Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 520 Catch a Grass

"Wait, Naruto, let me find Kabuto first. We'll be ready in a bit."

"No need for that. I know his location. I'll update Shisui and Itachi later."

"Your senses are really useful. Hashirama searched the entire Land of Frost but couldn't find anyone."

Wait, how did you know about our squad's arrangements?

"Huh? Tobirama-san, what are you talking about? Didn't I never leave?"

Communication across the distance continued, but the scene before them had completely changed; the dense forest even brought back some unpleasant memories for Sasuke. But this time, someone could distract him from his anxiety.

How are things going with your new friends?

"...That's your friend."

Naruto made an exaggerated hurt expression and said, "Isn't what's mine yours? They've been getting to know you these past few days."

This statement isn't entirely untrue, because Sasuke's personality is indeed vastly different from Naruto's. Sasuke tries very hard to act, but there are always moments when he can't help but reveal his true nature. A short period of contact can be somewhat masked, but spending many days together makes it difficult to conceal.

Sasuke looked away, then quickly turned back and said, "So, instead of letting them get to know the real you, why did you come here?"

Naruto made a shushing gesture and pulled him down to a lower position. The two had only been squatting down for a short while when something... half of its body was black, and the other half was a lump of something, emerged from the ground. This thing was obviously the same as a White Zetsu, with a ring of green plants growing around its waist, but the black half looked really strange.

When Black Zetsu emerged, he glanced in their direction. He seemed to sense something was wrong, but couldn't pinpoint the reason, so he dismissed the feeling as a hallucination and turned to look down the mountain.

Sasuke had already hunched his back, poised to pounce, but Naruto just smiled at him, his face clearly saying: Leave it to me.

Sasuke didn't understand. If the goal was to capture someone, it would be safer to use both of them together. Although his clone had already used up a lot of energy, it was far from being destroyed. However, he quickly understood why. Naruto simply opened his palm, and the ground beneath Black Zetsu's feet changed completely.

The land that was once so close to Black Zetsu had become a shackle that imprisoned him, burying him completely into a ball of earth, leaving only his head sticking out.

Sasuke's Sharingan was almost wide open, but he still couldn't figure out what the commotion had to do with Naruto. In his vision, Naruto's chakra was fluctuating, stuck in a state that was neither too much nor too little, which was obviously different from when he last saw Naruto.

"Let's go. We've suspected this guy for a long time. We finally caught part of him, but we still need to find the rest through him." Naruto was in a good mood, and even his steps became less steady. He leisurely floated over amidst Black Zetsu's fear.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Black Zetsu's voice was hoarse, which fit the guy's dark and crawling image. His eyes were just dots, his face was pitch black, and his mouth, which was only a slit, turned down, revealing his emotions.

"How did you end up here?!"

Oh, I almost forgot, Naruto has already used genjutsu to cover up the characteristics of the Impure World Reincarnation, probably because he doesn't want people who see him to be frightened and keep asking about death.

"My Flying Thunder God Mark is found in every corner of the world, is it strange that it appeared here?" Naruto smiled and reached out his hand, seemingly intending to touch the guy, but Sasuke's lightning-infused sword was faster, instantly slicing off the guy's black head, and disdainfully using the sword to pick it up, extending it horizontally to Naruto's hand.

Naruto didn't understand, but he respected. He only touched the separated parts, and locked onto all the targets in an instant.

"That's enough, Sasuke."

Before the words were even finished, the dark mass burst into flames, which instantly engulfed the thing.

"...What have you done!" Black Zetsu sensed an immense crisis. Naruto before him was completely beyond his comprehension. As an ancient creation of Yin-Yang Release, he was closer to the essence of matter, and therefore felt immense pressure facing Naruto at his full power, like a mouse before a cat. For a thousand years, he had never felt such fear, because... Naruto seemed to truly possess the power to destroy him!

"Don't be nervous, I just intend to reunite you completely." Naruto said as he controlled the earth to completely envelop Black Zetsu. Then, the round earth ball was compressed to the size of a palm, and apart from being a little darker in color, it seemed to have no other changes.

Sasuke glanced at the thin layer of soil on the ground, then at the ball of dirt that Naruto was playing with, and asked the question he couldn't ignore.

"You've come up with something new again."

"It's not that new, I'm just more skilled at controlling matter." Naruto denied it outright. He really didn't think it was anything special. Compared to himself in the Pure Land, he was a complete novice.

"Kakashi has arrived, and the masked man will be here soon. Are you ready for a tough battle?"

"I will not give him the opportunity to destroy the world."

"Let's do our best together, Sasuke."

The moment the fourth line of clones returned, Sasuke immediately broke free of his disguise, which startled Kakashi, who had just landed and was the closest to him.

"Sasuke?!"

Sasuke remained expressionless, silently counting in his mind. About ten seconds later, the white figure appeared beside Kakashi.

The drastically different chakra flows on both sides prompted Kakashi to reveal his Sharingan prematurely. When he realized his eyes were right and Kurama was with Sasuke, the shock on his face almost spilled out of his mask.

"Long time no see, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto greeted him casually, then took Sasuke's left hand and poked the center of the back of his hand.

"Are you ready for the impact? They're coming."