Starting as the Hidden Mastermind from Naruto

Chapter 160: Isn't This Just Slandering People?

Naraku Uehara was very busy.

Currently, Naraku Uehara was squatting on the periphery of this secret base, eagerly waiting for a White Zetsu clone to emerge so he could capture it. At the same time, he was using his very crude drawing skills to mark the location of this base on a map.

The map Naraku Uehara drew himself was even more abstract than the maps he bought in some small shops. It basically just wrote down the general directional data and drew a few landmark hills.

While drawing the geographical location, Naraku Uehara would occasionally alternate between activating Thrill of the Hunt and Destiny to check if any White Zetsu had appeared.

After a long time, a White Zetsu clone finally emerged from under the ground of this secret base. It used the Mayfly Technique to travel towards the distance. Based on observation, this White Zetsu's destination seemed to be a nearby town.

Just as this White Zetsu emerged from the ground and took on the appearance of an ordinary person, someone suddenly patted its shoulder and held a sloppy map in front of it, "Friend, can you find your home with this map?"

"Hmm?"

The White Zetsu's brow immediately furrowed. It turned its head to see a strange face, so it relaxed and lowered its head to look at the map.

"What is this supposed to be?"

"A map!"

"I'm asking what this symbol is supposed to be?"

The White Zetsu glared unhappily at the strange man behind it and began to criticize the sloppy map, "What is this? A mountain? What is this? A lake? What is this, a forest? What kind of mess is this map? Who can find a small hill's location from within a forest? And it's marked as 'approximately a few kilometers'…"

As the White Zetsu spoke, its voice gradually grew quieter. It seemed to have remembered where this location was. This was the secret base where they and Obito Uchiha were hiding!

The White Zetsu instantly turned its head to look at this stranger, only to see a mysterious smile on the stranger's face, which sent a chill down its spine!

The White Zetsu immediately felt that something was wrong. The next moment, just as it was about to struggle free and escape to rush back to the base and report, its body was bound by vines!

The White Zetsu's expression suddenly changed, and it asked in a deep voice, "Wood Release? Who on earth are you? How do you know Hashirama Senju's Wood Release?"

"Oh, I'm just a map-drawer."

The stranger's face changed again, returning to Naraku Uehara's original appearance. He chuckled lightly and said, "Well, it seems there's no problem with the map I drew…"

"Naraku Uehara!"

This White Zetsu immediately recognized this person who was often talked about in the base. It had even secretly monitored Naraku Uehara in Amegakure for a period of time. It was said that every time Black Zetsu and Obito Uchiha argued, it was because of this guy.

This person should be their ally!

A few years ago, this very White Zetsu had personally seen Naraku Uehara speak well of Obito Uchiha in front of Konan and Nagato, but Konan and Nagato were very stubborn and refused to accept Obito back.

This White Zetsu tried to comfort itself and asked in a low voice, "Naraku Uehara, what do you mean by this? Why did you capture me and even note down the location of our secret base? Are you a spy planted by Nagato and Konan around us?"

"Are all White Zetsu as chatty and annoying as you?"

Two pairs of white wings abruptly spread out from Naraku Uehara's back. He held the White Zetsu, which was tightly bound by vines, and soared into the sky.

This White Zetsu, having lived underground all its life, seemed to have a bit of a fear of heights and kept cursing and swearing in the air.

Naraku Uehara considered himself to be of high quality, and he knew that this White Zetsu wouldn't live for much longer, so he paid no mind to the White Zetsu's curses.

This White Zetsu was to be sent to Kabuto Yakushi.

Naraku Uehara, with his wings spread, flew all the way to the vicinity of Otogakure, bringing the cursing White Zetsu with him.

After landing, this White Zetsu said in a deep voice, "This is Otogakure. Naraku Uehara, what did you bring me here for?"

"You've been to quite a few places."

Naraku Uehara chuckled lightly and began to activate his Destiny skill. He soon found Kabuto Yakushi's location, but Orochimaru was not in the village at the moment.

Ever since the Konoha Crush plan, Orochimaru seemed to care less and less about the existence of Otogakure. The number of ninjas in this village was also decreasing, and even the guards were not up to par.

This was actually normal.

After all, Konoha had been tracking Orochimaru. They had only recently been tied up by that so-called Anbu rogue ninja codenamed Orphan. Once they recovered, they would definitely find a way to send people to wipe out Otogakure.

At least in name, they had to eliminate Otogakure.

Orochimaru wouldn't care about Konoha's actions. The foundation of Otogakure was Orochimaru himself. As long as Orochimaru was still alive, he could build a new Otogakure in the future.

Naraku Uehara found Kabuto Yakushi with almost no effort. Coincidentally, Kabuto was carefully conducting experiments in his laboratory.

When Kabuto Yakushi saw Naraku Uehara, he wasn't particularly surprised. Kabuto had seen the miraculous abilities of this new superior many times.

But what was with Naraku Uehara's curious gaze staring at the experimental table? Did he intend to conduct an explosion experiment?

"Ahem, ahem… Lord Naraku."

Kabuto Yakushi hurriedly interrupted Naraku Uehara's thoughts. He looked down at the White Zetsu beside Naraku Uehara, and his eyes immediately lit up, "Is this White Zetsu?"

"Yes, alive, and freshly caught."

When Naraku Uehara spoke of the White Zetsu, it was as if he were talking about a fish. He then took out a map from his ninja tool pouch and handed it to Kabuto Yakushi, "This is the map I drew. On it is the base where the White Zetsu are entrenched. You need to find a way to guide Orochimaru to capture them."

"Understood."

Kabuto looked at the map for a while. As a spy, he had seen all kinds of sloppy maps, but the map Naraku Uehara gave him was really hard to describe.

Fortunately, Kabuto Yakushi was familiar with most of the terrain in the ninja world. He obediently accepted the map without saying anything impolite, and instead focused more of his attention on this living White Zetsu.

After days of research, Kabuto and Orochimaru had grown increasingly desperate for White Zetsu. The utility of this creature was too great!

Kabuto Yakushi pushed his glasses, a thirst for knowledge flashing in his eyes, "I will now use this White Zetsu to conduct a human experiment for Hashirama cell transplantation!"

"There are Hashirama cells here?"

Naraku Uehara's eyes immediately lit up, "Help me prepare a portion of Hashirama cells. I want to transplant them into an Uzumaki descendant!"

Originally, Naraku Uehara had been thinking of getting a portion of Hashirama cells for Nagato to try. Since there were Hashirama cells here now, he might as well take a portion from here!

"Is it for Karin?"

Kabuto Yakushi's brow immediately furrowed, his mind seeming to have figured something out, "That's right, the Uzumaki clan is naturally endowed with strong life force. They are also the most suitable carriers for Hashirama cells, and even have a great possibility of awakening the Wood Release kekkei genkai! It's a pity that the Uzumaki descendants are scattered throughout the ninja world and are too hard to find. It's too wasteful to use them for experiments…"

"Spare me the theories."

Naraku Uehara glared at Kabuto Yakushi unhappily and said softly, "This White Zetsu has already seen my true face. We can't let this fellow live. In a moment, after you finish the Hashirama cell experiment, twist its head off!"

"Naraku Uehara, you bastard, you despicable, shameless, lowlife scum!"

The White Zetsu immediately began a torrent of curses. In just half a minute, this White Zetsu used every curse word it had ever known to describe Naraku Uehara.

Kabuto Yakushi broke into a cold sweat listening to it.

In fact, Orochimaru would also secretly curse Naraku Uehara occasionally.

However, compared to this White Zetsu, Orochimaru's curses seemed very civilized, just a few back-and-forth phrases like "a petty person who takes advantage of others' crises" and "an inhuman monster of Akatsuki"…

Naraku Uehara listened all the way, cleaned his ears, and ignored the White Zetsu. He just looked at Kabuto, who was going to get the Hashirama cells for him, and asked, "Kabuto, where did that Orochimaru fellow go? Is he up to some conspiracy again?"

"No."

Kabuto Yakushi took out a sealed bottle, then sealed the bottle with a scroll before handing it to Naraku Uehara, "Lord Orochimaru has a deal to handle with Kusagakure…"

Over the years, much of the experimental funding Orochimaru earned came from deals with small ninja villages, minor country daimyos, and wealthy nobles.

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Kusagakure was also one of his partners.

"Oh, then I hope he finishes soon."

Naraku Uehara shook his head and said with emotion, "After I leave later, I will go and destroy Kusagakure. If that Orochimaru fellow fails to get enough money from the deal, he will have a debt that can never be collected in the future."

Kabuto Yakushi: "..."

Oh dear, wasn't this getting screwed over again?

A few days ago, Orochimaru had incidentally developed a tool that seemed to be usable in war. To make a profit from Kusagakure, Orochimaru had gone to negotiate the price and collect data these past few days. But now, this deal was probably going to fall through!

This time, Orochimaru wasn't even taking an advance payment from Kusagakure, because he was too confident in his own strength. A small ninja village wouldn't dare to default on Orochimaru's debt.

But if this small ninja village was destroyed by Naraku Uehara, then it would be a true force majeure. Even Orochimaru couldn't do much about it…

Kabuto Yakushi was completely speechless as he looked at Naraku Uehara, not knowing what to say. Why did this new superior always want to screw over his old boss?

Naraku Uehara put away the sealing scroll, kicked the still-living White Zetsu, and said softly, "As for how to lure Orochimaru to attack the base where Obito Uchiha and the White Zetsu are entrenched, I don't need to help you think of a reason, do I?"

"Of course not."

Kabuto Yakushi quickly shook his head with a light laugh, "I can easily handle this small matter myself. After all, I have sufficient reason."

After speaking, Kabuto Yakushi looked at this White Zetsu with some regret, "It's a pity about this White Zetsu. If Lord Orochimaru were here, he could make more use of it…"

"Alright, we'll catch more later."

Naraku Uehara patted Kabuto Yakushi's shoulder, looking as if he had high hopes for him, "You continue to lurk here by Orochimaru's side. He is just a tool. Your potential is limitless. Work hard to learn Edo Tensei and the Sage Mode of Ryuchi Cave, understand?"

Looking at the entire history of the ninja world, only Kabuto Yakushi had learned the Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode. If Naraku Uehara wanted to evolve his Sage Mode, he could only temporarily place his hopes on Kabuto Yakushi. Otherwise, he would have to try killing the White Snake Sage…

Moreover, Kabuto could also master the proficient Edo Tensei. This was a potential stock. Kabuto also had the highest future achievements among Uehara's three subordinates, much stronger than Kisame Hoshigaki and Mangetsu Hozuki.

"Understood."

Kabuto Yakushi nodded hesitantly. To be honest, the high hopes Naraku Uehara had for him were something Kabuto himself dared not even imagine!

"Oh, right, a few more things."

Naraku Uehara suddenly turned his head, held Kabuto Yakushi's shoulder, and asked softly, "I want to frame Obito Uchiha for leaking the location of the White Zetsu base. Anyway, he's all alone now. As long as the blame is pinned on him, no one will believe him. Do you have a way to do this?"

"...I can."

Kabuto Yakushi pushed his glasses and said in a low voice, "I will handle this matter. Lord Naraku can rest assured."

"Besides these, there's also information about Zetsu…"

Naraku Uehara patted Kabuto Yakushi's shoulder and continued to ask, "Zetsu has Black Zetsu and White Zetsu. White Zetsu are just a bunch of weaklings with low combat power.

But Black Zetsu claims to be the will of Madara Uchiha. Its existence is for a grand plan. As for this plan, I'll tell you after I've figured out how to make it up.

But you can find a way to leak this to Orochimaru in advance, claiming that Obito Uchiha also leaked this. This matter is also up to you. Any problem?"

Naraku Uehara found that having a spy placed by Orochimaru's side was really good. This way, he could directly give the intelligence to Kabuto and let Kabuto find a way to leak it to Orochimaru.

This way, he wouldn't have to rashly use Orochimaru's identity to cause trouble, lest some flaw be exposed.

Kabuto, however, looked at Naraku Uehara speechlessly. You still have to think about how to make it up? Aren't you just trying to slander Black Zetsu?

However, the quality of a subordinate let Kabuto know when to ask and when not to, when to answer and when to shut up.

After Kabuto Yakushi was silent for a good while, his gaze slowly turned to the White Zetsu beside him, which was about to die on the experimental table, "Lord Naraku, I want to understand more about this creature, White Zetsu. Do they have human thoughts or are they subordinate creatures of Black Zetsu?"

"You mean to ask whether this White Zetsu has a better relationship with Obito Uchiha or with Black Zetsu, right?"

Naraku Uehara stroked his chin, sizing up the increasingly irritable White Zetsu, and said softly, "This White Zetsu thing probably has no brain. They do whatever they want. Maybe their heads are full of water?"

"You're the one with no brain, you bastard!"

The White Zetsu, which had been cursing persistently at the side, was provoked again, "Naraku Uehara, you despicable villain, shameless and lowlife, your head is the one full of water!"

Kabuto Yakushi slowly pushed his glasses and said softly, "It seems we can treat this White Zetsu as an envoy sent by Obito Uchiha to cooperate with Lord Orochimaru. If they really did cooperate, would it pose a threat to Lord Naraku?"

"Don't worry."

Naraku Uehara smiled confidently and spread his palms, "There aren't many people in the entire ninja world who are my opponents. I can have any counter-measure…"

This was the confidence that came after Sage Mode!

When encountering the strong, he becomes stronger. When encountering the even stronger, he becomes even stronger!

(End of Chapter)

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