Capture White Zetsu

Time slipped quietly by amid patient waiting and careful preparations. In the early spring of Konoha's forty-sixth year, the air still carried a biting chill. Everything in Uchiha Kyohaku's secret laboratory was ready, like a spider's lair with its web laid out, waiting for its prey to arrive.

He knew White Zetsu's patience was not limitless. An Uchiha clansman who had long remained outside the Uchiha mainstream yet maintained close ties with Orochimaru, one of the Three Sannin, held intelligence value enough to stir the curiosity of Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu, the masterminds lurking in the shadows. He deliberately maintained this "anomaly," like lighting a faint but sufficiently tempting lamp in the darkness.

He had even left an exceedingly subtle, nearly imperceptible "leak" in the outermost layer of the barrier. It was not an oversight, but a carefully designed lure—a gap that seemed to offer a way inside, yet led straight to the heart of the trap.

That night, the moon was hidden and the wind howled. Kyohaku was not asleep; he was carrying out routine data recording and equipment maintenance in the underground laboratory. Suddenly, several sealing runes that had been circulating steadily along the walls flickered ever so slightly, their frequency changing by the tiniest fraction.

It's here!

Kyohaku's heart clenched sharply, but every muscle in his body tensed in an instant before he forced himself to relax at once. He could not reveal the slightest anomaly, nor could he even raise his head to look toward the intrusion. He kept his back to the entrance as though wholly focused on the cell culture dish in his hands, but all his senses had been heightened to their limit, like the most precise radar scanning every trace of change in the space behind him.

On the ground, a thread of pale color almost indistinguishable from dirt slowly rose, like a fungus growing in silence. It twisted and gathered into a vague humanoid outline—it was White Zetsu. Its eyes swept warily over the cramped space filled with strange runes, its pallid face showing both curiosity and instinctive caution.

It sensed that this place was unusual, and the dense sealing techniques made it uncomfortable. But its intense urge to pry, along with its curiosity about the secrets of this "abnormal Uchiha," ultimately overwhelmed that faint caution. It was certain that its Mayfly Technique was flawless and that no one could detect it.

It cautiously avoided the metal pillars in the center of the floor, which looked dangerous at a glance, and tried to approach Kyohaku, who was "absorbed in his work," to peek at what he held. Its shapeless body slid across the ground like liquid without making the slightest sound.

Now!

The instant White Zetsu's entire body had fully entered the laboratory and stood within the optimal coverage area of every Chakra Sealing Needle Formation—

Kyohaku seemingly casually set the culture dish in his hand gently onto the nearby workbench. That slight movement seemed to trigger an invisible switch.

Bzzzz—!

The sealing runes across all four walls of the laboratory suddenly erupted with dazzling ghostly blue light! In an instant, the entire barrier switched from "shielding mode" to "confinement mode." An invisible force field, like the toughest rubber, contracted violently inward and completely sealed off the space!

White Zetsu was horrified. Its body instinctively tried to merge into the ground and flee, only for it to discover in terror that the ground beneath its feet had been completely isolated by a solid layer of sealing techniques! The Mayfly Technique had failed!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

At the same time, countless hair-thin chakra metal spikes shot from the surfaces of the cold metal pillars at the center of the laboratory like a torrential downpour! They did not fire aimlessly. As though alive, they precisely covered every direction White Zetsu could possibly move, instantly engulfing it completely!

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft...!

A dense series of tiny sounds rang out, like needles piercing a cloth sack. More than a dozen—perhaps dozens—of chakra metal needles containing powerful sealing techniques easily pierced White Zetsu's body, which was not entirely flesh and blood!

"Aah—!" White Zetsu let out a strange, distorted scream, not from pain, but from the deeper terror of having its power stripped away in an instant!

The chakra metal needles embedded in its body activated at once. The miniature sealing techniques engraved upon them were like hungry leeches, frantically devouring, blocking, and disrupting the unique chakra flow within it that was mixed with natural energy! Its body visibly became rigid and frozen, while the pale color on its surface rapidly dulled as though all life had been drained from it. It tried to split apart and struggle, but its chakra had been completely sealed, every special ability rendered useless. All that remained was instinctive, feeble writhing.

The entire capture took place in a flash, lasting no more than two seconds.

Only then did Uchiha Kyohaku slowly turn around. There was no delight or excitement on his face, only a cold calm like that of a surgeon examining the results of an operation. Leaning on his cane, he approached step by step the white monster pinned in place by dozens of fine silver needles, utterly deprived of the ability to resist and capable only of trembling faintly.

Success.

Three years of planning, enormous financial investment, and countless days and nights of calculations and preparation had finally yielded the expected result at this very moment.

He carefully observed White Zetsu's condition and confirmed that its chakra had been fully sealed. Its vital signs remained, though they were extremely weak, and its consciousness seemed to be in a semi-comatose state. He did not immediately step forward to touch it. Instead, he went to the control panel first, strengthened the barrier's isolation further, and activated the preset procedure to inject potent anesthetic gas. A faint, odorless gas was released into the confinement field, ensuring that the target had no possibility of remaining conscious.

Only after doing all that did he truly draw near. From up close, this creation from ancient times did indeed possess a peculiar bodily structure—neither wood nor flesh, containing an indescribable form of life.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately began the follow-up work. He transferred White Zetsu into a specially made containment vessel covered in sealing runes... Every step was orderly, chillingly calm.

The underground laboratory returned to silence, with only the faint hum of machinery in operation. The residual energy fluctuations in the air and a trace of White Zetsu's peculiar aura proved that the brief yet critical clash had just taken place.

Uchiha Kyohaku stood before the containment vessel, looking at White Zetsu within, motionless like a specimen. At last, an almost imperceptible heat flashed through his eyes.

The first step—and the most critical, most difficult step—had been completed.

The Completion Plan finally possessed its most vital cornerstone.

What came next was how to extract from this precious sample the power that could change his own fate. He knew that the more complicated and meticulous work had only just begun.