"What? Kaguya isn't just that woman with horns on her head?"
Sasuke felt an odd sensation.
On his left palm, the area covered by the Moon Seal slightly chilled—yin chakra was spreading.
He put on a strong front, but remained cautious and held back from making the first move.
He deeply feared Zetsu's ability to appear and disappear unpredictably, unsure whether sealing him down with his own strength alone was feasible.
The method the Sage of Six Paths taught him for sealing Kaguya required cooperation with Naruto's Hanaki power.
Plus, he had no idea how long the power granted by the Sage of Six Paths would last.
Black Zetsu appeared much calmer than Sasuke and didn't seem to care about his thoughts. His tone contained both surprise and curiosity. "You've seen her?"
"..." Sasuke didn't respond. All information about Kaguya came from the Frog Sage and the Sage of Six Paths.
Seeing Sasuke wouldn't engage, Black Zetsu continued speaking regardless, expression darkening as faint black aura surrounded him.
"Someone named Kaguya should be supreme, ruling over all humanity, looking down upon everything."
"But why was she like that..."
"She wasn't... Kaguya, the Goddess of Uzu, shouldn't have sunk so low as to become affectionate toward ordinary humans!"
"I've waited such a long time... finally arrived..."
"Was it really her? Is that truly the person you speak of, Kaguya..."
White Zetsu stayed silent, his lips twitching slightly in irritation.
Influenced by Black Zetsu's bitterness, White Zetsu's own mood soured. He couldn't help but internally sigh—Was Black Zetsu losing it again? Or was this just an act? When would he ever go back to normal...?
Listening to Black Zetsu muttering non-stop, Sasuke gradually furrowed his eyebrows.
What's his deal? Is he freaking out again or something?
Better test him out!
Thinking thus, Sasuke gathered chakra, and a thin blue arc appeared in his right palm.
However, before the lightning could fully form, Zetsu's figure had already disappeared from his sight.
Soon after, a laughing voice rang behind him.
"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing... Talking is fine, but this kind of action is quite impolite now."
Sasuke turned around coldly.
On a flat piece of land, only half of a face-split figure emerged from the ground—a half-black-half-white person. Black Zetsu looked emotionless while the other half, White Zetsu, smiled cheerfully.
Without a word, Sasuke simply walked away from the spot.
Trying to take out the jinchūriki in secret always risked being detected by Zetsu.
Trying to convince Madara Uchiha to abandon his plan of becoming a Ten-Tails jinchūriki was pointless—the strength-obsessed man would never listen anyway.
All this made Sasuke feel frustrated.
Without sufficient power, one holds no say.
To achieve a real leap in strength, he still needed to kill Itachi and take his eyes.
Thinking about it, even Sasuke hesitated.
Shortly after Sasuke left, Madara Uchiha showed up.
Perhaps because this was Black Zetsu—his supposed embodiment of will—Madara seemed to have some desire to vent. He talked about those Tailed Beasts he had been collecting recently, still feeling somewhat troubled.
"With just the chakra from those few jinchuriki, even if we drained them completely, it probably wouldn't be enough to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi across the entire world..."
"Lord Madara, we can take things step by step. The Hyuga and Konoha forces are aligned together. We could first subdue other nations before wiping them all out in one sweep."
"Even if the Infinite Tsukuyomi currently can't cover the entire world, flattening several small nations would be effortless. We could also drain those ninja's chakra to replenish the Ten-Tails."
Black Zetsu offered his suggestion.
"Oh? Then I'll leave monitoring Konoha's activities to you..." Madara Uchiha gave him a meaningful glance.
"Konoha will soon be hosting the Chunin Exams. The Kages from other ninja villages will be attending—they won't have time to pay attention to anything else..." Black Zetsu continued.
"I understand. Let's proceed with that plan." Madara Uchiha replied indifferently.
"...Where exactly did she go? Why hasn't she come back for such a long time?"
In a bright, clean room with closed windows and doors,
Kaguya had her arms wrapped around Hiroki's neck, hanging herself entirely on him, rhythmically moving her body against his while breathing hotly into his ear.
The feelings she'd been holding back finally burst into flame. She couldn't help but make the first move. Naturally, Hiroki wasn't going to say no.
This kind of intimate moment brought them even closer.
"I told you earlier—she went looking for Hayato Otsutsuki..."
"Hayato Otsutsuki?" Hearing this name, Kaguya exhaled warmly, her previously hazy eyes suddenly sharp with intensity.
Hiroki chuckled softly, kissed her cheek, then explained:
"Not the Sage of Six Paths Hayato Otsutsuki. Hayato Otsutsuki is the god of [Pure Land] in another world. She wants to bring him here to occupy our Pure Land."
"Hmm? So she already controls another world?"
"That's right. Hayato Otsutsuki and Hamura Otsutsuki are maintaining order there."
"She already has so much power. If she gains control here too, given her domineering personality, she'd definitely want to subjugate everyone. Hiroki, how could you agree to her request..."
Kaguya sank limply into his chest, rested her head on his right shoulder, opened her mouth, and bit down hard.
Hiroki let out a pained grunt, then sighed with a helpless expression.
"Hayato, apparently no one understands a person better than themselves. You're right—sometimes both of you are just too forceful."
He paused mid-motion, recalling how sometimes they were sweet and alluring, yet at other times stubborn and overbearing—it was really quite annoying.
When only one person was assertive, he could accept it as part of their charm.
But when two strong-willed people insisted on clashing head-on, it really became quite troublesome.
Come to think of it, Kaguya Moon had never gone through a thousand years of imprisonment or faced real setbacks. That's why her personality turned out so stubborn.
"Kaguya, what exactly did you two talk about? Why do you have animosity toward each other?"
"She wanted to merge with me, but in that case, the one disappearing would probably be me..."
"Merging, huh?" Hiroki wore a pensive expression.
"Don't think about these matters when we should be focusing on important business..."
Kaguya breathed softly against his cheek before planting a kiss on him.
Meanwhile, at the outskirts of Konoha Village.
Kabuto Yakushi walked into Shimon Hiruko's laboratory looking tired and worn, his usually composed expression replaced with one of rare fatigue, his breath slightly uneven.
Seeing him arrive in such a rush, Shimon Hiruko couldn't help but feel surprised:
"This isn't our scheduled time. Why are you here? Did something happen with Orochimaru?"
Kabuto pushed up his glasses and said seriously, "Lord Orochimaru has been captured."
"Oh," Shimon Hiruko responded indifferently, turning back to continue working on his test tube. "Well, whatever. After all, he's not really one of us anyway. I'm sure Orochimaru won't die so easily, right..."
Kabuto continued, "He was severely injured by the Snake Clan's messenger from Ryuchi Cave before being taken away..."
Hearing this, Shimon Hiruko expressed slight curiosity, "Didn't Orochimaru originally have a contract with Ryuchi Cave? If there was truly an issue, couldn't he just perform a reverse summoning? Why would they attack him first?"
"Lord Orochimaru extracted some Ten-Tails Chakra from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and sealed it inside Manda's body... Then, well, here we are now..." Kabuto explained.
"Ten-Tails Chakra?" Shimon Hiruko expressed astonishment.
"Shimon Hiruko, don't you know about the Ten-Tails?" Kabuto narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward White Zetsu, who had always been in the lab.
"I know about it, I'm just curious how easily one could extract Ten-Tails Chakra."
After uttering that casually, Shimon Hiruko turned to White Zetsu and said, "White Zetsu, please go inform Kaguya-sama about this matter."
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