Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 185 White Zetsu's Questioning

"bump!"

The faith they had regained was shattered once again when a figure fell and crashed to the ground. Mei Terumi and her Kirigakure companions approached the figure and were shocked to see it lying in a bloody mess, though they could still make out who it was from the tattered clothes.

"Lord Mizukage..."

died!

No one expected the Mizukage's death to come so suddenly and so unexpectedly.

They still don't know the attacker's identity; the Mizukage died right before their eyes.

"asshole!!!"

"Don't run!"

The enraged Kirigakure was utterly furious. No one could stand idly by and watch an enemy who had killed their village's Kage escape unscathed, even if that enemy was very strong. They were not afraid at all.

Mei Terumi was also furious, and joined the others in her anger.

"You all keep an eye on Lord Mizukage; leave the enemy to us."

The older Kirigakure ninja had a strong mental fortitude. He hadn't forgotten the difference in strength between himself and his enemies. The young people who came here were all promising future pillars of the village, and they couldn't be allowed to take risks.

Faced with the reasons given by the older Kirigakure ninja, the younger ninjas, including Mei Terumi, could only stop tending to the Mizukage's corpse, despite their resentment.

After all... even though the Mizukage is dead, his body is still very important to Kirigakure, and it cannot be lost in any way.

"Uncle, the Hidden Mist ninjas are coming after us." In mid-air, Little Leaf looked back and reminded him.

Actually, Li Yao already knew without being reminded, and he smiled and said, "It's nothing."

Bang!

Li Yao created a shadow clone and jumped down.

The people hidden in the mist quickly caught up.

"Expand..."

The middle-aged ninja in the lead was about to command everyone to form an attack formation when his consciousness was locked in a small dark room. Everyone seemed to have suddenly become a vegetable and instinctively ran a few steps before collapsing to the ground.

Li Yaoying's clones went over, each carrying one in one hand, and began to absorb chakra.

After devouring one, it immediately crushes its head and then uses Fire Release: Incineration.

Li Yao's main body quickly arrived at Bai Jue's location.

When Bai Jue saw Li Yao bringing Whirlpool Leaf over, he didn't care and jumped up onto the back of the clay bird.

"Go to the Land of Rain," Bai Jue said coldly.

"No problem." Li Yao laughed and changed his flight direction, heading towards the Land of Rain.

"Let's go around the Land of Fire by sea, then through the Land of Rivers, and into the Land of Rain." White Zetsu suddenly changed his mind and told Li Yao to take a detour.

Otherwise, he was afraid that this guy would cause some trouble when he passed through the Land of Fire.

After calming down, he realized that Li Yao was truly fearless, or rather, he was truly fearless when it came to matters that touched his bottom line.

So it's best not to give this guy a chance to cause trouble.

"Then you give me directions," Li Yao said. He knew the general direction of the Rain Country, but he didn't know about the River Country, which was a detour.

"This way." Bai Jue pointed to the left, and Li Yao immediately controlled the clay bird to change direction.

After the three of them flew to an altitude of 5,000 meters, and no one disturbed them, Bai Jue finally couldn't hold back and began to question Li Yao.

"Didn't I tell you from the beginning not to make too much of a commotion and cause trouble for Lord Madara?"

"Why did they annihilate the Daimyo's clan of the Land of Water, doing something that shocked the entire ninja world?"

Huh... Li Yao's eyes widened slightly, and he instantly looked confused.

He thought White Zetsu was questioning him about why he attacked Kirigakure and killed the Mizukage, but it turned out that attacking Kirigakure and killing the Third Mizukage was not as important as the annihilation of the Daimyo's clan.

Something is wrong!

In an instant, Li Yao once again sensed the distorted place of the ninja world.

He instantly composed himself, burying the unease deep within his heart. He secretly observed the world, and soon a relaxed smile appeared on his face as he said, "Don't worry, I haven't revealed my identity. I used ninjutsu that I haven't used before, so no one has connected it to me."

Those who guessed his identity or saw him use the black iron chains are all dead. They were either burned to ashes or, like the Third Mizukage, their bodies were left behind, but their brains were churned up and could not be probed to know Li Yao's information.

"Even so, it won't work."

White Zetsu's expression remained unchanged as he looked at Li Yao and warned, "If there's a next time, Lord Madara will kill you outright."

Hmm... Upon hearing that someone wanted to kill Li Yao, Xiao Yezi's gaze immediately sharpened, and a strong killing intent flashed in her eyes as she stared at Bai Jue.

She turned her head to look at Li Yao. If Li Yao gave her a single glance, she would not hesitate to kill this white clown who dared to threaten to kill the old man.

It has to be said that, setting aside its terrifying aspect, White Zetsu's image does indeed resemble the Joker somewhat.

Bai Jue completely ignored Xiao Yezi's unpleasant gaze and only stared at Li Yao.

"Understood," Li Yao shrugged.

It seems he really needs to be careful before Ban dies; angering a dying old man is definitely not a good choice.

Fortunately, after reading the memories of the Third Mizukage, he obtained the Water Transformation Technique and also copied the special Water Release: Black Water Chakra.

It's okay if we don't go to Sunagakure next, since we'll have another chance to copy the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release chakra later.

Thus, Li Yao, who originally intended to seek revenge on the other five great powers' daimyo prefectures, was stopped.

On the surface, the appearance of White Zetsu seems to be reasonable and well-founded.

However, it is a fact that Li Yao's attempt to continue killing the daimyo was indeed thwarted.

Judging by actions rather than intentions, this incident gave Li Yao a hunch that the current ninja world pattern was not formed naturally, but was very likely created by human intervention.

To keep all the ninjas together as much as possible to fight each other, preventing them from spreading throughout the world and having too much of an impact.

Who can influence the course of the ninja world without anyone noticing?

The toad sage of Mount Myōboku who can foresee the future may be one of them.

But Li Yao was more inclined to believe that the Six Paths Immortal was hidden in the Pure Land.

After all, the source of all chakra in the ninja world originated from him.

In a sense, everyone is the child of the Sage of Six Paths, and the chakra in their bodies fluctuates with the chakra of the Sage of Six Paths... Hmm... Thinking of this, Li Yao suddenly frowned.

He suddenly thought of a question: after a ninja dies, his soul enters the Pure Land and stays there. He has never seen anyone else reincarnate. It seems that the Pure Land does not have the function of reincarnation.

So here's the question.

Why can the souls and chakra of the Sage of Six Paths' two sons be reincarnated so many times over the past thousand years, while the chakra of other people cannot?

Is it possible that the Sage of Six Paths deliberately confiscated the soul chakra of his two sons and sent them to the Pure Land, so that they would continue to reincarnate and fight in the ninja world?

If this is true, then the Sage of Six Paths is the mastermind behind the constant infighting in the ninja world.

Why did he do that?

Why did he die?

Having mastered the Rinnegan and inherited the bloodline of the Otsutsuki clan, he can also use Sage Mode.

It doesn't make sense that the toads of Mount Myōboku are still alive and well, while the Sage of Six Paths is dead... But that doesn't make sense either.

The Sage of Six Paths did not die; his soul is living well in the Pure Land, which appears to be the very place he created.

What is the purpose of him creating the Pure Land to collect the souls of ninjas after they die?

Why only collect the souls of ninjas after they die, and not the souls of ordinary people?

The more Li Yao thought about it, the more doubts and questions filled his mind.

He had a premonition that the Sage of Six Paths must have some ulterior motive, and that motive... sigh!

We'll only know for sure when he reaches a certain level of strength.

(End of this chapter)