164: The Abnormality of River Country and White Zetsu's Trap

The Land of Rivers, a swampland perpetually shrouded in thick fog, where the air was thick with a damp, decaying smell, as if it could be wrung out.

"Ugh... This place smells like a giant Slug's armpit." Yugito pinched her nose, complaining with a look of disgust, "I bet the negative ion content here is definitely off the charts! My hair is starting to protest!"

Her beautiful flaxen long hair was visibly becoming fluffy and curly at a speed visible to the naked eye, making her look like a cat whose fur had exploded.

Beside her, Gaara was expressionless, but the gourd on his back thoughtfully extended a thin stream of sand, coiling around a bottle of iced happy water and presenting it to Yugito, without even a single drop of condensation on the bottle.

"Thanks, Red-haired Junior." Yugito took it, guzzled two mouthfuls, and felt alive again.

Qian and Zi Luo stood one on each side, vigilantly guarding Tang Yan, like two loyal door gods.

"Stop complaining, just think of it as a free rainforest SPA." Tang Yan was looking down, fiddling with the Myriad Forms Ingenuity Box on his wrist, his tone as relaxed as if he were on a picnic, "According to the energy map of the Ingenuity Box, the entrance to Kaguya's 'server room' is at the center of this 'local area network'."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a dozen tiny reconnaissance puppets, the size of dragonflies, flew out from his sleeve, buzzing as they scattered and disappeared into the thick fog ahead.

However, in less than three seconds.

On the light screen projected by the Myriad Forms Ingenuity Box, the dozen green light dots representing the reconnaissance puppets, like kites with broken strings, successively flickered out with popping sounds.

"Signal lost." Tang Yan raised an eyebrow, "Interesting, this swamp itself is a large signal jammer and Chakra-devouring device, a natural Faraday cage. Any conventional Perception Ninjutsu that enters will become blind."

The Two-Tails Matatabi in Yugito's arms frantically warned through their mental link: "Meow! Yugito, something's wrong with this place! The air is full of the smell of 'plastic' and 'inferior figurines'! It's a trap! Run!"

"Too late." Tang Yan pointed around them.

Only to see the murky swamp mud begin to bubble like boiling water, with mounds of earth rising up. Immediately after, one by one, in clumps, and in swathes, pale humanoid creatures broke out of the ground.

They were pure white, without facial features, their forms distorted, much like dough that had failed to ferment and been stepped on a few times. Hundreds of White Zetsu spore clones, swaying, surrounded them from all directions, forming an impenetrable encirclement.

"Wow, is this a fan meeting? What a grand display." Yugito flexed her wrists, a warlike arc curving her lips, "My hands are itching!"

"Fire Release: Rat Hairball!"

She took a deep breath and violently spewed out several giant hairballs burning with demonic blue flames. These hairballs, like homing missiles, whistled into the White Zetsu crowd, instantly clearing a large area and leaving behind a ground of charred ashes.

Gaara was even more direct; he didn't even bother with hand signs, simply pointing his palm at the ground.

"Sand Shower!"

Countless grains of sand shot skyward, gathering into a cloud of death high above, then transforming into a dense rain of sand and stone, like the most efficient floor cleaner, riddling the White Zetsu on the other side, causing them to scatter and disintegrate.

However, these White Zetsu were like the fastest-respawning low-level monsters in a game; as soon as one batch was eliminated, more immediately emerged from the swamp, endless and fearless, continuing to surge forward.

"It's useless, don't waste Chakra on these small fries." Tang Yan's voice came from behind him; he even leisurely took out a handful of melon seeds, "Their mission is to stall us, to engage in a 'blue bar' attrition war. The real killing move is still waiting to watch the show from behind."

Yugito kicked away a White Zetsu that lunged at her, shouting impatiently, "Then what do we do? We can't just keep playing whack-a-mole here, can we?"

"Who said we were going to play with them?" Tang Yan cracked a melon seed and snapped his fingers.

"Boom—!"

The ground violently shook, and a giant desert rock spider, comparable in size to a heavy truck, burst out of the earth—it was Mountain Devil - Strange Rock!

Its sinister body, forged from obsidian steel, was covered in ancient wind-eroded patterns, and its eight gleaming scythe-like limbs alone were enough to make one's scalp tingle.

"Come on, little Shanxiao, electrify this pond and cure these loaches hiding in the water."

Tang Yan issued the command.

The crimson eye-lens of Mountain Devil - Strange Rock flickered, and the "Sand Iron Energy Absorbers" at the ends of its eight limbs did not absorb energy as usual, but instead lit up with dazzling light in reverse.

A powerful Chakra, a fusion of "Invincible Thunder" and "Petrification Qi Poison," was compressed to the extreme and then explosively injected along the eight limbs that were deeply embedded in the swamp's earth pulse!

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle—Boom!"

The entire swampland instantly boiled!

This was no longer a simple physical attack, but a dimensionality reduction strike originating from the depths of the earth pulse! The violent lightning energy raged wildly underground, tearing apart all disguises; and the invisible Qi Poison, like the most terrifying virus, invaded every White Zetsu body connected to it via the energy network.

"Ah ah ah—!"

"Hiss—!!"

Countless screams, inhumanly shrill, echoed from all directions of the swamp. Those White Zetsu bodies, originally perfectly disguised and hidden underground, stiffened and petrified uncontrollably under this irresistible energy impact, forced to emerge from the mud.

They twisted in agony, large patches of rock texture appearing on their body surfaces, and then, like weathered statues, they crumbled piece by piece.

In just a single breath, that endless white tide came to an abrupt halt.

The whole world fell silent.

Gaara watched this scene, silently tightening the cap of his Gaara-brand iced soda.

Yugito, even more so, gaped, her mouth hanging open for a long time: "This... what is this? A map attack? No, this is... physical formatting?"

Just then, in the thick fog deep within the swamp, a sudden round of applause broke out.

"Clap, clap, clap..."

A figure slowly emerged. Half of his body was white, half black, and he wore an orange, spiral-shaped mask with only one hole, looking both comical and eerie.

He clapped and spoke in a deliberately lively tone: "Oh my, truly remarkable! I thought no one besides Pain could see through Tobi's little welcoming trick. This truly is a big surprise for me!"

He tilted his head, the hole in his mask aimed at Tang Yan, the playfulness and probing in his tone practically overflowing.

"Nice to meet you, Puppet Master genius of Sunagakure. Should I call you Tang Yan? Or... the 'Unknown Variable' of the Ninja World?"