Obito's heartfelt low growl had barely faded through the dark karst cave when several bats hanging upside down from the ceiling startled and flapped their wings. They squeezed out piercing shrieks from their throats, shaking down a burst of warm, pungent animal urine. On Black Zetsu's grotesque face, as if molded from black clay, its two yellow eyes contracted sharply in the ghostly green firelight. Its black body silently crawled along the rough, hard toes of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Like a slimy leech, it slowly wriggled from the shadows to Obito's feet, letting out a grating laugh like a broken bellows scraping sand. "Obito, did those Lightning Release attacks fry your brain, or did that brat Uchiha Yoru beat it stupid? All you think about every day is rushing off to die."
"I ain't stupid!" Obito fiercely swung his remaining left arm. His glove sliced through the air with a shrill whistle, carrying a sweat stench mixed with the reek of rotten flesh and stagnant water. He panted heavily beneath his mask. "If we don't act now, that brat will turn the entire Shinobi World into one solid block, and we won't even get our hands on a single fox hair, understand?!" White Zetsu stuck out most of its pale body, scratched the mud-caked back of its head in disgust, then dug hard at its ear with nails stuffed with grime. It spat out a filthy, sandy gob of phlegm. "Alright, Obito, Black Zetsu's right. Stone Village is basically an ironclad turtle now. It's full of all kinds of metal contraptions Orochimaru made."
Black Zetsu slowly wriggled across the cold stone floor, leaving behind a glossy, slimy trail. Its voice was icy, without the slightest trace of a living person's emotion. "A direct assault on Stone