White Zetsu, You're Not My Bodyguard, Are You?

"Who are you?"

Youhu knew the snarling white humanoid before him was White Zetsu, but he pretended not to.

Feigning shock, Youhu drew his sword. A flash of steel later, one of White Zetsu's arms had been cut off. It hit the ground and turned into a withered branch.

"Wait... I'm not an enemy."

White Zetsu looked a little dazed. He seemed just as confused about what was happening.

He had been hiding in the ring as a spore, keeping an eye on Youhu. But for some reason, Youhu had suddenly flooded him with Chakra.

Nourished by the Chakra, his body began to swell rapidly until he returned to his normal size.

If he hadn't dodged on instinct just now, he would have been cut in half or beheaded. Either way, he wouldn't have survived.

Not that dying mattered much, but then he wouldn't be able to explain himself to his main body.

His main body had experienced the feeling of needing to pee. He hadn't, and he didn't want to die so soon.

"Then who are you?"

Youhu stood with his sword raised, his eyes full of caution. He had deliberately made White Zetsu reveal himself. Rather than sneak around and play cat-and-mouse with White Zetsu's spores, it was better to force him out from the start.

"I... I'm..."

White Zetsu thought for a while, but couldn't come up with an answer.

Youhu suddenly sheathed his sword, as if he had figured something out. With an awkward look, he offered an explanation for White Zetsu:

"You came out of Brother Obito's ring. You wouldn't happen to be the bodyguard Brother Obito left in there to protect me, would you?"

"That's right, I'm your bodyguard."

White Zetsu had been fretting over how to explain who he was, and Youhu had just handed him the perfect excuse.

The suspicion in Youhu's eyes disappeared. He scratched his head and said, "Brother Obito, honestly. I'm already as strong as a Jonin. I don't need you protecting me from the shadows."

"But since it was a kind gesture from Brother Obito, I'll accept."

"Tell me, do you have any particularly powerful abilities?"

"Sure, sure..."

White Zetsu nodded repeatedly and rattled off his abilities. "I can take on other people's appearances. Ordinary Ninja can't see through it. I can also use the Mayfly Technique to move freely underground."

"At critical moments, I can even possess you and provide you with Chakra."

"Advanced Transformation Technique? The Mayfly Technique and the Possession Technique!"

Youhu rubbed his chin and remarked, "You've got quite a few abilities. No wonder Brother Obito sent you to protect me. Can you tell me what Brother Obito's next plan is?"

"The next step of the Moon Eye Plan..."

White Zetsu racked his brain, unsure whether he should say anything.

"The Moon Eye Plan? Aren't we collecting the Tailed Beasts? What does that have to do with the Moon Eye?"

Youhu thought White Zetsu was a bit of a fool. He even blurted out information while thinking. So Youhu deliberately pressed him for an answer.

I let that slip... White Zetsu jumped, then shook his head. "I can't tell you the next step of the Moon Eye Plan. Lord Obito and the others haven't told me, either."

"My mission is to pass information between you and Lord Obito. I don't know anything else."

"Fine, fine. If you don't want to answer, I won't ask. I trust Brother Obito's foresight..."

Youhu yawned, picked up the work report and suggestions he had written on the desk, and handed them to White Zetsu. "Please deliver this letter to Lord Obito. You can't refuse that, can you? It's your job."

White Zetsu took the envelope, suddenly at a loss. Delivering messages wasn't part of his job.

But his identity had already been exposed. For now, he could only return to Lord Obito and wait for further instructions.

"I'm going to sleep. Go carry out your mission."

Without waiting for White Zetsu to reply, Youhu lay down and burrowed under the covers.

White Zetsu watched Youhu lie in bed. He watched Youhu's breathing gradually slow, and watched Youhu drift off to sleep.

After thinking it over for a long while, White Zetsu used the Floating Technique to burrow underground and head toward Obito. He soon disappeared from the room.

Once White Zetsu was out of sensing range, Youhu opened his eyes and got out of bed, feeling more alert than ever.

He had worked for more than twenty hours, so his mind and body were a little tired. But when he had money, getting a few bottles of energy drinks was easy.

Glug, glug, glug. After downing several bottles of iced tea, Youhu felt completely refreshed.

After tricking White Zetsu, he had finally gotten him to leave and deliver the letter. It was time to start his third job.

After all, besides being an Anbu and an Akatsuki spy, he was also the inheritor of Uchiha Izuna.

Youhu picked up the half-arm White Zetsu had left on the ground, then set it beside Yamato's blood and Obito's blood.

Next, Youhu took a fresh sheet of parchment from his drawer and began writing Izuna's Inheritance, Part Two.

Youhu's pen flew across the page. Soon, he had written a set of experimental hypotheses about Wood Style, along with a surgical report on transplanting Wood Style. It recorded a method for awakening the Wood Bloodline in an Uchiha.

After finishing Izuna's Inheritance, Part Two, Youhu carefully looked it over, then began adding points.

Some of the Deception Points flowed into the parchment, while the rest flowed into the blood of Yamato, Obito, and White Zetsu.

Under the influence of the Deception Points, White Zetsu's, Yamato's, and Obito's blood merged into a single, exceptionally viscous drop called Wood Style Blood Essence.

Youhu cut open his arm and let the Wood Style Blood Essence seep into his body.

The next moment, Youhu felt the Wood Style Blood Essence's overwhelming force. The Wood Style Cells inside it began to devour the surrounding cells without restraint.

Soon, Youhu's arm began to turn into wood.

Just as Youhu was about to transform into a tree, his Mangekyō Sharingan kicked in. Under the influence of its Chakra, the Wood Style Cells' expansion was halted, and they gradually fused with the cells in Youhu's body.

Sensing the changes within him, Youhu smiled. It seemed his Transplanted Wood Bloodline had worked. Making up an Izuna's Inheritance had indeed reduced the Deception Points required.

With the Lie Come True System, Youhu could actually fabricate a Wood Bloodline for himself out of thin air.

But he didn't have Hashirama Cells in his body. Creating a Wood Bloodline from nothing would require an enormous number of Deception Points. That was why he had initially chosen to evolve his Sharingan into a Mangekyō.

The Mangekyō was itself an evolution of the Three Tomoe Sharingan. Since he already had the Three Tomoe, he could greatly reduce the Deception Points required.

And last night, he had obtained cells from Yamato, Obito, and White Zetsu. Now he had plenty of samples of Wood Style Cells, making it much easier to manifest the Wood Bloodline.

And that was exactly what happened. With fewer than a thousand Deception Points, he had awakened the Wood Bloodline Limit.

This was the legendary Wood Style!

Feeling the power surging within him, Youhu was thrilled. He immediately opened his Personal Panel.