A Kind of Sacrifice

Obviously, everyone here was one of our own... Uchiha Clan White Zetsu, with nothing between them worth suspecting.

Over the course of its long history, if White Zetsu were considered a species incapable of reproduction, then by now, this species had already lost the vast majority of its individuals.

And if one asked how those individuals had died, the only answer was that most of them had died to unknown AOE attacks.

White Zetsu died without knowing why, while the casters had no idea they had scored an extra kill.

Therefore, Yuzhen's reason was perfectly sound and trustworthy. Several White Zetsu even felt they could empathize with his experience.

One White Zetsu could naturally see through another White Zetsu's essence. In their eyes, there was nothing wrong with Yuzhen.

They were all White Zetsu. Suspicious? Why would they be suspicious?

For thousands of years, White Zetsu had only ever disguised themselves as other ninja and stirred up trouble. How could there possibly be a ninja who transformed into White Zetsu without being noticed?

White Zetsu had a thousand years of ingrained thinking. The idea that they themselves could be disguised simply did not exist in their minds, so Yuzhen had easily infiltrated the interior of the "Experience Pack."

The cavern was dry, and there was plenty of space. After Yuzhen arrived, the White Zetsu quieted down again. About another day later, all the White Zetsu around this area had finally gathered there.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three..."

Yuzhen silently counted in his mind. At this moment, twenty-three White Zetsu had gathered in this small cave.

"Everyone's here." One White Zetsu stepped forward and stood facing the others.

"Is the reason for this gathering the same as usual?" another White Zetsu asked.

"Same as before. You report any valuable intelligence to me, and I'll report it to the main body."

"There's nothing worth mentioning. The destruction of several minor ninja clans—does that count as a major event?"

"I don't have any high-value intelligence either."

"Our surveillance area was already short on valuable targets. It's just a bunch of minor ninja clans fighting desperately to survive from one day to the next."

"..."

The White Zetsu made their reports while complaining. When it was Yuzhen's turn, he merely answered, "Nothing," and ended his report.

Once all the White Zetsu had finished reporting, the one at the head finally spoke:

"The ninja world has indeed seemed rather peaceful lately. It looks like we should intensify our efforts to provoke the major ninja clans and further inflame the conflicts between them..."

"Peaceful...?"

Yuzhen thought silently. It seemed that a minor ninja like him did not count as a person in White Zetsu's eyes.

What they did not see did not exist. What did not exist caused no ripples, and what caused no ripples had no impact. Naturally, it had no meaning—what influence could the brutal battles between minor and mid-sized ninja clans have on the development of the ninja world or the course of history?

"Send two people to Area 037 and strengthen surveillance. More importantly, we have other actions planned next, and the people sent there may come in handy." The White Zetsu at the head continued speaking.

"What is Area 037?"

"Isn't that the Uchiha Clan's village?"

Hearing that the upcoming actions were related to the Uchiha, one White Zetsu immediately said, "I'll go. It's too boring here."

At that, Yuzhen's mind stirred, and he said, "Count me in."

Yuzhen could not attack the White Zetsu here. Otherwise, information like "a ninja who can disguise himself as White Zetsu is hunting White Zetsu" would inevitably leak out, and he would be in serious trouble... It was impossible for him to kill twenty-three White Zetsu capable of using the Mayfly Technique in an instant.

So he needed to find a lone White Zetsu and travel with it without arousing suspicion. Under these circumstances, there was no better opportunity than carrying out a mission together.

"Fine. The two of you will be transferred to Area 037's surveillance zone."

The White Zetsu at the head agreed. There was no difference between one White Zetsu and another, so there was no need to choose. It made no difference who went.

It thought for a moment before finally saying:

"Everyone, for the sake of that great goal, while monitoring the ninja world, we must also pay more attention to our own safety.

"Over the course of thousands of years, we've lost far too many individuals. We can't continue suffering losses now... 1,157. That's our current number. If we suffer any more losses, it will become difficult for us to complete our deployment and surveillance across the entire ninja world."

"1,157... That's a lot of Experience Packs."

If Yuzhen's Experience Pack theory was correct, how many levels could these Experience Packs take him to? Well, he was getting ahead of himself. How could he possibly kill all the White Zetsu?

All the White Zetsu together were a mountain of gold, and Yuzhen could not carry the mountain away. He could only quietly pick up a few gold nuggets at its foot.

After a brief exchange, the White Zetsu meeting was declared over, and they departed in different directions.

Yuzhen followed behind his mission partner, heading together toward the so-called Area 037. He had to follow it because he had no idea where the Uchiha Clan's village was.

One day later.

Yuzhen and this White Zetsu were both traveling with the Mayfly Technique, so they moved extremely quickly. By now, they had completely separated from the other White Zetsu, and there was no longer any sign of a third White Zetsu nearby.

Thus, Yuzhen, who had been silently following behind the White Zetsu, began to speak, preparing to gently pry open the heart it had kept sealed for over a thousand years.

"Do you think we can really accomplish that plan?" he suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?" The White Zetsu was bewildered by the question.

White Zetsu's brain simply did not allow such doubts to arise. It was a physiological, organic feature of their brain structure. They had been born to save their mother; a brain that did not want to save their mother could not be born in the first place.

"We've spent over a thousand years on that plan, but what progress have we made so far? Practically none. Is it really worth wasting our long lives on such an elusive plan?"

"There are clearly more meaningful things in the world, things more worth investing our time in. Why keep pursuing an unrealistic plan? By the way, are you male or female? Would you be interested in raising female White Zetsu?"

"You... what are you talking about?" This White Zetsu's brain was on the verge of crashing.

"Me..."

Yuzhen suddenly stretched out both arms. His palms emerged from behind the White Zetsu, pressing against its temples from either side of its head.

Then he pushed his palms inward, applying force in opposite directions. With a crisp crack, the White Zetsu's head rotated one and a half times.

"You're tired. I only wanted to persuade you to get some proper rest."

"Abandon the collective mindset and embrace individualism. Though you lost your life, you gained eternal liberation. How about it? Didn't the thought of abandoning Mother suddenly make the world feel so much wider?"

All one could say was that Yuzhen had always liked to think of others.

He thought what others thought and hurried to address what others needed. After coming into contact with him for even a short while, people often reached the conclusion: He's actually a pretty nice guy.