Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

However, the kunai that Naruto shot not only killed the eagle, but also destroyed the spirit of the mountain clan within the eagle.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke could get a definite answer.

However, since the people from Konoha had arrived nearby, Sasuke and Naruto could not allow them to act and disrupt their plans.

Sasuke pondered for a moment. Before continuing his revenge against Itachi, he needed to stop the people from Konoha.

"Don't rush to make a decision. Let's gather intelligence first. At least we need to confirm the number of Konoha guys who are targeting us."

Naruto looked at Hozuki Suigetsu and Karin, who had changed the subject and continued arguing.

"...Don't be so unreasonable and side with Naruto just because you like him! You wear glasses but do you never read books? Don't books say that the easier a woman is to get, the less likely a man is to cherish her?"

Suigetsu grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, and wrestled with Karin over the water bottle, earnestly advising Karin that she should maintain basic restraint when facing Naruto.

But Shuiyue's words were as sharp as his fangs.

Seeing Karin suddenly fall silent, Mizuki keenly sensed danger and began to liquidate his body.

Sure enough, the next moment Karin clenched her fist and punched Suigetsu hard on the head.

Water splashed everywhere as Karin punched Mizuki's head.

Naruto, who was close to the two, tilted his head slightly to avoid the water splashing on his face.

"Karin".

Naruto spoke from behind Karin.

Startled by Naruto's voice so close to her, Karin let out a soft moan. Afraid that Hozuki Suigetsu would continue to expose her secrets in front of Naruto, she grabbed Hozuki Suigetsu without thinking and threw him away.

Then he turned to look at Naruto.

"So, so that's why I can't stand you teenage boys. You all like to mistake a girl's most ordinary behavior for affection. I really don't know what you guys are thinking all day long!"

Karin pushed up her glasses, the sunlight reflecting off the lenses and obscuring her eyes. She looked at Naruto and said, "Don't let Suigetsu's nonsense make you overthink things!"

"I didn't hear what Shuiyue just said."

Naruto replied, "It's better to avoid trouble."

Naruto's words made Karin feel both relieved and disappointed.

However, Naruto didn't intend for Karin to amplify these emotions; he came to see Karin for serious business.

"It's time to end your playful antics with Suigetsu. Use your Kagura Mind's Eye to explore your surroundings."

Before encountering Deidara and Sasori, Karin had sensed her surroundings once before. It was alright that the artistic duo flying high in the sky were out of Karin's perception range.

Karin didn't sense anyone from Konoha either, which means that the Konoha members only started to get closer to each other during Naruto, Sasuke's battle with Deidara and Sasori.

Furthermore, due to the unusual occurrences in the forest caused by the battle, they began using Ninja Hawks for special searches.

If Naruto's idea is correct, the Konoha ninja team should already be within Karin's perception range.

"There are... a total of nine chakra streams... Sakura, the blonde-haired female ninja from Konoha, and the fat ninja are all there."

As expected, Karin was able to clearly detect the people from Konoha this time.

Karin's Kagura Mind's Eye clearly identified the chakra of Sakura, Ino, and Choji, whom she encountered when dealing with Hidan and Kakuzu, the two immortal duo from the Akatsuki organization.

"Among the other six chakras, one chakra should be a ninja dog—and there is also a densely packed, extremely numerous, yet tiny chakra."

With her eyes closed, Karin, using Kagura Mind's Eye, continued to describe the chakra she sensed that the Konoha ninja needed to pay special attention to.

The chakra of the ninja dogs and the densely packed amount of chakra.

The vague features Karin described brought to mind the distinct appearances of two people in Naruto's mind.

I see... The search teams sent out by Konoha are also two standard four-person teams.

One of the squads was clearly Team 8, consisting of Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga.

Having confirmed the composition of the Konoha search team, Naruto was about to continue his previously interrupted discussion with Sasuke about how to stop the Konoha team.

Karin suddenly spoke up again.

"What's going on with this chakra...?"

Karin's murmured question drew Naruto's attention back to her.

"what happened?"

Naruto asked.

"There's also a strange chakra, or maybe two? I'm not quite sure."

Karin's initially confident answer was immediately contradicted by her own words.

In the end, she could only objectively explain to Naruto what she had suddenly perceived, without adding any subjective opinions.

"One of the chakras felt to me like water and oil in the same glass; they were liquids in the same container, yet they were cleverly immiscible."

This was the first time Karin had ever sensed such strange chakra appearing in one person.

However, Karin's statement that "water and oil do not mix" made Naruto's gaze become deep.

Naruto's profound gaze lasted only a fleeting moment before he quickly regained his composure and pressed on, "What's so strange about that other chakra?"

"That chakra just appeared suddenly."

Karin opened her eyes and looked at Naruto.

The sudden appearance of Karin chakra didn't elicit any surprise from me.

Karin's description of this chakra was very certain.

She said, "...This sudden feeling, Naruto, is just like when you use the Flying Thunder God Technique."

—Space-time ninjutsu.

Chapter 53 Mysterious Masked Man

Somewhere in the forest, an incredibly strange scene is unfolding.

A giant green Venus flytrap grew out of the branches of a tall tree, almost like a parasite.

When the leaves of this Venus flytrap fully emerged from the branch, it was astonishing to find that its leaves were adorned with a black robe embroidered with red auspicious cloud patterns, a symbol of the Akatsuki organization.

This indicates that the Venus flytrap is not simply a plant.

The leaves of the fly trap, which were originally folded together, opened to the left and right, revealing its very special "stamens"—

—A person with short green hair, one side of their body is jet black, and the other side is pure white.

This "Venom" is none other than Jue, a member of the Akatsuki organization responsible for intelligence gathering.

"I really didn't expect the guys from Konoha to catch up so quickly."

Bai Jue, with his white body, spoke lightly about the troublesome matter.

"After all, Sasuke Uchiha didn't bother to deal with Orochimaru's subordinates who might reveal his whereabouts. Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, was always keeping a close eye on information related to Orochimaru, and he would investigate any slight movement."

Black Zetsu, with his black body, spoke in a serious tone.

"What an naive guy. It's really hard to imagine that he and that Itachi are brothers."

White Zetsu maintained his indifferent attitude.

Although they share the same body, they each possess two distinct personalities.

Black Zetsu did not respond to White Zetsu's words and fell silent. White Zetsu, just like Black Zetsu, also ended his "talking to himself".

With his exceptionally keen senses, Jue suddenly turned his head to look at the other side of the branch he was parasitizing.

The space beside him, which had been completely empty, began to twist in a visible spiral shape at some unknown time.

This sudden spatial distortion lasted only a very short moment.

When the space around Jue stopped distorting and returned to normal, a man dressed in a black robe with red auspicious clouds, just like him, appeared beside him.

The man had short black hair and wore an orange mask with spiral patterns, the mask completely covering his face except for his right eye.

"I didn't expect you to get here so quickly, Fei."

Bai Jue greeted the masked man who suddenly appeared with the demeanor of a senior.

The man whom White Zetsu called "Afei" merely turned his head slightly, looking at Zetsu with his right eye, which was visible beneath his mask, and asked, "How is the situation?"

Facing Jue, Afei showed no attitude of a junior; his questioning was more like that of a superior to a subordinate.

"Deidara and Sasori are dead."

Black Zetsu casually informed Tobi of the deaths of the art duo, who were also members of the Akatsuki organization.

"If we had known it would turn out this way, we should have followed the original plan to capture the Jinchuriki and went to Sunagakure to capture the One-Tailed Jinchuriki first. At least Kakuzu and Hidan died after capturing the Two-Tailed Jinchuriki."

When Black Zetsu reported the information to Tobi, White Zetsu expressed his distress that the Akatsuki organization was currently short-handed and unable to carry out the capture of the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki as planned.

Neither Black Zetsu nor White Zetsu showed any grief over the deaths of their companions Deidara and Sasori.

The ending of their lives was like that of strangers on the street.

Not only Zetsu, but even Tobi didn't care about Deidara and Sasori's deaths; he had more information he wanted to confirm.

"Did Naruto Uzumaki really steal Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan, just as the information from Konoha has revealed?"

Kakashi, who rose to fame during the Third Shinobi World War with his Sharingan, has undoubtedly become one of Konoha's elites by copying over a thousand ninjutsu with his Sharingan.

Like the Legendary Sannin, Kakashi Hatake can intimidate most troublemakers simply by announcing his name.

Many people fear him, and even more want to kill Kakashi.

Konoha shouldn't have leaked the information that Kakashi had lost his Sharingan so early.

This was not only for the sake of protecting Kakashi, but also to assess the strength of the ninja village.

Elite Jonin like Kakashi Hatake are invaluable assets to the five great hidden villages, serving as a form of publicity and a source of combat power for the village.

This is especially true for Konoha, which lost its tailed beast three years ago.

For some reason, Konoha so easily exposed the information that Kakashi had lost his Sharingan.

The era when the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, could suppress the other four great nations single-handedly is long gone. Whether the title of the current leader of the five great nations of Konoha can still stand up to scrutiny is something no one knows better than the higher-ups of Konoha.

Therefore, it is puzzling that the information about Kakashi losing his Sharingan was leaked from Konoha so easily.