At the same time.
Three hundred meters beneath the crater field on the far side of the Moon.
In a dim cavern, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood silently. Nine thick chains pierced the void, their other ends connected to the phantoms of eight tailed beasts.
But every phantom was far dimmer than normal.
"Damn it! Why isn't it ready yet!"
Black Zetsu paced anxiously beside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, his yellow eyes filled with agitation.
Obito kept his eyes closed and his hands in a hand seal as he said gravely:
"Something's wrong with the tailed beasts' chakra."
"What?"
"From the One-Tail to the Eight-Tails, every one seems to be missing some chakra." Obito opened his eyes, a trace of confusion flashing through his Mangekyō and Rinnegan. "As if... someone extracted it."
Black Zetsu's brow furrowed deeply.
Missing some?
How could the tailed beasts be missing chakra?
Unless...
He suddenly remembered what Obito had said not long ago-
Besides White Tiger and those other shadow clones, there were quite a few beings resembling tailed beasts in Lin Ze's Underground Laboratory.
Moreover, back during the Night of the Nine-Tails, "Crescent Moon" had stolen some Nine-Tails chakra, while "Genbu" had also attacked the One-Tail and Two-Tails.
Could it be...
"Bastard!"
Black Zetsu gritted his teeth. "That damned Lin Ze has his sights on the tailed beasts too!"
But there was no point pursuing that now.
He focused his senses. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's fusion was nearly eighty percent complete. Although the tailed beast chakra was incomplete, forcibly fusing it into the Ten-Tails would not be much of a problem.
The problem was-
The One-Tail through the Eight-Tails were all missing some chakra, and for the Nine-Tails, they only had the little residual chakra