---Third POV---
Ryouma quietly left, taking away a wisp of cloud with him.
Only Kurama was left behind in the sealed space, flustered and at a complete loss. It wasn't until it could no longer sense the presence of Ryouma and Shukaku that it exploded in fury.
"What the hell, does this jinchūriki have some kind of problem?!"
---
Ryouma suddenly opened his eyes.
Seeing him wake up, the others all cast curious glances his way.
Obito asked with interest, "So, was the Nine-Tails scary? I heard it's a fox with nine tails, wouldn't it be a huge hassle when it tries to lick its fur?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Idiot. Tailed beasts are chakra constructs, there's no way they have fur."
Rin picked up Shukaku from Ryouma's shoulder, lightly scratching it a few times, feeling the texture with her fingers.
"But Shukaku does have fur. Though now that you mention it, I've never actually seen him groom himself…"
Ryouma felt this kind of discussion was entirely pointless. Leave it to Obito to come up with such a ridiculous topic.
"Alright, enough about whether tailed beasts have fur," he interrupted. "If you're really that curious, you can go ask the Nine-Tails yourself face-to-face someday."
Then he turned to Obito. "Can your Kamui space handle high-intensity combat?"
"Never tested it, but I guess it should be able to," Obito replied, sounding unsure.
If it had been anyone else asking, Obito would've affirmed his Kamui space's toughness without hesitation. But since it was Ryouma asking, he had to hedge his answer.
He still remembered that mission in the Land of Grass, Ryouma had turned into a golden comet of destruction. He honestly didn't know if Kamui could withstand that.
"Never mind, then," Ryouma didn't push the matter. After a short pause, he said, "Open the gate, we're going to the Land of Whirlpools."
"You got it."
Obito's eyes flashed red, having fully transitioned into an uber driver. In a blink, the ripple of Kamui space engulfed them all.
---
Beneath the Source of the Ryūmyaku in Rōran, there was a vast underground cavern created by Black Zetsu using the power of the Rinnegan, anchored to the Ryūmyaku itself.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood silently like an ancient tree, rooted deep in this place.
Countless pipes extended from its back, piercing the thick rock and stabbing into the Ryūmyaku, greedily siphoning the planet's lifeforce.
The energy of the Ryūmyaku flowed through these tangled pipes, ultimately being absorbed into the Gedo Statue, where it was fully converted into chakra.
To avoid detection, Black Zetsu didn't attach the statue directly to the Ryūmyaku's main artery and didn't overdraw energy. Instead, he tapped into a minor subterranean tributary.
Not only that, he had also carved the surrounding stone walls with advanced chakra-concealing barrier seals, techniques he had once stolen from Uzushio.
Although this still couldn't fool sensory-type dōjutsu like the Byakugan, hiding in this remote speck of a desert nation was more than enough.
The tradeoff was an extremely low energy absorption efficiency. But if there was one thing Black Zetsu had in abundance, it was patience.
After so many failures, he couldn't afford even the slightest deviation now.
"Aotsuki Ryouma…"
Black Zetsu murmured the name like it was a haunting nightmare.
Aside from planting the Gedo Statue here, he had done absolutely nothing else recently.
When it came to this monster of a man who could hold down even the reincarnation of Indra and beat him senseless, his curiosity ran deep.
Given the nature of chakra, the closer someone's bloodline was to Kaguya, the stronger their power should theoretically be.
So it was certain, Ryouma must have had some impressive ancestry.
To confirm this, he contacted a White Zetsu. While Ryouma was away, they took the opportunity to look into the records left by Tobirama, who had documented the integration of Senju members into the village.
Possibly due to a common quirk of scientists, Tobirama was very meticulous about recordkeeping. Even though he had ordered the Senju clan to abandon their surname, he had still made detailed records of every single Senju members who split off.
Upon discovering this, Black Zetsu couldn't help but darkly speculate that Tobirama might have harbored long-term intentions of eventually reviving the Senju clan. Regardless of what he had planned, using those records, White Zetsu easily traced Ryouma's paternal lineage.
His father, originally named Senju Ken, had changed his name to Aotsuki Ken. According to the clan register, he was a direct descendant of Tokuma.
And Tokuma was the younger brother of Butsuma, who was the father of Hashirama.
It sounded a bit convoluted, like one of those matryoshkas, but to Black Zetsu, at least this explained why Ryouma had such an immense chakra reserve even before acquiring the One-Tail.
On the other hand, Ryouma's mother, Chisato, was a complete civilian. She only took on the Aotsuki surname after marrying Ken.
And that's where the trail went cold.
No matter how hard he wracked his brain, he just couldn't figure out how Ryouma, with such a diluted bloodline, could defeat the reincarnation of Indra. Especially that ridiculously nasty rebound-type jutsu of his. Maybe only Kaguya's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack could break through it.
"Black Zetsu," Spiky White Zetsu half-emerged from underground and called out, "I've got some intel you might find interesting."
"Oh? Let's hear it."
"The Nine-Tails jinchūriki is pregnant. Judging by the size of her belly, she's likely due in about six months."
This sudden piece of information made Black Zetsu fall silent in thought again.
He looked up at the half-open, half-closed eye of the Gedo Statue. Although the statue had been badly damaged by Ryouma during the battle in the Land of Grass, it still retained fragments of chakra from the One-Tail, Three-Tails, and Five-Tails.
Now, with natural energy from the Ryūmyaku nourishing it and replenishing its chakra, if their only goal was reviving the Ten-Tails, there was no longer any need to risk a direct confrontation with Ryouma just to capture another tailed beast.
The Two-Tails, Six-Tails, and Eight-Tails were far away in other great nations. Difficult to obtain, yes, but still within reach. The Nine-Tails, however was their biggest headache.
Based on the previous case of Mito, the seal on the Nine-Tails would weaken drastically during childbirth. Logically, that made Kushina's delivery their best opportunity to take the Nine-Tails.
But the danger was too high.
"Well? Should we make a move? Opportunities like this don't come often," Spiky White Zetsu urged.
"I need to think about it."
In the end, Black Zetsu decided to wait and watch. There were still several months left, no need to rush.
He silently recorded the intel in his mind, then changed the subject: "What about that ninja I told you to keep an eye on? Any news?"
"Of course," Spiky White Zetsu answered confidently. "He's in the former Land of Whirlpools, seemingly researching some kind of forbidden technique. He's already created a bunch of bizarre creatures."
Hearing this, Black Zetsu pulled a cloak from a stone table nearby and draped it over his shoulders, speaking gravely: "Take me to him."
Spiky White Zetsu asked curiously, "You planning to recruit him?"
"That's right," Black Zetsu replied coldly. "His research abilities could be an enormous asset to our plans."
---
The Land of Whirlpools.
This was once a nation, now long since destroyed. Rather than calling it a country, it's more accurate to call it a land without an owner. Before the Third Great Ninja War, this territory had been under the control of the Land of Water.
Now, thanks to a friendly exchange with Ryouma, Kiri tactfully and voluntarily ceded this land.
The swirling vortex of Kamui gradually expanded, and the silhouettes of Ryouma emerged from it.
Because Obito had both eyes, in addition to pulling people into the Kamui space remotely, he could even open a space-time portal directly.
Of course, this ability consumed a great deal of ocular power. Back before he had transplanted White Zetsu cells, he had only used this technique once, when he first awakened his eyes in the Land of Hot Water, to bring Ryouma back from the dark world.
"Whew~"
He had chosen to land on a peaceful stretch of coastline. The salty, humid sea breeze carried the unique scent of the sea and seemed to tell the story of this land to travelers from afar.
Kushina stood quietly on the beach, gazing at the coastline, blurry in memory, yet overwhelmingly familiar, as countless emotions surged within her. She closed her eyes, as if listening to the whispers of the waves.
"Thank you, Obito," she said softly, her voice trembling just slightly, "for letting me see the sea of my homeland once again."
"Uh…" Obito scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "I'm just the doorman. The one you should really thank is Ryouma."
Kushina composed herself, blinked away the tears pooling in her eyes, and gave a small smile. "Of course. Thank you too."
Ryouma quickly waved his hands. "Don't be like that. Besides, I chose this place for other reasons too."
"There's something else?" Rin asked curiously.
"It's probably to prepare a battlefield to subdue the Nine-Tails," Kakashi speculated.
He didn't believe the Nine-Tails would obediently hand over its chakra like Shukaku did. It would most likely have to be subdued by force.
"This place is indeed an ideal battlefield," Ryouma nodded in agreement. "But aside from dealing with the Nine-Tails, I also plan to collect some local materials to make a few things."
"Is it the ink used for sealing techniques?" Kushina suddenly recalled Ryouma once telling her that the ink was running low.
"That's right. I figured I might as well handle everything on this trip."
Thinking about the jutsu he was currently developing, Ryouma felt it was necessary to prepare extra materials, better safe than sorry.
Kakashi scanned the area, then pointed to an open stretch of beach not far away.
"That area could serve as the battlefield to release the Nine-Tails."
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed. It was a simple port that Kiri had deliberately built. Closer to the coast, a few abandoned watchtowers could still be vaguely seen, likely remnants of Kiri's old defensive installations.
"Then it's settled," Ryouma said decisively.
Since it wasn't far, the group walked toward it at a relaxed pace. They even chatted and joked along the way, showing no sign of the gravity of their next task, releasing the most powerful tailed beast. If anything, they looked more like a group of tourists on a seaside vacation.
Having never seen the ocean before, Obito was as excited as a seven-year-old child, bombarding Kushina with all kinds of strange questions the whole way.
Things like:
"Since the sea is salty, what do people on the islands drink?"
"Are there mermaids in the ocean?"
"Does the sea here freeze in winter?"
At first, Kushina patiently answered each question one by one, but as the questions kept coming, she finally lost her temper and smacked Obito on the head.
"I left this place when I was little too, how would I know all that?!"
"Ow…"
Obito clutched his head with a pained expression and finally quieted down. But thanks to his interruption, Kushina actually recalled some of the old legends about the Land of Whirlpools.
"Come to think of it, about that question you asked earlier, it might not be as far-fetched as it sounds," she suddenly said.
"Which one? The mermaids?" Obito asked timidly, still holding his head.
"Of course not!"
Kushina punched him again, not good, this was starting to become a habit.
"You're probably talking about that sea monster that's said to be many times larger than a ship," Ryouma interjected.
Kushina was momentarily stunned, then clapped her hands in realization. "That's it, that's it! But how did you know I was talking about that?"
"Well…" Ryouma pointed toward the sea in the distance. "Probably because the monster you're talking about is right there."
Following the direction he pointed, they initially saw only an empty stretch of sea, but in the next moment, everything changed. A gigantic, grotesquely shaped sea creature slowly emerged from the still surface.
Its head looked like a fusion of a whale and the remains of a giant octopus. Embedded in its skull were several massive, bulging eyeballs, clearly from different creatures. Some were already rotting; others were still faintly moving.
Octopus tentacles hung down from either side of its skull like wet, slimy ropes, their ends tipped with sharp barbs.
This extremely Lovecraftian aesthetic left little doubt, "sea monster" was a fitting label.
"Wuuuuu~"
A strange cry, like the wailing of a baby, was carried by the sea breeze and clearly reached Ryouma and the others.
"Is… is it crying? This isn't some kind of local specialty of the Land of Whirlpools, is it?" Rin rubbed her eyes, her small mouth forming an O-shape in disbelief.
"Of course not." Kakashi sighed helplessly. "Something like this clearly isn't a naturally occurring life form."
"Wuuuuu~"
The eerie sound continued. The sea monster now seemed to have locked onto Ryouma and the others as its target. Using the thick octopus tentacles beneath it, it began moving slowly but steadily toward them.
"Oh? It's coming straight at us."
The sharp triangular pattern of Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan appeared in his eyes as he stepped forward, shielding the others behind him.