Kamui Dimension
Li Yu got out of bed with a yawn when his alarm went off. As usual, he washed up, grabbed a quick bite to eat, put on his mask, and donned his black robe.
This time, Li Yu had learned his lesson. He didn't rush out of the Kamui Dimension. Instead, he activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye and opened a tiny gap to check his surroundings. Only after confirming that nobody was nearby did he leap out of the dimension.
Standing on the mountaintop, Li Yu took a deep breath. "What a beautiful world. The air is so fresh."
Yesterday, he had killed Third Raikage A and a good number of Kumogakure ninja who had rushed in to be slaughtered. He recalled the memories sent back by his two Wood Release Clones.
The two Wood Release Clones hadn't held back yesterday. They had easily taken out the hundred or so ninja who charged at them. The Cloud Ninja had been terrified by the slaughter, but in the end, their fear of death won out, and they scattered and fled. The Wood Release Clone merely put on a show of pursuing them, killing quite a few before getting tired of the chase. Then it dispelled the jutsu, vanishing in two clouds of white smoke.
"Running into Third Raikage A by chance was bad luck for you—and bad luck for me, too."
"At least I don't have to go to Kumogakure to cause trouble. I've even saved myself the travel time."
Li Yu pulled out his map, figured out which way to go, and set off for the Land of Earth. Since he had unexpectedly killed Third Raikage A, he might as well eliminate the ten thousand ninja in Iwagakure to balance the strength of the villages—and keep the story on track.
Just as Li Yu was about to head down the mountain and continue his journey, he spotted several white figures in a small wood in the distance. They were hard at work hauling the Cloud Ninja corpses off the ground, gathering the ones that were still mostly intact.
"Oh, the White Zetsu have plenty to do. They don't just gather intel and monitor the ninja in each village—they also steal corpses from battlefields."
"They look pretty practiced at it. They must have done this plenty of times before."
"They're helping keep the Naruto World clean by preventing all those corpses from rotting and polluting the environment. They deserve an award."
Li Yu suddenly remembered that the Senju Clan had established a ninjutsu research project. They were working to complete techniques that Second Hokage Tobirama Senju had never finished developing—or had only partly developed. They couldn't let all this material go to waste. Being the clan leader gave him a lot to worry about.
Looking at the White Zetsu's pale, dough-like bodies, he felt a strong urge to get his hands on them.
He quietly counted the White Zetsu at work and decided to act. Li Yu quickly worked out a plan.
He activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye again. Space twisted, and he entered the Kamui Dimension. Using the materials stored inside, he drew on the Sealing Jutsu he had learned from Uzumaki Kushina. He set up two sealing arrays and added genjutsu to keep the White Zetsu immobilized and put them into a dormant state.
Li Yu formed Hand Seals and created four Wood Release Clones. Taking two of them with him, he left the Kamui Dimension. The three exchanged glances and grinned, then formed Hand Seals.
"Poof, poof, poof!"
Three White Zetsu, all transformed from Li Yu, made their dazzling debut.
The three impostor White Zetsu slowly sank into the ground and sneaked toward the White Zetsu squad.
They surfaced nearby and walked over to the White Zetsu hauling Cloud Ninja corpses. Looking at the doughy crowd, Li Yu's eyes lit up.
"Hey, you three! You just got here, didn't you? Get to work!"
"Your faces look unfamiliar. Never mind, get to work!"
Li Yu immediately nodded and bowed, slowly approaching the White Zetsu in charge. There were at least five or six White Zetsu nearby, so he had to tread carefully. If he made one wrong move and they all escaped underground in different directions, he'd never catch them.
When they were only three meters away, the three moved without hesitation. The White Zetsu in charge sensed something was wrong and had just started to call for help.
"You—"
The three immediately surrounded him in a triangular formation. The two Wood Release Clones pressed their chakra-coated fingers into his shoulders from either side, making it look as if the three were close buddies with their arms around one another.
The foreman White Zetsu was instantly silenced. He couldn't speak or move, and the two Wood Release Clones carried him away.
Li Yu followed behind them and called out to the rest of the White Zetsu who were still working.
"Get back to work! What are you staring at? Lord Black Zetsu has an important message to pass along!"
The other White Zetsu returned to work, looking confused. Those in the distance didn't notice a thing.
They carried him away from the main group to a secluded spot. Li Yu placed his hand on the ground and reached out with his senses. There weren't any White Zetsu nearby.
He activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye. Space twisted, and he tossed the suspected foreman White Zetsu into the Kamui Dimension. Then a Wood Release Clone stepped out, disguised as an ordinary White Zetsu.
Li Yu formed more Hand Seals and transformed into the foreman White Zetsu. With the three Wood Release Clones disguised as White Zetsu following behind him, he successfully infiltrated the squad.
Li Yu then began bossing the corpse-hauling White Zetsu around. He sent one White Zetsu at a time with his three Wood Release Clones to work in secluded spots, then sealed them away and hid them.
Following the same method, he grew bolder as he went. He began taking three or more at a time to secluded places, and eventually stashed them all in one spot.
"Oh, how long have you been doing this?"
"Me? I've been at it for a while."
"What about you? How long have you been at it?"
"Me? This is my first day doing this."
"Hey, buddy, have you noticed there seem to be fewer of us?"
"Really? I haven't noticed."
"Yeah, there are definitely fewer of us."
"Could someone have snuck in among us?"
"I doubt it. We're very discreet when we work, and we've got lookouts."
"How do we contact them?"
These exchanges were all between Li Yu's three Wood Release Clones. They had almost become friends with the White Zetsu. Bored, they deliberately brought up how their numbers seemed to be dwindling. The foolish White Zetsu didn't believe them, and the clones even managed to find out how to contact the White Zetsu standing lookout.
Li Yu couldn't stand watching them anymore, so he gave them a look.
"Move it. Get it done."
"Got it, boss."
The three Wood Release Clones exchanged glances. Each pinned down a White Zetsu, quickly subduing all six of them. They efficiently took control of the White Zetsu, and Li Yu activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye, sending every one of them sprawled across the ground into the Kamui Dimension.
He then used the signal to call out the White Zetsu keeping watch and sealed them away as well.
After all that, Li Yu let out a sigh of relief and leaned against a tree.
"There's no helping it. I don't have Lord Madara's technique for replicating White Zetsu, so I'll have to capture some and make do."
Back in the Kamui Dimension, Li Yu looked at the thirty-seven White Zetsu in the sealing arrays and grinned. Nearby were more than fifty Cloud Ninja corpses, bundled up and ready to go.
"I've got materials for experiments now. I'll get more White Zetsu from Uchiha Madara later. Ideally, I'll even get my hands on the production method."
"White Zetsu are also excellent vessels. I'll see if there's a chance to upgrade them."
There was no need to worry anymore about gathering intel in the Shinobi World, finding people, or keeping an eye on anyone.