"Tap, tap, tap."
The crisp sound of footsteps on the stone steps came from the corridor outside, causing Black Zetsu, who sat inside the transparent cage playing with pebbles, to raise his eyes and stare at the ordinary door directly ahead.
Madara had come.
The Truth-Seeking Orb embedded deep within his body suddenly turned scorching hot, sending pain through Black Zetsu that felt as though his entire being were being torn apart. He clenched his fingers until they pierced his palms, trying to distract himself.
Click.
The sound of the door opening made Black Zetsu's body tense abruptly. The pain inside him left him like an electrocuted fish as he fell stiffly to the floor, clutching his chest and gasping harshly.
"Today isn't the Chunin Exam finals."
Black Zetsu half-squinted as he struggled to look up at the white-haired man who had pulled over a chair and sat some distance away.
The creature sprawled on the floor like a dead dog failed to interest Madara in the slightest. He flipped through the experiment reports on the table and said flatly, "Hashirama is enough for that occasion."
As Madara's words fell, only the wheezing, bellows-like breathing from inside the glass room remained in the laboratory.
With every exhale, the transparent glass fused with resin became coated in a blood mist tinged with black, which slowly trickled down like a curtain of rain within Black Zetsu's private cage.
Calm and unhurried, Madara wandered through the laboratory, reading through research reports that had yet to be submitted.
The ever-active Rinnegan allowed him to perfectly erase every trace that had been left behind.
Yet the increasingly restless Truth-Seeking Orb within his body, along with the series of torments that reached deep into his soul, left Black Zetsu's thoughts incomparably clear.
Black Zetsu knew full