In the Land of Fields, deep in the silence of an underground cave, not even the faintest wind stirred the stale air.
Ever since learning that Akira had been resurrected through Impure World Reincarnation and hadn't vanished with the caster's death, Black Zetsu couldn't sit calmly for longer than a minute. If he wasn't spiraling over whether his plans had been exposed, he was obsessing over ways to make them foolproof again.
And every plan he came up with was either riddled with obvious holes or relied on exploiting outdated information-the kind of tactics Senju Akira was known to crush without effort.
Which is why Black Zetsu had fallen into the same routine: come up with another idea, doubt it halfway through, reverse it, then start again from scratch.
It was enough to drive him to madness.
Thankfully, no one ever came down here to interrupt his spiraling thoughts. The privacy at least kept the worst of his instability in check. Barely.
"Black Zetsu!"
"Wah-!"
White Zetsu's sudden shout made him jump and shriek. He nearly collided with the rocky ceiling above. When he realized who it was, his irritation cracked through instantly.
"You idiot! Didn't I tell you to kill Akira? Why the fuck are you back?"
White Zetsu didn't flinch. He looked proud of himself-genuinely proud-and announced with unmistakable glee:
"I did it!"
Black Zetsu's lips were already forming another insult when he froze-eyes narrowing.
"…What did you say?"
"I said I sealed Senju Akira," White Zetsu repeated simply. He puffed up with pride as he reached into his chest cavity and pulled out the sealed meat spore that held Akira's 'filthy' body inside.
It wasn't moving. At first glance, completely inert.
Black Zetsu stared in disbelief. Sending White Zetsu to assassinate Akira should've been suicide. It was supposed to be suicide. It was like asking some mindless beast to kill Sun Wukong-and somehow, the beast came back victorious?
"That's… that's really Senju Akira…?"
"Uh-huh!"
White Zetsu nodded so fast it blurred. He looked ready to dance in place with how excited he was to show off.
"He was practicing ninjutsu even in that Impure World Body-screwed it up himself! I just took advantage of the opening and sealed him tight!"
As he rambled, Black Zetsu finally started to relax. Confidence returned to his posture. A smile curled at the edge of his mouth-just shy of cruel.
"Good. Very good. You did well this time."
"Hehehehe!"
White Zetsu chuckled bashfully and rubbed the side of his head. That expression froze when the outer layer of white foamy chakra around the sealed meat-ball began to peel off on its own.
"…Huh?"
They both leaned in. When that happened-when spores peeled on their own-it always signaled one outcome: complete chakra depletion. It only happened when the person inside lost everything vital to their function.
And Akira had already been dead once before.
Black Zetsu's confidence vanished in less than half a second. The panic seized his throat again as realization set in.
"This has to be fake-throw it out! Now!"
White Zetsu flinched but obeyed on instinct alone and grabbed for the meat spore again-
-too late.
Before he could fully recover control of the seal, part of the white foam had already disintegrated completely and revealed the wrapped ninja's headband clearly-
-the symbol carved there didn't belong to Konoha at ALL.
"…Wait," Black Zetsu said sharply. "Stop."
White Zetsu froze in place as ordered.
"Strip away the rest."
It only took seconds. Layer after layer came off until the full body was revealed underneath-the garb of Wind Country, the appearance unmistakable even in death.
Black Zetsu stared hard, mind moving faster than ever. He recognized it now-this wasn't Akira at ALL. This was merely one of many bodies used in Impure World Reincarnation-and it had long since served its purpose and run out of time.
"This is one of those cast-off corpses resurrected using that technique…"
"Huh? What do you-"
"The Impure World Reincarnation steals life by sacrificing live humans to fuel undead puppets for about thirty days," Black Zetsu explained shortly. "Each resurrected soul anchors itself inside another soulless body-when that body dies from starvation or collapse around day thirty, everything ends."
"But then… why'd you make me kill Akira? We could've just waited!"
Black Zetsu couldn't admit he'd panicked hard when he first saw evidence-and only learned later how the technique worked in theory.
"Akira wouldn't have sat idle waiting for death," he snapped back instead. "Success would've been perfect-but even failure would work in our favor. If he thought others were behind attacks on him-Lightning Country, or anyone else-he'd react by limiting his own movement or lashing out with new war preparations."
"And every step would drain his focus away from us."
White Zetsu stared at him now fully impressed-not even pretending to hide it anymore.
"Damn… you're amazing…"
"Heh…"
Black Zetsu didn't deny it this time. He even looked pleased with himself now that it was over-and the tension had truly passed.
White Zetsu had already forgotten how terrified Black Zetsu had been moments ago.
"…Hey," White Zetsu said after thinking for another moment, "but why'd that reincarnated guy break down early? It's barely been twenty days…"
Black Zetsu frowned but shrugged slightly at that one.
"We probably succeeded anyway," he said cautiously. "I think...?"
Even he didn't sound certain this time-but none of this could remain unresolved. No room for chance now that suspicion had been raised once already-
"White Zetsu," he said suddenly, straightening up again. "Go back to Konoha. Scour the entire place top to bottom-and confirm if Senju Akira is truly there or not. And if possible-bring me everything you find connected to him."
"Yes!"
White Zetsu rushed off immediately without hesitation, fueled by purpose again from his 'master.'
…
"Wow… Mito… I almost died."
Akira curled against her lap with tired exaggeration, letting her cradle him close while she rubbed his head gently down into her lap.
"There now… be good and don't cry."
"So…"
His tone dropped into seriousness without warning-a drastic shift from his usual behavior even as she looked down at him confused.
"I'm not leaving here for half a month."
"What?"
Mito glanced around at the lab surrounding them-all carefully constructed, fortified, and heavily reinforced-and then looked back at Akira lying so comfortably against her thighs. She frowned slightly.
She remembered how he'd confined himself constantly inside this place recently, refusing to step outside no matter who asked him to leave or what reason they brought.
"Wait-you really think someone out there could sneak past my perception?"
Akira didn't respond with words right away-he just pointed toward one wall lined thickly with implants of Hashirama cells embedded deep beneath its structure, grown into dense biomatter traps designed for chakra absorption on contact.
"You think I did that just because I was bored?"
Mito stayed silent for only three seconds before letting out a breath through her nose-
"…Who knows," she said dryly. "For thrills or fun?"
She understood him too well by now to trust first impressions-but in the end she gave in and sighed softly-
"Fine. Just promise next time you try things like this… bring me in first. Don't scare me half to death."
"Deal," Akira replied lightly-then added with unrepentant ease-
"Thanks, wife."
"Good boy."
(T/N: I'm jealous...)
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