Chapter 41: The Terrified Second Pillar
Su Xiao arrived at the battlefield between Sasuke and Danzo not to spectate—he had no interest in watching others fight; only getting in on the action himself was satisfying. The reason he came here was to wait for Naruto Uzumaki.
He did indeed wait for Naruto, but unfortunately, beside Naruto were dozens of contractors.
Who knew how strong these contractors were? Some might be weak, others might be quite powerful. Moreover, it was unknown whether Nagato had revived Kakashi, and Naruto’s own combat strength was nothing to scoff at.
Calculating the time, Naruto should have already mastered Sage Mode by now, which would elevate his combat power several notches. On top of that, he had Kurama inside him as a safety measure. A Naruto releasing eight tails was something even Nagato would struggle to subdue.
“Team up to intercept them?”
Su Xiao looked at Obito. He knew that Obito currently possessed formidable combat strength. Earlier, when they traded, Obito had obtained Kakashi’s Sharingan, which gave him a high chance of being able to use Susanoo.
“Let me think it over.”
Obito didn’t refuse outright. Instead, he squinted his Sharingan, pondering something. Su Xiao’s proposal wasn’t something Obito could easily dismiss. Just a few hours ago, Su Xiao had helped the Akatsuki kill two Kage.
“Better not. It consumes too much dojutsu. But…”
Obito glanced at Sasuke in the distance.
“He’s a useful pawn. Though he’s growing fast, it’s not fast enough.”
Obito was clearly scheming against Sasuke again. Poor Sasuke—he was constantly on the mind of an old schemer like Obito.
“He can’t even stand steadily. It’s impossible for him to face the pursuit force.”
Su Xiao understood Obito’s intention.
“Really impossible? The Uchiha clan and the Senju clan have deep ties. You’re an expert on Hashirama cells, with knowledge of them no less than Orochimaru’s.”
Obito kept staring at Sasuke in the distance.
“Not a bad idea.”
Su Xiao was intrigued by Obito’s suggestion. He no longer planned to engage Naruto now, given the number of contractors around him.
“You really have a way?”
Obito sounded somewhat surprised.
“Let’s give it a try. But those eyes of his might be ruined.”
“That doesn’t matter. Given how much he’s overdrawing his dojutsu, those eyes will lose their light soon anyway.”
The two reached an agreement. Obito waved at Sasuke in the distance.
“Sasuke, there’s something I want to discuss with you. About Konoha.”
Hearing Obito’s call, Sasuke hesitated for a moment. The keyword “Konoha” clearly caught his attention.
Soon, Sasuke approached Obito. He immediately noticed Karin on Amu’s back.
“Leave her to me. She’s my subordinate…”
Before Sasuke could finish, he suddenly felt something slip under his armpit and firmly lock his arm.
“You!”
Sasuke immediately realized that Obito had ambushed him from behind. This troubled Sasuke—he had just abandoned Karin, and now he might be following in her footsteps.
After Obito restrained Sasuke, Su Xiao walked toward him.
“Amaterasu!”
Sasuke’s eyes widened, his Mangekyo Sharingan fixed on Su Xiao, intending to burn him with Amaterasu’s flames.
Whoosh~
A sharp sound of air being cut appeared. Su Xiao was almost instantly in front of Sasuke, landing an uppercut on his jaw.
Sasuke’s head buzzed. When his vision cleared, everything was blurry. After a careful check, he realized it wasn’t his eyesight failing—he had been fitted with a pair of glasses. They were Karin’s strong prescription glasses.
For someone with normal vision, wearing strong prescription glasses causes blurred sight and dizziness. The Uchiha clan’s eyesight was exceptionally sharp, so the side effects of wearing such glasses were even more pronounced.
The principle of Amaterasu was to ignite black flames at the focal point of vision. Now, with impaired vision, Sasuke couldn’t use Amaterasu in a short time unless he adapted to his current field of view, which would take time.
“Sasuke, don’t be nervous. We just want to help treat you. Considering you don’t trust us, we had to take forceful measures.”
Obito offered “kind advice,” but Sasuke wasn’t listening. He even tried to activate Susanoo to break free.
Bang!
Su Xiao punched Sasuke in the stomach.
“That’s better.”
Sasuke indeed calmed down. He was already severely injured, and now he had taken a punch from Su Xiao. It wasn’t Su Xiao’s full-strength punch—if it had been, Sasuke’s stomach would have been pierced through.
A metal injection gun appeared in Su Xiao’s hand, filled with a pale green liquid.
“You’re getting off easy.”
Su Xiao tapped the metal needle. Inside was purified original Hashirama cells. These cells had a short lifespan, with activity lasting only two hours, but there was no risk of tree transformation. There was no need to suppress these cells with chakra. After two hours, they would quickly decompose and eventually be expelled from the body through metabolism.
“What are you… going to do?”
Sasuke gasped heavily, struggling to lift his head and look at the injection gun in Su Xiao’s hand.
Su Xiao didn’t speak. He pushed Sasuke’s head aside and stabbed the injection gun into his neck. The multiply purified Hashirama cells were injected into Sasuke’s body. Sasuke was somewhat tough—he only let out a pained grunt.
“No problem now.”
Su Xiao pulled the injection gun from Sasuke’s neck and casually tossed it into the river.
Hearing this, Obito released Sasuke. Sasuke stumbled back a few steps, ready to fight Su Xiao and Obito, when he realized something was wrong.
“Chakra is recovering… and dojutsu is recovering quickly too.”
Sasuke wasn’t stupid. He felt his body lighten, and a cool sensation spread over his burning eyeballs.
“Hand over the glasses.”
Su Xiao gestured to Sasuke. Sasuke tore off the glasses and tossed them to Su Xiao.
“You can fight freely for two hours. During that time, your dojutsu should recover at over ten times the normal rate. In other words, you can even maintain Susanoo for two hours straight.”
Su Xiao, Obito, and Bubu Wang walked into the forest.
“Why are you doing this?”
Sasuke was clearly confused. He could never figure out the motives of these Akatsuki members. He also didn’t know if that potion had any side effects, or if it had been laced with a slow-acting poison.
“You’ll handle the pursuit force. By the way, those are Konoha people. Danzo was your first gift. This is the second.”
Obito waved at Sasuke without turning around.
“Konoha’s pursuit force…”
This time, Sasuke understood what was going on. But he still had many doubts—namely, why did the cells of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, restore dojutsu? And they even seemed to enhance the Sharingan.
Inside the forest, Su Xiao hadn’t gone far. Based on his inference, Sasuke’s Susanoo would soon evolve to its third form, and he could maintain that form for two hours of combat.
When Naruto and Sasuke met, it was a given that they would fight. And Sasuke, as the second protagonist, would draw a lot of fire from the contractors. The Naruto world had two future children of destiny. Sasuke wasn’t the second yet, but killing him carried some risk. Though the contractors wouldn’t dare kill Sasuke directly, if they managed to capture him, the rewards would be astonishing.
Those dozens of contractors had no idea they were about to face a Sasuke who could activate the third form of Susanoo. That wasn’t even the worst part—what was truly despairing was that Sasuke could maintain that third-form Susanoo for a full two hours.
Hashirama cells were powerful, but they had side effects. After this battle, even if Sasuke didn’t go blind, his Mangekyo Sharingan would be severely overstrained.