Black Zetsu's reaction

"What's going on? Yemu, was that an earthquake?"

Inside the carriage, Hinata Hyuga had also realized that the Yemu beside her wasn't the original.

As for how she knew...

One look at Qingxue Uchiha lounging around with her eyes closed, sleeping without a care, was enough to tell her that Yemu was a Shadow Clone.

"Probably."

Yemu nodded. He had no idea what enemy his original had encountered.

He had actually gone straight for a massive move like Chibaku Tensei.

Had he run into Obito Uchiha?

"Yemu, don't tell me you caused that?"

Kurenai Yuhi noticed how uninterested Qingxue Uchiha looked, as though life had lost all its color.

She couldn't help wondering whether the Yemu before her was a clone or something else.

After all, a woman's intuition could be remarkably accurate sometimes.

"Miss Kurenai, aren't you giving me too much credit? How could I possibly cause such a huge disturbance?" Yemu shook his head.

Hinata Hyuga, on the other hand, was certain that the disturbance had something to do with Yemu.

For some reason, worry began to well up in Hinata's heart.

"Hiruko: Needle Eight Waves!"

Sasori made his puppet, Hiruko, open its massive mouth, unleashing black poisoned needles and spikes at tremendous speed.

Against poisoned spikes that flew as fast as bullets...

An ordinary ninja would have no choice but to dodge.

But not Yemu. Shimmering light burst from his Tenseigan.

Shinra Tensei!

The almost invincible repulsive force not only stopped the poisoned spikes in midair, but sent them flying back.

"Holy shit!"

"Sasori, are you trying to get me killed?"

Sensing hundreds of poisoned spikes hurtling toward him from behind, Deidara was forced to dodge frantically.

"Something's wrong. This mysterious guy's abilities are a lot like our leader's, aren't they?"

Sasori remained calm as he analyzed the situation.

"Our leader?"

Deidara froze.

Now that Sasori mentioned it, they really were similar.

Yet while Deidara was dodging the attack, Yemu had already moved to block their path.

The sight of that mysterious white mask made Deidara's heart pound. "Buddy, we don't have any grudges against each other. Could you stop chasing me?"

"It was this Puppeteer beside me who attacked first. If you want to go after someone, just go after him."

Deidara sold out his teammate without hesitation.

"You can leave, but the goods stay."

Yemu Hyuga deliberately made his voice cold and sinister.

"Goods? What goods?" Sasori's eyes narrowed.

Unbelievable. Someone was actually robbing members of the Akatsuki? Had the world turned upside down?

"Your Puppet Technique, and whatever gold coins you're carrying."

"I'm a kind man. As long as you don't try anything funny, your lives will be perfectly safe."

Yemu Hyuga extended his hand slightly.

A transparent sphere formed in the center of his palm, as though space itself were collapsing.

"Sure, sure. It's just gold coins. I'm not a miser like Kakuzu, valuing money over my own life."

As he spoke, Deidara tossed Yemu Hyuga the gold coins he had obtained from the bandit stronghold.

The pouch was heavy, with roughly a hundred coins inside.

As for Sasori...

He was clearly still hesitant.

After all, his Puppet Technique was among the best in the Shinobi World. How could he simply teach it to someone else?

This was something tied to his art.

"Still hesitating, are you?"

Yemu Hyuga crushed the gravitational sphere in his hand.

Rather than a sphere, it was more accurately a gravitational field surrounding Sasori.

The Tenseigan's strength lay in its control over forces.

In an instant, the gravity around Sasori changed, leaving him feeling as though a small mountain were pinning him down.

"Motherfucker! Sasori, what are you thinking? What good is your Puppet Technique if you're dead? Isn't that stuff a dime a dozen?"

Deidara felt himself being caught in the effect as well.

His giant clay bird crumbled instantly, sending both of them plummeting toward the ground.

The overwhelming pressure left them drenched in sweat.

They had only ever felt something like this from their leader.

"I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you!"

Once Sasori relented...

The gravity around them finally returned to normal.

After getting what he wanted, Yemu left.

Before leaving, however, Yemu gave Sasori a few extra looks.

This man was a top-class puppet master.

Someday, he would have to recruit him and put him to work making puppets.

Yemu simply had to get his hands on such a first-rate workhorse.

"That bastard finally left."

Deidara slumped to the ground, watching Yemu disappear into the sky as relief washed over him.

The two headed back to Amegakure, intending to report what had happened that day.

"Hey, why did he only want your Puppet Technique? Aren't my Clay Bombs good enough?"

On the way back, Deidara complained to Sasori, who stood behind him.

"Hmph."

Sasori didn't answer, merely snorting, but beneath his puppet shell, the corners of his true body's mouth slowly curled upward.

"Damn it!"

Deidara could clearly tell how smug Sasori was feeling.

"Art is an explosion! Explosions are true art!"

Still arguing...

The two soon returned to Amegakure and told their leader, Pain, what had happened that day.

"Deidara, did you two make up a story to fool us just so you could get out of paying up?"

Kakuzu happened to be there. A cold gleam entered his eyes as he listened to their report.

He could accept anything, even death.

But the one thing he could never accept was someone refusing to repay a debt!

"You think I'm lying?"

Deidara's eyes widened as though he had been insulted. "If I'm lying, may every Clay Bomb I make from now on be a dud!"

Hearing Deidara say that...

Kakuzu turned his head away in displeasure.

It seemed Deidara really wasn't lying.

After all, that was a pretty vicious oath for him.

Not far away...

Black Zetsu, who was always snooping around for scraps of information, overheard the Akatsuki members exchanging intelligence.

His head was practically filled with question marks.

Judging by Deidara's description...

Weren't that masked man in white's abilities those of the Rinnegan?

Chibaku Tensei and Shinra Tensei!

But wasn't the Rinnegan with Nagato?

How could someone else have awakened these abilities?

Black Zetsu racked his brain, but he couldn't figure out who the person Deidara described could possibly be.

Could another pair of Rinnegan have appeared in the Shinobi World?

Or was that man in white actually a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan?

If that were the case, Black Zetsu might genuinely wet himself in terror.

After all, he had been born from Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's consciousness.

And deep within Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's consciousness lay an innate fear of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

There was no helping it. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's standing within the Ōtsutsuki Clan had been low.

Otherwise, she would never have been designated a living sacrifice to feed the juvenile Ten-Tails.

If Kaguya Ōtsutsuki hadn't used some unknown means at the last moment to ambush Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who had come here with her...

She would probably have vanished into the currents of history long ago.

"Oh, so you still remembered to come back?"

"I thought you'd gone chasing some other woman."

Seeing Yemu Hyuga climb into the carriage, Qingxue Uchiha pursed her rosy lips, her expression carrying a hint of resentment.

"I only went to the bathroom. What other woman?"

Yemu climbed into the carriage.

He sat down between Hinata and Qingxue.

"Welcome back, Yemu." Hinata Hyuga smiled softly, inwardly sighing with relief.

*???*

Kurenai Yuhi was utterly baffled. Hadn't Yemu just gone to the bathroom?

Why had everyone's attitude changed?

And hadn't Qingxue looked half-dead just a moment ago?

How had his return from the bathroom brought her back to life?

At that thought, Kurenai Yuhi looked at Yemu.

That brat had definitely been fooling me with a Shadow Clone!

Qingxue Uchiha