A quarter of an hour after the blood sample entered Konoha, a purge of White Zetsu began in the other dimension.
The order had not come from the Masked Man.
The first to act were White Zetsu themselves.
Three White Zetsu tasked with guarding the underground records lunged at the stone platform at the same time.
Two others, however, stood in front of the Masked Man and demanded to know why they still had to carry out a dead man's destruction order.
For the first time, bodies made of the same plant tissue took conflicting actions.
The Masked Man did not immediately regard the two White Zetsu who remained as allies.
He made them each repeat the earliest order they remembered.
The first remembered only observing the wounded underground, transporting materials, and obeying the person wearing a mask.
The second, however, remembered an earlier voice.
That voice had come from deep within the underground root system, ordering them to prioritize protecting the secrets of the Moon's Eye Plan and the Original Record, regardless of who used Madara's name.
All three White Zetsu who chose destruction could repeat the second order.
The differences in White Zetsu's obedience were not a spontaneous dispute.
Different levels of authority had been written into them from the moment they were formed.
"He is the current Madara," one White Zetsu said.
"A name does not equal authority," another replied.
As those words fell, a trace of black surfaced inside all three White Zetsu.
The thin black threads did not pass through their chakra cores.
They climbed directly along their spines, controlling their arms as they continued reaching for the original documents.
The Masked Man moved the records deeper into the other dimension, then closed off the area containing the stone platform.
The two White Zetsu who