"Holy crap, why does this busted jar smell like dead fish and rotten shrimp?!" Naruto pinched his nose and kicked the sealed glass jar on the ground with a disgusted look. It was the sealing container Orochimaru had treasured just moments ago. The jar gave a muffled thud. The green liquid inside sloshed around, releasing several revolting bubbles. That puddle of black sludge known as Black Zetsu lay curled at the bottom like a lump of moldy dead flesh, utterly motionless.
Orochimaru hurriedly snatched up the jar and hugged it to his chest. With pale fingers that looked as though they had soaked in formaldehyde for years, he rubbed hard at the glass Naruto had dirtied with his kick. "Naruto, please be gentler. This thing is priceless." Green light gleamed in his golden slit pupils as he stared at Black Zetsu in the jar, his tongue circling his cracked lips again despite himself. "This is a key to unraveling the ancient mysteries of the shinobi world."
Yoru stood nearby with both hands in his trench coat pockets, idly kicking a small stone on the ground with the tip of his shoe. The stone struck a rock with a crisp crack. He paid no attention to Orochimaru's mad-scientist excitement, merely staring at Black Zetsu, who was playing dead in the jar, with a wicked sneer on his lips.
"Enough. Quit playing dead, old black sludge." Yoru stepped forward and lightly tapped the jar twice with the sole of his shoe.
"You said just now that you were the will of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. That old man Madara heard it loud and clear before he died." Yoru paused, pulled a wrinkled piece of gum from his pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth, smacking his lips twice. "You didn't just stab