"Sis, Ichirō, Kabuto, I'll leave this place to you."
Lin Ze said, "My shadow clone is still at the Kumogakure Front. My real body has to return as soon as possible. I can't stay away too long and arouse suspicion."
Nonō looked at him with concern. "Be careful."
"Yes, I know."
Lin Ze nodded.
"For the time being, I'll probably continue operating in Konoha as 'Aoda.' After all, I still need Konoha's help to obtain certain resources and research materials. When the time is right, I'll break away completely."
After giving them a few more detailed reminders and finishing his instructions, Lin Ze delayed no longer.
He walked out of the laboratory and shot into the sky, once again turning into a streak of azure light as he sped toward the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.
This time, he felt especially at ease.
As night fell, Lin Ze silently returned to the vicinity of the Konoha Camp at the Kumogakure Front.
He carefully sensed his surroundings, confirming that nothing unusual had happened in the camp during his absence and that the shadow clone left in his tent to impersonate him had not been exposed.
He slipped into the camp, easily avoided the patrolling sentries, and returned to his tent.
The shadow clone nodded upon seeing him, then vanished into white smoke with a puff, returning to his real body along with its memories and experiences from that time.
Lin Ze quickly absorbed the shadow clone's experiences over the past few days-it had spent most of its time sitting quietly, occasionally handling Fujiwara Kenta's intelligence deliveries. Everything had proceeded as usual, without arousing suspicion.
He changed into his ANBU uniform and took the Azure Dragon Mask out of a scroll. After looking at it