Meanwhile, back with the original, Uchiha Gen and the others were, for once, not darting through the trees. Since they were in no hurry to find the Akatsuki, they had tacitly agreed to walk along a broad road used by trading wagons.
A small village lay beside the road, with vendors selling their wares nearby.
"Come to think of it, Hashirama, with your abilities, can you sense how many things are watching us?" Uchiha Gen suddenly asked.
Hashirama closed his eyes slightly and sensed his surroundings. A moment later, he gave two awkward coughs and instinctively looked at Tobirama. "Um, Tobirama, how many can you sense?"
As though he had known Hashirama would ask, Tobirama had already placed his fingers on the ground when Uchiha Gen raised the question. His brow creased slightly beneath his mask. "Back on the battlefield, I could vaguely sense three or four. Now, for some reason, I can't sense any at all."
Uchiha Gen pondered this. If they could evade detection even when Hashirama and the others were deliberately searching for them, either Black Zetsu had come in person, or they were keeping a considerable distance. In the latter case, the White Zetsu could probably only track their approximate location.
As for what had caused this, Uchiha Gen suspected it had everything to do with his earlier efforts to collect White Zetsu. After all, having several White Zetsu disappear without explanation would naturally put them on guard.
Hashirama breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, he wasn't the problem. Sounding somewhat frustrated, he asked, "Speaking of which, what exactly are those 'people'?"
They all looked identical. Although he could tell their chakra wasn't strong, finding them was a real headache.
"White Zetsu," Uchiha Gen said. "As far as we know, they're beings cultivated from your cells,