After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 231

Chapter 231: Black Zetsu’s New Plan!

If Black Zetsu had body hair, it would be standing on end like a startled cat right now.

When did he get here?

Years of combat instinct made him drive White Zetsu to use Cutting Technique, stabbing straight through his own body toward the Naruto standing behind him.

The sharp wooden spike pierced Zetsu and shot out of his back, heading for Naruto. An ordinary person would never react to a strike like this in time.

As long as the Wood Release spike hit, even a Jinchūriki would have their chakra drained continuously.

Wood Release naturally restrained tailed beasts far too well.

Unfortunately for him—crack.

The sharp spike struck Naruto’s unguarded chest and made a crisp shattering sound.

It didn’t even break the skin, much less pierce him.

Naruto did not so much as flinch. He did not even bother to dodge, as if he had expected it.

Failing with one strike, Zetsu did not hesitate. He used Wood Release again.

Countless wrist-thick vines crawled up from the ground, winding around Naruto.

He did not know how long this would restrain Naruto, but he only needed a moment’s opening.

Zetsu could not level forests like Hashirama, but his Wood Release was not worse than a certain “architect’s.”

These vines also drained chakra.

But the efficiency—

Naruto felt the tiny trickle being siphoned away.

How to describe it?

Imagine draining a pool through the outflow takes three hours, and filling it through the inflow takes two.

Now attach the outflow to the Three Gorges Dam. How long to drain it?

Not useless, but a drop in the ocean.

The amount being siphoned was less than his natural recovery. It felt like a mosquito bite.

Ordinary ninja trapped by Wood Release would weaken fast as chakra bled away. Without chakra to reinforce the body, most ninja were still only human, which is why many got caught off guard by cheap tricks when they forgot to defend with chakra.

No reference to any particular Rinnegan-wielding Uchiha.

Like tearing tissue paper, the vines offered no resistance in Naruto’s hands and were ripped apart casually.

Soon, he could not even be bothered to pull. He simply walked forward and let the vines snap under their own tension.

That was long enough for Zetsu to submerge into the earth again.

Only, things did not go as he hoped.

Even with his presence completely hidden in the soil, the sense of being locked onto by a predator did not fade in the slightest.

This time was different.

As Zetsu frantically tunneled deeper, a nightmare face popped out from the dirt ahead and blocked his path.

"Done running? If you are, we should talk."

Naruto shoved aside the earth with his arm and seized Zetsu’s black-and-white head in one hand.

A moment later, Zetsu felt soil and stone grind across his face at hellish speed.

Like the roughest sandpaper scraping him raw.

Naruto did not care in the least as he hauled him up out of the ground.

Unlike Zetsu, who phased into the earth with chakra, Naruto could achieve a similar effect with brute force alone.

"Akatsuki works in pairs. Looks like even with a new boss, your habits have not changed."

Dragged from underground, Zetsu tried to counter. White Zetsu’s half swelled and sprouted giant pitcher plant maws, lunging for Naruto.

Naruto had lost interest in entertaining him.

Bang.

A plain, unadorned punch blew a gaping hole through the swollen White Zetsu half.

Even so gravely damaged, the clone did not die and began knitting back together with each breath.

"What a curious structure. Two minds, clear as day."

Naruto crouched in front of him and said lightly, and Black Zetsu’s face changed at once.

For the first time in a thousand years, he felt the real threat of death.

Naruto saw through his secret at a glance.

"Tell me. Where is Uchiha Madara now?"

Chains unfurled from behind Naruto and wrapped Zetsu like a rice dumpling, leaving only the healing head exposed.

Struggle was useless now.

Black Zetsu lifted his head to look at the man who had repeatedly ruined his plans. Old and new grudges surged together.

"If I tell you, will you spare me?"

Clinging to a last sliver of hope, he still asked.

All for Mother’s revival.

Naruto only stared back in disbelief, like he could not fathom the question.

"Of course not."

Konan had reported that this pitcher plant was already in league with Uchiha Madara, and their shadows lurked behind countless plots.

"Tell me where he is, and I will give you a quick end."

"I see."

Hearing this, Black Zetsu relaxed oddly. Then, like a man past caring, he said:

"Save your effort. I won't say a thing."

"I figured."

Naruto was not surprised. This answer had been expected.

He drew his long blade and, before the cut, asked one last question.

"One thing I don't get."

Black Zetsu shifted his gaze from the edge to Naruto’s eyes, as if waiting for it.

"This should be our first meeting, right?"

"Then why is your hatred toward me overflowing?"

On the last word, Musōkō flashed like a breeze and sliced Zetsu into dust-fine pieces.

Clink!

The blade slid back into its sheath. Not yet satisfied, purple-red flames spiraled into Naruto’s palm.

"Perfect time to test this."

The flame spiral spun like a miniature tornado and began ravenously drawing everything nearby into its core.

Everything caught in it was shredded into imperceptible ash.

Zetsu’s remains were no exception.

Not only torn to dust, they were gathered together at the spiral’s center and vanished.

As if there were another space inside its core.

After grinding everything down, the spiral suddenly lost the support of Naruto’s chakra, then began to “eat itself,” and finally dissipated.

Even Naruto did not know where the things it swallowed had gone.

"What should I name this?"

He rubbed his chin and muttered while walking out of the woods.

Except for a huge crater, there was not a trace left.

After some time, Naruto’s figure reappeared from a nearby shadow.

"Dead for real."

With Observation Haki, he swept the area carefully and, after confirming nothing remained, finally left in peace.

If Black Zetsu were a normal lifeform, he really would have died here before his schemes even started.

Far away, a half-bodied Black Zetsu jolted awake from a nightmare, gulping air like a human.

Only that calmed the terror gnawing his heart.

Lucky.

He was lucky he had prepared a spare.

As the will of Mother incarnate, Black Zetsu did not share ordinary creatures’ weak points. Beheading or pulverization could not kill him.

He could even divide himself at will, and each piece could act as a main body.

Thanks to that, he survived.

That last jutsu of Uzumaki Naruto’s—a technique he had never seen—had destroyed his other half on a material level.

"What was that? It felt a bit like Mother’s All-Killing Ash Bones."

If he had not played it safe by splitting off a piece before every operation, leaving a reserve behind just in case, he would have been finished.

Even so, the brush with death rattled his confidence in carrying on the plan.

The plan had to change.

Obito could not possibly defeat that monster.

Worse, the brat had gathered multiple Jinchūriki to his side early. Picking them off one by one was no longer realistic.

Damn it, why did the ninja world birth a creature like that?

It should not be so.

This world was only Mother’s nursery garden.

Seething with frustration, Black Zetsu ran through the ninja world’s deepest secrets in his mind.

Was there any way to bypass that brat?

Did he have to wait another century and outlast him?

Suddenly, an ancient rumor resurfaced.

If that legend was true, it might work.

With that thought, Black Zetsu summoned a White Zetsu body again, merged with it, and tunneled quickly into the earth.