Rengoku has also developed Susanoo to the completed form."
He gently shook his head, as if feeling somewhat helpless about it.
"From what I know, those six thousand troops of the Sand Village were basically all killed by Rengoku alone."
"Completed-form Susanoo?"
Obito's face instantly turned ashen. Other matters he might not have been very clear about.
But when it came to the power of completed-form Susanoo, he had a very clear understanding.
All these years, even though he only had one Sharingan, Kamui's extremely powerful functionality had been enough for him to make do.
However, ever since Uchiha Rengoku had emerged out of nowhere, things had gradually begun to spiral out of control.
What was even worse was that somehow, through some unknown channel, Rengoku had learned about Obito's special ability.
Without Susanoo to protect him, every time Obito encountered Rengoku, he would lose a life.
By the time he wanted to reclaim the other eye that was with Kakashi, it was already too late.
Rengoku had acted in advance and gouged out his Kamui eye.
Now, even though he had managed to regenerate his eye through other means, activating the Mangekyo Sharingan again still felt impossibly distant.
Even if he were lucky enough to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan in his other eye and then unleash a powerful Susanoo, its might would still be a full level below Rengoku's.
This absolute suppression born from ocular power meant that no matter how much Obito wracked his brain, he could not find even the slightest chance of victory.
With a solemn expression, Obito slowly let out a breath of turbid air, "Luckily, that terrifying guy is no longer in this space-time. Right now, the most urgent thing is still to quickly gather more intelligence about the overall situation."
Standing to the side, Black Zetsu fully agreed and echoed him, "That's right. Since Rengoku has already been exiled, it's no different from being dead."
"As for now, the strength of the Cloud Village and the Stone Village hasn't been greatly affected. They'll definitely try every possible way to probe Konoha's current situation."
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