The living White Zetsu was not sent back to Konoha immediately.
The spatial remnants in the Underground Mine Tunnel were complex, and the Masked Man could intercept any direct transfer.
The Cross-Verification Squad first established a temporary containment site in the second-level Transfer Room.
White Zetsu was secured at the center of a four-layer Sealing Net.
The innermost layer restricted his chakra core.
The second layer prevented his plant tissue from touching the rock walls.
The third layer recorded changes in his appearance.
The outermost layer cut off any sensory links he might have with others of his kind outside.
No one asked about his identity before the sealing was complete.
Each person involved in the capture first wrote down White Zetsu's initial appearance, core location, and the sequence of his struggles independently.
Only after their records had been sealed away were they allowed to compare notes.
The three accounts differed slightly in their descriptions of his appearance, but matched perfectly on his core's frequency and his attempts to split.
Further identification therefore centered on his chakra core, rather than on whom any one person remembered him resembling.
White Zetsu kept changing faces.
First, he turned into Akito.
Then he turned into the Hyuga jonin.
Finally, he even imitated Kakashi's voice.
"The seal on the left is loose."
He issued the order in Kakashi's tone.
A young Anbu instinctively turned his head.
But Akito immediately called out the Core Number.
"The target's chakra hasn't changed. That order is invalid."
From the moment of his capture, White Zetsu was no longer identified by his face.
His containment number came from a mass of chakra deep in his chest that could not transform completely.
No matter how he imitated appearances, voices, or scents, that core always retained the same plant patterns.
Every