Another Battle

The sparring match between Sakura Uchiha and Sasuke was rather unremarkable in terms of specific details. Compared to the earth-shattering battle in the previous volume, it lacked both flashy moves and fierce killing intent, consisting only of hand-to-hand combat that ended with a few touches.

Sakura Uchiha, whose Nintaijutsu abilities were limited, performed only moderately in Taijutsu combat.

Indeed, Sakura Uchiha inherited all of Sakura Haruno's Taijutsu skills, including her Monstrous Strength Technique, as well as her many years of combat experience. Theoretically, she is another 100% copy of Sakura Haruno.

However, in practice, she encountered a predicament known as "having high aspirations but low abilities".

But before discussing this issue, let's shift our focus to another part of the ninja planet, within the territory of a country in the middle of the continent, where a battle is also taking place.

A battle that features both dazzling Ninjutsu and fierce clashes of killing intent.

Boom boom boom--!

"Die, you traitor!"

Amidst the blazing Kakkō and deafening roar, several tall buildings collapsed, their intricate drainage pipes shattered into pieces, with fragments and stones flying everywhere like shrapnel.

Thick smoke billowed up, completely enveloping the area of the explosion and obscuring the view inside.

A figure emerged from the thick smoke, flapping its wings and standing high in the air.

She wore a black robe with red cloud patterns, revealing a glimpse of her shapely figure beneath. Her face was beautiful, but her eyes were cold; she was clearly a founding member of Akatsuki.

Nan, who considers himself Angel of God.

The battle where she was defeated by Sakura Haruno two years ago did not leave her with any physical pain, but after this battle, Nan's eyes were less arrogant and more cautious.

At this moment, her expression was cold and stern, and her beautiful eyes were cautiously scanning the dusty area at her feet.

"Come out!" the woman shouted. "I know you won't die so easily!"

No one answered; all was silent.

Then, suddenly, a voice rang out, answering Nan—

Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!

A massive fireball stealthily burst forth from the haze, cunningly and fiercely attacking the woman in mid-air! Nan's expression changed slightly; the paper in her hand transformed into a shield, meeting the fireball head-on, but her body abruptly twisted to the side, landing on the ground—

Bang!

With a deafening explosion, the paper shield was burned to ashes, and the woman's figure brushed past the fireball in a disheveled state.

"You can't escape, Nan."

A deep, resilient voice rang out from behind the Paper Angel, and as he spoke, a Kunai already silently placed against the woman's throat.

"So fast... such speed."

Nan turned around with difficulty, his eyes filled with disbelief, and said in shock.

Then, the moment their eyes met, the woman suddenly revealed a strange smile.

"Too bad, you've got the wrong person, Madara!"

A strange, thick, acrid smell of burning paper reached "Spot's" nose; his face darkened abruptly, followed by a flash of white light—

Boom!!!

The kidnapped woman transformed into countless burning Explosive Tag, which detonated all at once, creating a blindingly large fireball amidst the ruins of the buildings!

The deafening explosion turned half the sky into an eerie rose-red.

A woman's figure emerged from the far distance, her pretty face reflecting an uncertain light in the Kakkō of the explosion.

Even at this distance, the intense heat of the fireball could still be felt, burning painfully, but Nan stood there oblivious, his eyes fixed on the fireball at the center of the explosion.

The man who was once considered an ally, but has now completely turned against him and become his enemy, calling himself Madara Uchiha, is slowly Earth Flow from the center of the fireball.

His steps were steady and powerful, his eyes expressionless.

It was as if the violent explosion hadn't touched a single hair on his head.

Although she had expected it, Nan still couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine upon seeing this scene.

"What a dangerous technique, Nan!" He looked up at the woman in the distance and said flippantly.

The woman's face darkened, and she sneered, "Hmph! Too bad I couldn't kill you with that!"

"There's nothing to regret," Madara shook his head, a twisted smile appearing beneath his mask. "You and I both know that this level of technique is ineffective against me!"

Nan gritted his teeth, speechless.

She knew that the person in front of her was probably not Madara, but he possessed extremely troublesome and strange abilities. Dealing with him might be even more difficult than dealing with an aging Madara Uchiha!

Obito continued, "Struggling is useless now! Hand over Nagato's corpse, and if I obtain the complete Rinnegan, I might spare your life for the sake of the past!"

The woman scoffed, a mocking look on her face. "Do you think I'd believe your nonsense?"

This battle has made her see the true colors of the person in front of her!

In fact, Nagato certainly didn't die!

What died in that earth-shattering battle was merely his Six Paths of Pain clones.

But Obito and Zetsu didn't know this! Obito didn't participate in that operation, White Zetsu wasn't used to operating in the sea.

So Nagato and Minami created a false impression.

Pretending Nagato is dead...

To test Obito's ambitions and true intentions.

Unfortunately, Obito failed this test, revealing his true ambition.

From beginning to end, he only used Akatsuki and Nagato as tools to complete his plan! The moment he learned of Nagato's death, he made his choice—

Steal the Rinnegan!

When facing Nan, he made no attempt to conceal his thoughts.

Nan, who had long suspected that Obito had leaked information and wanted to kill Nagato, did not hesitate to break off their relationship the moment Obito!

Thus, the battle we are witnessing took place.

This battle represents a complete rift within Akatsuki!

The two groups, each harboring their own ulterior motives, eventually reached a crossroads where they parted ways due to a series of coincidences and inevitabilities.

Of course, a real fairy tale would be one in which a group of scheming, distrustful foreign vagrants and S-class wanted criminals could unite under a vague goal, risking their lives to contribute to a dark organization!

It's normal for internal conflicts, underhanded tactics, and even infighting to emerge; that's the normal direction for development.

This winter, the fairy tale called "Dawn" finally shattered, heading towards the familiar and clichéd ending of infighting.

Nagato's feigned death finally revealed Obito's true colors.

"You don't need to believe it," Obito calmly, gazing south as if watching a bird struggling in a cage.

Obito was absolutely certain of victory against her.

"No matter what," he said calmly, his Mitsudomoe eyes slowly darting around, "You can't stop me from getting what I want."

The woman's face was so dark it seemed like it could drip water.

"You won't get away with this!" Nan shouted sternly.

She took a deep breath, Chakra suddenly surged, instantly condensing into countless Explosive Tag!

Swish, swish, swish!

With Paper Angel, a dense barrage of Explosive Tag flew towards Obito.

Detonate!

A continuous rumbling sound suddenly erupted.

Obito sneered, intangibly transforming his body and repeating his previous tactic, letting the Explosive Tag pass through his body and explode one by one.

The blinding Kakkō lasted for quite some time, and by the time the explosion subsided, Nan had disappeared from Obito's sight.

Did they take the opportunity to escape?

"Trying to escape?" The man's lips curled into a cold smile. "Do you think you can escape?"

Just as Obito was about to Body Flicker Technique forward, a figure suddenly emerged from the ground and grabbed his clothes—

"Etc!"

Obito turned his head away unhappily.

It's White Zetsu.

"At least take this with you, just in case!" White Zetsu handed over a bottle.

"Hmph, what a waste of time!" Obito impatiently took it, and then hastily vanished from the spot in Body Flicker Technique flash.

Kiss--

As several bubbles burst, the White Zetsu emerged from the ground one after another.

"That guy..." One of them was a combination of Black Zetsu and White Zetsu; the black part looked in the direction Obito had gone and frowned, saying, "He was too impulsive!"

"With Obito's strength, dealing with Minami shouldn't be a problem," the white-clad side retorted.

Jue started talking to himself; having two personalities, he often exhibited this bizarre phenomenon that seemed incredibly strange to outsiders.

"The problem is, what if Nan is lying?" Black Zetsu pondered. "If Obito has to deal with Nagato and Nan at the same time, Obito 'll be in danger..."

"That's true. But why would Nan lie?" White Zetsu retorted indignantly, "What was her motive for doing that?"

A long silence followed.

For so long, the other White Zetsu all thought that Zetsu had truly transformed into a plant.

Black Zetsu suddenly realized, "She's testing Obito! No, Nagato might not be dead yet. They've suddenly started to distrust Obito, so they're using this false information to test Obito true intentions!"

"That's just your speculation, isn't it?" White Zetsu said. "I don't think it's certain yet—"

"No!" Black Zetsu interrupted him, saying quickly, "If Nagato is really dead, would Nan dare to return to the base and face Obito? If I were her, I would take the Rinnegan far away, hiding far, far away! She dares to come back, she must have something to rely on!"

White Zetsu suddenly realized. "Her confidence stems from Nagato being alive! Oh no, Obito is in danger!"

Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes.

The sudden infighting and betrayal of his two most valuable pieces caught him off guard, and he felt a surge of unexpected anger.

He thought he could manipulate others like puppets, but in reality, even the most insignificant person might resist the threads of fate that control them, let alone figures like Obito Uchiha and Nagato.

Not to mention, with the stunning emergence of a certain individual and their repeated sabotage of Akatsuki's operations, undercurrents had already begun to surge within Akatsuki: Obito was increasingly impatient with playing the role of an idiot, watching Akatsuki, led by Nagato, repeatedly suffer setbacks and become inefficient, and he had long harbored the idea of replacing them and reaping the rewards; while Nagato, faced with some failures, especially after discovering that Sakura Haruno possessed his confidential information, also began to develop a great deal of distrust towards a certain mysterious member of Akatsuki...

These rifts cannot be mended no matter how much the Black Zetsu Society manipulates people's hearts or plans and schemes. This is a natural conflict between the ruling Party and the opposition Party.

The current development of events was simply inevitable sooner or later.

Even in the world Sakura Haruno traveled to before (the original world), if Nagato hadn't died in Konoha, the two would have inevitably fought a battle sooner or later, a battle for the initiative in the plan.

Seeing that the plan had changed and the pieces were not obeying, Black Zetsu was naturally furious.

However, in front of the other White Zetsu, he had to dutifully play the role of Madara Uchiha and maintain this deception, thus having no way to vent his anger.

"Walk!"

He could only utter this resentful sound before disappearing underground.