Naruto SI: Kaito Red Lightnin Chapter 203
Kushina crossed her arms. "I'll bring you food to your room. You haven't even eaten lunch yet, ya know. Now go take a bath—I'll bring it to you."
Kaito sighed but nodded, heading down the hallway.
Kushina's frown deepened as she watched him go.
"Is Kai-nii alright?" Karin asked quietly.
Kushina nodded. "Yeah. He's just tired."
Kaito slid open the door to his room and stepped inside.
His eyes landed on the two books he'd dropped earlier—right before the panic attack hit. They were still lying on the floor where they'd fallen. He bent down, picked them up, and With a sigh, he flopped onto his bed, arms spread, eyes fixed on the ceiling. The silence in the room pressed in, and without thinking, his hand drifted to the necklace resting against his chest—the one Minato had given him before his death.
What am I going to do… the thought circled in his mind, heavy and relentless.
Then his eyes flicked over to the scroll lying open on his desk.
Kaito sat up slowly, the earlier heaviness in his chest giving way to a sharper focus. He crossed the room, each step quiet against the floorboards.
His gaze moved from the open scroll to another one rolled neatly beside it. Thoughts began to connect in rapid succession, calculations and possibilities layering over each other.
"…That could work," he muttered
…
The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky, casting its golden light over the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
In the forest behind the Hokage Monument, the usual quiet was broken only by the soft rustle of leaves and the occasional chirp of birds. One such bird fluttered down and landed on a low branch overlooking a small clearing. It tilted its head, chirped.
in the center of the clearing, Kaito sat still, knelt with two fingers pressed against the dirt, his eyes closed.
His face was marked by the distinct lines of Slug Sage Mode, calm and focused.
From his back, two Adamantine sealing chains snaked out and burrowed into the ground, slipping deeper and deeper.
Then suddenly, both chains jolted to a stop—tension snapped through them like a stretched wire.
Kaito's lips curled into a smirk. "got you," he muttered as the chains suddenly pulled back, retracting with force.
The ground where they had disappeared cracked and split wide open.
With a loud crack, the dirt exploded, and two figures were yanked out violently—one after the other.
Their skin was pure white, hair a sickly shade of green, eyes glowing yellow. Chakra chains wrapped tight around their arms and legs, suspending them in the air like captured prey.
Startled by the sudden eruption, the bird on the branch flapped its wings and took off in a panic.
The two Zetsu looked completely caught off guard. Their eyes locked onto Kaito, wide with shock.
"You…" one of them muttered, voice low and tense.
The other twisted slightly in the chains, realization dawning in his expression. "You're the one who's been picking off the others," he said, stunned.
Kaito rose to his feet, the sage markings on his face beginning to fade as he stretched his arms overhead. "Well," he said casually, "you shouldn't have been spying around my village, ya know."
He exhaled slowly. It had taken half a day of careful tracking and patience to catch them without tipping them off. One had been skulking too close to his house, the other near the Hokage's office.
"You shouldn't even be able to sense us underground," the second Zetsu snapped, squirming in the chains. "The detection barrier never picked us up. How the hell did you find us?"
Kaito sighed, rolling his neck until it gave a satisfying pop.
He glanced down at the torn-up ground beneath them, then calmly raised one foot and stomped.
A pulse of chakra spread out beneath his sandal, and the earth shifted. The cracks sealed up, the holes filling and smoothing over as if nothing had ever disturbed the ground.
He looked back at the two Zetsu and said flatly, "I don't need to explain myself to you."
The first Zetsu let out a low chuckle, a thin smirk forming on his face. "Heh… doesn't matter. You won't get anything out of us."
Kaito gave a lazy grin. "Wasn't looking for any," he replied, and with a tug of his chakra chains, the two Zetsu were dragged closer to him.
"You're wasting your time," the second Zetsu hissed, eyes narrowing. "Even if you kill us—there's more of us where we come from."
Kaito yawned, completely unfazed. "Yeah, I know that, ya know," he muttered as he reached out and placed a palm on each of their chests. His smirk deepened. "I also know… Obito and Madara want to revive the Ten Tails."
Both White Zetsu froze.
Their eyes widened in shock, panic hitting them all at once. One of them screamed, "What?! How do you—?!"
But before he could finish, glowing seals spread across their bodies. In a flash, their muscles locked up and their limbs went stiff.
Their heads drooped forward as they lost consciousness.
Kaito gave a satisfied nod. "Alright. Let's get going."
In a blink, he vanished—teleporting away with the two unconscious Zetsu clones. The clearing was silent once again, the only sound left behind was the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze.
…
Elsewhere, along the outskirts of Konoha, Kaito moved swiftly through the dense forest, leaping from branch to branch, his form almost a blur among the trees.
He landed softly on a worn-out dirt path. The road was cracked and overgrown, leading to a dilapidated torii gate barely standing upright.
Kaito walked up to it and paused, eyeing the faded wood and vines creeping along its frame.
"They really let this place rot, huh…" he muttered as he stepped beneath the arch.
His eyes scanned the overgrown courtyard and crumbling stonework, the whole place drowning in neglect. Moss clung to the walls, broken tiles littered the ground, and the wind carried the scent of dust and time.
He made his way deeper into the compound and stopped in front of an old, half-collapsed temple—its worn symbol faint but unmistakable. It was the Uzumaki crest.
Kaito clicked his tongue. 'Of course they didn't care… The old monkey probably looted what he wanted and left the rest to rot,' he thought, bitterness flickering across his face.
He glanced around again, quieter this time. 'Mom would probably be happy if I fixed this place up…' he mused, rubbing his chin as he climbed the steps. The wooden planks groaned under his weight.
A soft pop! sounded beside him as a shadow clone appeared, arms crossed, already frowning. "I'm not doing it," the clone said flatly.
Kaito just shrugged. "Like I said, it's for Mom, ya know. Just imagine how happy she'd be if we managed to preserve even a little of our clan. She'd be over the moon."
The clone let out a loud sigh. "You know I'm not a carpenter, right? How the hell am I supposed to fix this whole place up?"
Kaito walked past him, stepping into the main hall. "It's not like we can just hire someone. What if the seals are still active? Someone could get seriously hurt… or worse."
The clone threw up his hands and looked around at the overgrown ruins. "Yeah, but it's gonna take forever…"
Kaito shot him a side glance. "Why are you complaining? It's not like you're gonna be the only clone working here."
The clone grumbled, "If it's that easy, why don't you do it yourself?"
Kaito stopped up the stairs and gave him a deadpan stare. "Are you forgetting why we're here?"
The clone glanced around at the crumbling courtyard. "Even if we fix this place up," he said, frowning, "we'd still have to take care of it. How are we supposed to do that? We'd need to—"
Kaito cut in as he stepped into the shrine. "—We can probably turn it into a tourist spot, ya know. After we remove everything dangerous." He glanced over his shoulder. "That way, we can hire people to take care of the place… and when Konoha expands, this part of the forest'll probably be included anyway."
The air inside the shrine was still. Dust hung in the light that filtered through the broken slats in the roof. At the far end of the main hall, Kaito stopped.
He stood in front of a large wall.
A wall covered in masks.
Each one was distinct, yet they all had a similar eerie look—long faces, sharp edges, hollow eyes. Somehow, despite the ruin all around them, the wall itself looked untouched. Just a thin layer of dust covered the masks.
The clone stepped up beside him and pointed. "How the hell is that still standing?" he asked, eyeing the wooden frame the masks were mounted on.
Kaito muttered, "Probably sealed. Some kind of preservation fuinjutsu to stop them from falling apart."
The clone leaned in a little, squinting at one of the masks. "You got any idea which one we're actually looking for? 'Cause they all look the same to me."
Kaito frowned, staring at the rows of masks. "Yeah… me too. I have no idea."
He crossed his arms, eyes narrowing in thought.
Even though Kaito was a seal master—easily on Kushina's level—his mother had always drawn a firm line when it came to Uzumaki kinjutsu. She refused to teach him the most dangerous techniques, the kind that could take his life in exchange for power.
The only one he knew of was the Shiki Fūjin—and even that was because he remembered it from his past life. The same jutsu Minato had used to split the Nine-Tails.
Aside from that… everything else here was a mystery.
He didn't know what the other masks could do. But if the Shinigami Mask was linked to Shiki Fūjin, then it stood to reason the rest were tied to other deadly kinjutsu—each one just as dangerous.
Kaito rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing as he examined the wall of masks. He moved slowly, scanning each one with care. "Okay… they all have two horns, so that's out the window," he muttered. "Hmmm…"
His gaze drifted up—then stopped. Third row from the top, far right. Something about that one made his skin crawl.
Without a word, one of his chakra chains extended from his back and carefully pulled the mask free. and into Kaito's hand.
"I think this is the one," he said quietly.
The clone leaned over to get a better look. "Heh, are you sure? They all look the same to me."
Kaito nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'm sure. I felt a chill when I saw this one."
The clone raised an eyebrow. "All of them give me the chills, man."
Kaito smirked but didn't argue.
He looked down at the mask resting in his palm. Something about it just felt right.
Kaito shook his head. "Well, there's only one way to find out."
He turned to the clone. "I'll get going. You start making a list of what we need to repair. And don't forget to mark this place, ya know. Thanks."
With that, he vanished—teleporting away.
The clone stood there for a second, then crossed his arms and stared up at the rotting ceiling. "This is not fair, ya know…" he muttered.
…
In the outskirts of Konoha, inside Minato's old safe house — the place Kaito had long since turned into his lab.
His shadow clones moved about the room, finishing the last of the preparations for what was about to happen.
Against the far wall, ten White Zetsu clones sat slumped in place, their pale bodies bound tightly by Kaito's chakra chains. Every one of them was unconscious, sealed and locked in stasis, their chakra completely cut off.
On the medical bed nearby, another Zetsu had been placed down. Sealing marks ran across its body, long trails of ink linking it to an open scroll on the side table.
At the center of the room, one of Kaito's clones knelt with a scroll unrolled across the floor.
Just then, the clone looked up as Kaito appeared on the landing pad, where his tri-pronged kunai hung from a string attached to the ceiling.
The clone at the scroll looked up. "You got what we need, boss?"
Kaito stepped down, holding the mask in his hand. "Yeah. I think this is the one," he said as he walked closer, showing it.
The clone gave a short nod. "Then… should we get started?"
"Yeah," Kaito answered, gaze hardening. "Let's get this over with." He glanced toward another clone.
That clone stepped forward, dragging two of the Zetsu bodies across the floor. He dropped one into a kneeling position in front of the scroll, then hauled the other over toward Kaito.
Kaito handed him the mask. The clone gave a curt nod before dragging the chosen Zetsu a little further forward, forcing it down to kneel. Then he looked back to Kaito, waiting for the signal.
Kaito gave a single nod. "Do it."
The clone slipped the Shinigami mask over the white Zetsu's face — and quickly retreated back.
The moment the mask settled, a surge of chakra exploded outward. The seals binding the Zetsu shattered, the stasis breaking apart. Its body jerked violently as though pulled on strings.
"Ahhh!" the White Zetsu screamed, his back arching as he was forced upright, arms stretching wide. His entire body seized as raw chakra poured off him in waves,
A chill crawled down Kaito's spine as a low, twisted laughter filled the air — demonic and cold. The chakra pouring out of the Zetsu felt suffocating.
'I can feel the Shinigami… even hear it,' Kaito thought.
The Zetsu let out another cry as his stomach split open, flesh tearing unnaturally.
After a few seconds, Kaito's clone flickered forward. In a blur, he tore the mask off Zetsu's face and, in the same motion, slashed a kunai clean through its neck. The pale head rolled across the floor as the body collapsed with a dull thud.
The clone straightened, turning toward Kaito. "You think it worked?"
Kaito's gaze stayed fixed on the corpse for a long moment, the room heavy with silence. Finally, he gave a small nod. "Yeah… I think so. But there's only one way to find out."
He turned toward the scroll spread across the floor. Stepping forward, he knelt down and pulled out a vial of blood from his pouch and smeared it on the seal, and immediately the seals came alive, spreading outward from the scroll and racing across the floor. Black kanji formed into an intricate pattern, expanding until a wide circle enclosed the bound kneeling White Zetsu clone.
Kaito closed his eyes, steadying his breath. Then he opened them, sharp and resolute.
Raising his hand, he slammed his palm down onto the seal. "Reanimation Jutsu!" he called out.
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