After escaping the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Black Zetsu did not return to any White Zetsu nest.
That lingering thread carried almost no chakra.
It moved along the seabed rock, evading the sensory methods ninja commonly used, and finally passed through a stretch of turbulent water beyond the sea charts of the Five Great Nations.
Seven Stone Islands lay scattered at the center of the turbulence.
There were no villages on the islands.
Only broken pillars crusted with salt and an Old Temple half-submerged in the sea.
The temple doors had no locks.
Behind them, however, lay isolation patterns older than the history of the Shinobi Villages.
The black thread slipped through a gap in the patterns and entered the lowest level.
A white stone cocoon stood there.
The Stone Cocoon's exterior resembled the White Zetsu Organization, but inside it lacked the message-relaying pathways common to the White Zetsu Network.
It looked more like an unfinished human body.
Its limbs, spine, and face had already taken shape, but only an exceedingly slow echo sounded within its chest.
Black Zetsu pressed his lingering thread against the stone cocoon.
"Wake up."
The stone cocoon did not respond.
"The moon is ready."
The echo quickened for an instant.
Black Zetsu continued feeding Ancient Authority into the cracks.
It was not Madara's seal of approval.
Nor was it the chakra through which the Rinnegan could directly control the Demonic Statue.
That authorization was older, like a key left solely for this body.
The stone cocoon cracked open.
A white hand rose from the salt water. Its fingertips had no fingerprints, but rings of incomplete patterns floated across its palm.
"Moon."
The vessel spoke its first word.
Its voice had no gender, nor any inflection belonging to a particular age.
Black Zetsu told