Qingyun had no idea what Black Zetsu was thinking. Otherwise, he would certainly have told him he was overthinking things. Although his ultimate target was the Ōtsutsuki Clan, he had no fondness for this thousand-year-old scheming bastard either. Black Zetsu would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and Qingyun had always kept people like him at arm's length.
After single-handedly battling Kirigakure's army of ninja, Qingyun's reputation reached new heights. Both the Uchiha Clan ninja and the Hyuga Clan ninja looked at him with growing fervor. With a powerhouse like Qingyun in Konoha, who would dare invade it again?
Qingyun showed no reaction to the looks around him. He calmly walked over to Minato Namikaze, took in his complicated expression, and chuckled. "What? Did I steal your thunder?"
"No, big brother. I never imagined you'd come this far, let alone master the First's Wood Release. How on earth did you do it?"
Qingyun's teasing snapped Minato Namikaze out of his daze. He immediately shook his head, then asked his question.
"It was one of the fortuitous encounters I had on this trip."
As he spoke, Qingyun told Minato Namikaze about absorbing the Dragon Vein.
Only then did Minato Namikaze nod in understanding. So the reason Wood Release had been lost to Konoha after Hashirama Senju was that their yang power had not been potent enough to balance earth release and Water Release, allowing those two attributes to fuse perfectly into the Wood Release kekkei tōta.
"Let's go. Since the fighting here is over, let's check on Kakashi and the others. Honestly, you really are an irresponsible Teacher. You left those three behind and came to this battlefield alone. Aren't you worried something might happen to them?"
When Qingyun arrived and saw no sign of Kakashi and the others, he