Capturing a Wild White Zetsu

During the time Ensei Uchiha was learning Izanagi, Itachi Uchiha also encountered a familiar figure while out of the village on a mission.

"Obito Uchiha! What have you done to Shisui?"

At this moment, Itachi Uchiha could not tell if it was confidence in his own strength or if he was simply blinded by rage.

In any case, he charged in, and then he was defeated.

The gap between a Three Tomoe Sharingan and a Mangekyo is simply too vast; he did not have the slightest hope of winning.

This was not his first meeting with Obito Uchiha, though at the time, he did not know that the man was Obito Uchiha.

Back then, Obito Uchiha had not yet revealed his identity; he wore a mask and slaughtered all of Itachi Uchiha's companions.

It was precisely because of this that Itachi Uchiha awakened his Sharingan.

And it was precisely because, after awakening the Sharingan, Itachi Uchiha discovered that his clansmen only cared about the Sharingan—his father included—and no one cared about the companions who had been killed.

Consequently, Itachi Uchiha began to grow more distant from his clansmen, choosing instead to believe in the so-called Will of Fire preached by the Third Hokage.

"I heard from someone that you possess the aptitude to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"But looking at you now, it seems he was mistaken about you."

"Pass a message to Ensei Uchiha for me: if he still wants Shisui Uchiha to live, he must leave Konoha alone and come to see me!"

During this time, Obito Uchiha had not been idle; he utilized the elusive intelligence-gathering capabilities of the White Zetsu to turn almost the entire ninja world upside down.

Although he failed to find any clues from those legends, he learned of Ensei Uchiha's true ability—the power to foresee the future—from several high-level meetings in Konoha.

It was not easy for him to infiltrate Konoha personally, but for the White Zetsu, it was quite simple.

Many pieces of intelligence were collected by Obito Uchiha in this manner.

The future! There were truly so many things he wanted to know; if he could obtain this power...

In fact, Black Zetsu, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, also hoped to obtain this power.

Although this power had never appeared before, based on his assessment of the intelligence, he had basically confirmed the truth of the matter.

Originally, Black Zetsu wanted to act alone, as his abilities made it possible for him to infiltrate the Uchiha clan.

However, Ensei Uchiha had created the Rin Nohara Model, and more importantly, a portion of the Nine-Tails' Chakra was sealed within it.

Among all the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails' ability to perceive malice has always been the most troublesome.

Not to mention that Konoha had now changed its barrier to detect space-time fluctuations within the village, meaning Obito Uchiha could no longer enter and exit Konoha as he pleased.

Fortunately, the entire ninja world only had barriers to detect space-time ninjutsu, not barriers to restrict it; otherwise, Obito Uchiha would have been killed long ago.

Furthermore, the White Zetsu would be discovered by the Zero-Two Model, and the White Zetsu lacked sufficient combat power.

Therefore, Black Zetsu, whose direct combat capability was not particularly outstanding, prepared to cooperate with Obito Uchiha.

As long as he could possess...

After his defeat and a two-fold lesson, Itachi Uchiha was released.

That very day, ignoring his battered body, Itachi Uchiha returned directly to the village and found Ensei Uchiha, who was in the middle of an experiment, to convey Obito Uchiha's message.

And then... Ensei Uchiha harvested a few precious White Zetsu.

Suppressing the Spore Technique of the White Zetsu was simple; one only needed a bit of natural energy, and the White Zetsu would be forced to reveal themselves uncontrollably.

"What... what is this? How did it get inside my body?"

Itachi Uchiha looked at the white figures emerging from his own body, and he felt quite unwell.

"This? These are very precious research materials; I've been looking for them for a long time."

"Fine, for the sake of these research materials, I can try to help you rescue Shisui."

It was truly a case of someone providing a pillow just as one felt sleepy; the replication of Hashirama Cells had been completed not long ago, and there were now sufficient materials to use.

In a pleasant mood, he agreed to Itachi Uchiha's request, though Ensei Uchiha was also somewhat curious about why Obito Uchiha wanted to see him.

It couldn't possibly be another trap, could it?

Whatever, traps didn't matter anyway; he would just send a Shadow Clone.

As for the subsequent research, with these White Zetsu, many projects could now be launched.

These were precious specimens grown from the God Tree, the trump card Kaguya Otsutsuki used to counter the Otsutsuki Clan.

Although the White Zetsu were still fragile at this time, Ensei Uchiha had not forgotten that in the original plot, Yamato was once possessed by a White Zetsu, displaying combat power approaching that of the original Hashirama.

From this, it could be inferred: if the Ten-Tails were intact, under the supply of its abundant energy, could these one hundred thousand White Zetsu exert the power of one hundred thousand Hashirama Senjus?

Of course, these were all meaningless fantasies.

But since he had a successful example, even if he only replicated the combat power capable of using the Thousand-Armed Buddha, it would be enough.

Using restraints to control the three White Zetsu that had emerged, Ensei Uchiha, still uneasy, injected some ocular power into their bodies before placing them in culture dishes.

"Let's go, tell this information to your highly respected Third Hokage."

"After all, Shisui Uchiha is still a Konoha ninja; we can't be the only clan putting in the effort. Konoha must show some attitude as well."

He took Itachi Uchiha and headed toward the Hokage Building to find Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Facing the arrival of Ensei Uchiha, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a deep sense of rejection in his heart, yet he was forced to maintain an amiable facade.

In the past, when Shimura Danzō was still alive, he would play the good cop while Danzō played the bad cop, allowing them to resolve most of the village's troubles.

But now, only knowing how to play the good cop, he appeared exceptionally weak and easy to bully.

Faced with Ensei Uchiha's request to learn the Spirit Transformation Technique, Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated for only a brief moment before agreeing directly.

He even inquired with great concern, putting on a full display of being a good Hokage.

Sometimes, when one wears a mask for too long, they become trapped within it, unable to extricate themselves.

As for whether he was truly kind or not, that was hard to say.

Although it is said that one should judge by actions rather than intentions.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi's actions were no better, and at times, they were even worse than his true intentions.

After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi was notorious for being a coward toward outsiders while striking hard against his own people.

Coupled with his indulgence of Shimura Danzō's reckless behavior and so on.

In short, under his leadership, the strength of Konoha had repeatedly declined...

As for Danzō... he was even more of a lunatic.

Even though everything he did damaged the strength of Konoha, he always believed that everything he did was for the sake of the village.

It could be said that everyone in this ninja world was sick, and quite severely at that.