Black Zetsu, Master of Emotional Manipulation

It doesn't matter. After all, when Kakuzu first recovered, he was a gentleman and open-minded person, and the Earth Grudge Fear also made him look less than human.

Since everyone looks inhuman, let's not mind each other.

Upon entering the stronghold, Kakuzu headed straight for Zetsu's tent.

At this moment, Black Zetsu was sitting on a small stool, elbows on his knees, chin resting on the back of his hand, thinking in the manner of Commander Ding.

It has been thinking about one thing.

That was when it left Leaf Village with Uchiha Madara, it seemed to have received a summons from its mother.

It was utterly shocked! It's still shocked!

However, it thought it might be hallucinating because it missed its mother so much.

As for why it had this hallucination, it thought it was perfectly normal, because Uchiha Madara's time in Leaf Village had driven it almost crazy!

It, the third son of Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mastermind behind the Ninja World for a thousand years—what hasn't it done? What hasn't it seen?

Taking care of children is something I've never done before and have never seen before.

It was spying on the Ninja World, not on others taking care of children. Hagoromo Otsutsuki didn't take care of children back then either.

The Uchiha Clan kids are so hard to raise!

Do you even know whose shoulders you're riding on?!

Hmph, be proud all you want, this is the pinnacle of your lives.

But... that feeling of being summoned by his mother was so real that it lingered in Black Zetsu's mind, making it hard to forget.

So true!

But his mother was still sealed away; she couldn't summon him.

This is unreasonable!

If Uchiha Madara hadn't already set off, he definitely would have gone to investigate.

[Should I go back and check on things? But I'm too busy. Uchiha Madara, that guy, he really knows how to get people to do things!]

Black Zetsu couldn't help but feel resentful inside.

Ever since leaving Leaf Village, Black Zetsu has been muttering about this to himself several times a day.

Today, someone interrupted its rambling.

The curtain was suddenly flung open, Kakuzu walked in.

He glanced at Black Zetsu's strange posture, but didn't take it seriously, and went straight to the point.

"You can bring Xiao's people back now."

Although they were former colleagues, Kakuzu and Black Zetsu had no relationship and had never teamed up.

Zetsu is worthless on the black market because no one puts a bounty on him, and Kakuzu never deals with worthless people.

"You're going to call a truce?" Black Zetsu didn't care about Kakuzu's attitude. In its eyes, the Earth Grudge Fear was nothing special, and Kakuzu's temperament was not easy to manipulate. Black Zetsu's evaluation of Kakuzu was that of a stranger, and it would be best if everyone just kept to themselves.

"Uchiha Shingen is here, and he's gained new power. You don't want to see him." Kakuzu looked at Black Zetsu, his former colleague, whose abilities were strange and who seemed to be immortal. "Don't let your appearance fool you. If you were hit by his new technique, you might not survive."

"Oh?" Hearing the name of his only friend in the world, Black Zetsu became interested. "What new trick?"

Chapter Twenty-Two: Black Zetsu, Master of Emotional Control

Inside the tent, although Black Zetsu's tone was very serious, Kakuzu felt that this guy wasn't serious at all.

Don't ask, it's just a feeling.

After all, you can't see the expression; it's just a dark blob with two circles.

That's the downside of not being human.

"You can't describe that feeling with words." Kakuzu wanted to tell Black Zetsu what it was, but even after risking his life, he only understood half of it. Besides knowing that it was related to Chakra, he couldn't figure it out. He casually said, "You'll know when you encounter it yourself someday. Consider it a gift before you die."

"What? You make it sound so convincing, but all you did was almost get beaten to death?" Black Zetsu immediately lost interest, mainly because its assessment of Kakuzu was just so-so. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Your strength is only at the level of a mortal. You would naturally die if you encountered a truly powerful opponent."

Kakuzu looked at Black Zetsu and began to consider whether he should break his vow—to kill this guy who had no bounty.

Come to think of it, does this guy even have a heart?

Kakuzu thought about it and decided to give up.

Because the other party's backer is Uchiha Madara.

With Uchiha Madara's explosive temper...

If those people had given him the mission to assassinate Uchiha Madara back then, he definitely would have refused it under any circumstances.

It was precisely because the target was Senju Hashirama that he believed it was pre-arranged and thus accepted the assignment.

Little did he know that he himself would be the one assigned the task...

Those were truly unbearable memories.

"That thing looks like a fist, a fist made of Chakra. Uchiha Shingen didn't use his full strength, so I can't tell you his limit," Kakuzu said coldly. "But this kind of Chakra is extraordinary. It can break through all Ninjutsu effects. Uchiha Shingen's Dōjutsu will lock onto your Chakra, making it impossible for you to dodge this attack."

Out of respect for Uchiha Madara, Kakuzu revealed the information he had gathered.

Black Zetsu acts strangely towards him again, he will break his vow and show it to him.

He actually hoped that Black Duke would recklessly go and die.

He was also very curious about what this guy's death would look like.

"In short, I've delivered the message. You'd better leave Akatsuki as soon as possible, or don't blame me if Uchiha Shingen wipes you out. He's here to mediate between Sand Village and Rain Village. Given his personality, third parties are not within his scope of mediation."

Kakuzu declared that he would never help Nagato manage battlefield affairs again.

He will pay close attention to the tasks at the Bounty Exchange, and as long as Black Zetsu has a bounty, he will make an exception and kill Black Zetsu during the initial price phase.

Having said all that, Kakuzu was too lazy to stay any longer; he still had to go and collect the hearts.

The Earth Grudge Fear is not very picky about the heart, as long as there is a corresponding nature change. From a more particular point of view, Kakuzu will still choose people with proficiency levels in the corresponding nature change to dig.

There was nowhere left to dig here, so he had to move to another place.

Those third-class organizations that actively participated in this war before are quite good— Kakuzu thought it through for them. Since they will most likely be wiped out by the ANBU brought by Uchiha Shingen anyway, it's better to assign four skilled people to him to recruit.

Kakuzu turned and left, leaving only Black Zetsu sitting on the small stool.

Motionless.

At this point, Black Zetsu had almost stopped thinking.

Chakra Fist? Ninjutsu Nullification? Dōjutsu Lock-On?

Why does this sound so much like his mother's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack?

Although Black Zetsu was created by Kaguya Otsutsuki before being sealed away, Kaguya Otsutsuki also endowed it with many memories.

Only in this way can Black Zetsu be sure to be able to free her.

Otherwise, should we just give them a blank slate and send them to preschool with those two disobedient kids?

Therefore, Black Zetsu is also very familiar with Kaguya Otsutsuki's skill set.

To render current Ninjutsu ineffective by Chakra externally, the only way is through Kekkei Mōra, also known as Yin-Yang Release.

Add to that the Dōjutsu's locking ability, and Black Zetsu believe that this was invented by Uchiha Shingen himself—it's such a coincidence.

You, Shingen! You kept saying you'd think about it, but it turns out you'd already latched onto your mother's coattails.

I also learned the iron fist of love that only my mother possesses!

He thought Uchiha Shingen was really capable of doing something like running away together in private, acting like a brother in public.

It said, "How could the Rinnegan have suddenly appeared!"

Black Zetsu suddenly stood up.

No, it needs to be verified; this is extremely important!

If true, it needs to know how Uchiha Shingen managed to contact Mother. The Eye of the Moon Plan has been in the works for a thousand years because it has only come up with this method, and this method allows Mother to be in her full state once she descends.

As for this place...

Who cares about Rain Village and Xiao anymore? Let them do whatever they want.

Black Zetsu rushed out of the tent like the wind.

It was very anxious.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki is also eyeing this Ninja World. If Uchiha Shingen has truly sided with him, then that wicked Hagoromo Otsutsuki will definitely resort to underhanded tactics.

Rushing out of the tent, Black Zetsu charged along the terrain where the stronghold was located, all the way to the edge of the cliff, and then performed a magnificent, freestyle cliff jump, landing smoothly on the ground.

This dilapidated outpost is built crookedly; normally it would have to take a detour, so it's faster to just jump directly.

Its body sank into the earth, which gave it peace of mind, Black Zetsu quickly darted off in the direction Konan had gone.

Although it doesn't actually have a butt, anyone with a brain would know that Uchiha Shingen is definitely on Konan's side.

Black Zetsu's speed underground was no slower than a Jonin running on the ground, and it quickly arrived at the location where Konan and Kakuzu had been.

Black Zetsu, who had just emerged, immediately spotted two distinctly different spots on the ground, which was covered with the marks of Explosive Tag.

Although it was also generated by a violent explosion and bore traces of being burned by high-temperature flames, in Black Zetsu's eyes, it was completely different from other places.

Upon returning to the surface, Black Zetsu first went to the place where Konan had been captured, inspected it, and then headed towards the obvious sinkhole.

Black Zetsu jumped to the very bottom of the sinkhole and found the remaining Chakra.

It was almost too excited to contain itself.

Although it can't compare to Mother's, this is truly Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!

Only the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack possesses this kind of Chakra!

[I need to calm down. It's just a resemblance; after all, it's just a trace...]

After repeatedly convincing himself, the master of emotional control, Black Zetsu, quickly regained his rationality.

However, looking at the small patch of soil in front of it that still contained traces of Chakra, it thought for a moment, then reached out and wrapped the clump of soil with its liquefied arm.

Based on its understanding of Uchiha Shingen, it knew that the guy would only confess honestly when faced with ample evidence.

You have to get to know him well, otherwise, given his thick skin, he'll definitely deny it to the death.

Having preserved the evidence, Black Zetsu dived back into the ground from the bottom of the sinkhole and continued southward.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Shingen, completely unaware that his good friend Black Zetsu was slacking off at the Rain Ninja's base, had already found the Sand Ninja's base with Konan.

It should be said that Uchiha Itachi found it; he followed the markings.

Uchiha Itachi, born for the ANBU, basically mastered all the skills an ANBU should have.

His tracking skills are also top-notch.

The Sand Ninja's stronghold was actually quite well hidden, but Uchiha Itachi still managed to find it without even alerting the Sand Ninja's patrol teams.

Nearly a hundred Leaf Village ANBU appeared directly in front of the Sand Village stronghold.

Upon discovering these Leaf Village ANBU, Leaf Village Sand Ninja stationed at the stronghold cursed their colleagues on patrol in their hearts, while simultaneously opening the entrance and sending out an ANBU to greet them.

It was at this moment that Uchiha Shingen arrived with Konan, "coincidentally".

This immediately exceeded the reception capacity that the base could handle.

Uchiha Shingen did not make things difficult for the person in charge of the stronghold. He brought Konan into the stronghold, informed the highest-ranking Sand Ninja officer there of their purpose, and then left.

He turned back north.

Just like he told Konan, he needed to find a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains.

Unfortunately, there aren't many places like this in the Land of Land of Wind. If there are, they'll become large population centers, commonly known as cities.

But perseverance pays off, and he actually found it in the area where the Land of Wind, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Rivers meet.

It has mountains, rivers, and valleys.

Majestic peaks, gleaming cliffs, and lush greenery cover the mountains; if you were buried there, no one would be able to find you.

No, I misspoke. It's that the scenery is so breathtaking that it inspires conversation and makes one want to drink and chat all night long.

Only one person was unhappy.