Devouring Yin-Yang Release, Sosuke's First Taste of Law Plunder

Boom!

At that moment, the meridians within Sosuke's body became the cruelest meat grinder. The Yang Release chakra of his perfected Sage Body surged like molten lava, tightly wrapping around the black threads Black Zetsu had invaded with and crushing them madly.

"Impossible! You're obviously a cripple!" Black Zetsu's consciousness let out a shriek filled with terror.

The mass of black mud writhing on Sosuke's arm outside his body twisted violently as it desperately tried to pull itself free. Yet those threads seemed to have been glued firmly to the walls of Sosuke's meridians, unable to break loose in the slightest.

"A cripple?" Sosuke leaned against the cushion, looking languid, but his emerald-green eyes gleamed with sharp killing intent. "You sneaky little rat, do you really think you can see through everything?"

He did not form a single hand seal. With merely a thought, the chakra vortex within him suddenly began spinning faster.

Rip!

An extraordinarily muffled tearing sound exploded across the spiritual plane. The part of Black Zetsu's body that had invaded Sosuke's meridians was forcibly torn off!

That was not ordinary chakra, but the very Yin-Yang Release essence Black Zetsu relied upon for survival.

"Aah—!" Black Zetsu let out a miserable scream. It had lived for over a thousand years, always hiding behind the scenes and treating others as chess pieces. When had it ever suffered such a terrible loss? The agonizing pain of having a piece of its soul violently torn away twisted its featureless face to the extreme.

"Not bad. A pure Yin-Yang Release creation—quite nourishing." A cruel curve rose at the corner of Sosuke's lips.

He did not stop. A glimmer of emerald light appeared at the tips of his right fingers, like five sharp wooden spikes, and he directly seized the main body mass Black Zetsu had left outside.

He was going to skin this thousand-year-old monster alive!

Sensing the terrifying suction from Sosuke's fingertips, Black Zetsu completely panicked. It could clearly feel that beneath the surface of this seemingly gentle young man lay an abyss even greedier and stranger than itself. If it delayed even half a second longer, its entire core consciousness would be swallowed completely.

"Brat of the Senju Clan... just you wait!"

At the brink of death, Black Zetsu displayed ruthless decisiveness. Without hesitation, it detonated the portion of its shell Sosuke had seized. Borrowing the recoil from the explosion, its core consciousness turned into an incredibly tiny droplet of black ink and splashed into the shadows beyond the tatami with a smack.

The next instant, that droplet of black ink fled madly into the depths underground through the gaps between the floorboards, ten times faster than when it had arrived, not daring to linger for even an instant.

Sosuke looked at the mass of black matter struggling violently in his palm, firmly suppressed by Yang Release, but did not rise to pursue it.

He knew very well that Black Zetsu was essentially Kaguya's will and exceedingly difficult to kill completely. With his current strength, tearing off a piece of its essence was already his limit. If he forcibly pursued it, he would instead expose the fact that he had fully recovered and even grown drastically stronger.

"Runs pretty fast." Sosuke snorted coldly and abruptly clenched his fingers.

Crushed beneath Yang Release, the black matter in his palm swiftly shed its cold disguise and transformed into an exceedingly pure stream of black-and-white energy. This was the source power of Yin-Yang Release.

Sosuke absorbed it into his body without hesitation.

Buzz—

A system notification sounded in his mind at just the right moment.

"Ding! Detected that the host has devoured a high-dimensional Yin-Yang Release essence!"

"Congratulations, host! You have acquired the passive skill: [Yin-Yang Release Analysis (Beginner)]!"

As the notification fell silent, Sosuke felt a cool sensation in his eyes. His already exceptionally sharp perception rose to another level. He could even vaguely see the chakra attributes drifting through the air, as well as the microscopic traces of creation and destruction within all things.

All Creation, Yin and Yang in harmony.

This was not only an enormous supplement to his perfected Sage Body, but also laid a solid foundation for him to unlock higher-level powers of law in the future.

"Husband, the medicinal meal is ready."

Mikoto's gentle call came from outside the door.

The emerald gleam in Sosuke's eyes instantly vanished, turning back into deep black. He raised a hand and wiped away the fine sweat that had seeped from his forehead during the recent clash, hunching over slightly as he once again became the frail, sickly orphan of the Senju Clan.

"Come in." Sosuke's voice returned to its hoarse weakness.

Mikoto hurried into the room carrying a tray. Seeing Sosuke leaning against the cushion and panting, she approached him with concern, scooped up a spoonful of warm medicinal broth, and brought it to his lips. "Drink it while it's hot. You look even worse than before."

Sosuke obediently drank the broth, then took hold of the hand Mikoto used to hold the bowl. His fingertips gently stroked her delicate skin as he chuckled. "With you by my side, this little chill is nothing."

Mikoto's cheeks reddened slightly. She shot him a reproachful glance, though her heart was filled with sweetness. How could she have known that in those brief minutes just now, her frail husband had devoured the most terrifying mastermind in the ninja world alive?

Meanwhile.

Deep beneath the Hidden Leaf, within a dark cavern entwined by enormous tree roots.

A colossal, savage statue resembling something carved from dead wood stood silently at the center of the cavern. Countless thick tubes extended from behind it, connecting to a ruined stone seat below.

On that stone seat sat an old man on the verge of death.

He was skin and bones, his white hair hanging like dry grass. An eyepatch covered his right eye, while his remaining left eye was clouded and dull. He was like a desiccated corpse that could weather away at any moment, able to cling to life only through the chakra supplied by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path behind him.

The Asura of the ninja world, Madara Uchiha.

Drip.

An incredibly faint drop of black ink fell from the rock ceiling of the cavern and struck the ground at Madara's feet. The black ink rapidly wriggled together, condensing into Black Zetsu's battered half-body.

Black Zetsu was now weak to the extreme. Even maintaining its form had become immensely difficult, and its lone dim yellow eye had lost all light.

"Zetsu?" Madara Uchiha slowly raised his head. His cloudy left eye swept over Black Zetsu's mangled body, and a hint of surprise entered his hoarse voice. "You went to the surface. How did you end up in such a sorry state? Did that youngster Hiruzen Sarutobi discover you?"

"No... it wasn't Hiruzen Sarutobi." Black Zetsu panted heavily, unable to conceal the terror in its voice. "It was the Senju Clan... that brat from the Senju Clan named Sosuke!"

"Senju Sosuke?" Madara frowned slightly. Although he lived deep underground, White Zetsu regularly reported intelligence from the surface to him. He knew the Senju Clan had only that one remaining descendant, and that he was a cripple on the verge of being killed by the backlash of Wood Release.

"That brat is no cripple! Not only has he awakened Wood Release, but..." Black Zetsu gritted its teeth. Recalling that horrifying scene, its soul still trembled. "The essence of his Yang Release is even purer than Hashirama's was! He... he even forcibly tore away a piece of my essence!"

Boom!

The stagnant air within the cavern erupted into violent motion at that instant.

Madara Uchiha's withered body suddenly sat upright, and the tubes connected behind him let out harsh scraping sounds. His once-cloudy left eye erupted with an incomparably terrifying crimson gleam.

The three tomoe instantly linked together, becoming an intricate Mangekyo pattern.

"Yang Release purer than Hashirama's?" Madara's voice was no longer hoarse. Instead, it carried a fanatical excitement suppressed for decades. He stared fixedly at Black Zetsu, an immensely arrogant cold smile curling across his lips.

"Interesting... far too interesting!"

"Hashirama, Hashirama... I never expected that so many years after your death, the Senju Clan could still produce a monster of this caliber."

Madara slowly leaned back against the stone seat. The crimson glow in his eyes grew increasingly intense, like a demon awakening in hell.

"Zetsu, keep a close watch on him. I want to know every card that brat has."